McDermott needs to show Premiership respect

Reading sit bottom of the Premier League but the air of calmness around the club is thanks to the controlled and rational leadership of manager Brian McDermott. Last season the blue and white hoops struggled before going on a very impressive run, surging up the table and taking the Championship title. This time round, however, McDermott's men are unlikely to go on a second half blitz like last year and need to change their game plan if they want to stay up.

Monday night's 2-5 loss to Arsenal was a case in point. Completely overrun for an hour, it was only when McDermott subbed Noel Hunt and Pavel Pogrebnyak for Adam Le Fondre and Hal Robsun-Kanu, in the process moving from the the 4-4-2 which was stretched and penetrated at will by Arsenal's midfield and switching to a 4-4-1-1 that offer more cover in the middle and closed down Arsenal's three central midfielders.

There is a danger that Reading, one win from 17 league games and only nine points on the board, start chasing games, desperate for wins rather than accumulating as many points as and when they can. While it is refreshing to see a team struggling at the bottom of the table show no fear for more illustrious opponents, it also shows naivety from the manager.

Perhaps the 7-5 league cup exit to Arsenal at the end of October clouded McDermott's judgement, but a team who have conceded 36 goals - the most in the Premiership this season - should focus less on taking the game to the opposition and more on solidifying the defence and midfield. Only when Reading changed their system, and moving from a zonal midfield marking scheme that was torn to shreds to a man for man setup, could Reading take advantage of Arsenal's complacency.

Some games will be six pointers, must wins - they need to win at least one of their games in the period after Christmas and before New Years against Swansea and West Ham - but some they will do well to get one point, like the next fixture at the Etihad against Man City. At the start of the season, a narrow defeat would have been acceptable but now points are urgently needed, now they need results, and with a defence as porous as his McDermott might think attack is the best form of defence.

That mentality means you have to believe your opponents have more to fear than yourselves, that you cannot show them too much respect otherwise it will effect your game, and with a team like Reading, in the situation they are in, that could spell disaster.

Today's Quickie - Old Man Wenger needs to become Grumpy

"I cannot fault the effort of our team, I believe we gave it absolutely everything for 120 minutes."

So said Arsene Wenger after his side's Capital One Cup exit to League Two Bradford City on penalties on Tuesday night.

If this had been the Arsenal of old you would have thought Wenger had put out a team of inexperienced youngsters who disappointingly lost. When the likes of Fabregas, Walcott and Alex Song have used the competition as a step in their development the hope would be that even the youngsters would be able to compete with the workmen of the fourth division. However, Wenger put out a side that was almost the strongest he could. For a side of internationals earning millions, to give everything and still be outfought by a team whose weekly wage budget is a quarter of what Theo Walcott is asking a week, is shameful.

They are not being helped by their manager taking all the pressure of them. There were raised voices in the dressing room but after some of the performances recently it's clear that a bit of a bollocking is not having the desired effect. Wenger needs to call out his team in public - it is the only way to rid the side of the malaise they constantly find themselves in.

As I wrote here, Wenger's lack of ambition is a root cause of Arsenal's current woes. Another reason for the Gunners troubles has been Wenger's detached behaviour. Once known for his prickly press interviews after the classic Arsenal-Man Utd games, his myopia whenever a decision went against his side, and his willingness to engage in mind games, albeit with a laid back attitude, Wenger now appears tired of such events.

As his side has lost aggression so has Wenger. He looks old, weary, and the growing discontent from the terraces has only added to his woes.

Wenger has become too nice, and unfortunately in the modern footballing world 'nice' is no use. Whether motivating the team or yourself, battles need to picked, wars need to be fought, in the mind if not on the pitch, and right now Wenger looks an ageing general who no longer has fire in his heart.

In his old age Wenger has become placid, an affable wine drinker rather than a bitter old drunk. Perhaps if he became a Grumpy Old Man his Arsenal side would have more success.

6 ways Wenger can make Arsenal winners again

 Tuesday’s 2-1 loss away to Olympiakos might have felt like another nail in Arsene Wenger’s coffin, but in the grand scheme of things a hugely changed side lost little in Greece. There are plenty of reasons for hope, if not happiness, for Arsenal fans, but it will need some tweaking, some new tricks and a return to an old one for Arsene Wenger if the side from the Emirates is to return to challenging and then winning trophies.

According to reports, Wenger has around £70million to spend and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis says it is solely down to the manager how he spends it. With that in mind, and without being unrealistic (there will be no chance of Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov resolving their differences yet), we offer 6 ways Wenger can take Arsenal back to the top.

1.       1. Get a Plan B

Arsene Wenger is a fantastic developer of talent. He can nurture a young player and turn their potential into world class ability. However, tactically he is not the most enigmatic. He started with a 4-4-2 when Arsenal were still at Higbury, switched to a 4-2-3-1 when Thierry Henry left, and since then has stuck with that formation.

There has been no invention. Nearly all his changes this season have been like for like and while they say the hardest thing is to change a winning team, when you are not winning the easiest thing is to switch players and switch tactics. Wenger prefers not to.

Arsenal used to be criticised for passing, passing, passing, dropping points whenever they came up against an organised team that put men behind the ball. With so little flexibility in their other tactics aside from passing (a front man with two wide forwards, ball playing central midfielders, advanced full backs that offer the width, for example) all teams need to do is find one way of beating them and Wenger has no in game changes to combat it. Last weekend’s game against Swansea was a prime example – although Michu’s two goals came late, the team from Wales had dominated in terms of chances from the start. A better tactician would have evaluated Arsenal’s problems and made in-game changes accordingly.

There are some gaping holes in the red and white squad, but they do have players who could play in a different system – indeed these players have actively voiced their preference for change. Both Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski have pleaded to be played in a central birth, and alongside the improving Olivier Giroud they could give more options higher up the pitch, causing more problems for the opposition and making Arsenal less predictable.

2.     2. Go back to the old Arsene

We all enjoyed ridiculing Wenger’s myopia whenever a controversy arose in an Arsenal match (when it involved one of his players as the villain), but there is another facet of Wenger the manager that has changed over the last ten years, and that has been his strategy in the transfer market.

While no longer enjoying an unrivalled knowledge of French football from which he signed so many of the ‘invincibles’, an analysis of Arsenal’s transfer policy in the first half of Wenger’s reign contrasts markedly from the second half.

The exodus of stars is well known to even the most casual football observer. Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Henry, then Adebayor, Clichy, Toure, Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie. Plenty of money came in to the club, and they have the fantastic Emirates stadium as a result, but the greater cost is now being realised.

Examine that list again, and you will see a difference between the first four names and the latter six. Wenger used to sell players when they were right at the peak of their careers and at the very peak of their market value. They still had a few more years in them, but their ability was just about to decline and their value would only decrease. Arsenal certainly missed the likes of Petit, Vieria and Henry, but they got the most out of them and it allowed the next generation to come through (the exception in this period was le infant terrible, Nicolas Anelka, but time has shown that was a pretty smart move as well).

The latter six had plenty years at the top and arguably had room for improvement. They were not edging towards thirty, they were entering their mid twenties, and none of them are thinking about leaving the highest level.

Then consider the signings Wenger has made. Never the greatest spender (arguably his biggest buys have been his worst), the Frenchman mixed unheard of teenagers with hungry, high quality players how were not yet fully appreciated. Vieira was at AC Milan, Petit had shone for a good Monaco side which had included David Trezequet and a certain Thierry Henry before they had made moves to Juventus. Freddie Ljungberg had impressed for Sweden against England, Mark Overmars won the European Cup with Ajax, Sol Campbell was signed on a bosman from bitter rivals Tottenham, add in Davor Suker, Sylvain Wiltord, Robert Pires, all quality players who were winners previous or represented their country on numerous occasions.

Include Anelka, Fabregas, Clichy, Kolo Toure and other youngsters and Arsenal had the right mix of experience, youth, hunger, winners mentality, and ability.

Over the last five years that policy has changed. Arsenal’s recent big name signings have been ones either no one else really wanted or youngsters thrown too soon into the deep end. Some, like Nasri, Santi Cazorla, and Thomas Vermaelen, have been good signings. Others, like Chamakh, Gervinho, Mertesacker, Rosicky, Arshavin, and Arteta to a lesser extent, have their moments but are not up to the standard Arsenal require.

Olivier Giroud has impressed after an iffy start, but Lukas Podolski has gone the other way, and even Cazrola and Vermaelen have started to struggle with the burden of carrying this Arsenal side on their shoulders.

Youngsters like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs, Jenkinson and even Jack Wilshere have found themselves stretched. Whereas before they were slowly introduced into a settled and accomplished team, now they are expected to solve the problems their teammates have caused.

If Arsenal have £70million in the bank, spend it on top players, winners, and not hyped youngsters who can’t deliver now, and will eventually move elsewhere for medals. Speaking of which...

3.     3. Stop being a stepping stone

If Wenger has £70million to spend, or whatever, he should spend all of it. Soon. Arsenal need to send out a statement that they are a club aiming for the top, not a team trying to halt a slow slide to the bottom.

Wenger himself has to take a lot of the blame for Arsenal’s diminishing status in the eyes of the footballing world. Players no longer join to win leagues and trophies, they join to improve their game, perhaps experience the Champions League for the first time, and enjoy good wages that English football has to offer. If they make a good impression then great, maybe they can get even more money with a few medals chucked in at their next club.

The talk around Ashburton Grove is not about challenging for titles anymore, not really. It is about qualifying for the all important Champions League. Arsenal have managed to do that on 16 consecutive occasions but as their ambitions slip from winning, challenging, competing, to simply qualifying, the danger is a bad result here or a bit of bad luck there and now they are not even top 4 anymore, and the whole Emirates edifice comes crashing down.

Of course, it would be foolhardy for Wenger to suddenly claim they can win the Premiership now, but the downgrade of their aims has been a slow and steady process and at some point they need to reverse the rhetoric. A couple of stellar names, players who make supporters go ‘wow’, would really do the trick and change the negative atmosphere around the club at the moment.

A good start might be Klass-Jan Huntelaar, but more will need to come, including....

4.     4. Where is the midfield destroyer?

Petit, Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Flamini, Song. All players who got stuck in. Not afraid to do the dirty stuff. Win the ball. Shield the defence. Carry the water. However you want to put it, it’s clear that Mikel Arteta, for all his ability, is no ball winner and certainly not a physical presence. Jack Wilshere will get stuck in once he has a few more games under his belt, but the rest of the midfield looks flimsy, and undoubtedly adds extra pressure on to a fallible defence.

As mentioned before, Wenger was once well known for not seeing the various indiscretions of his players on the pitch and Arsenal racked up 68 red cards between September 1996 and March 2007 – over 6 a year on average. Over the next 3 years they picked up 12 (4 a year), including six in the Premiership in 2010/11, three last season, and one this season and in 2009/10 (Premier League only). This despite more challenges being deemed worthy of a red card over the last five years, with one footed lunges joining the two footed variety in earning a straight red.

Arsenal need more bite across their team, they need to press more, put more tackles in, and generally have more physical presence on the pitch. Opposition teams feel they can bully Arsenal off the pitch, not with fouls and kicks (although that does happen) but just by being stronger.

5.       5. Get rid of the deadwood

According to transferleague.co.uk Arsenal used to sell a lot more players than they bought, nearly twice as many from 2002 to 2007. This season being an exception (although we’ve addressed the need to bring in more players), Arsenal have bought and sold on a largely even basis in terms of numbers, but this is not by design.

Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner, Ju-Young Park, Denilson, Andrey Arshavin, Sebastien Squillaci and Andre Santos could all be employed elsewhere is anybody had wanted them. The merits of Lukasz Fabianski, injury prone Abou Diaby, and the inconsistent Tomas Rosicky could also be questioned, while Bacary Sagna and Theo Walcott’s futures are uncertain.

That is a lot of talent that is either not required or whose future needs deciding on, and while they remain they only serve to cloud Wenger’s thinking.

There was a time when the manager would have ruthlessly culled those who were not good enough, safe in the knowledge that he had the quality within the squad or players lined up to come in that would enhance the team. Now, with problems mounting and no clear and simple solution in sight, Wenger is stuck relying on players he knows are not good enough.

6    6.  It’s okay to ask for help

Whether it be a new coach with fresh ideas, or an active director or chief executive to help Wenger in the transfer market, the ex-Monaco manager needs a little help.

He has carried Arsenal football club through some great times, into a new stadium, and his only hope seems to be that the financial fair play rules will hurt all the other clubs, leaving his team standing at the summit. Personally I cannot see this happening, the FFP will be a battle between accountants and lawyers, and as the Etihad sponsorship of Manchester City has shown the rules can be not so much bent, as smashed to a pulp.

The absence of a David Dein-like figure has coincided spectacularly with an absence of silverware in the Arsenal trophy cabinet, and while Ivan Gazidis talks a good game and seems a respectable man, he does not give the appearance of having the cunning, knowledge or skill of Dein. If nothing else, Dein helped lift some of the weight from Wenger’s shoulders. Wenger looks increasingly tired and exhausted, and it would be no shame asking for help in running the football club.

By following even one of those suggestions Wenger will get Arsenal performing a lot better and help return the club to where it once was. Can you think of anything else Wenger could do?

Only the Majority can deal with a mindless minority

Topic of the day: coin throwing and crowd problems

Rio Ferdinand was lucky not to lose an eye, but he was unlucky that of all the coins, lighters, plastic bottles and whatever else the moronic football 'fan' can lay his or her hands on, one actually hit him. Earlier on in the game Wayne Rooney was pelted with items while caught in the heinous act of taking a corner, and recent racist and anti-Semitic chanting indicates a problem with football crowds that no doubt speaks of our wider society.

What can be done? Netting has been proposed to stop objects hitting players, but how tight will the netting need to be to stop coins? Will the objects rebound and hit innocent supporters? Did the nets at the Camp Nou stop a pig's head? And what will netting do to stop abuse emanating from the crowd?

The answer is to punish the majority to eradicate the minority. It's always a minority (every bad thing in life is always perpetrated by a minority despite the impression you might get from the media. Your average person is a decent, law abiding person) but this can no longer be an excuse. As the Football Ramble's Luke Moore says, when a rugby team at his school wrecked a minibus, all the sports teams were suspended. Something similar needs to happen in football.

Take the Serbia -England U21 game. Again, another mindless minority - albeit an uncomfortably large minority - spoiling it for the rest. The West Ham - Spurs game, more morons. Investigations have been launched, action already taken, but will all the culprits be caught? The Swansea 'fan' who shouted racist abuse towards Norwich's Sebastien Bassong was apprehended quickly and it is great credit to Swansea and the authorities that the villain was caught and done so speedily, but that was the exception. A large proportion of those who drag football down are not caught.

Finally, let's look at the coin throwing incident at the Etihad on sunday. There is CCTV, which was was being tracked live and can be checked after the event, but the likelihood is that there culprit, and those who through objects at Rooney earlier, will not be caught, and if so they will get a slap on the wrists, a banning order for a couple of seasons at most, and probably sneak in for City's next game.

When Police or stewards move into the crowd they receive abuse and a 'them and us' attitude. However, if the fan(s) they were looking for were affecting their fellow fans rather than just trying to antagonise the opposition, supporters may be more willing to point out the miscreants.

So how about you make the fans stay behind? Tell all the City fans they can't leave for twenty minutes, then those in the relevant blocks have to stay behind an hour until the Police have picked out the people they want. Now suddenly its not the image of this corporate conglomerate that the bad apples are tarnishing, but the day of all their fellow fans. Now you can't go home until that dickhead has been caught, and the next time you see someone throw something or start a racist chant you do something because that guy is going to directly affect your day. It is not the police that fan has to worry about but the hundreds of fans in his block, the thousands in the stadium, and if he goes to games regularly then it will become a very uncomfortable experience for him.

Away fans are often kept behind after European games (for their own safety rather than for punishment) and if it means people miss trains or get home late then so be it. It will just mean they are more likely to act by their volition to root out the trouble makers at our grounds.

Platini the Politician wins with Euro 2020

You have to hand it to Michel Platini. When elected to the Uefa presidency the general thinking was that the successful ex-Juventus and France player, winner of the 1984 European Championship, would make the perfect person to remove all the bureaucracy, clumsiness and cosiness from European football's governing body. Uefa would no longer be about self interest and career administrators, now it would be about football and the fans.

How wrong we were. Not only has Platini confirmed to the archetype football administrator, seen throughout the English FA, Uefa, and most visibly through Fifa, the Frenchman has shown to be more cunning, conniving, and ambitious than anyone apart from Sepp Blatter.

The announcement that Euro 2020 would take place across the continent is meant to see 'the Euros coming to the fans'. Of course it is nothing of the sort. It is hard enough trying to work out where to see your country play when confined to one nation, where first or second in the group can send you in wildly different directions, but when it involves moving to different countries at such short notice, arranging travel, accommodation, or simply knowing what currency to have with you? It is a joke.

But that is no surprise. Uefa's appreciation of the fans is a joke, and the fans are the last thing Platini is thinking about. Not sure about that statement? Then why will Euro 2024 revert back to a host nation format?

No, Platini is only concerned with the people that matter - namely sponsors and member associations. Basically, the people who can get him up the career ladder and into the job he craves - Fifa president.

"It is perhaps a bit of a zany idea but it is a good idea. I just bring forward ideas and then national associations have their own meetings and workshops and 52 out of 53 said 'yes'."

It's my idea, but it's not my fault. Power without responsibility, oh how we would all crave that. Obviously 52 out of 53 FAs said yes, they are only thinking about themselves. 40 of those countries never stood a chance of hosting the Euros. 10 of them could not explain politically the merit of spending millions on stadiums and infrastructure they do not really need at a time of economic austerity. And England and Germany have just had the Olympics and a World Cup (and pissed off too many people in football and in politics).

The Platini plan all gives them a slice of a bigger pie. Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Slovenia, Wales, Scotland, Norway, all these countries can hold one or two group games, perhaps a knockout stage as well. Instead of either building colossus stadiums they cannot fill, these countries can use the one or two big stadia they do have and get in on some of the action. Naturally, the hotel rates, airline tickets, and food and drink prices will shoot up for about two days so the natives can jump on the 2020 bandwagon, but it is only those 'loyal' fans who will pay, so no worries.

The English FA has already proposed Wembley as the final venue (might as well), Serbia might look to get home advantage for one of their games should they qualify, and the only country to vote against those proposals? Why, that's the only country that actually wanted to host the bloody thing - Turkey.

The sponsors are pleased too. "We see a lot of potential...many different locations means being able to showcase our brand across the continent" said an Adidas spokesman, while Carslberg said it was "an interesting idea". So we can expect even bigger sponsorship deals, which means more money to the FAs, and more money to the men in suits.

With everyone except the Turks happy, and even then the dollar signs will soon put a smile on their faces, and sponsors privately lauding Platini, his run to the Fifa hotseat/throne looks very smooth. Vote for me, I've got so many ideas that you can vote on to make us loads of money! And if his candidacy fails? He can simply go back to Uefa and expect 52 votes out of 53, and another decade screwing the fans and pleasing the suits.