I’ve got that feeling, it’s in my bones (Positives Needs & Hopes) [BRI 0-3 ARS]

I’ve got that feeling, it’s in my bones

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

When was the last time that a team won the Premier League when they didn’t deserve to? Man City, 115 charges, I know that’s an answer but for the purposes of the real corrupt world we live in, we know that it’s unlikely that they will receive fair accountability.

I can’t remember ever thinking that a team who won the league didn’t deserve to. Living here in the States, I’m fully aware of teams winning all kinds of everything that they shouldn’t have because of the ridiculous playoff system where a team can finish 8th and 47 points behind the team that came first and win the SuperWorld Series Cup Bowl with the rest of the world wondering why they weren’t invited to a world event. Our system is fair and only a spicy fan would complain about the winner.

So, who currently ‘deserves’ to win the league? 

That is normally judged by who is a) playing the best and b) top of the league. Well, Arsenal are obviously winning the second one and I think the first one too. But I’m a somewhat one-eyed fan. I try not to be, but my other eye has to be somewhat blurry. I watch plenty of Man City and Liverpool to have an opinion but on this occasion I’ll lean on facts. So here are some rather impressive facts that would make anyone, even those one-eyed Scousers, struggle to deny that Arsenal are looking worthy.

The point of this piece is not to convince myself or you. It’s to tell you that I’m struggling to see how a team as impressive as Arsenal in so many areas of the game, won’t win the league. This is normally the list of what is needed….

a) can’t stop winning….  rather important when the PL is won by having to get over 90 points.

b) very hard to beat…. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a team that is as hard to create against than this Arsenal team. Ever. Considering that City are considered the best team in the world and have had 2 shots on target against us in 2 games, then what should we consider Arsenal as? This chart is arguably the biggest compliment that any stat can give Arsenal right now. Less than 5 total expected goals against us in three and a half months. This is why I can say the word, ‘ever’ in my statement above. Also, let’s all laugh at Man. Utd and what on earth are Newcastle doing! In fact the whole chart is quite interesting. Why are Notts Forest still in relegation trouble?

c) often have clean sheets…. we are clearly winning this race. Away from home we get a clean sheet in every other game. Very impressive.

Current away form is even more impressive. Five clean sheets in a row. These two below seem to enjoy blocking shots, thumping their chest and celebrating. Some teams do it for show or to motivate others on their team but our desire seems somewhat more genuine.

d) win different types of games…. we’ve thrashed multiple teams post- Christmas. We’ve comfortably won games 1 or 2-0 by just managing the temperature. We’ve won or drawn every big game. We’ve won away and home and aren’t just smashing the lil’ people, like City are. These are just a few examples of many.

e) deal well with adversity…. Christmas wasn’t ho, ho, ho for Arsenal. The losses were particularly tough to take against average opposition. The questions were being asked about our mentality again. Then we went to Dubai and the sun has been shining every since.

f) have a coach who wins games with pre/during game tactics and decisions…. this is Arteta’s biggest personal improvement. A slight tweak each game. Not enough to confuse but enough to deny. One of the jokes in the game is to not give Arteta a mid-half timeout opportunity because we normally score straight after.

g) gets their best team fit for the run-in…. just as some of our players will start feeling it, we have a full squad returning. Add Mr Timber to this who will give the ‘like a new signing’ thought some legitimacy. Actually, apart from the fact that we have five players still either carrying knocks or fighting their way back to full fitness, Jurrien Timber is our only injured player.

h) peaks in the Spring….. Spring is still springing but we are doing what City have perfected and never had a competition in by going on a run that seems unstoppable. We aren’t just peaking in the Spring but the whole of 2024 so far.

i) look focused and hungry…. we’ve used the disappointment of last year as a positive experience to strengthen our desire and mentality.

j) luck…. you do need this and even though we may have had a little, we haven’t positioned ourselves to need it.

k) 12th man…. our away fans are in the top 2 best and loudest in the league. Our home fans aren’t quite as loud as last year, but are supportive and don’t make us nervous.

l) depth….  now that we are getting fit, we have at least 19 players of a similar level. Our bench can win games even though it rarely has to do so.

m) goal difference…. never does a team win the league and have a bum squeaky goal difference. It’s always impressive.

n) PL Team of the season… You have multiple players who could make this team. My count is that there are 8 of our players who are up for consideration. Raya, White, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Saka and possibly Zinchenko as his role is unique and he is the only player in the league who inverts and dominates. Three of them are a shoe-in (Gabriel, Rice and Odegaard) and Saka would be if Salah didn’t exist. That is the entire first team bar Havertz, Martinelli and Jesus and the first two could still make it if they go on a tear.

o) metrics…. There are a lot of stats. Arsenal are winning at almost all of them. Here is one you may not know about…

p) motivation…. only a couple of our players have won the PL. The others are frothing at the mouth. You can see that.

q) pressure…. there is pressure of course but we are better prepared as this season replicates last season. One advantage is that the media and bookmakers don’t think we are favourites even though I’m trying to prove that we kinda should be the favourites.

r) Respect….opponents start giving you respect. There are multiple videos/clips of pundits, players and coaches talking about how impressive Arsenal are. This post was by a Man. Utd fan.

s) Quality…there is not a single part of the game that Arsenal aren’t at least ‘good’ at. Reason enough, perhaps?

If Arsenal do win the league it might be one of, if not the best victories in PL history. Why? Simply because there isn’t one team excelling or two, which is normal, but three who are legitimately in the mix.

I don’t want to talk about the feeling in my bones in public, so lets keep this a secret but I’m struggling to believe that a team this impressive who have forced me to post endless images and stop writing more than 19 reasons why they are in great shape to win the league, won’t do it. 

Sometimes the feeling isn’t that you are going to win a trophy. It’s more that you can’t imagine not winning it.

POSITIVES:

Jesus:

Gabriel Jesus alongside Bukayo Saka and Martinelli has a unique gift. Even when they are quiet, they make the highlight reel on multiple occasions. These players are hard to find. He wasn’t a constant threat but he greatly impacted the game. His dribble set up our first goal. His defending helped Zinchenko deal with the many diagonal balls. He was unlucky not to score with three decent efforts.

Trossard:

This player is one smart cookie. Being clever is underrated in sport. When he went through to score he did three very clever things. Firstly, he cut off the chasing defender. Secondly, he sat the keeper down with a fake shot which is always smart if you have time and the finish was perfect considering the keepers body shape.

Corners:

Not sure if this is a positive as we’ve been caught using Odegaard to mark our opponents most dangerous aerial threat but anyway…. Tariq Lamptey is the smallest player in the Premier League. Someone is going to correct me because I guessed. Siri told me he is 5ft 4in, so I think I’m right. Gabriel is the best in the PL from set pieces. Sorry Virgil. I guessed here too. Why is Lamptey marking our biggest threat? It was nearly very handy.

Havertz:

Those two runs Havertz made to get his goal was the single most encouraging moment in the game. I’ve been begging for an elusive, hungry goalscorer who wants to enter the six yard box and stop playing lava. He is becoming increasingly more influential. Just in time for Bayern.

FanFest and GoonerFest:

Arsenal are HUGE in America. The most popular youth soccer team name is Arsenal. Everywhere Max and I go we meet Gooners. This image says it all. We are the common thread in viewing figures.

We went to the ‘Premier League Live’ event where they broadcast live from a city in the US. They were in Nashville and so we travelled.  We saw one Brighton fan in Nashville and she was 82 years old. Everybody else was a Gooner. Thousands of Gooners. Max got to see the PL trophy and distinctly preferred this to seeing Alan Shearer and Daniel Sturridge.

I was asked to do my Arsenal Quiz at Goonerfest afterwards where we saw the greatest piece of Arsenal memorabilia ever. Zoom in…

Goonerfest had their own beer. Very impressive.

NEEDS:

Havertz and Jorginho:

These two have a symbiotic relationship. Likely because they’ve played with each other longer than most of our other partnerships that work. We saw this in Havertz’s two runs that created the goal from Jorginho’s cross. He believed in Jorginho’s ability to find him that he ensured that he lost his defender. He doesn’t normally move with this deception.

Jorginho’s passing range can be seen clearer when Havertz is front of him. When you have that kind of relationship you can sense when a progressive pass is coming and Havertz has this with Jorginho. I have noticed though that Havertz doesn’t always take advantage of these balls because he takes a touch when they are weighted for him to simply run on to. He’s done this at least three times this season and did it again in the first 20 mins at Brighton.

Refereeing decisions:

Yet another weekend of terribleness that gives skeptics like me the chance to raise their eyebrows at those that are trusting. Lee Dixon spent nearly ten minutes disputing Jesus being tripped as if he had been told that there were going to be some horror incidences and he needed to distract us from. Did Lamptey touch the ball? Yes. Did he trip Jesus? Yes. So, can you trip a player now as long as you graze the ball?

Anyway, that’s not the point. This weekend was probably the worst for dodgy decisions. The Wolves game embarrassed the rulebook which is now blushing heavily and hiding at the very back of the cabinet. Technically the Wolves player was blocking the keeper but the keeper would’ve had to have the reactions of one of those bugs that is in your car and on your windshield and you can’t swat it because it moves like it’s been teleported to another part of your car. Or perhaps the Avenger that has yet to be introduced to us and he’s called YouCan’tGetMeMan. Fabianski had zero chance. Surely the rule should be amended.

Then there was Liverpool’s first goal. I was convinced that Wan Bissaka had brought him down but then I don’t have a million replays from every angle like VAR who either looked at one angle and told the ref he was correct or are clinically blind or yet again, something dodgy is going on.

Then James Maddison punched Ryan Yates and somehow VAR were napping again. I haven’t seen an actual punch for what seems years and in those years I’ve seen red cards for tickling someone’s chin.

Gabriel was grabbed at the back post by a player that had no chance of getting the ball. Not as clear as the others but what goes on at corners is a diluted version of wrestling and needs to be addressed. If I was a ref, I could close my eyes, blow my whistle every time there is a corner kick and ask my VAR to give me a reason because there are probably three.

Overplaying:

It does not matter now but we were very tippy-tappy in that first half inside their box. Someone needed to hit a first time shot instead of playing a game of rondo in their box.

HOPES:

Brighton:

I’m sure our scouts watch their players closely. One of the reasons why our purchases this season are all flourishing is that they haven’t had to adapt to a new league. Havertz and Raya needed to simply gain trust and confidence and when they did they have been flying. It’s always smart to buy from the PL if you can afford to and especially from teams that play a similar style. Most teams are using a textbook that is different to Mikel’s but Brighton’s book is very similar. I’d keep eyes on Estupinan, Mitoma, Baleba and Adingra as well as Ferguson. Joao Pedro is an interesting player and so would Pascal Gross be if he wasn’t 32 years old.

Mitoma would be an ideal to rotate with Saka and Martinelli. He’s one of the best dribblers in world football. He even wrote his dissertation on dribbling in college.

Baleba is the perfect profile and an improving player. Not many can stride through the middle of the field and run away from Declan Rice and he did it twice.

Estupinan can play both ways. Strong defender, especially for a full back and the kind of threat that we don’t have in our squad at left back in a player that is strong on the overlap.

Adingra is one of those players that might go to the very top and we would wonder why we didn’t look earlier and before he becomes an 80M+ player. He switched wings yesterday. Mikel is looking for a winger who can do this.

Ferguson is simply a deadly finisher but vastly overpriced considering he is just potential right now.

Ousmane Diomande:

I wasn’t sure about him recently. My preference swung to his partner, Goncalo Inacio. I’ve started to watch Diomande now and it’s clear why Mikel likes him. He will be able to iron out his mistakes like he did with Gabriel but his natural strengths are very strong especially his ability to progress play on the dribble or by passing. He is strong aerially which is rather helpful in the PL. Check it out…

FINAL THOUGHT:

Xhaka:

Taking eyes off Arsenal for a minute, next weekend could see Granit Xhaka lift the Bundesliga trophy. Who thought that Xhaka would lift it before Kane! Love it. He has continued to impressive and be pivotal. This image says it all. Harry Kane and his 32 goals will probably win Player of the Year but Xhaka should run him close.

We all remember the 10-2 aggregate against Bayern. Painful. Embarrassing. Made me angry. Well, that’s not happening again. Quietly, I expect to knock them out. This feeling alone comes from a different planet to the feeling last time. It also shows the journey from darkness to the light. It also makes me appreciate my team greatly.

Especially when I watch Man Utd and Chelsea.

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.