The day this Arsenal team grew up…. by Dan Smith
As long-term readers know I feel mentality in sport is key.
Talent gets you so far, the mind separates the good from the great.
Good tennis players get to Finals of Grand Slams, the greats have the character to win them.
You have to be Good to represent your nation at the Olympics, the greats have the self-belief to take home the gold medal.
The Good talk about beating the All Blacks, the greats have the leaders to do that.
An honest appraisal is the only reason the title race is no longer in our hands is because in a key part of the season, crucial moments in games, we lacked the above qualities.
That’s what made Sunday so beautiful.
In the short term – we still need Man City to drop points in two of their last 5 League fixtures to be Champions. To put that in perspective, City’s winning sequence in the Prem is at 11 wins out of 12 (drawing the other one). So, it’s not likely.
Long term though this could be crucial to our development, both as a team and for individuals.
Next time we go to a tricky away ground with a daunting atmosphere, we can draw on this experience.
Second only to the League leaders, is there a tougher challenge in the UK right now then a trip to Saint James’ Park?
Against a Toon Army who recently blew away Man United and Spurs.
With top 4 pretty much secured, a team who could play with freedom knowing all the pressure was on us.
Give the Geordies something to cheer about, give them hope and they can make their ground a fortress.
Eddie Howe’s done that, hence only Liverpool winning on Tyneside.
The calendar was again not kind to us, once again dictating we play after Man City.
Then there was our experience here 12 months ago. Last year many of the same players knew they had to win to qualify for the Champions League and froze, crippled by the fear of failure.
Mix that altogether and you understand why this weekend feels like a pivotal moment in this team’s journey.
Maybe too late for this campaign, but don’t be shocked if it’s crucial in the next one.
Of course, a game can be decided by small margins.
One minute in, Murphy hits the post. Moments later we thought we had conceded a penalty.
Both Ramsdale and Pope made 1 on 1 saves, woodwork rattled numerous times, Xhaka made a couple of world-class last-ditch blocks.
We earnt the right to play.
That’s what’s been beautiful about our manager’s approach to this weekend. All week he spoke calmly, didn’t hide away from the scale of the task, but he simply had faith in his side’s ability. All they had to do was earn the right to play.
That means to battle, be brave, don’t shy away from the ball, to get through the early moments, to dig deep, to learn about game management.
Any Gooner wanting to know why we brought in Jorginho now knows why.
It’s not just what he did on the ball but off it, constantly talking, ordering his peers what position they should be in, instructing them how to close out a game.
Arteta might regret not leaning on his experience sooner, specifically at Anfield, when he needed a calm head to keep hold of possession.
On paper City have the harder fixtures. One slip up we can take it to the final day.
Whatever happens though this was a game when Arsenal grew up.
Dan
Mikel Arteta buzzing after Newcastle United 0-2 Arsenal – This game was all about pride..
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While Jorginho was very impressive, I still say he’s not good enough for our squad. He was bought out of desperation, nothing more. Let’s not get carried away by one good match. Season is probably over, but we need Partey back as well as a Partey backup for next season, and Jorginho isn’t good enough to be…not for an EPL and CL titles chasing side
I think Jorginho has been good in more than one match to be fair. The game against Aston Villa comes to mind. He was excellent in that game.
@dgr8xt ‘very impressive, but yet not good enough. You are very ambiguous!
Very impressive in one match, yes. But good enough to capably deputize for Partey, a big NO. Can he perform like that over a full season? You know the answer to that. We desperately need to stop signing old, tired Chelsea rejects whose contributions will never merit the pensions they’ve come to collect
Gallas
Cech
Willian (Oh my God)
David Luiz
Lassanna Diarra
Jorginho
Let’s stop the nonsense
Usually agree with you dgr8xt, but I don’t agree that Cech, Gallas, Luiz and Jorginho were bad buys.
MOTM, Jorginho, proved that experience counts as he slowed down newcastle and his stats were superb.
Arsenal can only win EPL if Man City lose one game and draw another one. Even if we somehow win the trophy, I don’t think we deserve it because our closest rival defeated us three times this season
Having said that, we have obviously made a huge progress. Our away record is much better than other EPL teams’ and we were unbeatable in London derbies
We also dominated the most dominant EPL team in the last five seasons at the Emirates, despite having lost the game due to our lack of front-line pivots. If I’m not mistaken, it’s been more than fifteen years since we have those fantastic statistics
GAI if I remember correctly,Leicester lost to Arsenal twice when they won the Premier League. Are you suggesting that they didn’t deserve to win it because of that?
Did they? I would’ve been disappointed if I were a Leicester fan and if it was the case
I don’t know mate
Say we win title on last second , don’t think anyone will stop and go ‘ ahhh I just wish we beat City’ lol
We didn’t lose any game because of any pivot rubbish, this your obsession with Harland is becoming to sound like a broken record, man city have not even been as dominant as they have been in the past when Harland wasn’t around… We don’t deserve the title because we lost to city 3 times in a league Marathon, man city won the league without beating Liverpool in the past, maybe they didn’t deserve the title too… This is 38match league not a champions league tie… We don’t need any cf all we need a competitor to saka and invest in defensive players that’s what has undone us not so pivot nonsense
We need another option upfront to receive Ramsdale’s long passes, so we could escape the big teams’ high press more easily and attack with various methods
Man City were dominant without Haaland last season. But I bet our current team would’ve at least defeated them at the Emirates last year, because they didn’t have someone to bully our CBs
Funny, we didn’t need any dominant CF yesterday to bypass Newcastle press, there’s no guarantee that city would not wipe arsenal with bigger margin last season
Stop this your obsession with nonsense pivot there is many ways to play football, a city team that made 100points had no pivot
Newcastle’s high press isn’t on a par with Man City’s. When Man City got 100 points, they played with an unbelievable quality that broke EPL standards at that time, hence no need for target man
You are going in circles
There are many ways to play football,
If city could play in your own words with an unbelievable standard without Harland why couldn’t they surpass it with aguebly a better squad that now have Harland
Haaland is having his first season in England and Man City tweaked their style a little by using the new 3-2-4-1 system to accommodate him. Let’s see how many points they can obtain next season
I think Arteta’s biggest undoing is not having a plan B. Each time we fail to dominate the midfield we lacked fluidity and Zinny is exposed. It may not be the best but sometimes title winning teams play unconventional to grind out 1 nil wins and stack up points. This is one of the many reasons why I’ve always been against selling KT. Like the City game we couldn’t even string 5 passes together in the first half. When we struggle to beat the press and Ramsdale goes long, there’s no target man upfront to win the second ball, this is what Brentford have been doing with Toney but I wish if we’re gonna challenge for the title and go past the group stages of the UCL then we should get someone of a higher calibre than Toney. My point is Arteta should have a plan B that should have us grind out points in difficult games against teams like City. We shouldn’t go again next season without atleast getting a point off City.
That’s really, really awful. Points are what win leagues, however they are achieved.
Whilst you make some generally interesting points it’s unclear why you and others keep insisting that unless we beat MC we won’t have “deserved” to be champions if we have the required points.
The argument is more than likely going to be redundant in any case but its a rather odd perspective to take.
I would personally be more satisfied if we beat them at least once, but I would also be ecstatic if we win EPL this season
Utter bullshit but not surprised coming from the resident city fanboy. If we win the title it will be because we deserved it and City didn’t. Away at Etihad is worth as much as Southampton at home or west ham away. It is a marathon not a sprint or head to head.
EPL is a marathon, but being defeated three times by one team shouldn’t have happened
@ GAI
I admire the fact, that you stick to your guns and beliefs, despite others slating you even though I disagree with you on this occasion.
I have had to do this many times on here. Keep you chin and keep going. I always enjoy your posts regardless of agreement or otherwise.
Thanks bro, I also like your contribution
gai, a few days ago I mentioned that it is extremely unusual to lose three times in one season to your main rivals. Almost unheard of actually. Normally it’s closer than that, when the two best teams in the country are vying with each other. As you know, there have been many examples of the best two teams crossing swords in multiple cup competitions during any one season. That’s why it was poor that we didn’t even get a draw in any of the three outings with City. I’m a great believer in “the law of averages” which Is why I was convinced we wouldn’t lose at their place the other day. Unfortunately we did, and I was wrong.
For EG
I just felt that was a bad team selection. As soon as I saw the team sheet I wrote in my post that I am hiding behind the sofa and peeping. We should have aimed for the draw with a strong midfield and a strong defence (same players minus OZ) and a win would have been a bonus.
Sorry IGL, I’ve only just noticed this post.
Was it you that told me you’re glad I’m not the manager ?
I’m surprised as I thought the guy that told me that had a Nigerian name. I’m probably just losing it, but now that you’ve owned up……How dare you ! hee hee hee.
Sorry IGL, me again. I think I may have misunderstood your post to me.
I read your post about the law of averages. The theory makes sense, but we made mistakes at home and Man City were just too strong at their turf
gai, still think that better application at home to City would have prevented them from taking all the points. Just drawing that game alone would have put us in a better position than we are today.
I know “ifs and maybes” are pointless, but just saying.
The year Leicester won the EPL, Arsenal finished 2nd and had done the double over them. No one talked about Leicester not deserving it because of our double.
The funny thing about that season is that although Leicester and we were 1st and 2nd, Lilywhites should really have won the league and would have if they had not combusted. That season for them is similar to this season for us. A golden opportunity that went unfulfilled.
Whoever has most points at end of season wins title. Obviously deserved.
Doesn’t matter where the points come from.
Watch out
Liverpool coming for Newcastle
How sweat it will be that arsenal started their fall to earopa league place
This drama is stretching to the last day
And I can’t see city winning at godison park
GAI, I have to confess to being baffled by your logic and obsessions on numerous occasions but your suggestion why we would not deserve to win the League leaves me perplexed.In two out the three matches against City we could well have won the matches in which we more than held our own in terms of possession and chances created.In any event I think you have led with your chin on this occasion and I would not be surprised if you faced a barrage of disbelief from many of our regulars on JA.
And it was an absolute pleasure to shove it back up the Arse(nal)s of Eddie Howe & Jason Tindall. What a pair of complete twat$!!!
They’re both innocent
Absolutely Jax!!!
I creased up when they were moaning about time wasting
and that’s another string to MA’s bow – something that AW never did get his head around I’m afraid to say.
Grandad, I lose my way with some of GAI’s comments and thought it was because of my age!!!
The league table never lies and, of course, we did do the double over Leicester and they deserved to win the PL.
Dan, I enjoyed the article and we both see it in the same light.
Whatever happens, this has been a tremendous season, with our usual “blip” costing us dearly it seems.
I know another name for ‘blip’. It’s called ‘bottling’
Not the same – if we had “bottled” the games against Bournemouth and Southampton, we wouldn’t have fought back and gained four points.
Ken, It’s really annoying that three games we didn’t actually lose could be so pivotal.
Having said that, it’s been quite a ride, and with something still left in the season perhaps.😏
I agree, along with the Everton game, which we lost and DID “bottle it “.
Whoever wins the Premier League DESERVES to win it. If you have the most points then you deserve to win
For Dan Smith
I felt the same. We grew of age.
We may still win it this year although it is a long shot. We have 2 home games + 1 away game. City have 3 away games (Everton, Brighton and Brentford) and 1 home game.
My worry is that they are going to win it on goal difference.
If we take it to the last game, it is a moral victory even if we do not win it.
Sadly that doesn’t count IGL.
For Ken
I felt the Southampton game was where we lost the title. We needed 3 points not 1 point.
But we are both hoping for lady luck.
👍👍👍
We have to blem our self, for what is happening. Hope lesson have taken. We use to learn the hard way, look at what happen last season.
It was a really enjoyable read, Dan and one I’ve been looking forward to reading because it means that Arteta has been worth the patience and has shown that from a standing start he is now maturing into his role and should only get better
It’s been a remarkable 3 plus years of swinging fortunes for the pieces of the jigsaw to be slowly taking shape now and whether we finish first or second I feel that Arsenal are close to being back where they belong.
The club has undergone a complete overhaul and while the winning mentality is improving, the toxicity, thankfully, has gone. I don’t look at any of those Arsenal players and see a bunch of young men on the gravy train; in fact quite the opposite. All for one and one for all.
As for Jorginho, he was excellent and another vocal member of the team on Sunday.
The truth be told, it’s been an upward trajectory for the Arsenal under Arteta and Edu and I am convinced we would win lots of laurels especially the Champions League (even before Pep wins it with City) with this combo.
There is this bond within the team that makes them fight for each other in the field of play.
Xhaka has impressed me the most this season.