Arsenal's lack of leaders is staggering, they have no driving force and nobody to rip the opposition apart

  • Arsenal were quite simply not good enough away to Watford on Saturday
  • They have nobody in their team who is capable of striking fear in the opposition 
  • Jose Mourinho doesn't deserve criticism for tactics - they were frankly spot on
  • Crystal Palace most definitely made the most of the recent international break 

Arsenal are seriously lacking leadership on the pitch. 

They have no driving force. The vultures are circling round Arsene Wenger but it doesn't matter how good you are as a manager, if you're missing that driving presence in your team, you're going to struggle. 

I watched the match at Watford with a former Arsenal midfielder who had that drive — Emmanuel Petit. Petit had that presence, the way N'Golo Kante has it at Chelsea and Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City

Arsenal are seriously lacking leadership on the pitch and it is clear to see 

Arsenal are seriously lacking leadership on the pitch and it is clear to see 

De Bruyne isn't a destroyer like Roy Keane, but he can rip teams apart with his incisive passing. 


A driving force can evolve at a football club, like Patrick Vieira at Arsenal. You can also buy leadership and when Wenger signed Mesut Ozil, he would have hoped he'd got a true leader.

But Ozil's display at Watford — a sloppy miss and then not busting a gut to get back for Watford's winner — highlighted his lack of drive. Wenger cares passionately, but I'm afraid he has no natural leadership in his dressing room. 

Arsene Wenger instantly bemoaned the penalty decision but his side put in a lifeless display

Arsene Wenger instantly bemoaned the penalty decision but his side put in a lifeless display

 

Get off Mourinho's back 

Jose Mourinho is getting a bit of stick for parking the bus at Anfield but I disagree. 

To win the Premier League title, you have to beat the top teams, or at least finish near the top of that mini-league against the rest of the 'big six'. 

But it's a long, hard season and Saturday's draw at Anfield will be a good point at the end of the campaign. Manchester City are in scary form, taking teams apart, but can they keep it up until May?

Jose Mourinho shouldn't be blamed for the way he set up his side against Liverpool

Jose Mourinho shouldn't be blamed for the way he set up his side against Liverpool

 

Hodgson gets the breaks 

The international break works for you or against you. It worked brilliantly for Roy Hodgson. 

He had time with his players in training and Palace had a superb shape against Chelsea, with Wilfried Zaha unplayable at times. 

There were two parts to Roy's game-plan. The first was locking up the centre of the pitch with four midfielders. 

Crystal Palace looked the most organised they had been all season and the result came

Crystal Palace looked the most organised they had been all season and the result came

That allowed Chelsea to have the ball in wide areas — Hodgson was happy for Eden Hazard and Co to have it there — he just didn't want them to have it in central areas. 

The second part — and this is the psychology of the game — is to instil belief in your players that you're not just there to stop the opposition, but that you can go and score. Zaha and Andros Townsend — who were both terrific — picked up that baton.

As for Chelsea, the international break went against them, with N'Golo Kante's injury with France particularly crucial. I remember when I was in charge at Palace and we had a great run, winning three on the bounce, but then the break came at the worst possible time and kicked us out of our rhythm and we couldn't win afterwards. Let's hope this kickstarts Palace's season.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson and his side entered the game without either a point or a goal

Palace boss Roy Hodgson and his side entered the game without either a point or a goal