On the occasions when Arsène Wenger has bought up the subject of the away goals rule at the coaching summits held in Geneva where football’s elite come together for a pow-wow on the game’s trends, he has come up against a split opinion. For some, the idea that the away goal encourages attacking football remains entrenched. Wenger, however, believes even in its current incarnation it actually discourages the urge to go for it.
“What it does today is to encourage the team at home not to attack,” the Arsenal manager said. “You protect your clean sheet because it becomes vital. So it encourages more defensive football in some situations than offensive football.”
It is a pet topic of Wenger’s, although he was quick to stress that a discussion in the aftermath of Arsenal and Chelsea exiting the Champions League because of it is now an excuse. “I accept the verdict, the rule is the rule and we have lost. We have to be better than the rules,” he said. “That’s not a debate I want to create because we lost. We were not good enough to win and we have to accept that.
“This debate I brought up at the manager’s meeting in Geneva for two or three years. I think the modern game has changed. This rule had been created to encourage teams who just kicked people away from home because it was not on television and not like today to encourage teams to attack. This is not the case anymore. Barcelona goes to Man City, and they play like they play at home. This super defensive football has gone. I don’t think it will come back.”
Wenger has always been a strong advocate for amending this particular rule. “Two teams have gone out on away goals, which I think should be questioned because it’s a rule that is outdated now and that has to be changed.
“I’ve fought for that for a long time. In a direct knockout, it’s important that you’re very efficient and a bit lucky as well. None of the teams, apart from Barcelona, look to be superior in Europe today. Two other teams, Chelsea and Arsenal, could have gone through. This rule has been created in the 60s to encourage the teams to attack away from home. Since that football has changed. The weight of the away goal is too big today.”
Part of the debate among coaches revolves around the extent of any change. Would the away goal rule still be effective for extra-time? In that case the away team after 180 minutes home and away gets an obvious advantage.
With two Premier Legaue teams succumbing via the away goal, and Manchester City being unfortunate enough to come across Barcelona just as Lionel Messi is regaining his footballing superpowers, Wenger did not want to go along with the notion that there is a European crisis for English football.
Wenger clarified a remark from his post-match press conference which suggested he preferred the Europa League to the Champions League in terms of a long run in continental competition. “It is better that we are in the Champions league. It is as simple as that. It was just a little joke I made in French. To stay in Europe, you want to be in the Champions league and nowhere else.
“I think that the quality of the Premier League is very high and that physical demands are extreme. I’m not in the mood today to analyse too much what was wrong for English football, I don’t think there is a lot wrong,” he said. On the subject of moods, Wenger added the Arsenal camp is “down and disappointed” after their Champions League exit. “It’s quite strange at the moment because we feel we are on a positive trend but we have paid by being out.”
Arsenal travel to Tyneside this weekend to play Newcastle, and hope to get back on track in the Premier League. The title race remains off Wenger’s immediate agenda though, given Chelsea’s advantage. “We would love to,” he said. “At the moment we are too far away from Chelsea but we have an opportunity every week to get closer and for that we need positive results from us, and negative results from Chelsea. The only thing we can master is positive results from us. I believe Chelsea still has a very good cushion and very good security.”
Wenger is mindful of potential fatigue this weekend. “West Ham was a very physical game. In the second half of the Monaco game we played some of our players offensively. We paid a little bit for it. It is a concern. We have to see how everyone recovers.”