Arsenal can't ignore Clarence Seedorf's warning in Champions League and beyond

One of the leading authorities on winning the UEFA Champions League has given Arsenal a warning Mikel Arteta can't ignore. Not in the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain and not during the future pursuit of trophies.

When it comes to winning the Champions League, few players know what it takes as well as Clarence Seedorf. He lifted the biggest prize in European club competition four times, once with Ajax, then Real Madrid, and twice for AC Milan, so Arsenal should listen when the 49-year-old explains what the club is missing on the continent.

Seedorf thought the problem was unmistakable during the 1-0 defeat at home to PSG in the first leg of the semi-final. In his role as a pundit for Amazon Prime (h/t The Guardian's Ed Aarons), Seedorf lamented a "fear of failure" and called for a "change of mentality" from Mikel Arteta's team.

It's easy to see what Seedorf was getting at, namely, the lack of impetus to get on the front foot on home soil. A reluctance and frankly inability to seize control of possession and not relent.

Pinpointing why Arsenal failed to do these things isn't easy. Was it an inferiority complex playing on the big stage? Or was it something deeper, an indictment of Arteta's tactical limitations and less-than-progressive philosophy?

Arsenal still adjusting to big moments

Seedorf isn't the only one who believes this Arsenal side is found wanting whenever the pressure increases. Former Manchester United marksman Wayne Rooney took his moment in front of the camera to stick the extra long studs into an old enemy.

Rooney told the Prime audience Arsenal are "used to getting to a certain stage of the season and things fall away," per Aarons. Perhaps this was a reflex from Rooney's days torturing the Gunners for United -- let's face it, today's football media is far from short of ex-United players who struggle to adjust to humility, no matter how much their former club continues to tank the Premier League.

Yet, as much as Rooney's comment hit a nerve, it's a charge this Arsenal side will struggle to duck. Recent seasons were defined by near misses, like when Arteta's men wasted an eight-point lead with three draws and as many defeats in their final nine games of the 2022/23 campaign.

The Gunners couldn't hold their nerve a season later, when being out-thought and outfought by Unai Emery's Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium proved fatal in mid-April. On both occasions, Arsenal slip-ups allowed Manchester City to claim the Premier League title.

City's superior experience proved useful, but their decline this season was supposed to clear the path for Arteta's inevitable ascension to glory. Unfortunately, nobody told a Liverpool squad with a new manager and unchanged personnel, but still too good for Arsenal at every turn. So much for being one step away...

It's been a similar story in cup competitions. If the Gunners can't overcome history and PSG at the Parc des Princes, it will mark the third time Arteta's squads have fallen short in the final four. Arsenal couldn't get past Emery and Villarreal in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League, while Liverpool scored two goals in north London to send the Gunners packing from the 2021/22 EFL Cup.

The evidence is tough to refute. Arsenal continue to falter ahead of the final step. That won't change until it does. Just like it did after Arsene Wenger's Arsenal finished second to United's Treble winners in 1999, lost the UEFA Cup final on penalties a year later, then fell victim to a Michael Owen double with the FA Cup on the line in 2001.

Another league and cup double followed 12 months later, before the Cup was retained, then 'The Invincibles' were born. There was one big difference between the Arsenal of then and now.

Mikel Arteta's team is rarely playing to win

Arteta has always been more George Graham than Wenger. More Jose Mourinho than Pep Guardiola. He often plays not to lose, rather than taking the risk of playing to win.

It means possession for possession sake. Pinching goals from set-piece situations and living off the individual brilliance of Bukayo Saka.

What's missing is a collective commitment to expansive, daring and artful football. An attacking mentality based on numbers in forward areas and the freedom to overload defences with unexpected runs from every level of the team.

PSG did those things at the Emirates Stadium. The visitors overloaded wide areas with underlapping runs and took advantage of clever movement from goalscorer Ousmane Dembele, along with the technique and bravery of midfield trio Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz to still play through a high and aggressive press.

That's bold stuff. High reward, but high risk, and Arteta doesn't do risk. Not really. Sure, he talks a big game, but his love of a good soundbite is part of the problem.

Arteta's a great cheerleader. He's a ra-ra gaffer who can raise the spirit and intensity. The noise works brilliantly against an ageing and tired Real Madrid squad at the end of its cycle. Arteta revved up his troops and sent them out to snarl, run and outmuscle the opposition.

Unfortunately, this stuff doesn't work against an equally focused opponent with a plan. PSG matched Arsenal's focus in the first leg, but the plan was far more sophisticated and only luck has kept Arsenal in position to still win the tie.

Arteta didn't have any answers eight days ago, and finding some now requires going bold. Say by pairing isolated and overworked playmaker Martin Odegaard with bright young thing Ethan Nwaneri. Or by granting Saka and fellow winger Gabriel Martinelli more freedom to run through the middle.

Arsenal can still win this Champions League, but not without a progressive idea about how to salvage this tie. Something outside the safe confines of Arteta's familiar formula.

No more slogans, just intelligence and imagination from the manager to heed Seedorf's warning.

READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS HERE!