Arsenal have the Mike Tyson effect – here’s how they are beating teams before they even step on the pitch
RIGHT now, Arsenal have the Mike Tyson effect.
They have opponents beaten in the tunnel before the match even begins, such is the physical stature of this squad Mikel Arteta has assembled.
Arsenal’s team last season was their tallest since the Invincibles era, and with the addition of Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori — both 6ft 2in — the average height of the starting XI is around six foot.
From a psychological point, it is exactly what you want in a team. My Watford side were quite fortunate because we were physically imposing.
When we looked at our opponents in the tunnel, we thought, ‘We’re going to beat you up today’. It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re bigger than everyone else in the playground.
Arsenal have that. In my opinion, they haven’t started the season that well, but they are grinding out results and using their size to their advantage in tough moments.
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It is such a valuable thing to have in a squad — especially one going for a title, even if I reckon they are still a world-class striker short of toppling Manchester City.
But these guys — Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel, Thomas Partey, Ben White — they aren’t just big lumps, they can move.
It sounds simple but the way they move is so fluid and effortless. You can learn it, the technique of gliding when you run, but a lot of it is natural.
They are elite for a reason and when you see them run next to someone who isn’t, it really shows.
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The best way to describe it is when you see the average swimmer splash about in the water and then compare it to when an Olympian dives in — there is barely a ripple.
My Watford lot were actually quite similar to Arsenal.
We had a few little guys like Will Hughes and Gerard Deulofeu but the rest of us were giants — Holebas, Prodl, Ake, Capoue, Doucoure.
But I have to admit, we still came up against teams that properly intimated us big time, the best example being Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side of 2014-15.
They had everything, and importantly, were big. Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Jon Obi Mikel, Cesc Fabregas, and, of course, Diego Costa.
That lot could beat you up or tickle you to sleep, depending on what mood they were in.
There’s also that Stoke team who were horrible to play against, but they didn’t have the technical ability — so if you matched them physically, you could beat them.
And yet, I came up against plenty of lads in my career who were unbelievably strong yet were nowhere near close to joining the six-footers club.
N’Golo Kante was one, David Silva another. Eden Hazard was disgustingly strong, backside like a mule.
Mesut Ozil too, perhaps surprisingly, but you would just bounce off him.
His centre of gravity was ridiculous. Pablo Zabaleta was also a strong little so-and-so.
We are in an era now where size does matter, to an extent, but I still believe football is beautiful because anyone of any shape and size can reach the very top.
Just look at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — two completely different body types but unstoppable on their day and unlikely to ever be matched.
Wayne Rooney was just some normal, stocky kid, never a physical specimen, but somehow better than everyone, nutmegging Zinedine Zidane at the Euros as a teenager and bouncing Sol Campbell around for Everton.
You see clips of him now as a coach at Plymouth, and he’s not exactly in peak condition, but he is still technically better than his entire squad.
There are players now in the top four divisions of English football who can’t get near him — and Rooney is almost 40.
So, in the modern game, height and power is good, but there is still room for different physiques at the top level — you just have to be good enough.