The Tony Cascarino Interview: Views on Arsenal Win, Chelsea Missing Drogba, Spurs Signing Owen, Leeds Defeat & Fulham Point!
It was a vital win for Arsenal at Chelsea - do you think the three points they gained were more significant in the title race than the three points Chelsea dropped?
For me, I still don’t think Arsenal can win the title due to their weak defence so although it’s an excellent result for the Gunners I can’t see them winning the trophy come May. Chelsea are a team that can win the title so it’s more a case of them dropping points than Arsenal winning them.
What was significant was just how much Chelsea missed certain players who were not available such as Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team looked a bit one-paced at times without some of those stars particularly in the middle of the park which will be worrying him.
Another worry for Scolari will be Chelsea’s sudden aerial weakness. Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie caused the home defence plenty of problems throughout the match and the Togolese striker in particular is a weapon that the Gunners should look to exploit more. If you put the ball in the air Adebayor will always challenge and he was a real thorn in the side of the Chelsea backline as he consistently dominated. We all know he is a handful as a player and his performance alongside Van Persie showed that those two need to paired together week in, week out for Arsenal to keep winning games on a regular basis.
From your experience as a player, do pre-match comments in the press - such as those from Joe Cole and Petr Cech along the lines of ‘Arsenal play pretty football but what have they won lately? - motivate the opposition to go out and prove a point?
To be completely honest the comments were spot on in terms of summing Arsenal up but it was probably a case of poor timing just before such an important match. I doubt the Arsenal player’s needed any incentive to be up for this game but perhaps those comments did have an effect.
The statement that Arsenal play pretty football but don’t win trophies is perfectly correct in terms of the current Gunners side but whether those comments improved the Arsenal performance is highly debatable in this case.
Although Arsenal won, do you feel their team is still a bit unbalanced with Denilson playing wide right in the midfield?
There’s no doubt in my mind that Denilson is not a wide right midfielder and once players return to fitness he won’t be playing but what you have to consider is those squad members that are missing. Wenger lost Hleb in the summer whilst Walcott and Rosicky are both injured so it’s been a case of shuffling the pack in their absence. They may have won on Sunday but the team still looks vulnerable to me in a number of situations. They may be brilliant at going forward but as I’ve said in the past, they don’t look like they do an awful lot of work on the defensive side of the game in training so won’t match the other big boys over the course of a season.
With Luiz Felipe Scolari having failed to mastermind a win in Chelsea’s three home games against the other members of the Big Four this season, do you draw any conclusions about his management vis-a-vis that of Jose Mourinho?
The thing about Jose Mourinho is he knew how to win games at Chelsea. He was brilliant at adapting to different situations and the results he achieved showed that. The major obstacle for Scolari when he’s faced the fellow big sides is that he’s had to do it without Didier Drogba. Big Phil needs the big Ivory Coast striker when he faces fellow big 4 sides as he is the perfect man at upsetting good, well organised defences.
Scolari had few options at the weekend when he needed to change things after losing the likes of Andrei Shevchenko in the summer and Drogba to suspension. Now if Drogba had faced the Gunners then Chelsea would have been a whole new proposition. At times Nicolas Anelka was isolated and comfortable for the Arsenal backline to deal with but we all know what the Ivory Coast striker usually does against Arsene Wenger’s side.
A major worry for Scolari must be that his team has been sussed out by the opposition. His team looked one-paced in the middle of the park and teams are starting to exploit the fact that the full-backs like to bomb on leaving the rest of the team vulnerable to quick attacks. In the past Chelsea had pace in the side such as Robben, Wright-Phillips and Damien Duff on the flanks but the likes of Deco, Ballack and Lampard in the middle whilst good on the ball are not the quickest.
I would be surprised if Chelsea signed a winger in January as at the moment Scolari is using his full-backs to great effect. They are his major weapon this season and I’m sure they will continue to impress. It’s far more likely they he’ll bring in a player with a bit of pace to slot into midfield and a new striker to take the burden from both Anelka and when he’s fit and available Drogba.
Your views on Fulham are proving accurate, with two outstanding away draws at Liverpool and Aston Villa - do you think they can really push on from here and make Craven Cottage a bit of a fortress?
Fulham picked up another valuable point on the road at the weekend which is testament to the work Roy Hodgson has done in making them a difficult unit to break down. Any points away from home are good for the Cottagers as I can’t see them winning too many away this season.
At home is a different matter as they’ve already taken a number of scalps. I think they’ll remain a mid-table side and won’t get dragged right into a relegation scrap as Andrew Johnson is a big player for them and he’ll score the odd goal which will enable them to pick up 3 points every now and then but not enough for them to climb any further up the League. They’ve already shown that no-one gets an easy ride at Craven Cottage and for that reason alone they’ll be safe.
Is the Harry Redknapp honeymoon period over? Where do you think Spurs will find their ‘true’ level in the League?
I think Harry was always aware of what was missing from the team at Tottenham as he’s been in football long enough to work out what needs to be done. Ok they lost at the weekend but you don’t become a great side overnight and Harry will be aiming to get a few short-term deals done and also some long-term ones in January and the summer.
I can see Harry making moves for the likes of Michael Owen even though he’s also strongly linked to Jermain Defoe. Redknapp has always been one for taking advantage of situations in his transfers. He is great at jumping on opportunities to bring in one of two bargains. Now, it’s rumoured that Michael doesn’t fancy a move to London but Harry may be able to talk him round. For me, Spurs need a predator, ok Pavlyuchenko can be a nuisance and Bent is good at getting in behind defences but Owen is a superb penalty box finisher and would suit Harry. The Spurs manager knows that he could get him for a knock-down price plus big wages and that may well suit him.
He’ll also bring in a centre-half as he can’t keep relying on Ledley King like he is at the moment. However, there’s not a lot wrong in the squad once Harry has done a bit of tinkering about and a mid-table position is a true level for them this season due to the appalling start they had.
Was non-league Histon’s win over Leeds due to the home side’s performance or the away side’s lack of one?
Now let’s get things right, Leeds shouldn’t be losing a match like this one though it was the perfect day for Histon. If you look at the possession and the chances that Leeds had on the day then they should never have got beat but once again the FA Cup has proved if your attitude is not spot on, then you’ll get turned over as the League One side proved.
The weather and the pitch cutting up certainly suited the home side on the day but Leeds should have been able to dig in and show their professionalism. I’ve never been involved in a giantkilling of these proportions but I do remember when I was at Gillingham and we were involved in two FA Cup replays with the eventual winners Everton. We were so close to knocking them out when I was put clean through for a one on one with just 5 minutes left of the 2nd replay only to miss. They went on to win the cup but I learnt a lesson that day that giantkillings can easily happen if the supposed favourite’s attitude is not totally spot on. A few of Gary McAllister’s players perhaps should be having a long hard look at themselves for letting him and the club down.
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Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Leeds, Michael Owen, Tony Cascarino, Tottenham
