Do Arsenal REALLY ‘still play the best football in England?’

Arsenal may not have won anything in quite some time, but it’s interesting to see how much respect they still command in the European game. Because of the Liverpool/Manchester United bias in the British Press, the Gunners are often put upon by the media.

But it was interesting to see footballers and pundits alike come out in support of Arsene Wenger after Jose Mourinho’s recent comments (Wenger a ‘specialist in failure’, really?).

And with Arsenal about to face off against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Philipp Lahm showered the Gunners in compliments:

“The biggest danger for us, right now, is facing Arsenal… They’re fighting for the championship, that’s not a coincidence: I believe they have developed as a team. They want to have the ball, they like playing it short, and they have outstanding individuals.” (Source: The Standard)

And in the run-up to Barcelona’s showdown with Manchester City, Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta (one of the most naturally gifted midfielders of all time) offered up the following gem:

“I think Arsenal still play the best football in England. They play in a style in the way that most emulates what we do at Barcelona – and what is in our opinion the right way to approach the game. They may not have spent what other teams have in England – but their football philosophy is the most attractive in England.” (Source: The Mirror)

Of course, these quotes could just be an attempt on the part of Iniesta to psyche out Man City. Or Iniesta may have just selected the team that he felt most resembled Barcelona. Either way, it’s still quite an honour.

The natural response to this, I suppose, is to ask this question: if Arsenal play the best football in England, why haven’t they won anything for eight years?

Here I’d like to draw the following distinction: Arsenal still play some of the most attractive football in England (though I’d argue Man City are probably inching ahead in this regard, with Liverpool not far behind), but they still don’t play a particularly successful brand of football.

Players like Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey would waltz into any team, but they lack the firepower upfront to make them a genuine force in Europe and at the top of the Premier League.

At the moment the Gunners seem to be teetering on the edge. Recruit a world class striker and they could well be worthy of all the plaudits that they still seem to pick up. Failure to recruit, however, could result in these compliments slowly drifting away.

Let’s just hope that Arsene Wenger is ready when summer swings by.

What’s your take? Can Arsenal really still claim to play the best football in England?

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