Arsenal Need To Get One Thing Right To Be Better Than Man City
Two weeks ago, Arsenal was in control of the PL title race; they were 8 points ahead of their main title rivals, Manchester City. However, starting with the Liverpool game and then the West Ham game last weekend, which both ended in draws, things changed. So how are Arsenal where they are?
In that Liverpool game, in which the Reds had to come back from two goals down, there’s much to blame, but among the many concerns from that game was Granit Xhaka not managing his emotions. In that game, the Swiss international got into a heated physical altercation with Trent Alexander Arnold that saw the silenced Anfield faithful get their voices back and steer Klopp and his boys to a comeback, which saw them pick up a point in a game they were going to lose, probably 2-0. Xhaka’s actions at Anfield were uncalled for, and it is such actions that Thierry Henry says will hinder Arsenal’s chances to be better than their main title rivals, Manchester City, to win the Premier League.
“I don’t know when it was that we last won against City, so that’s going to be a tough one. The last game didn’t reassure me when we played them at home. From the Arsenal point of view, since the beginning of the season, I have been talking about emotions. You don’t win a title on emotions – you win cups – because its one game, then one game,” said Henry on CBS Sports, as quoted by the Mirror.
“38 games – you can’t be too emotional about it, but you’ve seen recently how emotional we’ve been. So far, we were not expected to be there. You still have hope, we’re still ahead, Man City still have to win games to get ahead of us. It is still there in front of you, but get rid of the emotional part of the game.”
Arteta’s rallying call this season has been his team being able to control what they can. If they can just practise that in the remaining weeks of the season, then they can get the job done and end the almost 20-year league title drought.
“When you watch City – this is where Arsenal need to get to – they look composed whatever the result is,” added the Frenchman.
Winning the Premier League wasn’t going to be easy, and as such, Arteta and his boys must do everything to do what many thought was impossible for them to do.
COYG!
Darren N
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Probably. But we still need Xhaka’s positive emotion, which is his passion
We’ll need confidence throughout the match at the Etihad. After leading in the last two games, I think the players got badly affected by the oppositions’ supporters
They were not affected by the opposition supporters. They simply stopped playing. They got too complacent with a 2-0 lead. Using the intimidating supporters card is a cop out. Bloody hell,,, I’ve played in away stadiums in front of 40 to 50 thousand supporters having coins beer bottles and stones thrown in my direction. I never got intimidated. I stood on the edge of my eighteen yards box. At the end of the match I picked up my pocket money🤣🤣
pjennings, being an ex goalkeeper you would have been impressed by Australian and ex Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Ryan’s fine efforts fof Anderlecht in the Europa League. After only having to make one straight forward save in the 90 minutes, Matt saved two penalties to win the quarter final tie for Anderlecht.
@Ozziegunner. Nothing surprises me with Matt Ryan. Known Matt on a personal and professional basis. I know his working ethics as a goalkeeper in training. His short stint at Arsenal turned heads. Remember when Mikel Arteta was first asked about Matt Ryan,,, Arteta said,,” he’s a beast”. That was because of his attitude towards training. People wrongly judged him because he’s only 6foot tall in height. Guess what????? Us highly qualified goalkeeping coaches around the world have come up with this conclusion,, within 5 to 10 years of studying goalkeepers worldwide, the perfect goalkeeper size will be 5foot 11 inches, to 6foot 2inches tall in the near future. We’ve looked at goalkeepers through different generations at all club levels, international level, whether it be England, European, American, South American and even Asian countries. There is a lot of sports science involved in these studies. Goalkeepers will be downsized in height. But at the end of the day it’s up to the coach/ manager in what he wants in a goalkeeper. It’s now getting to,,,how good is the goalkeeper with the ball at his feet scenario. A goalkeeper like David de Gear may be valued at a smaller club in the Premier League who don’t play out from the defence
Sorry I did not realise you are THE “Pat Jennings”.
If so thank you for the wonderful moments. You kept us in it with your heroics in the semi final of the FA cup against Liverpool even though we lost the final to West Ham. I thought you were the best ever AFC Goalkeeper and I have been supporting them since 1979.
@Indian Gunner London,,, sorry to disappointment you my friend. I am not the real actual Pat Jennings. I’m an Australian goalkeeping coach who happened to be very fortunate to become a goalkeeping coach in Germany at Hamburger SV at a very young age. But also being privileged to play 48 matches for them over a 6 year period while being Head Goalkeeping Coach. But back then, that was not my official title at Hamburger SV. I was also privileged to have been involved in a few European Cup ties playing for Hamburger SV many years ago. They were dier times in that era for Hamburger SV. There were Goalkeepers at the club going missing in action,,, Goalkeepers with mysterious injuries. I was to have trials at 3 English First Division clubs the moment I turned 15 years of age back in the 1981. Exactly one week before my 15th birthday I was playing a useless pre season Sunday morning match for my senior men’s club. I snapped my left Femur bone in my leg. So bad, it was almost a compound fracture with the bone breaking the skin. As soon as Dad notified the respective clubs, they didn’t want to know me. Back in that era that was the normal attitude towards those injuries. It’s so much different now. There are little regrets,, but I don’t dwell on it anymore. At least I played professional football at a high standard for a football club that had some form of pedigree. That’s how I look at it. I’ve spent time with Hamburger SV, I’ve been at two Chinese football clubs,, I’ve done time in Japan working with goalkeepers at International level with the men’s and women going to International Tournaments. I’ve been an advisor to Australian Football coaches regarding goalkeepers up for selection. In saying that, I’ve never had the final say. At a young age of 57 I’m coaching young goalkeepers, male and female. I’ve had to go through all of the nonsense football politics of gaining my Level 5 Coaching Badges to be a fully pledged goalkeeping coach. One of the reasons why top goalkeepers in the world, wether it be Premier League or anywhere else don’t become goalkeeping coaches. They all back at the Level 5 Coaching Badge. It’s pretty sad. And with this years World Cup Tournament involving the women, I’ve asked by the Japanese Football Association to be involved with their goalkeepers leading up and during the World Cup being held in New Zealand/ Australia. To me, that was a no brainer to refuse the offer. I’m hoping to meet up with a dear friend that I got to know and help out in her early career as a professional footballer. That is Mana Iwaduchi. She was at Arsenal, now on loan to Tottenham. We go way back. She volunteered to be a ball boy at my goalkeeping sessions at her then club. I thought she was a little boy, shirt out, socks rolled down, short hair. She was a girl. She was first at club training, very last to leave. She was having shoots at goal on me. As a young 16 year old she could strike a ball. Being on various tournaments involving Japan over the years, Mana and I have been best of friends. It’s a once of week phone call on messenger we share after each match. So touch wood she stays injury free, she’s Aussie/ Kiwi bound for the World Cup. So the moral of the story is that I am not the real Pat Jennings of Watford, Tottenham and Arsenal, and certainly not of Northern Ireland
You may not be THE Pat Jennings. But you are a heck of a guy. Fracturing the biggest bone in the human body. We are both of a similar age and been through many ups and downs. After reading your post I am really glad to have made your acquaintance and you deserve every success that you get in life after going through the nonsense called coaching level badges.
In the women’s game Mana was my favourite player.
All the best my friend in the Japanese camp at the tournament.
Exactly. Ex players have said time and again, the crowd makes little difference – either way. Only when its personal, racist chants, a players social life etc, and its consistent will a player react. It takes a lot too – 45 minutes of chants about Peter Shiltons love life before he got riled. But, and here’s the thing, players may get riled, but it doesn’t affect their performance.
@Marge,,, You are so right. Crowd should never make a difference whatsoever. I was only a young lad when that came out about Peter Shilton. It didn’t bother him, nor did it affect his game. Just like when I was playing for Hamburger SV. No social media in those days,,, but when the opposing supporters found out I was an Australian, they thought by doing the Kangaroo Hop would put me off my game. It didn’t put me off,,, but it made me a little homesick afterwards. It’s funny how the game has changed because of social media. People play FIFA computer games, and they think they know better than managers. I’ve been there and done that. Football in general can be cruel and nasty. People don’t know what happens behind the scenes. They only see Match Of The Day on TV
Marge, in the 80’s I saw it get to our goalkeeper, George Woods, when we lost 5-0 at WHL. The Shelf kept singing Pat Jennings name and Woods ended up giving them the V sign.
You are aware of what happened in that game? Woods had put in for a wage increase that week, as he’d become the regular first choice. At half time it was leaked that he wouldn’t be getting it. According to his team mates he was absolutely steaming. His second half performance has gone down in legend as one where a player visibly couldn’t care less. As such the fans getting at him affected him not one jot – getting the bums rush on a wage rise did that. All that aside I’ve seen players react to personal jibes numerous times. I never said they didn’t. What I said was they, being professionals didnt let if affect their game.
Marge, are you saying that he found out at halftime that he wouldn’t be getting a pay rise ?
For goodness sake, Arsenal is at home tomorrow Friday playing against Southampton. But will not play at away to Man City at the Etihad until next Wednesday night.
So therefore, us shouldn’t lose focus on our next Southampton home match to be focusing on our next next Man City top of the table big game match of next Wedsday night.
It can be dangerous if the Gunners do this. For, they MUST not underate the Saints in any wise to get a point in their match against them the Gunners on Friday tomorrow.
To avert this from happening, I call on the Gunners to go into the match against the Saints as if they are playing against Man City. If the Gunners take my advice and carry it out in the match. It will guaranteed them a handsome home victory in the match over the Saints. For, a repeat of another draw game that saw the Gunners twice dropped 4 points in their last two away matches will be avoided. Which MUST be before they take on Man City next Wednesday night.
👍SAA, lack of focus and lapses in concentration and application have cost Arsenal dearly. One game at a time!
Correct. Henry, every game ought to be played as a cup final!
Got to Xhaka part and stopped reading. Who wound up West Ham supporters in a game similar to Liverpool.
Your silence on all individuals errors that cost us West Ham game is a blatant hypocrisy.
As long as we keep hating on our own who give their all we don’t deserve to win anything!
Exactly my thoughts. I wrote a reply referencing that hypocrisy but didn’t post it. Since when is it an offence to defend yourself from a physical attack? So many hypocritic writers who have no idea what to pen down
Was that comment meant to be serious? I mean really? If you retaliate, you get booked. If you retaliate at Anfield or old Trafford you get booked and your opponent walks off smiling with no card themselves. That’s the way it is. Players know it, and thus do their best not to do so. In this instance it was xhaka, and his doing so caused many fans to groan as he has form for it. Among adults that is ‘recognising a player has an issue’, among the one eyed that means ‘picking on poor, poor, misunderstand xhaka’.
👍👍HH and dgr8xt – “Victory through harmony”.
Why we likes to pick on a player when the results are not favorable is beyond me, the relentless pursuit of a scapegoat is a vicious unending cycle.
But Arsenal must now go back to basics, the very factors responsible for our league position.
The togetherness, fighting for each other, the gaffer must release the handbrake in the dugout and calibrate how he use to, bark out instructions like he use to, ignore pundits and fans alike and make his changes as he seems neccessary
We could start with Inflicting a heavy defeat on the Saints on our home turf.
Agreed. That’s what Arteta has said everytime we’ve put in a poor performance, even when the outcome was a win, that we need to get back to the basics. Also agree about picking on players, ESPECIALLY Xhaka, who had every reason to leave several seasons ago, yet didn’t. He stayed with us, adapted when asked to, and has continued to give his all every match. But, picking on anyone is uncalled for, especially this season. As incredible as everyone has been playing this season, they all are allowed a lapse or mistake from time to time without the mistake being thrown in their face for the next week, or more.
Henry wasn’t talking about the emotions like what xhaka showed. In fact man city are good at that, so don’t try to twist narratives so that you can put blames on Xhaka. Henry’s last words sums up what kind of emotions he is talking about….” Man city are always composed no matter the results”…….. You know what got us to the top???? It was how we played, and what we should have done is to try and maintain that level of playing no matter the results or the opponents
What we’re missing right now is confident savvy, and both Zinchenko and Saliba ooze that quality. When they make that little move and break forward a bit, it completely shifts the momentum. The latter is missed so much more bc Tierney is capable. And I’m not in any way bashing Rob, but he has got to realize that his job is defending only. Every time he receives the ball, get rid of it! He just dithers on the ball like Sergio Garcia w a golf club. Passing w speed, even if the pass doesn’t seem to make a difference, is so important to our playing style. Stop looking around the field for an incisive pass. It’s what Leno did and it’s so helpful to the opposing defense to regroup, and it stymies the attacking flow. Move the ball! That’s probably the single most negative drop off from Saliba, for me. Rob will do fine tomorrow and we’ll win, but if I’m Arteta, I break my values of encouragement and tell him he’s killing the flow. Find Gabriel, White, or Partey. That’s it.
Sorry, rant over. Optimism train rolls again tomorrow, up Gunners!
I want to see Arteta being more emotional as Gunsmoke has said. He captains us when he is fully involved and he sees things that others might not, seeing as it is his setup it’s his vision, so I want to see him almost angry again. And when we need calm heads but also intensity Arteta can give that instruction out to the team
About the article with Henry. G Neville said that as well that we are too emotional in the way we celebrate goals and wins which shows a flaw in his opinion. Arteta though calls it passion and team harmony and we’re enjoying ourselves… so there you have it