Hello, everyone.
Like all of you, I’m sure, I’m disappointed by the loss to Man City. Our record against them in the league is poor, and I was sure going into Wednesday’s game we had what it took to get something out of it. Obviously, we didn’t get anything, but I still feel like we’ve got what it takes.
As I said yesterday, the distance we have come since City’s 5-0 win in August 2021 is immense. Back then we seemed too-rans. Now, we are the complete opposite. Which isn’t to say you don’t have some worries and concerns about losing, of course you do. It doesn’t mean I’m not dealing with some anxiety about our recent shape, because it wouldn’t be normal if I wasn’t. It’s just that I can see the progress.
The way we played against City, the courage we showed to continue to play by our principles, was very nice to me. Watching the game I was very impressed, because the easiest thing to do, at certain times anyway, would have been to just bundle it up, get rid of it, undo it. It feels safe to throw the ball to the other end, but if you do it all the time, you create pressure that can be very difficult to handle. There are definitely times, as the manager said, when we need to do the simple things better, but I’m not sure that really means we go industrial.
We don’t have a physical 6’5 center forward to hit the ball to begin with. And let’s make an important distinction here: Erling Haaland is not the Norwegian Tony Cascarino. It’s a unique combination of height, physicality, pace, movement and an unerring ability to finish. He is not at City because of how tall he is, he is because he is potentially the best center forward in the world. Not only have they gone out and brought in a big guy to give them the option to go route 1, but route 1 is a byproduct of having him on the team.
Can you remember the last few years under Arsene Wenger? Do you remember the short but difficult stage of Unai Emery? I remember that game against Fulham, shortly after the Spaniard took over, when we scored a remarkable goal, a back-and-forth move ended with a play by Aaron Ramsdale Ramsey, and the fans chanted ‘We’ve got our Arsenal back’.
That didn’t last, obviously, but in the morass of dubious signings and line-up changes and the relentless Wenger in/Wenger out, and ultimately Unai’s misfit, and throughout the maddening inconsistency of our football, Arsenal fans were again searching for an identity. That’s part of what that chant at Craven Cottage was about. We saw some beautiful, elegant football that clearly resonates with as many as the kind of football we want Arsenal to play. It is, to a large extent, a by-product of the transformation that Wenger brought to this club. Those years of success with some of the best players we’ve ever seen, playing the best football you’ve ever seen. It leaves you wanting more.
We lost our way. Happens. Soccer is cyclical. However, the desire for renewed success comes hand-in-hand with the itch for how to make it happen. I am as frustrated as anyone else by the City game and the results of Brentford and Everton, but now I connect with this team in a much deeper way. I like these players, I like how we play, I like that there is a clear identity to our football, and for me that is a safety net when you fall over the tightrope you have to walk during a Premier League season.
That doesn’t mean we can’t improve. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for more or to do better. It’s just that when you’ve hit a plateau and find yourself looking over the horizon to the promised land, you need to keep going. We all knew there would be bumps and bumps along the way. Well here we are. We have stumbled in the last two weeks.
I can’t, or don’t want to, tell anyone else how I feel, but I can tell you that I’d rather have the pain inflicted on me by a team that’s good and potentially great than one that’s rubbish and going nowhere. The madness of football when we invest so much emotion in something we have no control over is not a new observation, but I’d rather be the team that is capable of winning but makes a few mistakes to lose a game 3-1 than the one that gets knocked down 5- 0 because it can’t compete. Which is no excuse for those mistakes, but that scoreline flattered City a bit. We have to find a way to improve our record against them, for sure, but in terms of performance it’s night and day compared to where we were 18 months ago.
I saw an article a few weeks ago talking about Mikel Arteta’s revolution at Arsenal. I thought ‘They can’t have been watching’, because it’s not revolution, it’s evolution. It took us a while to get here. We’ve been through some things together. And we still have a way to go. We can all see that the template is better, but it can still be improved. Evolution, by its very nature, is limited by time.
With all due respect to Eddie Nketiah, who has worked so hard, playing 90 minutes in every game since the World Cup, the difference between the two centre-forwards on Wednesday night is instructive. They have one of the best in the world, we have a young man who should go on and build a decent career, but he will never be at that level. That’s what we’re competing with, and we’ll have to keep competing, potentially on even more fronts as more ownership money pours into Premier League clubs.
You cannot compete without a football identity. I don’t know how far he can take us, but I’m sure we won’t get anywhere without him. I’m not here to rally the troops or anything. That is the coach’s job and the players have to respond.
We just like each other. I like this. I like what we’ve done, and I like where we’re going. You can strive for perfection, but be realistic enough to know that it’s next to impossible. Take your blows. Get up.
Go again.
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Arsecast Extra below if you haven’t had a chance to listen, and later on we’ll have an Aston Villa preview podcast for you on Patreon.
