Arsenal legend, Patrick Vieira, is a form believer of the ‘size does matter’ phrase when it come to the current Arsenal side. Vieira has said that the current Arsenal side play much better football than the Arsenal side he was in with the likes of Seaman, Adams, Keown and Petit who were all big players and able to do well in the physical nature of the Premier League.
At Arsenal right now you have the likes of Nasri, Fabregas and Walcott who are not the biggest players out there and are fairly lightweight when it comes to the physical aspect of the game. What Arsenal need, and Wenger has highlighted this, is that we need bigger players in our side. No wonder we are linked to the likes of Samba and Cahill.
Vieira said, “Since I left Arsenal, there are new players, a new generation and maybe a new philosophy because Arsenal play better football than we used to do in my time.”
“The passing and the movement is better and they are faster. But our team was more physical and responded better to the English game.
“There is a big difference between the Arsenal team now and the one I played in.
“Look at the goalkeeper back then, you had the personality and presence of David Seaman.
“In defence you had players like [Tony] Adams, [Steve] Bould and [Martin] Keown and then myself and Emmanuel Petit in the midfield – it was a big, physical, intimidating team.
“But I honestly believe that the Arsenal team now are playing better than we were then. The difference is we put silverware on the sideboard.”