Comparison between Arsenal other title winning team by Beastmode
Following my article about the “Style-less Arsenal”, I tried to look at similarities between this team and other EPL champions in recent years.
Compared to other teams that won the EPL trophy in the past few years, this team is more similar to Leicester City. The 2015-16 Champion’s style of play was mostly defending deep and counter attacking whenever they got the possession. They rarely dominated their opponents and mostly relied on the speed of Vardy, and wonderful dribbling of Riyad Mahrez (I can’t believe Wenger didn’t buy him when he was available).
Here are the other comparisons between the current Arsenal team and the title winning Leicester City team.
In Defence, they had Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Chilwell and Danny Simpson- who were not regarded as world class defenders but rocks in defence. This current Arsenal team have better defenders in Gabriel and KT, while the other Arsenal defenders are about the same level with Foxes’ defenders
What made their defence so strong was the protection they had in front of them from the midfield, and from the rest of the team. The ever industrious N’Golo Kante made his name during that season, and with Danny Drinkwater alongside him, they were a formidable force that made it hard for the opponents to break down. They were simple and efficient. In Thomas Partey and Elneny, Arsenal have the midfielders with the same attributes. These two can play the same role as Kante and Drinkwater. Also, like Leicester, this team defends deep and has everyone behind the ball to protect the defence.
Now the x-factor for the Foxes during that season was Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. These two fitted like gloves. Mahrez was the outlet that relieved the pressure from the defence and where the attack began. He can score goals and was also great at breaking down the defence with his tantalizing dribbling.
On the other hand Jamie Vardy occupied the CB’s and with his speed and he became a nightmare for the opponent’s defence. Currently, we have Auba who can play Vardy’s role, but we don’t have anyone close to Mahrez’s level of Skill. Nicolas Pepe-The one-legged Arjen Robben knockoff has the dribbling skills but lacks the brain to go with it. The only player close enough and can reach that level of skills is Bukayo Saka. He can dribble and his passing is not too shabby either.
I am not saying this style will win a title again, but all I am saying is that this team just needs some few tweaks and can be as efficient and good as that Leicester title winning team.
Beastmode