As many of you know I feel that mentality is crucial in sport. by Dan Smith
Talent gets you so far but what separates the good from the great is your strength of mind.
I felt Wednesday night was always going to be a psychological blow to the loser and huge for the winner.
The result in itself was a knock to us, but how we lost couldn’t have been more damaging with our players letting the moment pass them by.
My opinion of the title race has always been that Arsenal are just not mentally strong enough to get over the line.
Some Gooners are very sensitive and precious about my point of view, but it’s not an insult to the Gunners.
It’s simply a reflection of us having a young squad and feeling it’s a step too far.
Whatever happens Mikel Arteta has done a great job this season, improving us as a team and individuals.
It’s also respect towards the standards Pep Guardiola has set, where to be Champions you seem to need 90 plus points and put together a crazy sequence of wins.
Yet, as our manager pointed out in his pre match press conference, the only way you get that know how is by eventually winning and in return having that experience to draw on the next time you are in adversity.
That’s why when we ended our trophy drought in 2014, suddenly another FA Cup followed.
Sir Alex credits the Carling Cup as crucial to the development of Ronaldo and Rooney, simply as it was their first medals.
Man City still cherish their FA Cup win over Stoke as it was their first silverware in 35 years, setting up what was to follow.
That’s why Saturday was huge. Like how we lost in midweek was bigger than the points, how we won at Villa Park was so much more significant than just the short term.
It was crucial for our mentality to be able to respond after a 4-match winless run, but the manner of how we did it couldn’t have gone better in terms of helping our self-belief.
If Man City left the Emirates with a mental edge at the top of the table, then this weekend was our turn to put doubt in their minds.
It was so dramatic, you could even argue that if any doubt had been born out our 3-1 loss, this 4-2 win cured us.
It was that big!
Shakespeare himself couldn’t have written the emotional roller-coaster we went through in Birmingham.
Many (including myself) doubted we had the mental capacity to go to a tricky away ground and cope under must win conditions.
Conceding inside 5 minutes increased my flashbacks to last season when we bottled the race for top 4.
We went in at half time 2-1 down, knowing that while not mathematically a crisis, it would have put further doubts on our ability to handle the pressure and make the scrutiny for the next week unbearable.
Zinchenko, one of the few leaders we have, led by example by equalising. Knowing how to win titles he barely celebrated his first ever Prem goal, running back to the half way line knowing a point wasn’t good enough.
This time our key players didn’t go missing, Odegaard demanding the ball while our press became more aggressive.
There were just too many moments where potentially you could look back on as defining.
On another day Ramsdale’s world class save bounces off the bar and over the line.
Then Jorginho became part of the Arsenal family by shooting from distance, but on another day we don’t get the luck of it bouncing in off the keepers head.
Based on some of his antics at the World Cup some would like the sight of Martinez looking sheepish, even more so when he left his goal open having gone up for a late corner.
Celebrations at full time between players and the away end was recognition of the mental hurdle just cleared.
It got even better later in the afternoon when the Champions missed chances at the City Ground, which added to the narrative that maybe a first title since 2004 is written in the stars?
In our past 4 fixtures we looked mentally weak with players going missing.
It’s only fair I point out when we mentally take huge strides.
When we didn’t show up at Goodison, in the first half vs Brentford or in the second half against City I was critical of what I saw.
When we play with pride and passion my review will be positive.
A Gooner happy when the team plays well, but not when they don’t give 100 per cent .
Crazy concept?
Dan
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Well said Dan. We always criticize though constructively, when the players and coach doesn’t give 💯%. But full of praises when they do. At villa on weekend, the players showed a champion’s stuff by their Spartans spirit. Well done players and coach. I appeal to Arteta to give White rest. Give Nketia rest also.
Henson, I can be very sure that your request about White will not “appeal” to MA even one little bit.
And while JESUS IS STILL UNFIT, THERE IS NOT A CAT IN HELLS CHANCE THAT A FULLY FIT NKETIAH WILL NOT ALSO BE PICKED. Both IMO, correctly so.
Manyof out regular playerd do need a rest but unlike City, as you may not have noticed , we have not the quality IN DEPTH, apart from around 16 top players, most of whom will either start or come on as subs anyway.
In my opinion, an EPL title contender shouldn’t miss gazillions of chances as we did at Villa Park
Having said that, Man City also did it in West Bridgford. But they could easily fix it, since they have two CF types and a plethora of attacking options for the rotation
We have more limited resources, so our attackers need to improve their finishing skills before going to Leicester
I look at that as a massive positive.
Very rare is it to go away from home against a decent team, or any team for that matter, and score 4 goals. We missed a lot of chances, and yet still scored 4.
Lovely seeing so much creativity, especially when you consider those early Arteta days when we’d struggle to create anything. I am loving the evolution.
👍🏼
Dan, I always enjoy reading your articles, some of which I agree with and some I don’t.
It is my opinion, however, that you criticise very quickly and ignore what has gone on before.
Your article claiming we had no leaders or winners in the squad, was patently untrue… if you cared to look at the results before the Everton game.
The spuds, liverpool, chelsea, united, to name a few, have all been beaten and it was a squad effort.
You don’t top the PL table for weeks on end, if you don’t have winners, leaders, passion and the belief in what you can achieve.
The “thriller in villa” proved beyond doubt that we have all those four requirements in abundance and that is why the support from the fans is so strong.
It shouldn’t take the villa game to make you realise this and from the start of the season, we have been on the front foot… up until the Everton game.
Even the city game, on reflection, was decided by two self inflicted errors (in my opinion) and to be back on top of the PL sums up the advances MA and the squad have made this season.
I have been expecting an article from you, correcting your assertions that it was Liverpool fans who were at fault in last year’s CL final and would suggest that article is an example of jumping in feet first without the facts.
Nevertheless, I always read your articles and have no doubt you are a true Gooner.
And post Ken. Not one( about Dan) I would have cared to write though, even though I agree with all you said.
I do not doubt Dan is a Gooner, though I think his negative way of “supporting” is a distinctly odd form of fanhood.
To my mind he seems to revel in negativity and my life experience tells me that it is odd, to say the least, to be constantly negative about something (or someone) that you are devoted towards.
Should have read “A fine post Ken”.
Thank you Ken
Aston Villa -Arsenal game offered many Arsenal come-back goals because we showed desire to shoot from any point near the 18-yard space. Checkout Zincheko goal, Geojinho, Saka goal. We left the passing-ball tactics at Emirate and changed tactics and changed from weeping to celebration. This is something to try again.
Eke, I agree that Arsenal have failed in the past to shoot from distance often enough and when they have, the percentage of shots testing the goal keeper has not been high enough.
Let’s look forward to improvement on both counts in the future.
Dan
Do hope normal service resumes with you now
This past week you and quite a few on here have been up and down like a yoyo.
Some times I wonder if some people look beyond the results
Against city in the cup we gave a good account of ourselves plus making 6 changes.
Everton we had the chances to put the ball in the back of the net a number of times
They score, the crowd are behind them and the inevitable happens
Brentford like Everton we had chances to finish them off
City we went toe to toes and had chances to finish them 1st half
Yesterday we left it late but had big chances to make it 2 3, 2 4 but eddie and Martin missed clear cut opportunities.
What ties all the games together and especially the ones we lost and drew where some fans lambasted the manager and team for having no guts, desire, mental strength blah blah blah
We created and are still creating massive chances
The team is built on creating chances and unfortunately Eddie isn’t the person to take them. If he doesn’t have to think he scores. Thinks and he is lost but the good thing is at least he is getting on the end of some
15 to go and we are approaching the business end
I have and alway had faith that the manager and team have the cojones to see it through which is
1 Make to 4 first
2 Put in a challenge for the title if we are within touching distance come 8 to 10 games to go
Onwards and upwards
Tottenham are in 5th place with 39 points….15 points behind us
So we would need to lose 5 games out of the last 15 for them to catch up and overtake us. And also they would need to score a hateful of goals as we have a 21 superior goal difference
So in terms of first priority we need to win 11 out of the last 15 to guarantee top 4
However I think the mentality Arteta has and that Jesus and Zinch have brought is the winning mentality that top 4 is not good enough. I loved Zinch’s attitude after his first goal was not to celebrate but to sprint back to get the game started and go for the win….
We have seen City & Liverpool and Utd in their pomp all score goals on the last minutes / extra time….a true mark of Champions is that they never give up !
Long may this continue …
It was very very crucial win for Arsenal but I believe we need calm down a bit…
We played against the team who doesn’t sit back and defend in low blocks or Park the bus..
Villa was always known for their decent attacking football…
Yesterday it was all end to end stuff and we always play better when it is an open end to end game…
Next week also it will be Leicester who also likes to play open football so I think we should be winning that..
Let’s wait until midweek game against Everton at Emirates because that’s our game in hand over City..
And we all know how Sean Dyche’s team plays..
We have already seen recently..
So we need to calm down until that game
Liverpool found way to beat them. Everton is not all that. I think we underestimated them in the game we lost against them. I can say we were a little complacent and they were overzealous.
I was very happy for the win though it’s still long way to go, however my fear is not man city but man united the way they are playing
We have been leading for the whole season except one gameweek where we were second on goal difference with a game in hand. To dismiss our title chances and question players mentality is something I expect only “biased as ever, envious and confirmed Arsenal haters pundits” to do.
Maybe its easier to be inspired when things dont go our way but if you must at least it should be when we have really bottled it whether it be our title chance or top 4. The same can be said to Konstantin also.
Up to now we are not challenging we are the one being challenged for the title.
HH, my concern has always been the maintenance of concentration and mental strength, when fatigue sets in when players can’t be rotated.
Hopefully the return from injury of Jesus, Partey, Nelson and ESR, will allow players to be rested. The last transfer window with the acquisition of Trossard and Jorginho could prove critical.
Agreed OG. I think Trossard and Jorginho were very clever signings. It seems to suit our situation better than if we had signed Mudryk only.
Regarding concentration and mental strength we have made great progress compared to the last 4-5 years. And extraordinary quickly if we are to compare to last season alone.
If your concerns will happen and they break in the end, it will be nothing more than valuable expereince gained which will make our players mentally stronger for many seasons to come.
I’m not sure they were mentally weak en masse. WereLiverpool mentally weak earlier and then suddenly able to mount a charge and not be mentally weak?
Obviously being part of a winning team should bring that winning mentality.. unless you beat us one week and draw with Forest the next. It’s the ebb and flow of the season and Arteta who has driven the team forward this time around
What’s that saying? Rome wasn’t built in a day!
A good read by Dan, happy he’s back to his favorite stamping ground.
Dan Smith is a gooner who likes to plays the devil advocate in my opinion, I do not think his intentions are bad or intended to cause harm.
The legendary Frenchman always emphasizes importance of mental strength, its parts of the mind games that you are experiencing just now in a ding dong bottle to the finish line.
Victory like that which we saw on Saturday is a massive win in the scheme of all mind games
It’s not about writing one article wen we win to prove that u are sometimes positive, its about understanding wen we lose, analyse our game wen we lose, look at the previous games and be positive. Not Hasting to write negative stuff when we lose like u have been waiting for it
Exactly and if you really analyse the City game we were the better team and had chances esp in 1st half, Grealish said it himself and 2nd half Pep made a few changes and that’s how it goes against champions. Don’t take our chances we get punished for it.
We are over achieving atm but why the hell not, let’s keep it going and win that game in hand 5pts clear of City & 8pts ahead of UTD, who I think will be there or abouts come End of season as City & Arsenal have both played UTD twice this season already.
Season isn’t won in Feb but can be lost.
Long way to go, keep our feet on the ground, stay humble & keep winning. Its all in our own hands basically
Mate I don’t write anything to prove anything to anyone
I give my opinion on what I see
So Villa I saw team show strong mentality
The other 3 games I don’t
Me saying we were great at Villa doesn’t change my view that we went missing In recent games
My intentions are never bad mate
Trust me I would cry if we won this title
When I doubt our menatality it’s out of fear having seen it so many times
The Villa game was something else, and it would have been easy for the players to feel sorry for themselves just two days after a hard faught home defeat. Yes, the pride and passion was clearly there to see at Villa Park. It will bond our players and fans even closer. Hope we don’t regret the “error” at Brentford. Forgetting to draw the line for offside was a huge mistake and cost Arsenal two points which will have consequences down the line.
Mate I don’t write anything to prove anything to anyone
I give my opinion on what I see
So Villa I saw team show strong mentality
The other 3 games I don’t
Me saying we were great at Villa doesn’t change my view that we went missing In recent games
I don’t think Man City regressed that much. I think the whole EPL teams improved a lot this season. If Arteta Ball can be countered within half a season, imagine how much other teams figuring out Man City blueprint within 2 years. Financial and talent always do dictate teams performance throughout the seasons but this season, players’ mentality against opponents really made EPL the toughest league in the world indeed. Bottom of the league just beat Chelsea’s 600M squad at Stamford Bridge. Man City dropped points at Fulham. It’s gonna keep getting better as players are fighting for their livelihoods now. Arsenal players needs to do the same. No compromise. No compassion.
Agreed Dan. But there is one thing which I like to point out is that we must support and stand by our team even when they lose, when they perform badly or are looking shaky, because it is in such times when they need the fans by their side the most. If we continue to play with grit and determination I am sure the title is coming home.
Once Arsenal beats Leicester,ManU will be out of the epl contention equation…Arsenal beats Leicester and drags the point differential between to 8 because ManU’s home game is postponed for the next matchday..We then proceed to beat Everton in our outstanding game on March 1st and drag the difference further to 11points.. Finally ManU next game will be against Liverpool at the Anfield whiles Arsenal hosts Bournemouth,a win for Arsenal & a draw/lose for ManU against Liverpool will drag the point differential to 14/15 respectively…so before ManU plays their outstanding we might be 14/15 points clear off them
Sesmics, Hardly worth actually playing, when you have it all worked out beforehand!
Unfortunately for you and your super hyped up ilk, football is played on grass, not on paper!
At some points an article like this from you not surprised me at all..instead I expected it .. because of the situation is change then the narrative have to change..my expectations is you change from negative man to someone who look smart ..kudos to you
Yeah it’s quite simple logic …..the team don’t show up at Everton I will be negative
They give 100 per cent I’ll be positive
So here a spoiler …….we don’t show up at Leicester don’t Exspect me to say they were fantastic lol
What I find particularly sad is that Dan admits, in a post on this thread, that his negativity or lack of it, depends on a SINGLE game.
I say that says it all about how DAN considers a supporter should behave , which contrasts starkly with almost all else among us, who cannot change so utterly with a SINGLE PERFORMANCE.
An extremely ODD and rather distasteful form of fanhood, IMO.
Not really Jon
My opinion is based overall on last couple of years where I feel mentality has been an issue
that’s never changed game by game , that’s still my opinion
In terms of reviewing things game by game , I think it’s natural that if a team plays well you will be positive and if they play poorly you will be negative
With all respect in the world Im not telling you how to support the club and you have been negative in the past towards Wenger and certian players as well as bullying people on this site
“I thinkits natural that if ateamplays well you will be positive and if thy play poorly you will be negative”!
DAN, I woud suggest that you use the word “one or oneself”, and not the word “you” as what you outline does not apply to any other GOONER but yourself personally.
You are odd and I totally reject your post as being that of an EXTREMELY ODD GOONER and not one which almost all of us on JA can understand or relate to at all.
YOU are the ODD ONE OUT, not the rest of us!
Oh yeah to clarify everything I write applies to me and mine own opinion based on the fact that I wrote it lol
So naturally what I write is going to apply to me
I don’t write to be relatable
I write what is my point of view
Well then, to your credit, you are effectively, admitting your own oddness.
After all, odd people have existed throughout history and oddness is not a crime!
Very true lol
The author does not really do analysis. He focuses on an available narrative which he trots out to support his position. So if we win we show “mentality” if we lose we “lack mentality”.
The author therefore allows himself a non-falsifiable position following any outcome. The fact that MC have spent so much over the years that they can afford to put the likes of De Bruyne on the bench for several games is attributed to “mentality”.
Given that we lost (despite over 60% possession and outpassing one of the most dominant and possessive teams we have seen in the PL) against MC, the author can simply say we lack “mentality”.
So now that we have beaten Aston Villa, we suddenly have “mentality” all over again.
Yet they care enough to scroll down and comment making my articles the most commented and read
Go back to my Man City review , some agreed with me , some didnt
It’s called having an opinion which is healthy
Not going to be bullied into changing my point of view
When the team played bad you were asking for positivity
When I’m positive you still complain
Doesn’t that make you negative ?
You have a point Dan. But the fact of the matter is when we lose it doesnt always boil down to poor mentality. For example, I dont think we had poor mentality when we lost to City, it was due to individual errors which can happen to any team/best team in football, after all we all are human and to err is human. But what matters is how you respond to poor performances and come up top which we showed against Villa. also, keep in mind the PL is a marathon and what ultimately decides the winner is the consistency over a long run and not just a win/loss here or there. Losses are bound to happen because the PL is the most competitive league on the planet. Every team in the PL is tough to play against and have a tremendous spirit. Southampton, with due respect, bottom of the league, beat Chelsea, the most expensively assembled team, spending around 600 million over 2 transfer windows. Finally it boils down to how you play on the day, tactics, form factor, injuries, referee decisions, VAR decisions, etc. I agree though mentality is a big part of the process, but mind you it is not the only factor/parameter to judge whether a team loses or wins. As for this season, Arsenal has been doing great and may it long continue, so unfair and sometimes unjust criticism over a loss/draw here and there must not be arried over the line. None of us, I imagine, predicted Arsenal to be on top after 22 matches so let us applaud the team and the manager for what they have achieved till now and hope this successful run continues as long as possible. Remember, we are not run by oil billions/state sponsored finance/unlimited Uncle Sam, we are a team with limited budget and yet Arteta and his boys have performed beyond expectation so kudos to them and long may this run continue.
I get your points mate
But in my opinion we did have weak mentality in that second half against City
We let the game pass us by , defenders made mistakes , Odegarrd and Martineli went missing
Ederson didn’t make a save , etc
My opinion is we didn’t turn up for Everton or Brentford
My opinion is we have a recent history of when the pressure is on we go missing
The manner of how we won on Saturday can help
I wrote many times whatever happens this season Arteta has done a great job I simply don’t think we have the mentality to get over the line
That not an insult
It’s a reflection of the world we live in when on a football opinion site people simply can’t accept an opinion
My opinion is this brilliant young squad wont have the mentality to gey over the line
Maybe I’m right , maybe I’m wrong but for grown adults to get worked up about it and sit behind a computer screen and call me names
I literally don’t get that ….way too deep for me
Point well taken Dan, lets move on and hope the best for Arsenal and hope the title comes home.