TITLE WIN’S TAKE SOME SAYS FORMER ARSENAL
LEE DIXON fears it will take Arsenal “many years” to regain that deep-rooted, never-say-die mentality required to be champions.
is not right. Regaining that balance is very difficult. It takes many years to get it in the first place and you can’t just rediscover it overnight.
“It takes a huge amount of effort and time to get players into thinking that way again.”
Dixon’s gloomy verdict on what lies ahead is particularly relevant in a week when 89, a new documentary film about the amazing finale to Graham’s first championship triumph, was released.
The movie charts Arsenal’s lastgasp, last-game 2-0 win away to reigning champs
Liverpool when Michael Thomas’ sensational injury-time strike ensured the North Londoners finished top instead of the Merseysiders – by virtue of more goals scored.
Yet it so nearly never happened after Arsenal failed to beat Derby and Wimbledon in their last two home games and virtually handed the trophy to Kenny Dalglish’s men in the process.
That is when tactical mastermind Graham stunned the football world by introducing a sweeper system for the trip to Anfield, something he had used only once that season.
But, as Dixon revealed, they could have played any formation.
The ex-England ace and executive producer of 89 explained: “He had a vision of us going there and pinning back Liverpool’s wingers. We didn’t work on the system at all. We didn’t need to.
“We were so drilled and trained you could throw anything at us.
“If we’d played two at the back, five in the middle and three up front that night, we’d have adapted. When the manager said jump, we asked: ‘How high?’”
Dixon need only study Wenger’s current rearguard to see why their title challenge consistently falls short every season.
“Individually they are excellent but collectively they don’t work,” added the ITV pundit.
“Hector Bellerin is a wing-back who is athletic and gets forward. Nacho Monreal is a better defender. Both Laurent Koscielny and Sead Kolasinac love a tackle and are aggressive.
“But put them all together and, with the team’s ethic and mentality without the ball, it goes wrong.
“Unless they’re working together every day, they are not going to perform over a sustained period of time.”
Arsenal held a huge 15-point lead in early January 1989 before a slump in their form, combined with a surge in Liverpool’s, wiped it out.
Proof that while Manchester City, eight points clear after 11 matches, appear to be racing away with this season’s Premier League, nothing can be taken for granted.
Dixon said: “Since 1989 it’s always been in the back of my mind that miracles do happen in this game and there’s always a chance. But it takes hard work. They don’t happen on their own. You have to be doing the right things on the training pitch.” Which surely kills off any hope of Arsenal overhauling the 12-point gap between themselves and Pep Guardiola’s pacesetters.
89 opened in cinemas yesterday and is available on DVD and Digital Download from November 20.