If Pep Guardiola is impressed with Arsenal, that’s good enough for me by Dan Smith
Arsene Wenger had a dream.
It wasn’t just to win major honours.
It wasn’t just to coach a team to play the ‘right way’.
He believed you could do both. That it was possible to be successful while playing beautiful football.
He did that with the Invincibles, and so nearly finished the story by being 12 minutes away from lifting the Champions League.
You could even argue that the Frenchman prioritised his ethos over silverware.
If he cared about purely being judged by medals, he could have accepted numerous jobs offers from the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG.
It’s no wonder the 73-year-old didn’t get along with Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese has contrasting principles. He will do whatever it takes to win. No matter the style of play, no matter what his owner has to spend, no matter what he has to say, even if he has to hide in laundry basket, Jose believes nothing is more important than winning.
That’s why it’s hard to not like Pep Guardiola.
There’s a lot to dislike about Man City, who might yet be found guilty of breaking serious rules to obtain the squad they have.
But when you compare them to Man United’s treble winners that’s where the *asterisk* comes into play.
You can’t ignore the only reason there is success at the Etihad is because they were brought essentially by a country.
Yet you can’t pretend their manager hasn’t changed English Football, from winning one title without a recognised striker, to winning another without a natural left back.
His attention to detail is obsessive. That’s why he left Barcelona. He emotionally gave so much until he couldn’t give any more.
In three different countries now, Pep has consistently proven that beauty can overcome the beast.
He does it with class, the only pressure he lets impact on him is the pressure he puts on himself.
He doesn’t go overboard in victory or in defeat, and doesn’t feel the need to play mind games to hurt others mentally.
Moments after lifting his fifth Prem he took time to praise Arsenal’s season.
He didn’t need to do that and others in his position wouldn’t have.
He said, ‘There’s a tendency to underestimate. They are winners.”
“We pushed Arsenal but they are exceptional. They should be proud of where they have come from.
“They made me think a lot what I had to do to beat them, and they did it to us.
“Congratulations for what they have done. He’s (Arteta) brought them back to what Arsenal was in the past.’
Cynics might say he’s trying to give his friend positive words at a time where Arteta looks broken.
It’s natural the teacher wants his apprentice to succeed.
Yet Pep is a student of the sport. As a player he would have known how big the Gunners were, is educated enough to know this has been a poor period in our history.
If it’s true that we worried him and tactically made him think of new ideas, that’s the biggest compliment we get out of this campaign.
We live in a world where people can share their opinion around the universe within seconds.
There are some YouTubers, who get money out of talking about football, who want Arteta sacked for finishing runners up.
These are the same people who if we had finished 4th last year would have called that progress.
I’d rather listen to Pep.
Something tells me he knows what he’s talking about?
So, if he says we have progressed I believe him.
If he’s impressed, that’s good enough for me.
Dan