SOCCER:You can't kick Arsenal out of a game any more. That was last year. As Arsène Wenger said on Saturday night, after watching his side salvage a draw that felt like a victory, "Character-wise there is something special about this team, which you don't see at first. There is some resilience and character that is well hidden, disguised by the players' easy technique."
Rather than muscle them out of it, however, what a shrewd opponent can do is get inside the mechanism and disturb the timing that is the secret of their fluency. That is what Manchester United partially achieved during Saturday's absorbing match, and others will have taken note.
Whether Arsenal's future opponents will have the means to do anything about it is another matter. Alex Ferguson sent United out with two holding midfielders, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson, playing to a pattern closely resembling how Dunga and Mauro Silva performed for Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, which is to say their primary job was one of interception and disruption.
Although both did their jobs well, it was Anderson who constantly caught the eye. Any small, black-skinned midfielder with flying locks and an aggressive mobility is likely to bring to mind the image of Edgar Davids, whose career took him from Ajax to Tottenham via Juventus, the two Milan clubs and Barcelona, but Anderson looked as if he had been brought up watching nothing but videos of the Surinam-born Dutchman.
Arsenal's attacking play is an intricate construction of cogs, springs, axles and counterweights. When in working order, as during the move that brought their first goal, it is almost impossible to neutralise. That was how they had begun the match, with a couple of moves that flowed half the length of the pitch, raising the home supporters' hopes of a triumphant afternoon. Soon, however, that early flow was disrupted, and Anderson was the reason.
The 19-year-old Brazilian newcomer chased and harried and, having won possession, distributed carefully. Most of all, he bit into the tackle with impressive frequency and legitimate ferocity.
Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira joined Gremio in 1993, when he was five. He made only five first-team appearances before moving to Porto, whose investment was endorsed by the judgment of the great Mario Zagallo, who said: "Everything suggests that he is going to be a superstar."
Anderson's farewell gift to Gremio was the goal that took them back into the top tier.
Just over a year later Ferguson paid Porto around €26 million for him. Soon after the deal was signed Anderson made his senior international debut in the Copa America. He appeared only in the group matches, and was on the bench when Brazil beat Argentina in the final, but it is not hard to imagine that Dunga, now the national manager, would have glimpsed a player after his own heart.
This was his fourth start in the Premier League. In Kiev a fortnight ago, Anderson was among United's outstanding players in a 4-2 victory and on the basis of such performances it would be no surprise to see him become a cornerstone of Ferguson's new generation.
