carlyluvsunited
05-11-2007, 09:58 AM
Anderson wields a small spanner in finely tuned works
Anderson's midfield performance against Arsenal suggests he can be the
cornerstone of Alex Ferguson's exciting new generation.
You can't kick Arsenal out of a game any more. That was last year. As Arsène
Wenger said on Saturday night, after watching his side salvage a draw that felt
like a victory, "Character-wise there is something special about this team, which
you don't see at first. There is some resilience and character that is well hidden,
disguised by the players' easy technique."
Rather than attempt to muscle them out of it, however, what a shrewd opponent
can do is get inside the mechanism and disturb the timing that is the secret of
their fluency. That is what Manchester United partially achieved during Saturday's
marvellously absorbing match, and others will have taken note.
Whether Arsenal's future opponents will have the means to do anything about it
is another matter. Sir Alex Ferguson sent United out with two holding midfielders,
Owen Hargreaves and Anderson, playing to a pattern that closely resembled the
way Dunga and Mauro Silva performed for Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, which is
to say that their primary job was one of interception and disruption.
Although both did their jobs well, it was Anderson who constantly caught the eye.
Any small black-skinned midfield player with flying locks and an aggressive
mobility is likely to bring to mind the image of Edgar Davids, whose career took
him from Ajax to Tottenham via Juventus, the two Milan clubs and Barcelona, but
Anderson looked as if he had been brought up watching nothing but videos of
the Surinam-born Dutchman's finest performances.
Arsenal's attacking play is an intricate construction of cogs, springs, axles and
counterweights. When it is in perfect working order, as it was during the move
that brought their first equalising goal a couple of minutes after half-time, it is
almost impossible to neutralise. That was how they had begun the match, with a
couple of moves that flowed half the length of the pitch, raising the home
supporters' hopes of a triumphant afternoon against their most significant long
-term rivals. Soon, however, that early flow was disrupted, not to be regained for
the remainder of the first period, and Anderson was the reason.
The 19-year-old Brazilian newcomer chased and harried and, having won
possession, distributed carefully. Most of all, however, he bit into the tackle with
impressive frequency and legitimate ferocity. When Cesc Fábregas tried to teach
him a lesson after 40 minutes, the Arsenal prodigy got himself booked for sliding
into the younger man's ankles.
These two have something in common. When they appeared in Fifa's Under-17
World Cup, Fábregas in 2003 and Anderson in 2005, both won the Golden Boot
for the tournament's outstanding player. On Saturday, each of them the most
influential man in his respective team, they made it look a young man's game.
Eleven months Fábregas's junior, Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira joined Gremio
in 1993, when he was five. He had made only five first-team appearances before
moving to Porto, whose investment was endorsed by the judgment of the great
Mario Zagallo, one of only two men to win a World Cup as both a player and a
manager, who said: "Everything suggests that he is going to be a superstar."
Anderson's farewell gift to Gremio was the goal that took them back into the top
tier.
Just over a year later Ferguson paid Porto around £17m for a player who had lost
most of a season to a broken leg. Soon after the deal was signed Anderson
made his senior international debut in the Copa América. He appeared only in the
group matches, and was on the bench when Brazil beat Argentina in the final,
but it is not hard to imagine that Dunga, now the national manager, would have
glimpsed a player after his own heart.
This was his fourth start in the Premier League, his debut having come against
Sunderland on the season's opening day, when he was withdrawn to make way
for Louis Saha, who scored the game's only goal. In Kiev a fortnight ago,
however, Anderson was among United's outstanding players in a 4-2 victory and
on the basis of such performances it would be no surprise to see him become a
cornerstone of Ferguson's new generation.
That he was powerless to prevent Arsenal's first goal was something for which
neutrals lured to the match by Wenger's promise of "a work of art" could only be
grateful. Fábregas started the move in his own penalty area with a short pass to
Alexander Hleb and moved forward to accept a measured return after the
Belarus player had worked his way past a couple of defenders. Then, having fed
Emmanuel Adebayor and watched Emmanuel Eboué's low cross from the right
come off the converging Adebayor and Edwin van der Sar, he continued his
advance and was in space just inside the United penalty area when Bacary
Sagna picked up the loose ball and cut it back for the Spaniard to guide it
carefully into the goal.
Anderson had been replaced by the time the two sides exchanged the game's
third and fourth goals but he had left an impression that would have been noted
by Wenger, whose own faith in youth led him to favour Mathieu Flamini over the
impeccable, selfless and now long-suffering 31-year-old Gilberto Silva as
Arsenal's lone defensive midfielder. Even for Brazilian footballers, as Anderson
will no doubt discover, life is not always easy.
Click here to join manutdtalk.com and read all breaking news on all things
United !!!
http://manutdtalk.com/forums/register.php
Anderson's midfield performance against Arsenal suggests he can be the
cornerstone of Alex Ferguson's exciting new generation.
You can't kick Arsenal out of a game any more. That was last year. As Arsène
Wenger said on Saturday night, after watching his side salvage a draw that felt
like a victory, "Character-wise there is something special about this team, which
you don't see at first. There is some resilience and character that is well hidden,
disguised by the players' easy technique."
Rather than attempt to muscle them out of it, however, what a shrewd opponent
can do is get inside the mechanism and disturb the timing that is the secret of
their fluency. That is what Manchester United partially achieved during Saturday's
marvellously absorbing match, and others will have taken note.
Whether Arsenal's future opponents will have the means to do anything about it
is another matter. Sir Alex Ferguson sent United out with two holding midfielders,
Owen Hargreaves and Anderson, playing to a pattern that closely resembled the
way Dunga and Mauro Silva performed for Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, which is
to say that their primary job was one of interception and disruption.
Although both did their jobs well, it was Anderson who constantly caught the eye.
Any small black-skinned midfield player with flying locks and an aggressive
mobility is likely to bring to mind the image of Edgar Davids, whose career took
him from Ajax to Tottenham via Juventus, the two Milan clubs and Barcelona, but
Anderson looked as if he had been brought up watching nothing but videos of
the Surinam-born Dutchman's finest performances.
Arsenal's attacking play is an intricate construction of cogs, springs, axles and
counterweights. When it is in perfect working order, as it was during the move
that brought their first equalising goal a couple of minutes after half-time, it is
almost impossible to neutralise. That was how they had begun the match, with a
couple of moves that flowed half the length of the pitch, raising the home
supporters' hopes of a triumphant afternoon against their most significant long
-term rivals. Soon, however, that early flow was disrupted, not to be regained for
the remainder of the first period, and Anderson was the reason.
The 19-year-old Brazilian newcomer chased and harried and, having won
possession, distributed carefully. Most of all, however, he bit into the tackle with
impressive frequency and legitimate ferocity. When Cesc Fábregas tried to teach
him a lesson after 40 minutes, the Arsenal prodigy got himself booked for sliding
into the younger man's ankles.
These two have something in common. When they appeared in Fifa's Under-17
World Cup, Fábregas in 2003 and Anderson in 2005, both won the Golden Boot
for the tournament's outstanding player. On Saturday, each of them the most
influential man in his respective team, they made it look a young man's game.
Eleven months Fábregas's junior, Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira joined Gremio
in 1993, when he was five. He had made only five first-team appearances before
moving to Porto, whose investment was endorsed by the judgment of the great
Mario Zagallo, one of only two men to win a World Cup as both a player and a
manager, who said: "Everything suggests that he is going to be a superstar."
Anderson's farewell gift to Gremio was the goal that took them back into the top
tier.
Just over a year later Ferguson paid Porto around £17m for a player who had lost
most of a season to a broken leg. Soon after the deal was signed Anderson
made his senior international debut in the Copa América. He appeared only in the
group matches, and was on the bench when Brazil beat Argentina in the final,
but it is not hard to imagine that Dunga, now the national manager, would have
glimpsed a player after his own heart.
This was his fourth start in the Premier League, his debut having come against
Sunderland on the season's opening day, when he was withdrawn to make way
for Louis Saha, who scored the game's only goal. In Kiev a fortnight ago,
however, Anderson was among United's outstanding players in a 4-2 victory and
on the basis of such performances it would be no surprise to see him become a
cornerstone of Ferguson's new generation.
That he was powerless to prevent Arsenal's first goal was something for which
neutrals lured to the match by Wenger's promise of "a work of art" could only be
grateful. Fábregas started the move in his own penalty area with a short pass to
Alexander Hleb and moved forward to accept a measured return after the
Belarus player had worked his way past a couple of defenders. Then, having fed
Emmanuel Adebayor and watched Emmanuel Eboué's low cross from the right
come off the converging Adebayor and Edwin van der Sar, he continued his
advance and was in space just inside the United penalty area when Bacary
Sagna picked up the loose ball and cut it back for the Spaniard to guide it
carefully into the goal.
Anderson had been replaced by the time the two sides exchanged the game's
third and fourth goals but he had left an impression that would have been noted
by Wenger, whose own faith in youth led him to favour Mathieu Flamini over the
impeccable, selfless and now long-suffering 31-year-old Gilberto Silva as
Arsenal's lone defensive midfielder. Even for Brazilian footballers, as Anderson
will no doubt discover, life is not always easy.
Click here to join manutdtalk.com and read all breaking news on all things
United !!!
http://manutdtalk.com/forums/register.php