One Wilf Copping
02-20-2013, 09:41 AM
We're liked, but not respected anymore and definitely not feared.
Pre-match, Heynckes went out of his way to sympathise with Wenger and praise his past record. Again, post-match he glossed over the lack of a handshake at the end of the match and reiterated his affection for Wenger.
Wenger is hugely appreciated in Germany for his early achievements with us and liked for his 'honorary German' status coming from Alsace, but even in Germany it's a running joke in the football media and among normal fans that we just play fake tiki-taka Barcelona-Lite football without the work rate or deigning to do anything unworthy of us like try and score goals that are less than perfect or old-fashioned things like, ahem, defend.
However, the reality was also clear last night. German pundits praised our world-class stadium, but tried to make excuses for our current problems before conceding that we're no longer a top European side. Words like 'mittelrangig' (mid-level) and 'zweitklasse' (second-class) were both used to describe our current standing, while Beckenbauer suggested it was suicidal to have sold Van Persie. He just chuckled and shook his head and said you don't do that under ANY circumstances.
They had the exact same situation with Ballack a few years ago. He wanted to go to get more money and they held on to him and forced him to honour his contract – even though that meant losing him on a Bosman at the end of his contract. Both parties suffered, but Bayern had made a statement of intent and shown their strength in dealing with players and foreign 'aggressors' like Chelsea and Madrid who had been trying to lure Ballack away for years.
That's not the way a business works, but it is the way a serious, ambitious football club works.
Bayern Munich is about trying to win every match and every trophy they are involved in and then milking every commercial opportunity that arises.
Arsenal is about milking every commercial opportunity that arises and then working out how many matches we need to win to maintain those commercial opportunities (you can forget the trophies already).
Pre-match, Heynckes went out of his way to sympathise with Wenger and praise his past record. Again, post-match he glossed over the lack of a handshake at the end of the match and reiterated his affection for Wenger.
Wenger is hugely appreciated in Germany for his early achievements with us and liked for his 'honorary German' status coming from Alsace, but even in Germany it's a running joke in the football media and among normal fans that we just play fake tiki-taka Barcelona-Lite football without the work rate or deigning to do anything unworthy of us like try and score goals that are less than perfect or old-fashioned things like, ahem, defend.
However, the reality was also clear last night. German pundits praised our world-class stadium, but tried to make excuses for our current problems before conceding that we're no longer a top European side. Words like 'mittelrangig' (mid-level) and 'zweitklasse' (second-class) were both used to describe our current standing, while Beckenbauer suggested it was suicidal to have sold Van Persie. He just chuckled and shook his head and said you don't do that under ANY circumstances.
They had the exact same situation with Ballack a few years ago. He wanted to go to get more money and they held on to him and forced him to honour his contract – even though that meant losing him on a Bosman at the end of his contract. Both parties suffered, but Bayern had made a statement of intent and shown their strength in dealing with players and foreign 'aggressors' like Chelsea and Madrid who had been trying to lure Ballack away for years.
That's not the way a business works, but it is the way a serious, ambitious football club works.
Bayern Munich is about trying to win every match and every trophy they are involved in and then milking every commercial opportunity that arises.
Arsenal is about milking every commercial opportunity that arises and then working out how many matches we need to win to maintain those commercial opportunities (you can forget the trophies already).