‘NOSTALGIA DOES FUNNY things to people’s minds.’ These were the words of Alex Ferguson when asked whether his 2012-13 title winners were significantly weaker than previous Manchester United sides he had managed.
The fact that United imploded the following season under David Moyes suggests the claim may actually have had some merit, nonetheless, Ferguson’s essential point was valid.
In recent days, Arsenal and City have been heavily criticised amid lacklustre results — the latter were well beaten 3-0 by Liverpool while the former slipped up 2-1 at home to lowly Swansea.
Arsenal, in particular, have been accused of lacking leaders in their side. This perceived failing apparently explains why they always falter in ‘big games,’ although that argument ignores the fact that they have already beaten Leicester (twice), Man United and Man City. They have drawn three matches against Liverpool (twice) and Tottenham. Yet before last weekend’s game against Man United, they were unbeaten against other teams in the top five, so to suggest they invariably get beaten in the important matches (this season at least) is unfair.
The Gunners have been compared unfavourably to teams of the past, but history is written by the winners, and sides that have triumphed in the league down through the years tend to take on mythical proportions, which render them virtually flawless in the eyes of revisionists.
However, let’s take a look at the evidence. The 1999 Man United side that won the treble are often talked of as the greatest Premier League team ever. Someone might argue that, in contrast with the Arsenal of today, their team was filled with leaders who simply would not accept defeat on the big occasions.
In reality though, the Man United 1999 side limped home, securing the league by just one point. They won just 22 of their 38 matches — the current Arsenal side can match this record by winning seven of their last 10 games. Moreover, the 1999 United side dropped points in four of their last eight matches and they were fortunate that the Arsenal side of the time couldn’t capitalise on this unconvincing finish. Consequently, the likes of Keane, Scholes and others are thought of fearless warriors with impeccable mental strength in comparison to the supposedly flimsy Arsenal outfit of today, who remain in with a strong chance of winning the title.
Of course, you could argue that the 1999 United side had earned the goodwill often afforded to them. After all, many of their players already had a couple of league titles to their name, whereas the Arsenal of today have gone more than 10 years without winning anything significant apart from the increasingly irrelevant FA Cup.
But what of Man City? Many of their current players have won titles, yet there is rarely much sign of critical empathy whenever they struggle. You could argue that City’s gargantuan riches leaves them subject to greater scrutiny, but then the aforementioned United team also had far greater spending power than most of their rivals.
And what about the United 1993-94 side, often seen as the last great team to represent old-style British football and described by Alex Ferguson as his toughest side ever assembled? In the title run-in, they were beaten by Chelsea, title rivals Blackburn, and Wimbledon. They also failed to beat West Ham, Swindon (who were relegated that season) and Arsenal. And that’s without mentioning the nine other games in which they dropped points that season. Did the likes of Keane, Hughes, Ince and Bruce ‘bottle’ these matches?
Even the Arsenal Invincibles team of the 2003-04 campaign were far from perfect. While they went the season unbeaten, they drew roughly a third (12 of 38) of their games and finished on 90 points (which would not have been good enough to win the league in certain seasons).
And granted, it’s fair to say that there is no standout team in the Premier League this year, capable of romping home ahead of the chasing pack, but the level of criticism aimed at English football at large recently has been overly excessive.
As it stands, a new record for the lowest ever points tally for Premier League winners could be set. Man United with 75 points in 1996-97 are the current holders, but this season’s league leaders Leicester have just 57 points with 10 games to play.
But the reason for the top sides’ inconsistency is not necessarily because the standard of the league is worse than ever. In fact, you could argue that it’s because the overall standard is better than ever. This season, the wealth of the weaker Premier League clubs has been conspicuous. As a consequence, the league is surely harder to win than ever, given that the talent is distributed far more evenly.
Take Chelsea, for instance. It’s hard to imagine the 10th place team from any other league being capable of regularly putting in credible performances in the Champions League, and still being in with a chance of knocking out the French champions and reaching the quarter-finals.
City and Arsenal are often unfavourably compared to Barcelona, but there is no doubt that the Catalan side benefit from Spanish league’s lack of competitiveness. English sides rarely are afforded the opportunity to go through parts of games on auto-pilot. By contrast, Barca this week set a new 35-game unbeaten run. They have won 10 of their league games this season by at least three goals. But it’s hard to imagine the Catalan side being able to replicate this feat amid the high intensity of the Premier League.
The modern football world’s demand for instant reaction and analysis has led to Arsenal and Man City both being hastily written off on numerous occasions this season. However, as past evidence illustrates, whether they are dismissed as bottlers or hailed as heroes will not be definitively decided until the end of the season.
Far from teams lacking leaders or other fundamental attributes, history suggests slip-ups and poor results are an inevitable part of Premier League title races, even for the best of teams. And while a select few modern-day European sides such as PSG, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are capable of going on lengthy unbeaten runs and winning their domestic competitions at a canter, English football should be celebrated rather than condemned for its relative unpredictability and consistent competitiveness.
