Thank you Arsenal for reminding England of the poverty of diffidence. If they approach the World Cup as Arsenal did the Champions League final, England may not survive the group stage.
Thomas Tuchel emphasised the importance of team ethic and structure in leaving behind a cohort of stylists, including Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White and Adam Wharton, raising the prospect of a minimalist summer. Surely we learned at the cautious hands of Gareth Southgate the limits of setting up a team to nullify the opposition.
Mikel Arteta might argue that Arsenal were only a couple of bad penalties from toppling the best team in Europe, but that would be to overstate a method described by French sport bible L’Equipe as a double-parking of the bus. It was also a repudiation of the attacking principles inculcated at the Barcelona academy.
There is no future for any team with only 24 per cent possession. For the 83 minutes he was on the pitch, Bukayo Saka, one of England’s signature blades, was back at full-back, where he started his career.
The issue was less technical than mental. Paris Saint-Germain are fearless and spent the greater part of the night in Arsenal’s half and entirely in their heads. Arteta played it like Southgate and would have been hailed a genius had he pulled it off. Yet the chances of doing so are significantly reduced when control is ceded so readily to opponents who cherish the ball.
