I’m not for one second suggesting we are better than Barçelona. We certainly are not. If we were, we’d be the standout team in every competition we participated in.
On comparison to perhaps the best team on the planet, Arsenal are starkly average. Our little joys in Francis Coquelin and Laurent Koscielny seem miniscule against Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique. Aside from truly world-class players in Petr Čech, Mesut Özil and (off-colour) Alexis Sánchez, in no department can we compare ourselves to them.
But what rule in the UEFA states that the better team has to win? Hull City on Saturday proved that a team could be greater than the sum of its individual parts. They set up well and got a credible result away from home, against a team markedly better than them. There’s no reason to think we can’t do the same.
And to an extent, we have. Bayern Munich were a team infinitely better than us and we beat them. Granted, we had some luck along the way, but I genuinely felt we deserved that. We had gone into that game with a plan. Arsène Wenger accepted that the Bavarians were better than us and appropriately set his team on the counter. Fantastical incidents (the referee’s oblivion to Olivier Giroud’s handball, Hector Bellerin’s superhuman sprint in the end) were things we deserved and needed to beat a team like theirs.
I genuinely don’t see us being battered tonight. We’ve been remarkable in big games this season, beating Manchester City, Manchester United and Leicester City (twice).
Reasonable people would say that United and Leicester aren’t big teams, but they certainly were big occasions. We’ve struggled with the pressure of expectation (beating teams we’re supposed to, like Chelsea, Norwich and Hull). However, we’ve actually been tactically and psychologically impressive when we were up against it, and people didn’t think we could.
Having said that, there remains massive room for improvement. Hull on Saturday was another example of our attacking approach. We not only fail to quantify the chances we create, but we also haven’t created as many chances as we think we do. Life isn’t always passing sideways on the edge of the box. We need people to make driving and provoking runs into the box, giving Barçelona causes for concern. Either we counter-attack, or we interchange our final third frequently – but we need to introduce a different flavour to our approach.
Čech, Bellerin, Koscielny and Nacho Monreal are absolute givens to start, assuming they’re fit. However, playing Per Mertesacker or Gabriel Paulista would depend on the game plan we’re employing. You cannot employ Mertesacker in a big line, just like you cannot optimize Gabriel at cover defending. I’d prefer we give up on hoping any of our center backs can catch up with Messi, Neymar and Suàrez. Instead, just adopt the “park-the-bus-and-counter” philosophy, birthed over a year ago at the Etihad.
UPDATE: Gabriel Paulista isn’t available. That settles it, then.
Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Özil and Sánchez are certainties to start as well. For obvious reasons you’d hope for Özil to pull the strings and be our attacking fulcrum, but there’s a greater impetus on the Chilean to perform. It’s not the greatest secret in the world that Alexis’ dip in form has turned into a bit of a depression, and we can do nothing but hope to God he drags himself back into his old self tonight.
Wenger would have to juggle between Giroud, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott for the remaining two positions. My inkling would be that he’d be singling Walcott to the bench, and look to bring him on if things aren’t going Arsenal’s way. Remember the tangible impact he had back in 2010, in a 2-2 draw against Barçelona themselves.
I’ve heard people say that over both legs, our chances of qualifying are slim to none. Well, first of all – well done you Sherlocks. Of course we aren’t attractive enough for people to place their bets on. And against a team like Barçelona, there’s no real shame in having such odds. We hope for better, but I don’t think anyone expects this Arsenal side to overturn the Catalans.
What I do expect, though, is to give them a run for their money. A convenient FA Cup run and an average league challenge is not anything that will push us on. Ideating and executing a plan to beat the best team in the world will. The very point of the Champions League is pitting yourself against the very best and see where you stand. We’ve been privileged enough to be offered the chance to outwit Barçelona. Let’s take it.
COME ON ARSENAL.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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