I am already worried about the next few games coming up for Arsenal, whereas I really should be feeling a lot more optimisitic after seeing the Gunners put on a much more spirited show against Chelsea at the weekend than we have seen so far this season.
The reason for my concern is the way that the Arsenal players like Aaron Ramsey, Shkodran Mustafi and Hector Bellerin have reacted to the draw at Stamford Bridge, because they all seem to me to be way too pleased with themselves for putting in the effort during just one game that really should be the minimum requirement of them every week.
To be honest I always raise an eyebrow when I hear one of the Arsenal players or Arsene Wenger talking about team spirit or fight or the togetherness in the dressing room, because it strikes me as though they are trying to convince themselves about the truth of their statements as much as they are the fans.
At least the German defender, in his interview reported on the Arsenal website, talked about the need for the Arsenal team to keep giving their all and using this as a platform to work from, but I am still a bit sick of hearing it instead of actually seeing it on the pitch every week.
Mustafi said, “Happy? No, because I would like to win games like today. But I think in the end it’s a fair point. I think we had some great opportunities and they had a few at the end. One point at their ground, you can live for that and try to build from this team performance. I think the team performance was spot on. Everyone gave everything and I think it’s really important that we keep going like this.
“It is high tempo. You get games like this, when you have two teams that are both going for the three points. You could see today that both teams did that. That’s what I love about playing in the Premier League because you can see that everyone is going to try and win, try and perform. I think in the end, even though we didn’t get the three points, we performed and now we can go with that into the next game.
“We are a team that are willing to learn. I think that we have to try and build from something and I think we can build form this performance today because we were really well organised when we didn’t have the ball. When we had the ball, we played some brilliant one-touch football. I think we can build from this. We played today against the champions of last season and if you play like this, I think you’ll get a lot of points. We can build from that.”
I and every other Arsenal fan would be delighted if they did, but are you like me in thinking that there is another game just around the corner where we get completely outworked and show no fight or desire?
D.N.