Budesliga yet another flavour of the month

 Wilkommen! Guten Tag! Das, erm Spielsplaztenberger. Okay, my GCSE German needs some brushing up, but the Bundesliga is here! Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are in the Champions League, and ze Germans are set to rule us all (in football terms). This is the age of the Mannschaft, all hail the mighty Farterland!!

Actually, let’s not. While the rest of the media loses their collective shit over the indomitable Germans, gushes over their ownership models and sycophantically applauds the young German talent coming through, how about we enjoy some perspective? Yes, we should not stick fingers in our ears and our heads in the sand but every three-to-five years there is another fad, another first-mover, another market leader, another football flavour that is THE BEST THING EVER and must be copied head to toe by the English powers that be if we are to achieve anything, ever.

At the moment, it’s the German model. Before that, La Masia and Barcelona. Before that, England was dominating Europe, following on from the all Serie A Champions League final of 2003, which naturally was a reaction to Real Madrid and Spain’s supremacy. Go into the nineties and earlier, see the great Italian dominance of Europe, including Milan’s successful defence of their European crown in 1990, and of course Ajax’s famous academy system.

As media attention has ramped up and become increasingly desperate to seek headlines by resorting to extremes, it is now the norm to decide whoever wins has the best plan, the best set up, the best system, and everyone else is failing. The German duo were extremely impressive as they beat Real Madrid and Barcelona. Bayern Munich comprehensively outclassed the Catalans who struggled without their talisman Leo Messi and, probably more importantly, without Carlos Puyol and Javier Mascherano, while Real left it too late to undo the damage exacted by Dortmund in the first leg.

There was some fantastic German talent on offer, and of that England manager Roy Hodgson can be envious. But the fact is the Premier League is such a worldwide phenomena, brings in such massive revenue and can offer such massive wages that of course it will attract the world’s best, in the same way that Serie A in the 90’s attracted the best players because it paid the biggest fees and wages, and how Real Madrid and Barcelona can tempt the best players in the Premier League to Spain, given their unfair share of La Liga TV revenue. To think English teams can easily adopt the German system of bringing through youth is simplistic. There are many unique factors (language, cultural immigration, money) that come into play.

But hey, I hear you cry, if we want a successful national team we need to follow the German method (which I imagine is the football equivalent of the missionary position – maximum efficiency). Let’s look at the record books – before 2002, Germany had won three world cups, finished runners up three times, and semi-finalists three times. They also won three European championships, twice runners up, and once semi-finalists. What I am saying is, the Germans have always been successful at international level, and it is somewhat ironic that they have not won a major international trophy since 1996 – seventeen years of hurt, it makes my heart bleed.

It is the Spanish model, shown up this week, that has proved the most successful in recent times, but again there are mitigating circumstances. The concentration of most of the players in two teams – the two teams in La Liga – will have helped the cohesion and understanding of the team. That Spain is basically Barcelona with Real’s power is no coincidence.

There is a lot to admire about the German system, just as there is much to admire in the Spanish, Dutch, Italian or Scottish systems (okay, maybe stretched a little far there). Germany certainly treats its fans a little better, and the ownership model has a lot of plus points, but equally you could argue that the rules that give fans 51% of the club allows Bayern Munich to dominate, as the signing of Mario Gotze from Dortmund shows. Bayern have finished well ahead of their rivals and you can only see the gap getting bigger. There is no Sheikh on the horizon to mix things up a bit.

Ticket prices are a lot lower, and it is shocking that as TV revenue for the Premier League increases so do match day prices, but recent announcements that ticket prices were to increase in the Bundesliga led to protests. It goes to show that’s it’s all relative, although naturally we’d rather have the German supporters’ price problems than ours.

When the English FA built St George’s Park they received phone calls from across the continent asking them what they were doing, how they were doing it, what they were planning, what they wanted out of it. Everyone wants to know the best practices so they can adopt and adapt to meet their requirements and their systems. When England had three semi finalists in the Champions League other countries were looking at how we marketed the league, how we tapped international markets, how we negotiated our TV deals. Italy changed from an individual to a collective bargaining agreement, Germany and Spain started moving matches to appeal to the Asian market. We need to do the same.

We should identify the best things about the German system, the Spanish system, in fact all systems, see how we can integrate them into how football is run in our country and mould them to suit our circumstances and our needs. Not simply say the Germans are winning ergo we should copy what they do.

Uli Hesse, a writer for ESPN, annually checks the stats and shows the Bundesliga has the most goals in it on average than any of Europe’s leagues, each year for the last decade. Where were the plaudits in 2003? Why weren’t people looking to their tactics and strategies back then? Because they were not winning and English teams were. Then the Spanish came. Now it is time for the Germans.

If we here in England only look to copy others we will always be one step behind. We need to find the best method that suits us, what we want and what we need. Only then can we lead the way and win the trophies. In the mean time, let’s slow down the German love fest. One all-German final does not mean a new era had begun. Yet.

Scholes operates in a different world

I read a remarkable stat about Paul Scholes's return:

"Scholes has completed almost 93% of his 813 passes that he has attempted in 12 league games, all but 3 % of which have come in the opposition half."

It's not the accuracy that amazes me - whenever someone brings up Barcelona's passing stats as they romp to victory I want to point out that for the last twenty minutes, at 4-0 up, they made 4oo 5-yard passes that an eight year old would complete 99.9% of the time - but where on the pitch Scholes makes his passes. If there is anything young players should take from the 37-year-old's game, it is how far forward he takes and passes on possession.

The return of Scholes has been called desperate and a master stroke. At first I was hesitant to pile on the plaudits because Manchester United are so strong and look to use the wings for their attacks so often that a central midfielder who simply shifts the ball sideways and on to the better players could easily be carried in most games (see Anderson, Carrick), but the fact Scholes is operating in his opponent's half shows he is contributing massively.

Leon Brittain and his Swansea team mates have been lauded for their passing style, and comments have been made about Brittain being in the top 5 for passing accuracy in Europe. But this is where statistics can be misleading - when you operate with a three man midfield, and pass from the back, you can rack up lots of short but meaningless and ineffective passes as you slowly move the opposition around. It can wear the opponent out but until you get into the final third it lacks any threat and can be very frustrating, leaving a team searching for a faster tempo.

To go back to United, Michael Carrick strikes me as someone who should look to replicate Scholes's game. It may be too late for the ex-West Ham and Tottenham midfielder, but whenever I watch him I get the feeling there is so much more to come, but the player himself is reluctant to put his mark on the game. You never hear the commentator say 'Carrick is dominating midfield'. Carrick makes too many square and backwards passes, doesn't look to create enough goal scoring opportunities, and even when he does play it simple he is a fraction slow, and attacks can stutter.

The fact Scholes has come in and done so well shows that Carrick has struggled to take up the mantle in the absence of Scholes.

It's not only United who have struggled with Scholes, England are another example of a team missing central midfielders who will command the ball in the opponent's half. Too often England moves involve the centre backs and central midfielders passing the ball in their own half, under no pressure from the opposition, before becoming desperate and pumping the ball forward.

Everyone knows about Paul Scholes and his ability on the ball, but where he picks the ball and how he passes it on, with pace, impetus and direction, is something the next generation of England playmakers would do well to copy.

Managers' Decisions Changed Arsenal - Barca Game

A great game for the neutral. Entertaining, attacking football that produced chances, errors, moments of brilliant, and set up the second leg perfectly. But when you look a little closer, the match hinged on the changes made by the managers.

Arsenal had their chances in the first half but they were counters presented by Barcelona's attacking football. When the full backs become auxillary wingers you can, when the opportunity presents itself, cause panic in their defence if you counter attack with pace. Indeed, with better decision making, Arsenal may have scored in the first half. However Pep Guardiola's men created several excellent chances and arguably should have scored more than David Villa's goal.

The side from the Emirates tried to press high up the pitch but Jack Wilshere and Song sat too deep. There is nothing more fruitless and exhausting than breaking your balls to press a centre back or defensive midfielder only for him to make a simple pass to a free team mate. The Spanish side make this look easier than it is, but with Arsenal trying to push up but their central midfielders too deep, Barca could get in dangerous positions and then slide someone in behind, as they did on several occasions in the first half.

Second half Arsene Wenger's side pushed Wilshere alongside Cesc Fabregas and Arsenal's pressing game became much more effective. Wilshere was getting much more involved in the game (personally I thought he was anonymous in the first half and caught in possession too much) and also much further forward.

Then, with the game very even, Guardiola made an ultimately horrendous decision. Seydou Keita came on for David Villa. Villa had been very dangerous in the build up as well as a goal threat. If Messi had squared the ball on a couple of occasions Villa would have six yard tap ins. In fact, out of the two the Argentian was the one having a poor game - his dribbling often slowed down moves, he ran into crowds and his finishing was wayward.

With Iniesta pushed forward, Wenger made his next decisive move - taking off the liability that was Alexandre Song and putting on Arshavin, pushing Nasri inside with Wilshere. With greater cutting edge going forward Arsenal turned the screw and got the goal their increasingly better play deserved.

Barcelona lost shape, found it difficult to get their passing game working, and Arsenal grew in strength. The Spanish champions were not poor by any means, which makes Arsenal's victory more worthy, and the away goal is key, but Wenger has certainly sharpened up his game plan to beat 'the greatest side in the modern eara'.

It's a great achievement to beat Barcelona anywhere, but will they be able to get the result they need at the Camp Nou? That's a completely different challenge altogether, although as Hercules and Mallorca have shown, it is not impossible...