What the English can learn from a bad night in Europe...
...and why they shouldn't panic....
Security gates were installed outside Wembley this week in preparation for a Uefa final, guarding against a repeat of the storming of the stadium before the Euro 2020 climax. There’s no fear now of any ticketless English trying to get in. There’s no Premier League presence under the arch in the Champions League final of June 1. Away from the drills outside Wembley, across other countries, the sound you can hear is much crowing at the embarrassment of the world’s richest league.
Manchester United (deservedly) and Newcastle United (unluckily) went out in the group stage. On Wednesday night, Arsenal were knocked out at Bayern Munich and an hour later, following extra time and penalties, Manchester City succumbed at home to Real Madrid. England expects more. Certainly recently. For the first time since 2020 there will be no Premier League representation in the semis. Suddenly, all the headlines are about a tectonic shift in European football with a Teutonic twist.
So the inquests begin. Collectively, the Premier League, not usually the most humble of organisations, can certainly learn from Germany, now seemingly destined to pip the English to next season’s fifth Champions League spot on Uefa co-efficients. There is much to admire in German football. Bundesliga clubs also respect their fans more, treating them more as family members rather than business opportunities as some English clubs do. German clubs don’t rely on private equity money or sovereign state backing.
German football is in a good place. The Bundesliga is usually dominated by Bayern but inspired coaching and recruitment has seen Bayer Leverkusen on this remarkable 43-game unbeaten run. Xabi Alonso remaining at Leverkusen, resisting Liverpool’s lure, reflects and enhances the feelgood factor around German football.
Will Premier League clubs react simply by throwing money at a problem? As inquests go, it should be short and calm at City, slightly longer and more intense at Arsenal. Some perspective first. City were reigning champions, and this was their first European defeat at home since Lyons visited five years ago, 30 Champions League games ago.
England has enjoyed representation in five of the last six finals, two of which were full-English (Liverpool v Spurs in 2019 and Chelsea v City in 2021). Three of the last five champions were English. That run didn’t herald the death of elite football on the Continent.
The Premier League’s temporary demise is also being celebrated as a reminder that the game is not just about wealth. Yet it’s worth noting that three of the semi-finalists, Paris St-Germain, Real and Bayern, are hardly on the breadline. Borussia Dortmund are the popular outlier with their shrewd recruitment, including Premier League cast-offs like Sebastien Haller (West Ham to Dortmund via Ajax) and Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United. Dortmund also appear to possess a sense of real community, their heart and soul being in that huge Yellow Wall. They are truly a model club.
England’s nemeses, Real and Bayern, possess a vastly superior pedigree in Europe to those they knocked out. They have a muscle memory. They have resilience and game management. Real reached their 33rd European Cup/Champions League semi-final by defending superbly and holding their nerve in the shootout (Real).
Even missing Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Alphonso Davies at the Allianz, Bayern found a way through to their 21st semi-final in the competition by clinically exploiting momentary lapses of concentration by Declan Rice, Ben White and Gabriel Martinelli in the build-up to Joshua Kimmich’s decisive goal. Fine margins.
Arsenal can reflect on a good, controlled first half in the Allianz, also that the journey to Champions League glory can take time. Look at Manchester United under Alex Ferguson, all those frustrating seasons throughout the 90s until 1999 and football bloody hell. Look at City, losing out time after time, before prevailing in 2023. It’s about acquiring the knowledge season after season. Bayern have it. Thomas Tuchel has it. His side just waited for Arsenal to keep playing their passes and then pounced.
Arsenal will not panic. They are upwardly mobile under Mikel Arteta. Domestically, they have done better against Liverpool and City this season. They are still in the title race although needing a strong reaction against Wolves on Saturday. They can look on things that have hampered them, including the frustration of Jurrien Timber’s injury after two games this season. Left-back’s a problem. They can cast their minds back to last week and White, who’s enjoyed an outstanding season, shooting straight at Manuel Neuer at the Emirates.
But as they conduct their debrief, Arteta and his sporting director Edu should also think about Bukayo Saka’s meek corner in the last seconds at the Allianz, gifting the ball back to Bayern. It was symptomatic of Arsenal tiring in the second half as they did against Aston Villa. The much-feted, restorative week’s break in Dubai in January feels a distant memory. Arsenal looked leggy in the second half.
Arsenal employ a talented head coach in Arteta, but he has to reflect on whether he rotates enough. Four of the top 10 outfield players with most minutes in the Champions League this season are Arteta’s: Gabriel (930), William Saliba (901), Rice (840) and Kai Havertz (832). Maybe Arteta doesn’t rotate enough because his reserves aren’t good enough, another issue to tackle with Edu in the summer.
Havertz remains a conundrum. Arsenal fans have been warming to the elegant, stealthy German for recent performances, but he is not the answer to their finishing problems. He’s a very false 9. He’s better deeper. Of his 10 goals for Arsenal, only one, at home to Newcastle United, has come against top eight opponents. Arsenal need a more clinical centre-forward.
Many of us were surprised at the start of the season that Arsenal did not use the £65m earmarked for Havertz to buy a real marksman. Again, in January, they could have prised Ivan Toney from Brentford for £100m. If that seemed excessive, especially for a player regaining sharpness after his betting ban, it under-estimated him.
I went and watched a Brentford training session when he was allowed to train again and he was flying. Toney duly returned with four goals in five games, including against Spurs and Liverpool. Put Toney in against Villa and Bayern, and Arsenal’s season might have a more positive look. Eddie Nketiah is not quite good enough, sadly as home-grown players also matter emotionally and financially. Gabriel Jesus is a thoroughbred worker but not prolific enough. Why not try Martinelli through the middle? He has that close control and boldness.
The inquest will be shorter at City. They, too, can reflect on fine margins, on Erling Haaland’s header hitting the bar, and Bernardo Silva unable to scramble in the rebound. They can sigh in frustration at the brilliance of Antonio Rudiger’s defending, expertly shadowing Haaland, also denying Jack Grealish with a block, and the fitness concerns that saw two expert penalty takers, Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, withdrawn before the shootout. They can look at Silva’s bizarre, very tame penalty.
Defeat is a blow to the ego, but City will remain calm, focusing on Wembley in the FA Cup and the title run-in where they are now inevitable favourites. They can still do the Double. It was undeniably a bad night for English clubs but also a night to salute Harry Kane and Eric Dier, Jude Bellingham and Sancho, some Englishmen who march on to Wembley.