Grand Slam Sunday—the Real Talking Point

Grand Slam Sunday, dubbed by the Skysports team as the biggest day of the Premiership season, was as usual, a day full of talking points. The day included the 'top four' battling it out against each other.

The key talking point, however, should not be about the Mascherano sending off, the Drogba 'magnificent' double, or United's five point lead over Chelsea. It should be about the quality of football by these 'big fours', who undoubtedly are the best four teams in the UK.

When I looked back at yesterday, the quality was certainly lacking for Chelsea. This is not the quality of their players, it is the quality of their football. Both Liverpool and Chelsea had been criticised for being too direct in their passes rather than adopting a techniqued-based style of play where short passing and movement is fundamental.

In football games as such, the first thing that fans might notice might be the results of the games, but for football lovers around the world, the key attribute of football games should be concentrating on the actual approach by a team, and Chelsea's was not a typical 'joga bonito'.

Pundits and fans had been arguing since the start of this season about how Arsenal's youngsters will struggle to cope with the pressure and intensity of the games which the premiership is renowned for. However, pressure was not the key disadvantage for the gunners yesterday, the lack of football was. The direct approach from Chelsea often made it difficult for football fans to remember that they were actually watching the round ball game rather than a rugby training session of 'up and under'.

Chelsea had spent over 200 million pounds on players in the past six years, will fans not think that they should be playing slightly better football than this? Instead, they have adopted a type of play similar to prep school's coaches favorites, 'just hoove it and chase it'.

This is where I believe Arsenal's youngsters are absolutely adorable in terms of football. Even Liverpool are beginning to change their play, despite going down to 10-men yesterday, their approach was admirable.

They defended as a team and tried to pass it out as a team. What Arsenal's youngsters have achieved this year is absolute respect in terms of how they play football. Would Chelsea ever get the same reception by the mighty San Siro crowd like the young gunners did?  No wonder Abromovich decided to change manager, even though they are still struggling to reach his goal.

So has Arsenal's youngsters really underachieved this year? Trophies are key to football, no doubt, but if you ask the Brazilians to play the Chelsea way, or the total footballing Dutch side of old to hoove it and wish for the best, they would rather give up football and play in their backyards.

For a team challenging to become the best team in England, Chelsea's football does not deserve that motto. It would be frustrating to watch football if trophies are won by those who cannot even play the game 'properly'. The happiest moment of the 'Grand Slam' weekend was when Avram Grant said, "I think we play very good football". Did he mean football, or soccer?