Strachan Interview
Tipster
Ferguson knows how to block Arsenal's powerful left hook
Old Trafford supremo will not have forgotten the lessons of last
October's league encounter
Gordon Strachan
Friday May 20, 2005
The Guardian
Tomorrow's FA Cup final could be decided by how well Manchester United
handle Arsenal's left-hand side. I've been watching a lot of tapes of
Arsenal and I think you probably take away at least two-thirds of their
chances if you stifle them in that area.
You can never totally wrap up that flank but you have to minimise the
damage. Ashley Cole is probably the world's best left-back, Robert
Pires is on fire at the moment and then there is José Antonio Reyes.
If Thierry Henry was playing, too, it would mean even more trouble for
United.
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It's still dangerous enough, though. Pires and Cole love playing
football on the same flank and they're almost telepathic. Pires does
all the dribbling and sees impossible passes. Cole also spots things
that others can't and has an incredible engine. He's one of the fittest
people I have ever seen.
I think United have to fill that left side with players, maybe
overcompensate there and pay less attention to the right. There's a
huge difference between how much Arsenal attack down their left and
their right, where they'll have Lauren and probably Cesc Fábregas.
United stopped Arsenal's left side very effectively when they won 2-0
at Old Trafford this season. They used their usual 4-3-3 system with
Phil Neville on the right of the midfield three, playing in an
old-fashioned right-half position.
Phil Neville got himself into areas that stopped Arsenal players from
wandering into space on that side the way they usually do. He read the
game brilliantly and Sir Alex Ferguson could rely on him making good
tackles. I thought he was United's most important player in that match.
Alex has a great memory and I'm sure he won't have forgotten that.
He'll probably also have a file to remind him of a couple of things. He
could play Phil Neville there again, use Darren Fletcher or put Roy
Keane there, with Paul Scholes in the middle and Quinton Fortune on the
left.
Arsenal don't pose the same threat down their right, where Lauren backs
up the play rather than going ahead of midfield, but that doesn't mean
they're finished if they don't have space on the left. They still have
great players like Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Fábregas, who
can make or score goals.
Defensively, Arsenal will need to make sure they win the ball in
midfield. If they lose out and United get time there, Wayne Rooney and
Cristiano Ronaldo will get into difficult positions. It will be a huge
problem for Arsenal if those two can pick up possession, turn and run
at people.
It puts a lot of pressure on Vieira and Gilberto Silva. Arsenal's 4-4-2
against United's 4-3-3 might suggest they will be outnumbered in the
centre, but Pires and Fábregas can drop in and Arsenal almost play
3-5-2 when you think what Cole does.
Given the opposition and the amount Cole bombs on, I would be surprised
if Sol Campbell doesn't start at centre-back. He's great at covering
that left side and doesn't mind being one for one against people. Then
it could be Philippe Senderos or Kolo Touré alongside him.
When it comes to deciding who will win, I keep changing my mind. I was
with Arsenal until Henry got injured and now I'm with United. Henry is
such a huge player. Having him in the tunnel is intimidating for the
opposition. No matter who replaces him and how talented they are,
there's not the same fear.
What might also work in United's favour is knowing they have lost only
one of the last nine games against Arsenal. It will give them the
mental strength to keep working away and not be scared. Even if Arsenal
go 1-0 up, United will feel they can come back and win, as they did in
February at Highbury.
That's a great weapon in a game like this, which is even bigger for
both clubs because somebody's going to finish the season without a
trophy, which shouldn't happen at Arsenal or United.
I think it will be very tight and the great players will only shine in
parts. The British public will get what they are looking for: a
harum-scarum clash of the giants, with some football, some tackles and
people squaring up to each other.
You can talk tactics all day but you can't plan against somebody
beating two or three men and scoring a great goal or setting up
somebody, and players on both teams are capable of that.
United seem to win a lot of games with wonder goals now. They're not
making as many chances as when David Beckham and Ryan Giggs were
putting over loads of crosses. There are more passes in their build-up
and they look for people like Rooney and Ronaldo to get on the ball and
do their thing.
I'm just about going for United to win, maybe with a wonder goal from
Rooney or something from Paul Scholes.
Tipster
Boo-boys owe an apology to brave Robson
Gordon Strachan
Monday May 16, 2005
The Guardian
Every West Brom fan who booed Bryan Robson shortly after he got there
should write him a letter of apology this morning. They know who they
are and they should acknowledge the magnificent job he's done to keep
the club in the Premiership.
I saw the celebrations on the pitch at The Hawthorns yesterday and I
was wondering how many of those people were booing Bryan five or 10
games into his time there. I know with my temperament I would have
wanted to see every one of them face to face and say: "What have you
got to say now?"
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I watched some of those first five games when Bryan stood on the
touchline being booed by his own supporters and I know what it's like.
You feel you've got no mates in the world and it says a lot about Bryan
that he took the abuse and did not react to getting that at the club he
loves.
Bryan has proved a lot of people wrong, particularly after being out of
the game for a long time. He left Middlesbrough, things didn't go well
at Bradford but the West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace gave him a job and
they both deserve credit.
Bryan must have had doubts after he left Middlesbrough and Bradford -
he wouldn't be human otherwise. He probably questioned himself and went
to West Brom saying: "I'd better get this right." That put a lot of
pressure on himself but it came off.
He managed the situation well. First, the style of football changed. I
think Bryan got to the point where he thought: "We might go down but
I'm going to build for next year and put my philosophy into place."
Because of that they got back in the race and stayed up.
He brought more variation to West Brom's play and the players are more
composed. Because they keep the ball more, it gives the opposition less
chance to get possession and make chances. It's a brave way of playing
but they had the personnel for it. Norwich played football but couldn't
defend, whereas Bryan had a team that could still defend well.
He also made first-class signings in Kevin Campbell and Kieran
Richardson. So much of management is down to decision-making, and he's
made good decisions there.
Richardson brought good ball retention, a change of pace and a couple
of goals. Campbell led the line well. He's been through it all before
and doesn't seem to get fazed. He didn't score many but he held up the
ball and allowed team-mates to get into positions to start the second
phase of attack.
The gods were with West Brom. I watched them at Manchester United,
where they got a lucky penalty and United had about 30 attempts on
goal. Somebody said after that Bryan got his tactics spot on. You can't
have done that if the other team had all those shots against you, but
West Brom deserve to stay up.
Their form since Christmas has been the best of the teams at the bottom
and they had the bottle to win yesterday when no one else did. The
relegated clubs will say the damage was done months ago but everyone
was in with a chance on the last day and, when it came to the crunch,
Bryan's team reacted the best.
Over the whole season you have to say Crystal Palace's problem was not
having anyone to score goals with Andy Johnson. Norwich didn't have the
defence to survive and Southampton had difficulties at the back as
well.
A big problem for them was having used three managers. There are good
players there - I know from working with a lot of them - but all the
changes can be confusing. There's no doubt Southampton had the best
squad of the bottom four but West Brom survived and the fans who booed
Bryan Robson should make a special point of thanking him for that.