Pep Guardiola’s personal touch since moving to Bayern Munich is noteworthy. Having had the option of the Javi Martinez-Bastian Schweinsteiger double pivot that formed the base of the Bavarians’ conquering of German and European football, Guardiola chose instead to install Philipp Lahm, a 5’7 full-back, as the team’s pivot instead.
How will Guardiola top what Jupp Heynckes did last season? Well he’s on the right path to doing so. No team in the modern history of the game has retained the Champions League, and in Bayern Munich, there is a team ready and able to retain all three of its trophies of last season.
The point is, dynasties, much like Pep’s Barcelona, take years to assemble. Even those teams who have been successful on the title front need tweaks to stay at the top. Yes, Bayern have spent lavishly on two of the brightest midfield talents in Europe, but tactical shifts have and will be as much of a deciding factor as Thiago Alcantara and Mario Goetze.
For Arsenal, it may not have been too easy to see the making of a team capable of winning domestic silverware, especially the Premier League title. The star names were streaming out the door, seeking and eventually landing title success at Barcelona, Manchester City and Manchester United. But the replacements, while not equals – with the exception of Mesut Ozil – are combining for a stronger, more dynamic force.
Look to Manchester City and the four years it took them to win the Premier League, despite millions shelled out for some of the leading names in European football. Manchester United, too, went through something of a renaissance following Jose Mourinho’s dominance at Chelsea, choosing then to lean on younger stars in Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
Arsenal’s problem in the past is that while they had great players in Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, the good never outweighed the mediocre. Instead of leading a good team onto great things, players like Fabregas were forced to carry those who were deemed passengers. One of Arsene Wenger’s great failures as Arsenal manager is his inability, for one reason or another, to help his better players achieve silverware.
The midfield is the most important. No one, perhaps not even Wenger, saw Mikel Arteta as Arsenal’s pivot when he made the switch from Everton in 2011. There’s no doubt that on occasion Arsenal have needed something tougher, sterner and far more defensively resilient in the midfield – a position now held by Mathieu Flamini – but a lot of Arsenal’s good work over the past two seasons was built on Arteta’s discipline and ability to keep the ball moving. Again, and much like Guardiola’s view, it’s about tactical and technical ability over brute force and power.
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As individuals, many in England will be quick to point out the flaws in each of the members of the Arsenal squad. Per Mertesacker is too slow, Laurent Koscielny isn’t physically imposing, Olivier Giroud isn’t world class, Wojciech Szczesny has too many lapses in concentration. Even Mesut Ozil has received his critics, something about being nothing but a lightweight from La Liga. Ironic, seeing as Juan Mata seems to be adored throughout the country. Mata stands at 5’8, Ozil at 5’11.
What many fail to acknowledge, however, is the strengths of each individual and how they make the current Arsenal team a far more likely title-winning outfit than in previous years. No longer do the team have a problem at centre-back; it’s now a modern centre-back pairing who are able to complement each other.
But title-winning teams don’t always need to be littered with world-class talents. There’s an obsession, too, in this country whereby players need to be backed by a large transfer fee in order to be considered ‘good enough.’
Look to Juventus and the shrewdness of their transfer dealings. Andrea Pirlo picked up for free, Andrea Barzagli picked up for less than half-a-million pounds, Arturo Vidal for £11million, and so on. It’s about supplementing the good that you have to a great effective. Alongside the obsession with transfer fees, there’s also an inclination to pick and choose when a club has been clever in the market. Santi Cazorla, for example, perennially overlooked; Christian Eriksen deemed a masterstroke at a similar price.
Arsenal, like those who have built their squads organically, have had to take the long, winding road to reach a point where something concrete starts to take shape. There have been long-standing figures in the team such as Bacary Sagna, Theo Walcott and of course those who came through the academy, and yet in hindsight, the additions made over the past three summer windows have looked smart buys –at least those who have stayed on.
It’s one thing to get carried away by a run of good form, but it’s another to accept that there is something taking shape at the Emirates. Above all, it’s a return to the style of football that had become so famed under Wenger. Of course, it may not show a trophy this season, but following the addition of Ozil and even Flamini this summer, the squad are looking well rounded and far more complete. With the exception of names like Nicklas Bendtner, whose continued presence shouldn’t be taken in hand with the rest of the squad, there are no longer any obvious passengers in the Arsenal team. No Gervinho or Andre Santos; no striker in Marouane Chamakh who is completely bereft of confidence to perform.
Arsenal are still very much on the road to building an undeniable title-challenging team – another striker and a defensive addition, as well as some form of management for the overwhelming injury list are priorities – but the build is extremely visible and a far cry from the panic buying that many have chosen to label a number of Arsenal’s recent acquisitions.
Is Arsenal’s title-challenging squad starting to take shape?
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