Thursday, March 28, 2024

Are Arsenal better suited to Europe than the Premier League?

Is Arsenal's style better suited to the Champions League?Arsenal clinched a second consecutive Champions League victory on Tuesday night as they hammered Greek side Olympiakos 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium. Now you might say that 2-0 isn’t a hammering, however Arsenal could have have won by a far bigger margin but for veteran Greek keeper Antonios Nikopolidis superb performance in the first half.

In the end though Arsenal’s attacking panache and threat paid off with two goals in the last 12 minutes.

The Artisans

Arsenal’s style of play is very attractive and is almost Barcelona-esque in the style. They may not have players as good as the European champions but they play the game in a similar way. Their short passing and attractive attacking play has always been a trademark of Arsene Wenger’s reign with the Gunners and this season is no different.

They always try to play the game the right way and rarely resort to kick and rush football. On their day they are one of the most attractive teams to watch in Europe. I have to admit as a neutral I love to watch the Gunners play and take every opportunity to do so.

The soft centre

However there is a problem for the Gunners as they seem to have something very important missing. Some say its their soft centre with the Gunners struggling against sides who have a more physical style. They particularly have this problem in the Premier League. The likes of Bolton, Hull and Stoke bullying the Gunners in recent seasons and claiming points that they simply shouldn’t have.

The back four of Gael Clichy, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna sounds like a very good back line to me. New centre back Thomas Vermaelen has looked like a very shrewd signing from Arsene Wenger and has also chipped in with some vital goals already.

French full back Gael Clichy has the potential to be one of the best in the world. His compatriot Bacary Sagna is a real unsung hero in the other full back position. Gallas has had some well documented problems with his attitude but on his day is a superb defender.

I don’t think the problem is the defence. The Gunners have a big problem with their holding midfield role. The likes of Denilson and Alexandre Song have both occupied the position but neither have looked like they could make that role their own. However Alexandre Song has produced some decent performances this season in the anchor role. This position is vital in the formation they play and they need somebody to come in and command the role.

In Europe however they can play their own attacking brand of football without worrying about being out muscled. There are not many teams in the Champions League that will fight as hard as the relegation battlers in the Premier League. The likes of Olympiakos, Standard Liege and AZ Alkmaar all prefer to play football than battle for victories.

Arsene Wenger’s side face Blackburn Rovers this weekend at the Emirates Stadium. Blackburn are just the sort of battling team that Arsenal have struggled against in the past. However at home Arsenal usually overcome these sides. Its the away games that usual prove a problem for the Gunners.

This season though the Gunners have only suffered defeats to Manchester City and an unlucky defeat at Manchester United. They could have won both of those matches and are looking in good shape this season. Wenger celebrates 13 years in charge of the Gunners this week and the clubs transition in those years has been amazing. The whole clubs philosophy has completely transformed and I think the clubs wait for a trophy could be over this season.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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  • Brad

    0 0

    I am a MUFC fan, and hope that my club wins the CL. If we dont. . . I would like to see Arsenal win it. Better than L’pool, the Blues, the Galacticos gang, or Barca (POOP)! Especially the fisrt and the last two in that list.

  • john

    0 0

    I would agree that they are more suited…..
    http://newballspleasesoccer.blogspot.com/

  • kenmwu

    0 0

    I’m a United fan through and through, but my growing hate for Chelsea, mixed with my clubs-integrated hatred for Liverpool, if anyone was to take anything away from United, I hope its Arsenal. In my opinion, they deserve it.

  • Nic

    0 0

    So if you think back 5 or 6 years ago, we were one of the best teams in England, we had all of the players that you would now think of as best in their generations, vieira, bergkamp, henry, pires etc… etc… we found it extremely hard to win matches in europe we consistently struggled against virtually every team we played regardless of pedigree, sparta prague, dynamo kiev, and so on. Now we have nowhere near such established stars as those previsouly mentioned yet we consistently out perform our european counterparts and in the last 3 or 4 years we have been knocked out of europe by other english teams! Its a funny old world!!

  • David Nugent

    0 0

    Yeah, too be honest as a fan of a none Champions League side I would rather see the gunners win the Champions League than the other three so called big three.

  • gooner-11

    0 0

    i hope yr right!

  • peter nigeria

    0 0

    SPOT on. i agree with you, the gunners must surely win something this season the soft center you are talking about seems to have been taken care of by song. i see him making that position his own. if the gunners can keep up the never see die they showed against liege and olympiakos, i believe they will make it this time. praying they win something for us this year.

  • peter nigeria

    0 0

    SPOT on. i agree with you, the gunners must surely win something this season the soft center you are talking about seems to have been taken care of by song. i see him making that position his own. if the gunners can keep up the never see die they showed against liege and olympiakos, i believe they will make it this time. praying they win something for us this year.

  • gooner-11

    0 0

    i hope yr right!

  • David Nugent

    0 0

    Yeah, too be honest as a fan of a none Champions League side I would rather see the gunners win the Champions League than the other three so called big three.

  • Nic

    0 0

    So if you think back 5 or 6 years ago, we were one of the best teams in England, we had all of the players that you would now think of as best in their generations, vieira, bergkamp, henry, pires etc… etc… we found it extremely hard to win matches in europe we consistently struggled against virtually every team we played regardless of pedigree, sparta prague, dynamo kiev, and so on. Now we have nowhere near such established stars as those previsouly mentioned yet we consistently out perform our european counterparts and in the last 3 or 4 years we have been knocked out of europe by other english teams! Its a funny old world!!

  • kenmwu

    0 0

    I’m a United fan through and through, but my growing hate for Chelsea, mixed with my clubs-integrated hatred for Liverpool, if anyone was to take anything away from United, I hope its Arsenal. In my opinion, they deserve it.

  • john

    0 0

    I would agree that they are more suited…..
    http://newballspleasesoccer.blogspot.com/

  • Brad

    0 0

    I am a MUFC fan, and hope that my club wins the CL. If we dont. . . I would like to see Arsenal win it. Better than L’pool, the Blues, the Galacticos gang, or Barca (POOP)! Especially the fisrt and the last two in that list.

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