Somebody’s gonna get it (Positives Needs & Hopes)[ARS 2-0 BHA]

Somebody’s gonna get it

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

My brother recently came back from Iceland. He loved it. Of all his stories the one that stood out to me was when he told me about a visit to a local cafe. He said that mid way through his cup of herbal tea he told me that he heard a dull scream. It continued for about 20 minutes. It then turned to short outbursts of anger. He said that he was unsure if there was a bizarre porn movie being created upstairs or a Satanic club, but he noted that nobody in the restaurant seemed concerned or was flinching. He asked the waitress what was going on and she told him that there was a rage room upstairs. He didn’t know what that was (neither did I) but found out shortly thereafter. Apparently, in Iceland and Scandinavia in particular, rage rooms are common. There are times in the year of very little daylight or none at all and it it drives people a little potty. I can only imagine.

This weekend just gone brought me to a strange place. I’m rarely angry. Lori tells me that consistency of temperament is one of my good qualities. I got a call from a friend late on Saturday night. His name is Tyler Gibson.* Sorry for the choice of picture, Tyler!

I have mentioned him a time or two on here. He is the best player that I’ve had the honor to coach in my 33 years of coaching. He has a unique gift of retaining information and not info dumping like most athletes. Whatever I taught him, remained. He currently is a free agent in the world of professional soccer after just having left Louisville City. I took him to the Emirates when he was a teenager for a tour and Alexis’ debut. He’d never seen a league game though. He was in England for a wedding and had booked a visit to London to watch Arsenal v Brighton. His ticket did not come through and so he was calling me to try to get a last minute ticket for himself and a friend. For a student of the game, Arsenal v Brighton is one of the best in world football to attend. I stayed up throughout the night messaging friends on Twitter trying to get the safest solution. With the time difference, most were asleep and by the time they woke up it would’ve been the middle of the night for me. A guy called Matthew Lloyd (or so he says), messaged me and had tickets.

I was dubious and so was Tyler, but time was running short. Tyler bought 2 tickets from this guy and went to the stadium only to find that he’d been scammed. Not just scammed, but by a Spurs fan we later found out from his Facebook. I was knackered when I found out but especially gutted for Tyler and his friend who had both travelled from the USA to the turnstiles, only to feel deflated.

I only rage when DirecTV won’t connect me to an actual human or when one of our huge dogs jumps on my goolies as I’m trying to get to sleep. In my own quiet way, I raged. Angry for Tyler and upset that this coward stitched him up, then immediately blocked me and ran away.

I was distracted during much of the first half of the Arsenal game. Just thinking about the situation. I decided that it was done and found myself pouring my energy into getting upset at Martin Odegaard’s finishing, in particular. The game seemed easy. The scoreboard, less so. Just before half time, I turned to Max and told him that a time will be coming very shortly that somebody in this league is going to get it. Going to get a royal hiding. More than one team. Arsenal are at a place now where they are closing in on one of the final chapters of Arteta’s modern JDP textbook. We are likely two transfer windows away from getting the squad he wants. He is made us the best out of possession team in Europe. One of the best in possession teams too. We are in a place where we can trust our defence and midfield to consistently do their job. We are just off in the final third. Not all the time. Not necessarily in player quality but in execution. We play a team that as De Zerbi said after the game, “isn’t used to not controlling games,” and we utterly dominate them. It’s not a one off though as I remember a team in light blue coming to the Emirates and not being able to control or create, either.

Rather than stay angry, Arsenal put me back in a place of appreciation.

Mikel Arteta may never win another trophy but this man sure does know how to give a football team the best chance. As the game progressed, I felt sorry for him. Naturally, I start thinking about how this article is going to be framed and I can’t get away from the fact that we have a coach who is doing exactly what a coach is supposed to do. Giving us the best chance to win.

His first job as a coach. Wow! He is clearly born to lead and whatever happens this season, remember how lucky we are to have found a guy who in 4 years has changed us from a team that needed mercy from his City team as they embarrassed us at the Emirates, to a team that could sit around a table and argue that they are currently the best team in Europe.

POSITIVES:

Rob Holding

Rob Holding???

Well, Rob has been inspiring other footballers from his new South London location. Just for funzies, I thought you’d like to have a guess as to who this is? He played in the PL but was balder than Rob.

Odegaard

One of the most common phrases that a coach will use to calm a player down is, ‘have fun.’ There are many that go through their careers and will acknowledge that it was hard work, full of sacrifice, bad, good and great moments but that they forgot how lucky they were and forgot to have fun. On Sunday, Martin Odegaard looked like a man having fun. In his prime and totally at ease. Not quite with a smile on his face due to his finishing, but certainly in charge of his area and enjoying it. When we compliment him it’s normally for a) dictating games, b) his incisive passing, c) his pressing and energy and d) his finishing which has greatly improved. We recognize that he is press resistant because he is so good at manipulating the ball but we don’t call him a ‘dribbler.’ When I was watching him dribble on the run on Sunday I saw a very similar style to Lionel Messi. The way in which he can dribble and protect at the same time with such small, soft touches and in such tight areas. I’m sure that we will see a Messi-like dribble goal sometime soon but to be fair, Messi’s compilation is likely 6 days long where Martin plays a different way. I also wanted to recognize that his outside of the foot pass to Saka was the best pass I’ve seen from him since he arrived at Arsenal. With defensive blocks being so hard to break down these days, you need more imagination in passing technique and we saw that here.

Energy

Not only could you see a team getting their groove on Sunday, but also their fitness levels. The pressing in the 96th minute was the same as the 5th minute. I’d say that if we compiled a list of the top 5 differences in the modern game to the 80’s/90’s then alongside quality of pitch, squad depth, the world’s worst invention in VAR and the transition from a 4-4-2 world to deep blocks and multiple formations, we would put fitness levels in there too. Arsenal’s press was our main success on Sunday. Not just the positioning involved but the fact that we suffocated Brighton for at least 80 of the 96 minutes. A team that nobody else has done this to for that length.

Martinelli

He may be having a tough time getting on the scoresheet compared to last season, but Martinelli is one of those players that always affects the game. I have a theory that the main reason that Nelson doesn’t get important minutes is that Arteta doesn’t trust him defensively. Not only does Martinelli give a consistent defensive effort and understands defensive positioning but he causes transition by tackling. I would also stick my neck out and say that there might be a player in Europe who is as fast over 5 yards than Martinelli, but not faster. It seems that no matter who defends him, that he beats all of them over the first 5 yards. Just got to pick his head up more and sooner. In his defence I would say that looking up at that speed is harder for him than we think because of the speed he’s moving.

Havertz

Those who are more stat driven could tell us whether Havertz is number one of all attackers in the league on duels. If he’s not he has to be up there. When we were screaming at the TV, most of us chose to ignore his tackling contribution. ‘Back tackling’ is a big part of modern football as it is married to pressing. Nobody does this better than him. He is aggressive, clever and consistently sneaks up behind players to win the ball. Not only is this important to stop transition but it unsettles a player. If you start a game of football and get tackled from behind twice, then you become paranoid on the ball. Always thinking someone is behind you. Kai Havertz causes this in opponents. I also appreciated his dummy on the edge of the box which opened a chance up for Jesus. He’s becoming increasingly more confident around the box.

Mitoma

As the league gets stronger it becomes harder to decide who is the best player outside of the big clubs. Emi Martinez, Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby, Heung Diving Son, Mo Kudus, Kieran Trippier, Michael Olise, Ebe Eze and Sven Botman is a quick think list. Perhaps the best is Mitoma, though. It’s close but I can’t choose Son and some others need to perform at a high level for longer.

Mitoma is potentially elite. You might be interested to know that Mitoma has done an actual study on dribbling. How and when to make your move. It shows. The reason why I talk of him is that he is Brighton’s most dangerous threat. A player that i’m sure was planned for. A ‘successful’ game isn’t just seen in the scoreboard but in the results of what was prepped for the game. Arsenal almost completely nullified him. That took a lot of clever thought and shirt grabbing from Ben White, so there you go.

Eddie and his two personalities

We saw about 20 minutes of ‘good Eddie’ on Sunday. His pass for the second goal was perfectly timed. His pressing had energy attached to it and he twice ran to the back post to allow Martinelli and Havertz a one on one by dragging defenders with him. I think he has been fortunate to play as much as he has. He is certainly a good player and definitely an improved one as he has improved as Arsenal have improved. I just don’t trust his effort. I think this will see him moved on for a pretty fee because the standards at Arsenal are higher than he has been producing physically. Arteta will want to know that his striker’s physical effort is a guarantee not a maybe.

Brighton are ‘past Arsenal’

Not so long ago, Arsenal fans were pining for a a Petit and Vieira type midfield. You look at Brighton and wonder why they were dominated and a big part of it is that their centre midfielders are all Jorginho’s size. They will have to correct this and find a player like Onana at Everton to help them physically dominate as well as technically. As Arsenal found out many times, technical domination beats Palace at home but struggles against Everton away.

NEEDS:

Crossing

The stats associated with this game were nuts. Apparently, the possession was 50/50. I’m not sure how that happened but it looked more like 80/20 to me. Brighton had more passes than we did. I think I saw 10 of them. Maybe the person whose eye crossing job it is to sit at a computer and count this stuff became dizzy? If these stats seem stupid wrong, then I feel perfectly entitled to make up my own stat. Brighton had two crosses and should’ve scored from both. Arsenal had 42,000 crosses. Of those 42,000 I think 41, 997 of them were hit at the wrong time and to the wrong person. Or they were simply poor execution. Arsenal’s chances of winning the PL or CL or both, might just rest here. They have wingers that have no problem beating their man. We then have a striker whose movement is erratic. A player in Havertz who isn’t being used but is frequently in great heading positions. A DM who is always crashing for the cut back and the opposite winger who strangely lacks hunger. There are two main areas to cross in that find the most success. One is the cutback area where Rice and Odegaard live. The other is between the defenders line and the GK. Having erratic movement inside the box can be a good thing as you are elusive but your winger has a split second to choose what to do. What the team needs is less complicated. It seems like everybody in the league scores more tap ins than Arsenal. If it were me I’d always have Havertz at the back, Jesus ALWAYS attacking the ball in the 6 yard box, Odegaard the PK spot and the opposite winger fill whatever gap is created. It’s vital to always coach based on what the opponent doesn’t want you to do. They want you to try to thread the needle so the guy at the front post can block it. They don’t want you to cut it back because then they have to change direction and block and possibly get smashed in the goolies (see Lewis Dunk getting hit in the junk). More than anything they are praying that you don’t fire hit at warp speed between them and the GK because they will have to stick a leg out and risk an own goal. Clearly, their worst nightmare.

It’s as if we are trying too hard in the box. Thinking too much about our finish and certainly trying to be too clever with runs that are confusing the wingers. Let the unpredictability come from the choices that the winger has rather than movement that is not working.

Corners

I like the corner routine that we persist with. The delivery has improved. I am however a little amazed that we haven’t scored more from it because if we have 42,000 crosses per game then we have 58,000 corners. We just need the first touch. The lightest touch possible. Just enough to redirect and elude the crowd. What I did find odd was that every corner was the same. After doing the first 46,000 to the same area, you’d think the opponent would be expecting the next one to do the same, hence why something different would’ve caught them off guard. I’m sure that we persisted because Brighton don’t have the amount of tall towers that we do and I get that too.

Finishing

There are certainly many different types of finishes for different occasions. There is one that covers the majority though. Back in the day before modern goal nets we’d say, ‘hit the back bar.’ That’s the bar at the back of the net holding the net back. Modern nets are pinned with poles. For years I’ve had shooting and finishing sessions where you get one point for a goal and ten for hitting the back bar. I tell my players that when they pass to each other they rarely miss their target and so if they imagine that a teammate is standing in the back corner of the net and simply ‘pass it firmly to him,’ then if they are off a little to either side then it still goes in because its not the very corner of the net. The back bars at my Academy complex are painted a neon colour so they catch the players eye and help them to have a target. Arsenal could do with having this mentality when finishing.

White heels

No complaints about Ben White because he just Mitoma’d Mitoma, but I have noticed that he can be a little susceptible to the ball played between him and Saliba. It’s just a tiny detail but tiny details is what Elton John sung about and I like Elton. There is a split second where White gets flat footed and that is subconsciously what the passer is waiting for.

Mikel and Monty

So I’m done raging and am totally unsurprised that Arteta got a yellow card for waving his hands. Banned for celebrating, ripped to shreds by the biased media for telling the truth about the standards of refereeing and now carded for a gesture that cannot be proven to be anything to do with the referee.

This is what Arteta needs to do. He needs to come up with reactions that make no sense and are completely out of context. You might be aware of The Ministry of Silly Walks famously performed by John Cleese in his Monty Python days.

Even better, watch this video because you need to educate yourself to understand this.

So, let’s say Saka gets hacked. Maybe Arteta could start doing the walk in the bottom right hand corner of the image. What would the ref do? He couldn’t say he’s being disrespectful or aggressive because this reaction would have no connection to the incident.

Jesus gets elbowed, first row far right. Alternatively, he could just breakout into the latest teenage dance move. I can remember the ‘Whip and Nae Nae’ being particularly annoying and I believe the ‘Griddy’ is the latest thing. There is a third thought. Whatever the product is that Mikel puts in his hair, he could just go for a 6 month ban and make his rage worthwhile by keeping a can of said product in his trousers for when the ref deserves to go blind for a minute or so.

All of these are very good ideas. They might be bizarre but so are at least 5 big decisions every PL weekend so actually these reactions might be quite fitting. I better move on before I start imagining Roy Hodgson getting on board with these moves.

HOPES:

Timber

I’m just reading that Timber is going for the warm weather training with the squad and could be back mid-January. Quite remarkable. Do we get a defender in January now? I say that it totally depends on whether a long term target is available, and Timber of course. If he recovers then this will have a knock on effect as far as available funds go. I have been mulling over an interesting thought re; a short term loan. United have 2 world class players in their squad. Kind of weird to think that such a big club only having two but more the giggles for us. Both of them are supposed to be considering leaving in January. Unfortunately, both are out of form and on big money. Both play in areas that we need cover and most certainly have the experience and skillset to play for Arsenal until June. I’m sure you’ve figured out that I’m rambling on about Varane and Casemiro. Varane was probably Saliba’s idol a few years back when he was the best French defender of a generation and the best Centre Back in Europe. Centre Backs are normally in their prime at Varane’s age and he would be a good back up and wonderful mentor to Saliba. Casemiro was considered the best DM in the world last season and many before that.

I’m sure that both would love the opportunity to potentially win the PL before they disappear into the desert. A risk based on form and injury record but there is risk with getting a player like Inacio for 45M too, even though he may one day be as good as Varane was.

Another player I have started to look at is Lewis Dunk. One of the most underrated players in the league, no doubt. Not only an excellent and committed defender but very confident on the ball too. He is however 32 years old. I’ll admit to being surprised by this.

Toney/Osimhen 

Rumour has it that we are trying to get Toney on loan with an option to buy. If that is the case then Brentford would firstly have to be mad. Their current attacking injury list is long but if Edu pulls it off he would need his wages doubled. Toney would be hyper motivated to get a contract and could be a catalyst to winning a trophy. It would also give us a preview so we could decide if we liked Toney or wanted to go bigger on Osimhen. No point paying triple if Ivan Toney worked out.

Dalot, Ederson and Coufal and and and…

There were of course a litany of bad decisions yet again in the PL. Coufal needed an early bath as did Ederson. I’m ok with Dalot being sent off for continuing to protest a decision in the way he did but what is so obvious to me is the timing. Just when the headlines on the PGMOL are stinkier than ever they try to distract us by having respect campaigns. I don’t disagree that footballers need to not verbally abuse officials but the timing is too suspicious for me. They would get more respect if they cleaned up their house first before pointing fingers at the players.

Chido Obi-Martin

Just a quick ‘well done’ to our 15 year old prodigy. He won this award last week at an Academy tournament.

Hinshelwood

If you watched the game on TV you would’ve seen the winner of the world’s smallest shinpads. Brighton’s Jack Hinshelwood.

I did not superimpose this, this is actually what the ref gave back to him when it fell out. For context, note that the ref is only using two fingers to hold it. I like to speculate so I’m saying that this is not an official shinpad. Here are the options…

a) A small pillow for a squirrel

b) An unpainted shield for a lego soldier

c) A credit card

d) something the ladies use that I don’t know what it’s called but I see them in the bathroom cabinet

e) a resume of Boris Johnson’s actual life achievements

f) A broken piece of a Solo styrofoam cup

Scout

We have made a robbery ourselves! Arsenal have signed Real Madrid’s Latin American scout. Welcome to Pablo Xavier. Sometimes we forget how important these hidden employees are. If he finds us another Martinelli then he’s worth part of the 100M that this player is worth.

Mount

I just had a thought. Is Mason Mount still alive? Maybe he is Santa Claus and this is why he’s busy this time of year.

FINAL THOUGHT:

There are not many problems at Arsenal these days but Kai Havertz’s ability to perform a knee slide is troubling. I have a solution. We need to get Elsa from Frozen to show up at all Arsenal games. Give her a reasonable stipend or something. Perhaps let her date William Saliba. She needs to position herself by the closest corner flag to Kai at all times. If he scores then she needs to do her ‘ice coming out of the wrist’ move and Kai could actually become the best knee slider in the league.

I have so many good ideas.

See you after Liverpool. I might have to use AI to write that blog as life is a lil busy at that time. I’d have to teach it my odd sense of humour so maybe I’ll ‘pull my hamstring’ on Saturday night and disappear to the closet with my laptop. Anyway, time to let it go.

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.