Ahead of Arsenal’s trip to the west of Germany on Wednesday evening, Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp has described both teams style of football in a unique manner.
Klopp describes the side from North London who are currently sitting on top of the Premier League as an orchestra, with their intricate pass and move game. However, the eccentric German describes his side, who are currently sitting second in the Bundalisga as a piece of heavy metal, with their hard, in your face game. Klopp, 46, then went onto say that despite Arsenal’s beautiful style of play; the Gunners will never be a truly great team under Wenger unless they change their style. Is he right in saying that?
Wenger changed the face of English football when he first arrived in England in 1996: Signing unknown talented foreign players, changed the players diet, used unique training methods and had an attacking mind set which made Arsenal into one of the best clubs in the world. However, in recent years his Arsenal team have been in decline as the Gunners have lost major stars, underachieved in the league, and most importantly, have gone nine seasons without a trophy, which is too long for a club of Arsenal’s nature. So is this down to the football that Arsenal play?
Wenger’s style of football has helped win a number of trophies for Arsenal which includes three league titles and four F.A Cups, however, Arsenal have been playing the same football for the last few years which has left them short of success. The type of football Arsenal play makes every single football fan love the game. Their one touch movement will frustrate their opponents as they can’t get the ball where they will be chasing shadows and effectively chasing the game, but this football has left Arsenal second best since 2005.
Arsenal have been accused of ‘trying to score the perfect goal’ in the past, which has effectively lost the Gunners points on numerous occasions, most notably against Bolton in April 2011.
After the cup final defeat to Birmingham, Arsenal had gone six league games without a win, and needed to end this run against a team who they had struggled to beat in the past, at their ground.
Arsenal lost the game 2-1 tanks to a late Tamir Cohen goal, which was the Gunners seventh straight league game without a win which knocked them out of the title race. However, the Gunners could have avoided defeat if they just did one thing, shoot.
Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere all had changes to smash the ball passed Jussi Jaaskelainen, but instead were looking for that ‘final through ball’ to score the perfect goal which left Arsenal fans fuming. So, does Klopp have a point here?
Since Klopp took over as Dortmund manager in July 2008, he has seen his team win two league titles, one German Supercup, one German cup and get to a Champions League final. In that same time, Arsenal have finished either third or fourth in the league, lost a League Cup Final (a game which they should have won handsomely, no disrespect to Birmingham) bought and sold Samir Nasri and have seen Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy, Alex Hleb, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song all depart from the club, whilst Dortmund have kept onto their main stars such as Jakub Błaszczykowski, Marco Reus and İlkay Gündoğan.
The style of play which both managers use can affect the teams morale, and when Arsenal’s pass and move game left them unsuccessful in many competitions over a certain period of time, it’s no surprise that many of the clubs first team players left, as they wanted to be in a team whose style of play is capable of winning trophies.
The German manager is a very casual, cool and knowledgeable football manager, who knows how to win games in a certain manner. His physical, aggressive, gritty, fast counter attacking play was what helped his side destroy Stuttgart 6-1 on Friday night, a game which they amazingly fell behind in.
Klopp, who stated that the Arsenal gaffer should be knighted as he refers to the Frenchman as, “Sir Arsene Wenger”, describes Arsenal’s football as perfect but also states that being ‘perfect’ doesn’t always win you titles.
“When I watch Arsenal in the last 10 years, it is nearly perfect football, but we all know they didn’t win a title. In Britain they say that they like Arsenal but they have to win something. Who wins the title? Chelsea, but with different football, I would say. This is the philosophy of Arsène Wenger. I love this but I cannot coach this because I am a different guy. You think many things are similar? I hope so in some moments, but there are big differences, too.”
I’m not saying that Arsenal’s style of play is wrong, as it’s very impressive to watch. Jack Wilshere’s goal against Norwich a few weeks back is the prime example of scoring the ‘perfect goal.’ However, if Arsenal want to win the league for the first time since 2004, they also need to attack like dogs to earn hard fought wins, as intricate pass and move football doesn’t always win you games.