When Arsene Wenger witnessed the rise of Spain and Barcelona he saw a sea-change. In his mind, and on the pitch, small, technically gifted, mobile players were playing 4-3-2-1 and passing and moving their way to domination of the sport. But what worked for the Iberians has never panned out in North London, and the Barca Lite tag was never meant as a compliment.
But if ever there was a game to signal a potential change in the way of doing things, it was last night’s demolition in Munich. Bayern are brilliant technically, and spend most matches dominating possession, but what stood out against Barcelona was the energy and discipline without the ball and the speed of ruthlessness with which they broke when they had it.
Just like watching the old Arsenal
There were strong overtones of the best Alex Ferguson teams, but there was also plenty of golden-era Wenger to their display. At their best under the Frenchman, Arsenal outmuscled every opponent, stifled any space they had to attack, sprung with electric speed when the opponent had over-committed and were clinical in finishing their chances.
Players like Emmanuel Petit, Edu and the divine Paddy Vieira himself epitomised the marriage of toughness and technique in midfield, while Marc Overmars, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires brought as much goal threat as they did tricky creativity – much more in the case of the Swede. Up front, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were strong and nasty as well as capable of jaw dropping feats of skill.
The future is German
For years many have been crying out for Wenger to sacrifice the possession-for-possession’s-sake style and revert to the size and skill of his best teams, and maybe, just maybe, Bayern’s monumental display will show him that playing that way – so long as the players are right – can make a mockery of Tiki Taka.
There’s reason for optimism. The boss has spoken of the shift in the youth game from Spain to Germany, and his targeting of German players in the transfer market indicates a change in his preferences.
It’s a shame to see him lose out on Lewis Holtby and Mario Goetze, but don’t be surprised to see at least one arrival from Germany this summer. Wenger’s hit-to-miss ratio in the transfer market may not be what it once was, but he can still pick a very good player, and he can improve his chances by moving away from the smaller, attacking-midfield type players that big clubs are focussing on. Julian Draxler is one of the latter, but Lars Bender could well be a wiser acquisition.
Adding steel and purpose
Switching back to a more physical style would hardly mark Wenger out as a maverick, and one performance by an outrageously talented team doesn’t mean that the Iberian way is old hat, but the current approach has shown few signs of genuine success and waiting any longer to change tack makes very little sense.
I’m not advocating abandoning the kind of play that brings the best out in Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere, merely adding steel and purpose to it, and I doubt there are many who would lament the arrival of someone like Bender, Marouane Fellaini or Jeremy Toulalan. Not if it helped bring back the days when Arsenal could hope, like Bayern last night, to impose themselves on the best teams around.
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