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? I am going to do a comparison between each of the three, this one is against Real Madrid..
Real Madrid Starting XI
Navas
Carvajal – Varane – Sergio Ramos – Marcelo
Casemiro – Kroos
Bale – Rodriguez – Ronaldo
Benzema
Let us compare to the Arsenal first team…
Navas v Cech – Cech is one of the world’s best but Navas still performs well… In terms of who’s better Cech edges Navas out in terms of quality, experience and talent.
Carvajal v Bellerin – They are both quality players and are both attack minded. Carvajal is important to Real Madrid contributing to goals and assists, but its Bellerin who is the better of the two in terms of skill, precision and quality.
Ramos and Varane v Koscielny and Mertesacker – Let’s compare the two Real centre backs to our own…
Well, Ramos is a better tackler and better finisher of the four. Koscielny is the best in terms of reading the game, skills and movement. In terms of rankings it would be Sergio Ramos, Koscielny, Varane then Mertesacker.
Monreal v Marcelo – Monreal is better defensively but Marcelo is better offensively. Monreal reads the game well and is more intelligent in positioning, but Marcelo gets forward more is more skilled and much faster. Marcelo just edges Monreal in this comparison.
Casemiro v Coquelin – They have both been brilliant for their respective clubs though Coquelin has been much more efficient. With his work rate, 100% defensive work and much better movement. Le Coq averages more takeons with a much better success rate per game.
Kroos v Cazorla – Kroos strengths are passing, dribbling and finding the back of the net. He’s unlucky because Cazorla is the king of all these departments – being more creative, having better technique, skill and precision so Cazorla edges him out here.
Ozil v Rodriguez – These are two completely different players. Ozil is a creator while Rodriguez is a scorer. Ozil is more creative while Rodriguez is more athletic so it depends on who you’d rather have for the position. Rodriguez cost more but Ozil is a World Cup winner. My verdict is Ozil because he is more of team player and brings the best out of others. He is the best Number 10 in the world.
The front three in the forward line is between Giroud, Benzema, Ronaldo, Sanchez, Bale and Walcott.
I would chose Benzema, Ronaldo and Sanchez, because they offer more and are much more of a threat going forward.
So the combined line up looks like this in my opinion…
Cech
Bellerin Ramos Koscielny Marcelo
Coquelin Cazorla
Sánchez Ozil Ronaldo
Benzema.
So in my opinion we have every chance of going through if we draw Madrid in the later rounds (after we’ve knocked out Barca of course). I would rather face them than Bayern Munich again….
Briantole