There is a word Arteta has used this season that I love, ‘humble’. by Dan Smith
He wants Arsenal to be humble in the title race, to take things game by game, not get carried away and show respect to the standards set by others.
Not all Gooners have been humble recently.
I watched one YouTuber this week describe the Gunners as one of the best teams in world football !
A couple of weeks ago I was dumbfounded when a fans’ channel chose to compare our squad with the Invincibles!
Last week as part of the Overlap Series Gary Neville was laughed at and mocked by representatives from AFTV for his opinion that Man City will retain their Championship, and that it wasn’t inconceivable that the margin between City and us could still end up between 8-10 points.
The pundit was dismissed for having an agenda, from those who simply cannot or will not have anything constructive said about the team they love.
This notion that the 47 year old sits up at night thinking of things to say due to his dislike of one club in particular is far-fetched.
It’s not like he gets any satisfaction from seeing the trophy lifted at the Etihad.
Whisper it quietly, it must just be what he genuinely thinks?
Doesn’t make him right or wrong, it’s not about hate, it’s one man paid to give his point of view, and the subject happened to be ‘who wins the Premier League?’
Let’s dissect what the former right back said , that Arsenal will have a strange result and no one knows what the response would be too that.
We have just lost at Everton and been held by Brighton in performances not witnessed this season. So, he was correct?
That while the Champions have a dressing room of talent who know how to handle the pressure that comes in May and April and can put together a winning sequence of 14, he’s unaware if the League leaders have that mental strength.
Our recent history says we don’t, the majority of the same players crippled by the fear of failure in a top 4 race last campaign and therefore with question marks regarding their character.
From his own playing days, he witnessed how quickly so many title races can turn around and the psychology that can cause it.
For example, a week ago we kicked off at Goodison Park trying to go 8 points clear.
Suddenly we are second if we lose on Wednesday, a fixture we haven’t won since 2015!
Wake up Thursday morning no longer top, and Villa Park on Saturday morning and a trip to Leicester are tricky, because you’re having to win to stay in the hunt.
Like me, I think Neville’s forecast is less of a judgement on Arsenal but more respect on the standards set by Man City.
Respect that some of my peers haven’t shown, thinking we matched their level with only half a season of football played.
Some make out us getting two results against them will be simple.
How insulting towards opposition who have dominated this fixture.
I believe in any sport, what separates the very best is your mindset.
The mindset it takes in April and May is huge.
Sir Alex used to say all he cared about that time of the year was his team were in contention because he trusted his teams experience would give then an advantage.
City have had to record point totals on 90 plus to win the Prem, they had to put together winning sequences of 14 to see off challenges. They had to cope with playing every few days in the knowledge that even a draw is not good enough.
Arsenal might do that but there nothing wrong with the notion that we don’t know if they can – and we know City can.
Whatever happens we have made great progress collectively and individually and our manager has done a great job.
A win in midweek would be huge and maybe give us the belief we need.
It would indeed show that our recent form is common in any title winning season and not anything more
I think It’s a must-not-lose game, a loss would be hard to recover from mentally.
Personally, I don’t think we will lose.
The fantastic atmosphere at the Emirates will help us.
Whatever the result though …. let’s be humble.
Dan Smith
———————————————-
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
WATCH as Mikel Arteta complains about the referee and the fixture list, but praises Brentford..…
WATCH EVERY ONE of Mikel Arteta’s and Jonas Eidevall’s Full Press conferences by subscribing to our YouTube Channel – JustArsenalVids
I actually thought this a very fair article. I found little to disagree with and esp about Neville, who whatever any of us thinks, is fully entitled to give his opinion.
And if he IS biased, then so what? Most of us are too, so why should HE be any different, just ‘cos he’s well known. So, few of us like Neville. Again, so what!!
He won’t like many of us I am sure and not our club for sure. How many of you have any time for United either’ Me neither, but I TRY TO BE FAIR AT LEAST
As long as we are not spanked 8-2 or 6-0 Or 5-0, I’m okay with Wednesday’s outcome. (Even then I supported the team and will continue to do so) The 8-8-5 brigade has begun their warm up march past, just waiting for the final whistle on Wednesday if things don’t go our way to restart their parade.
Providing Arteta is strong enough to make the changes which patently need to be made, I feel we can beat a Man City side which is vulnerable in defence.In many ways Brentford were a more difficult hurdle to overcome in that they deployed 10 outfield players behind the ball in a deep back line set up, whereas City will set out to win the possession stakes and attack whenever possible.In essence I think our front three will have more space to be effective against City than against the likes of Brentford and Newcasstle who depend on counterattack and their aerial strength from set pieces..In terms of selection,if Xhaka and Marinelli continue to be first picks after ineffectual performances of late, our Manager is displaying a lack of trust in others who deserve better.
The One thing we mustn’t do right now is give in to panic and doomsday scenario. Yes the last 2 fixtures were pretty bad both in performance and result but if you look closely we haven’t lost an inch to Mcity since the world cup break:
Had a 5 pts lead before WC 14 games played
Have a 3 pts lead with a game in hand now with 22 played
So we’ve pretty much keep mcity at bay during a tough 7 games schedule with our main Striker out.
Also about the everton/brentford game we got 1 pt from them but mcity also got 1 pt despite playing both at home.
I think it’s gonna be a tight game & both teams making sure that they don’t give too much spaces to penetrate one another, a draw i think will be a fair results since Arsenal have lost two points last week with a draw to Brentford while city lost away to spurs a week ago, expecting a very tactical game
We are at home and should be able to avoid getting beat. We should not be frightened of city, they are beatable. We should be able to play Artetas game against city and not worry about kitchen sinks. Just dont lose!
If we approach the game the way we did last season, we’d come away with a result against City on Wednesday.
In that game we were leading by a lone goal far into regulation time until a peneaty and a Xhaka red card gave City a foot into the game and an eventual 2 – 1 success.
The coaches should watch Villa’s second-half performance on Sunday against City.
For me, even if we should lose on Wednesday, I won’t be giving up just yet. There are stillmany games yet to be played. And everybody, including City, is going to be dropping points at random
Let’s go for it! COYG!!!
Someone said Brentford was a walkOver & I disagreed, I knew we could drop points to Brentford
Aston Villa ain’t a bit tricky, they don’t defend, they can’t defend, they don’t sit back – we will win Aston Villa
Everton & Brentford took points from Man City playing this same way against them too
We are fine
We are very much still on track
We are better than Man City this year
Man City truly have the mental edge & experience above us
But I don’t think there’s a psychology issue on ground at the moment
Tomorrow it’s: Arsenal Win Or Draw
We’ve only dropped points to teams Man City also couldn’t claim maximum points against