Comparing Arsenal’s squad with the elite in Europe by Briantole
Many people, including fans and pundits, deem our squad to be a million miles away from the elite forces of Europe.
There are three current clubs given the title of Europe’s best, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid. So how far away or how close are we until we can be deemed capable to be equal to these top sides? This is the third and last comparison and is against our rivals in the next round of the Champions League, Barcelona.
Barcelona Starting XI
Bravo
Alves Pique Mascherano Alba
Busquets Iniesta
Rakitic
Messi Suarez Neymar
Cech v Bravo – Aagain Cech wins this battle with more experience and quality.
Bellerin v Alves – Bellerin is much faster and better skilled than his counterpart. But Alves is the more creative of the two. But Bellerin retains his title as the best for me.
Mascherano and Pique v Koscielny and Mertesacker – This is more interesting. Koscielny is the better one in terms of reading the game and scores more goals. Mascherano is more aggressive and averages more defensive actions than the rest. Verdict. Koscielny and Mascherano.
Monreal v Alba – Alba does his part and likes to overlap wingers, but Monreal does his job well. He is more cautious, better defensively, and more productive going forward.so he edges his Spanish counterpart in this position.
Coquelin v Busquets – For the past 12 months Coquelin has been extremely impressive. He is statistically the best DM in Europe, but Busquets is a world class player and is the best in the world in this position and has been for years. So Busquets gets the nod here.
Iniesta v Cazorla – Both these players like to dominate play and contribute to offensive and defensive work. But our two footed magician might be slightly better his international teammate here.He is the better passer and handler of the ball and more skilled, but Iniesta is best when it comes to trickery and shooting the ball.
Ozil v Rakitic – Rakitic is a very good player but Ozil is the best in the world so he nails down the number 10 spot.
The forward line – well there is no need for comparison here. The MSN strike force is the best in the world and edges our forward line by a mile…..
Combined starting XI
Cech
Bellerin Mascherano Koscielny Monreal
Busquets Cazorla
Ozil
Messi Suarez Neymar
So looking at this, we have the best defence against the best attack. If we can keep that amazing strike force at bay (and Cech has a blinder) there is no reason why we can’t cause them problems in February….