Football Comment: English teams are too tired to cut it in Europe
WHEN Arsene Wenger woke up this morning I hope he was thinking about the Premier League rather than the Champions League. Because it’s time for him to change his priorities this season. Arsenal are not going to come back and win in Munich.
For a team who has spent so much of this season at the top of the league it disappointed me how little control of the game Arsenal had, apart from the first 10 minutes.
Once Wojciech Szczesny was sent off – somewhat harshly because I don’t think Arjen Robben had an opportunity to score – Arsenal had no chance, particularly with Yaya Sanogo up front. Wenger would pick Olivier Giroud over Sanogo 99 times out of 100, so I can’t work that one out, whatever may be happening off the pitch. Sanogo is untried, not very strong and hasn’t got the knowhow at this level.
The bottom line though, is English teams still can’t quite compete against the best in Europe.
I think a major factor is fitness levels. There was a visible difference between Bayern, who have just had a winter break, and Arsenal, who played eight matches in league and cup in that time.
There’s been a lot of talk about whether we should introduce a winter break and I think it’s important to give our teams a fair chance, because the gap in quality to European teams is growing.
Trevor Steven is a former England footballer who played at two World Cups and two European Championships. He now works as a media commentator.