All the lovely words, one lovelier than most [ARS 3-1 WHA] (Positives Needs & Hopes)

The long list of lovely words, but one more lovely than most

POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES 

It might have just been a home game against 17th place but actually it wasn’t.

It was a game that sat alone on the TV. It was the day that millions and millions of people tuned in to as they have missed the Premier League and Boxing Day is the couch day. The laziest day of the year and the loveliest because of its promotion of beautiful laziness. 

I’m sure you have heard the debates during the last month as to whether Arsenal are for real. To the point where it’s getting really boring. People are running out of things to discuss and so the bashing hammer is being held above Arsenal‘s head. We go behind, and the critics start salivating. It was almost un-Arsenal like to stick two fingers up to those lowering the hammer. 

Beating West Ham doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to win the league or that we will even challenge, but there was an awful lot of pressure at half time, yet such a serenity in the comeback. 

When the game ended, I was searching for my headline topic. I started to peruse social media and noticed that the adjectives were flying. They weren’t coming from the extremists or even those who want to be first or want to be right. They were coming from everywhere and they were true.

These lovely words aren’t just a list from an unrealistic, overexcited fan. They have roots. They are being repeated.

Fight, desire and passion….. 

The clearest example is seen directly after disappointment. If you want to know if your team has these three words then watch what a player does immediately after they lose the ball. Then watch the three other teammates in the locality. Then watch them the next time and the next game and two months later. 

There have been many changes in football since I played as a youngster, but one of the biggest was started by Guardiola’s Barcelona. Winning the ball back between three and five seconds after losing it. As we all know, they went on to be arguably the greatest team of all time. All the best teams both in club football and internationally have this. Arsenal have this. Every week.

Energetic….

In short, I don’t see a team this season that suffers at any point due to a lack of energy.

Talented….

It’s everywhere. From the back to the middle to the front to the fact that almost all of it still has 5 to 10 years in front of it. The coach seems to be of another level and the owners and board members seem smart enough to allow him sufficient power to maximize his potential.

Beguiling…..

Arsenal have always been associated with romance throughout my lifetime. Much of the romance has been flirtatious. Sexy but no end product. No kids.

The best of Arsenal Football club was clearly at the beginning the Wenger era, where romance wasn’t a last minute rush to the petrol station to buy a four day old rose. 

Since Arteta has successfully built the foundation and automatisms, we are now seeing a rather beguiling brand of football that Arsenal fans have seen once before, and know where it goes. I just don’t want to talk about it. Not yet.

Belief….. 

You can sense the belief in adversity. Arsenal‘s fans are more than capable of showing impatience as has been proved over the last decade. Some might say that it wasn’t impatience, but the opposite, to be fair. The belief is so clearly seen in the energy in your stadium. Do the fans grumble, murmur, or encourage? With sports being the ultimate rollercoaster of life the players often need those that love the club the most to change the channel in their mind. In all my time supporting Arsenal I can honestly say that I have never experienced such a positive fanbase. There were times when we were very good that the fans became spoilt. I might welcome that in exchange for multiple titles but for right now, and even from all the way across the Atlantic, I sense the positivity and I see the impact that it has.

Clarity and trust….

When this period of Arsenal life is over, I think that the sliding doors moment will be when the club gave our coach the full trust to fail and keep going. 

Without that, I’m not sure if Mikel would have embarked on the long-term project of reteaching our players, as it would have led to short term pain and him losing his job. Because the club was clever enough to recognize the potential in our leader, we have come through necessary mediocrity in league standing and are now reaping the benefits of such clarity in playing style, and therefore trust in abundance on the field.

This leads me on to my final and most important point.

You always hear coaches use the word consistency when they are asked what they wish for in their team. 

I sat back yesterday after the game and something dawned on me when listening to Robbie Mustoe on Peacock here in the USA. He was telling Saka how impressed he was in his high level of consistent performance. It triggered the thought that the entire starting eleven offer up 7 out of 10 to 9 out of 10 performances every single game. The Southampton away game may be the only outlier where there were a few players that were poor, but the rest have given us this very rare find. 

If I was to take a guess I would say that these numbers have been repeatedly demanded by Arteta. I would say that all elite teams in all sports over the course of the season have to offer this. This is just not a run a form. It is a mode now. It is most obvious when contemplating Man of the Match. I once started to do one of those Twitter polls and stopped because it only gives you four options. For most games this season you could make an argument for the vast majority of the team.

The word consistency has never been sexy, but to be an elite football team you need to be more Daniel Day Lewis than Salma Hayek.

POSITIVES:

• I need to start by saying that this list of adjectives could go on and on. I could talk about pace, tempo, skill, solidity, work ethic, commitment, and drive, shared responsibility, healthy club throughout, and a production line of between 5 and 10 players from the Academy that could become first team players one day. You can probably think of other adjectives. Would love to hear them in the comments below.

• Not only is Eddie good enough, I think there is a fair chance that Jesus has an issue getting back in the team.  It’s so much bigger than just reputation and status. Jesus is a unique and brilliant footballer. Eddie is one of the most improved players in the Premier League. Sits alongside Almiron, Mitrovic, Xhaka and Alex Iwobi. It’s getting to the point where he doesn’t have an obvious weakness. He could improve in every area, but no obvious weakness anymore. What if he continues in this vain and out scores Jesus. He’s probably a better finisher so how easy would Arteta find it to drop goals. That’s the hardest person to drop. Yesterday’s goal was massive. No matter how often people like me suggest that he needs support and zero negativity, modern culture rewards those that shout loud even if their opinion is wrong or intentionally unhelpful. On the improvement front perhaps his latest new entry is ‘backing into defenders.’ He did it repeatedly on the halfway line as well as on the top of the box when we were in the final third. From a coaching perspective, it is often better for a striker to intentionally staple themselves to the center back as they can feel them and know if they are coming or staying. His goal was a reward for this improvement as he felt the defender sneaking around the right side and so spun to his left. Eddie is also causing center backs a conundrum with his new skillsets. He often drops into the dead space behind the midfielders, and as he has greatly improved his ability to turn and dribble, he is a threat. If his centre back comes with him there is a hole for others that are quick to penetrate. If they get tight to Eddie, much like Jesus, he has proved that he can spin you. It’s so important that a striker on an elite team has multiple threats.

• I’m not sure if Gareth Southgate not picking Ben White would have changed England’s fortunes but both as a defensive and attacking player his non-use by the England team is quite odd. He comes across as such a confident guy. Broad enough shoulders to play at any level and an elite combination of skill, strength, determination, and commitment. I can only wonder that the rumours of a rift with Steve Holland had some kind of truth. There is nothing else that makes sense to me. Yesterday he had a fully rounded performance.
• I’ve noticed that in adversity the first player to step up his game and drive the team forward is the captain. Another lightbulb moment I had today is that he is everything I wished Mesut Özil would be, but wasn’t. Very similar talent level, but much more of a willingness to get sweaty. Mesut Ozil was a sunny day player, and perhaps because Odegaard was brought up in the snow, he isn’t. His bow has many strings, so regardless of game state he can pluck from one of many and change our fortunes. This bow has also added a shooting string this season. It stuck its head up from the parapet last season on occasion, but it wasn’t an every game visitor.
• What does a player in their prime look like? They look like Thomas Partey this season. They look like they’ve figured out the game and everything that they need to know and they make it look easier than everybody else does. Partey was quietly imperious yesterday. Not sure how you can be quietly imperious, but somehow that seems to fit.
• I made some notes on Arsenal’s second preseason. The stand out for me was that we picked up our rhythm so quickly. No rust. Lots of sharpness. I watched three other games before the Arsenal game. So much rust. Such a lack of sharpness. The coaching staff at Arsenal have done such a fine job, keeping the players from losing this rhythm.

NEEDS:

• I’m not sure if it is overly harsh to say that there was a return to overplaying in the first half. Some of the decisions to make one extra pass were probably 40/60, so not necessarily an obvious problem. I think sometimes the communication from the coaching staff regarding patience and composure can lead to our players being a little extreme in this regard.
• One improvement that we can make is utilizing Granit Xhaka aerially. Saka and Martinelli regularly beat their man to where there is an opportunity to cross. Xhaka is always in the box somewhere, but doesn’t seem to yet have the instinct of where the most dangerous place to be is. When I see rumors of Milinković-Savić, I do wonder if Arteta has spotted this and wants to have an eight who is an aerial threat as neither of our strikers are dominant in this area.
• West Ham’s goal was very much avoidable. We have made so few mistakes in the back this season, but it was particularly strange to see such a lack of effort from Tierney to cover Gabriel. His reaction was too late, which is not like him.
• Ben White’s weakness is the last 10 minutes of games. I’ve noticed on quite a few occasions this season that he starts taking chances on the ball. I think his personality is such that he enjoys taking the Mickey out of teams that we are beating and players that have been annoying him.

HOPES:

• So it looks like we will shortly be signing Mykhaylo Mudryk. I have been totally convinced and beyond excited three times in the last 10 years. Santi Cazorla, Thomas Partey, and Mikel Arteta as coach. I thought that all three were going to be huge. I also experienced love at first sight, in fact more like love at first link. I feel the same way about Mudryk. I think I have a decent eye for a real player. This young man is a real player. As Clive Palmer often says, “there are so many good players out there,” but there are some players that cannot be replicated. Some players have leadership qualities that are transformational. Some players are so adept with both feet that they have an instant advantage. Some players are so powerful that their confidence level is hard to shake. Then there are some players who are so incredibly fast and gifted with the ball that they are in the 1%. I know he’s only played in the Ukrainian league and a few Champions League games but gems are born everywhere. I’m a huge believer in that. You might be aware that Napoli signed a game changer in Kvaratskhelia. Very few trusted a player from the Georgian league. He has been the main factor in Napoli now being considered one of the best teams in Europe again. I think Mudryk will have a similar impact. Not only does he have a unique gift that puts him in the 1%, but those that know him personally talk of a determination to be the best player in the world and a work ethic and application to match. in some ways, he reminds me of Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a similar determination and similar athletic advantages. Fair to say that he is even quicker than Ronaldo was as a youngster. In theory, this signing is perfect for many reasons. This season will be more tiring for the players than any other in their career. So much football. If Arsenal do sign Mudryk he will be an impact sub for a short while. Imagine one of the fastest and direct players in world football running at increasingly fatiguing, defensive blocks in the last 20 minutes of games. Football isn’t played in theory, or based on people‘s opinion, but I can see Mudryk being solely responsible for changing games all by himself. For those that read regularly, you will know that I have been talking about him for over a year now. I’m a little excited. When you sign a player like this not only are you getting a potentially elite talent, but you have to take into consideration that you are stopping a potential rival from getting one too.
• 

• The striker situation is really interesting. Online the fight surrounding Eddie is heading in the wrong direction. It isn’t about whether he is good enough. It’s whether we have a back up for him. I want Eddie to be first choice but I’m just nervous that he may get hurt and then we rely on a player who isn’t a natural striker. The ideal solution is obviously a loan as Jesus will come back. I actually think that the ideal solution is Olivier Giroud but that isn’t likely to happen. Joao Felix fits Arsenal and I would be excited if it was a loan and if he had the character to fight Eddie rather than a player comparing resumes. I also think we would be completely mad if we shelled out anywhere near 100 million for a player who hasn’t seen form in the last two years. Don’t think that’s happening anyway. I do have a solution that’s likely never going to happen that I think would work really well. A solution that nobody has thought of, perhaps. Solution found in the podcast below. What a tease.
• I wonder if we are going to attempt to solve the midfield situation also? I really like Alexis MacAllister and did so before the World Cup but I know I’m not the only Premier League fan that was aware of his qualities. Tielemans would add another passing range threat and long range shooting accuracy that we don’t currently have and I’d be delighted with him as an option. An interesting fact that you may not know is that Moises Caicedo is on £3,500 a week at Brighton. I typed that right and you read it right. Astonishing. Much like Mudryk looks like he will be agreed at 80,000 a week, I’m sure you could get Caicedo for similar or even less considering his current wage which is frankly ridiculous. I’m aware that the competition is heavy and that Liverpool and Real Madrid have shown interest. He specializes in anticipation and interceptions, which is perfect for an Arsenal team that wants to turn over the ball quickly.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Not only are the players who are currently playing for Arsenal looking good, but so are many of our loanees. 

I encourage you to try my podcast below. I have come up with a really interesting option as back up striker to Nketiah and would love to know what you think. I don’t know anybody that is talking about this one! The temptation of mystery. 

Mike McDonald

Former Highbury regular. Moved to TN, USA in ’99. Married with 3 kids. Coached in UK and US for 27 years.
Mike McDonald Soccer Academy in Morristown TN, Olympic Development coach, Regional Premier League Champion.