It has been heavily documented this season that without Robin Van Persie, Arsenal would be somewhere unthinkable in terms of their league positioning. Picking up the PFA Player of The Year last night, nobody can deny that the Dutchman has had an incredibly prosperous 2011/12, striking 27 league goals and firing the Gunners to a more respectable third at present. However, whilst Van Persie has been individually brilliant, his team as a whole has flattered to deceive and if you judge a successful season by trophy contention, the Gunners have been further of the mark this term than ever before in seasons gone by. Early cup exits and inconsistencies have weighed heavy on the club and juvenile calls of ‘one man team’ might not be that immature as first billed. When Van Persie has scored, Arsenal have usually gone on to win, and when he hasn’t they have struggled. It has been as simple as that and whilst Arsenal fans may flauntingly gallivant that they have the best striker in Europe, it’s a bittersweet emotion in many Gunners fans heads that secretly there is a reluctant acceptance that he is over-relied upon, individually outstanding and therefore prone to widespread interest in the forthcoming transfer window.
This so-called curse of individual brilliance may not be limited solely to Arsenal however when we look at the squad dynamic of rosters elsewhere. Whilst the curse in the case of Van Persie refers to a reliance on goal scoring in particularly, other squads’ merits are usually hinged upon a certain few individuals too.
If we embark on the continent and Barcelona in particularly, a few weeks ago, only a brave individual would question Pep Guardiola’s tactics with certain calls of weaknesses being shunned and laughed off as ludicrous nonsense. With the recent two defeats to Chelsea and Real Madrid, stupid punditry calls for ‘it being impossible’ to defeat Barca have been justifiably answered with aplomb. With Chelsea’s rigorous focus on the art of defending, a method was efficiently carried out to counteract the train-like consistency of Barcelona’s attacking play with the rare case of players looking solely to Messi alone for inspiration. Whilst we already know many of Barcelona’s players acquire the skill and know-how to win as a team, the semi-final first leg highlighted that when the chips are down, Messi was the player given the ball most often to try and run and weave between the Chelsea lines of four. You would expect the world’s best player to be looked towards but the rare lack of penetrative passing from Andres Iniesta and Xavi meant Lionel Messi was the focal point or in the case of this article, the example of individual brilliance looked upon in terms of skill, flair, and that ‘opening up of the door’ in regards to the Chelsea defence. Over the past couple of years, Guardiola’s side have been ‘at it’ more often than not winning with tremendous style from a variety of goal scorers but when they haven’t more recently, the reliance on Messi to make those darting runs has been clear to see.
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Similarly, you wouldn’t expect much criticism of current Premier League leaders Manchester United given all of Sir Alex Ferguson’s wisdom and their hard working style, but for many when Wayne Rooney isn’t available for selection or rarely isn’t ‘at it’, the squad struggles in terms of attacking vibrancy and chance conversion. Nobody is there to replace the tireless energy of those gut busting runs from deep and those clinical finishes nearly as often as Rooney achieves it. This could describe the curse of Rooney’s individual brilliance. The Van Persie’s, Messi’s and Rooney’s of this world bring all the strands of a team together with their distinct attributes and take them away and you have significantly weaker first eleven’s despite the rich heritages of their respective outfits.
Manchester City have also struggled despite their large accumulation of talent when a few vital cogs have been missing during the campaign with Yaya Toure’s and Vincent Kompany’s absences coinciding definitively with a lack of energy and drive in midfield and a shaky, mistake laden back line. If you look further down the table also, clubs such as Blackburn Rovers are often in wanting of flair and chance creation during the ninety minutes and Junior Hoilett has been the man over-relied upon in sparking some life into Rovers one-dimensional attacking play. Liverpool could also be said to still over-rely on the individual battling merits of their captain Steven Gerrard who is their only example of a player who makes such characteristic and purposeful strides forward.
Look closely and you will source just who the match winners are in teams across the nation. Perhaps Van Persie is the most noticeable and extreme example yes, but the idea is applicable to many other teams also, whose respective individual brilliance is looked towards probably just as often, but for different and less traceable reasons, whether they be flair, camaraderie or fighting spirit.
Can you see my point or am I talking as much nonsense as Ray Wilkins? Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989
