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Wenger speaking out of his Arsene.

Published by Ian John on December 27, 2009

Arsene Wenger’s latest idea is revolutionary. He told us that he wants to see the throw in replaced by a kick in.

The reason for this is simple. Horrid teams like Stoke City have players like Rory Delap who can throw the ball quite far. This, according to Arsene, is an unfair advantage and to level the playing field, his solution is to scrap throw in’s and allow teams to kick the ball in.

Is it me or is this just utter sour grapes and nonsense?

So what if Rory Delap can throw the ball that far? Good on him. It is utilising his strengths as a player. Throw in’s are legal. There is nothing unfair about them other than only a few players can perform that particular skill. In pretty much the same way that only a few players can control a game from midfield like Fabregas, score goals like Lionel Messi or have the pace of Fernando Torres, strength of Didier Drogba.

Should we ban these as being “unfair” too?

Honestly, Arsene’s moans become more laughable as he edges towards retirement age. Just because he doesn’t have a player who can throw the ball like Delap, it is immediately deemed “unfair”. The comment is a joke but even funnier is his ‘solution’ to the problem. Kick in’s.

Arsene seems to assume that if a team is awarded a ‘kick in’ they will probably back heel the ball, with added flourish, to a team mate 6 yards away who will dummy it to another team mate who will then start a 50 pass one touch move, that will set new levels in football for beautiful passing and interplay, before their striker flicks the ball home at the near post ala Gianfranco Zola at his best.

What of course will NOT happen, especially for teams of a lower ability, will be that every time they get a throw in they will push everyone upfield as far as they can, find their biggest kicker of the ball (probably the goalkeeper if he is in his own half) and launch the ball 70 yards downfield towards the opposition penalty box. Any throw in in the opposition half will be like a corner by any other name. (Remember, you cannot be offside from a throw in, so the defence will HAVE to defend deep). We’d all love a return to “hoof” football wouldn’t we?

It makes it quite amusing actually to hear Arsenal fans accuse other teams of “hoofing” the ball whenever they make a clearance over 20 yards, when their manager is actually advocating changes to the game that will increase the likelihood of teams doing this many many times over.

Wenger’s problem is not that throw in’s are illegal, or that Rory Delap can fling the ball miles. Wenger’s problem, though he won’t like to admit it, is that his team and defenders do not know how to defend against that kind of attack. That isn’t Stoke’s fault, that isn’t the fault of Rory Delap and his throw in skills, that is the fault of the players Arsene Wenger brought to the club and the level of training they have in dealing with it.

If Arsene wants to change something about throw ins to make it better, he could do with finding a centre half and goalkeeper who can handle a ball played into the box this way. If Accrington Stanley and Rochdale can do it, I am sure Arsenal should be able to.

Image Courtesy of ***Photo Reti *** at flickr.com

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