If you're looking for a cure for insomnia, I strongly suggest you watch tonight's European Cup Final between AC Milan and Liverpool. You will find yourself dropping off within seconds of the snoozefest. Neither team will try and play football. They will both try and cancel each other out with mind numbingly dull defensive play, even though AC Milan, at the very least, has exciting attacking potential.
When was the last time you saw an exciting Cup Final of any kind? When was the last time you saw an FA Cup Final, European Cup Final or World Cup Final that set your pulse racing? The most exciting games tend to come much earlier in the competition. These days, Cup Finals are the mother of all anti-climaxes, at best. Caution and negativity come to the fore in such games. Managers are more scared of losing, it seems, than actually winning, and therefore adopt unadventurous tactics. Liverpool are the embodiment of a cautious defensive team.
It pains me to say this but I was more than a little ashamed by Arsenal's ultra-cautious defensive tactics, in winning the FA Cup on Saturday. Yes, it was great to see Arsene and the boys get one over Alex Ferguson, but why did Wenger have to betray his principles, and play ugly in order to beat the Mancs? In the last few years, under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have played breathtakingly beautiful attacking football. So why the regression to negative football? Wenger even admitted that his main concern was not conceding a goal.
The fact that Henry was injured is no excuse. Arsenal had enough attacking options on the field. Pires anyone? Ljunberg? Bergkamp? Van Persie? Reyes? Vieira? Most football teams would die to have that plethora of attacking talent! I can only surmise that Wenger was so desperate not to lose to Manchester United again, that he was prepared to try anything, including playing for penalties. Yet this strategy could so easily have backfired, as Manchester United could have won the game ten times over (much as I hate to admit it). I almost felt like the George Graham era had returned with a vengeance. It could have been 1993 all over again - when Graham's Arsenal played the less attractive football against the more fancied Sheffield Wednesday, yet ran out winners with that last minute Andy Linighan goal. I was at Wembley that night, and even as an Arsenal fan, I felt sorry for the Sheffield Wednesday fans.
So back to tonight. Expect a no-score bore stalemate tonight between two unadventurous teams.
If only the teams would play end to end stuff, and go for the jugular. I wouldn't bet on it, though. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
