Ewing theory and the Me in Team.
Hi, Thom here, the resident Football Texpert. I will be blogging about the beautiful game every week, and hopefully giving a mixture of my own insights, and some cool facts. This week’s blog is all about how some clubs get better when they lose their stars…
There is a theory well known to North American sports commentators. It is known as Ewing Theory, and states that a team actually gets better when it loses it’s best individual player. It was named so, after the New York Knicks Jamaican-born star, Patrick Ewing, who’s injury actually proved to be the catalyst for the Knicks progress to the Playoff final in 1999. In football, there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent. Maybe this season will change that. Thierry Theory anyone?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and a number of pundits are going to be feeling particularly stupid when they look at the current Premiership table. There seemed to be a collective consensus that Tottenham were certain to occupy Arsenal’s place inside the ‘Big Four’ come June next year, particularly because of the clubs differing transfer policy. Spurs made it clear where their ambitions lie, fending off interest in the mercurial Dimitar Berbatov and splashing some serious money on a mixture of youth (Gareth Bale) and experience (Darren Bent), in a bid to break in to the lucrative Champions League. Arsenal did exactly the opposite. There was no attempt to replace the Barcelona-bound Henry with a big name, and Arsene Wenger had to constantly re-assure the fans that there was money to spend if he wanted to spend it. Two months into the season, and it seems that, not for the first time, Arsene Wenger knew more than everyone else.
Rarely in the history of football can there be a manager who knows a bargain when he sees one. Wenger seems to see a player and realise where they will fit into his team, rather than seeing a finished article. The additions of Eduardo and Lassana Diarra will most likely prove to be shrewd ones, but it is the patience he has shown in the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexandre Hleb, which seems to have brought their advance on so rapidly. Suddenly there is a ruthless end product to the slick passing football Arsenal are famous for, as Arsenal have added goals from long range and from headers. Two of Arsenal’s league goals this season have been headers, compared to 5 for the whole season in 03/04, and they are only 2 long range goals off their entire total for last year. While Thierry Henry was arguably the greatest player ever to wear an Arsenal shirt, he did make them play in one rigid way- fast, to feet and with a frenetic urgency. When it went right, it was spectacular. But if a side could stifle Henry then there was no Plan B. This season there seems to be a new patience to the way they play and players like Hleb and Adebayor, who were at best frustrating last season, seem to have found their place within the team.
This is by no means limited to the Premiership. In Scotland, the biggest surprise has been how little Hibernian seem to have missed the likes of Scott Brown, Kevin Thompson, Chris Killen and Steven Whittaker. Killen and Brown left Easter Road for Celtic this summer, Brown for a Scottish Record 4.4M GBP , while both Whittaker and Thompson moved along the M8 to Rangers. It was hard to see how Hibs were going to replace not just one important player, but four. Yet, nine games in, Hibs are sitting above the Old Firm at the top of the SPL, and boast the only unbeaten record in the league. One can only praise the team ethic that John Collins has installed, as the replacements he brought in (Brian Kerr, Filipe Morais, Clayton Donaldson) didn’t immediately arouse interest. Similarly, Jimmy Calderwood’s Aberdeen have done a fantastic job of getting to the group stages of the UEFA Cup after losing club captain and star player Russell Anderson. In La Liga, recent success stories at Villarreal and Sevilla have been built on creating stars, rather than bringing them in.
It seems that without a single ’star’ player, a club can play more like a team. One only needs to look at the failed Galacticos experiment at Real Madrid, or the infighting at Barcelona when they went down the same route, to see the negative effects that the big names can bring, if they are not catered for. Recent improvements in results for England and Scotland should also attest to this. When England were forced into replacing Lampard and Rooney, they relied on a far less ’superstar’ players (Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey), who kept things simple. The whole ethos of the new Scotland team has been that of workmanlike performances, and a focus on the team.
Admittedly, there is nothing to suggest that building your team on young, home nurtured talent will win you trophies. While Arsenal have started the season impeccably, you have to assume that Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea can only get better. Manchester City look like they could take points from anyone. Tottenham will probably improve too. We have yet to see how the New Arsenal react if they have a set-back, or how they cope with the loss of key players to the African Nations Cup in the new year. The same can be said in Scotland, where the title is 90% likely to be fought for between the Traditional Two, who will have the bigger stars. However, there is a lesson to be learned from the way in which some sides approach their football. When a hole appears in the team, sometimes everyone has to pull together to fill it.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and a number of pundits are going to be feeling particularly stupid when they look at the current Premiership table.”
As a rugby fan, the same is being said of rugby pundits who predicted the demise of England and France this weekend. No-one was favouring the European teams, but in the most exciting day of rugby this year - perhaps ever? - they both came through. Old school rugby of grit, determination and defence.
Of course, as a Welshman who is engaged to a Kiwi, I was cheering on the other side in both matches!!
Were there dodgy bookmakers involved?
It is great that rugby (and football, with Arsenal and Man City) can make great sporting occasions in the light of other sports suffering under a cloud - drugs controversies in cycling and athletics, and gambling accusations circling around tennis, horse racing and cricket.