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Different and better, but why?

• Positive Needs & Hopes
January 30, 2026 4

 

Different and better, but why?

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

I was really encouraged by that performance. Really excited to see some much needed improvements. Then I went online and I seem to be one of the only ones out there that thought that the Almighty Carrot game was a big positive.

Everybody else seems wrapped up in the score line and some of the finishing.

The second half seemed like a grand opportunity to play at 50% and save legs as they were essentially no threat. I would’ve told my team to drop the energy levels.

The first half looked like an obvious reflection of what they had been practicing at the training ground. For far too long we have been ignoring the space behind the defence. Seeing an Arsenal player one on one with a goalkeeper was a birthday present. Linked to that has been the need for an attacking midfielder to turn on his first touch and play it behind with his second. Odegaard’s balletic/ice dancing style of receiving the ball is aesthetically pleasing to the eye as he caresses a ball like a seal in it’s prime, yet it cuts off the easiest route to goal.

As I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve just started coaching my new High School team here in Tennessee. I can be a talker so I told myself that my personal improvement was to use far less words. Not just because I need to anyway but because the attention span of a modern day teenager has shrunk drastically and especially after listening in class for 7 hours. I found a way to simplify my communication and put what I’m going to teach them into simple categories.

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I realised that the word ‘care’ covers everything in football from your desire to play for the team and not yourself to listening to the coaches advice. The word ‘respect’ covers a plethora of their experiences on and off the field from respecting the referee (really hard to do in TN) to respecting each other. I boiled the game itself down to two words…. ‘easy’ and ‘difficult.’ When our opponent has possession we have to make it difficult for them. From not diving in to win a ball you can’t win to being willing to sacrifice your body to block a shot. The ‘easy’ part is well, easy. What is the easiest way to score a goal. Is it to go alone or is it to pass and move? Is it to make over 10 passes in any direction and be patient or is it to dink the ball over the top of a high defence. If you are a coach, I highly recommend the next thought…. We play 11 v 11 without goals. Just ‘keep away.’  They see the value in not always going forward and having patience because there is no target. Then we play with goals and when they attack at the wrong time I remind them how they got the ball into a shooting position without forcing it and losing it.

The word ‘trust’ is to inform the players that a coach picks the players that he trusts. How do you get his trust? Do what he taught you.

The results will be season changing as almost every other HS team in TN plays north and runs north and south. It will be interesting to see what they do against a team that plays like mine.

Arsenal have certainly conquered the first three words better than any other team I can point to. You can never tell anyone on this current Arsenal team that they don’t care as they played The Almighty Carrot as if it was City at home. As far as ‘caring’ is concerned, anyway. The same goes for ‘respect.’ Arsenal are arguably the best team in world football at making it ‘difficult’ for you simply because of the respect they have for their leaders and how much Arteta has promoted the importance of his standards. There is no better example than watching Arsenal recover in transition. Full sprint. Make it as difficult as possible.

The ‘easy’ part has been conquered as a general style. Not only are we excellent at keeping possession but unlike almost every other team, we refuse to just ‘toss balls into the box’ like almost every other football team, ever. However….

The single biggest problem at Arsenal Football Club, amongst a very short list, is the creation of easy chances. 

The Almighty Carrot game was a step in the right direction.

Havertz was far more willing to play forward quickly. As an Arsenal striker he’s more aware than anyone else of making runs that aren’t even observed or observed, but not attempted. The turn and pass to VG was so un-Arsenal, unfortunately. So simple. So much more ‘easy.’ The balls behind continued in the first half, especially from Norgaard and White. They didn’t just happen, most were successful.

If I was to guess what happened after the United game, I’d say that the players encouraged the coach to trust their elite skills. I think they convinced him that even though playing directly can cause transition if unsuccessful, that they could make it worth it. Arsenal have so many players that can dink, chip, drive or lift the ball over a defence but haven’t had the chains loosened to where they feel safe to not be over-analyzed if it doesn’t work. Ask yourself if a player like Declan Rice with his unreal technique, ever tries to go over the top? If he can put corner after corner through a hula hoop, I bet he can become an assist merchant if unchained.

The other major change was flair and unpredictability. This was also huge because….

The second biggest problem at Arsenal Football Club is unpredictability. 

I haven’t seen so many creative risks in all the games this season than we had in the first half. The best being Norgaard’s flick between his legs as the pre-assist for the third goal. Again, we have a collection of the world’s best players. There are about 7 of them that could claim to be the best in their position. Why wouldn’t you trust this level of player to be creative?

We can only hope that this was an arranged practice run, not simply a fun day off where street football was encouraged to lighten the mood. That all of the first half improvements were because of a permanent change coming, not because we were playing the Almighty Carrot.

POSITIVES:
Havertz:
The ultimate Swiss Army knife player. I’d forgotten that he can do pretty much everything to an 8/10 level. Doesn’t really specialize in any of it, but a player who others simply describe as a ‘good footballer.’ Clearly his biggest moments came when he showed the directness that we wish Odegaard showed more frequently, but his 50 Minute performance showed a little of all the tools in his knife. He is going to stand out and be appreciated more because his competition are more specialized.
Norgaard:
I thought he was the best player on the field. His best game for the club by far. He is similar to Havertz in the fact that he is also a Swiss Army knife. More of a 7/10 at everything. Another ‘good footballer.’ If he had more speed and athleticism then he would be an 8/10 player. He’d likely be more trusted by Arteta too. Not only did we see creativity from him but his passing weight and range was impressive. I really hope that he is trusted more by Arteta as Zubimendi has likely played more minutes than most and could break down. Norgaard deserves and is perfectly capable of starting at least half of the league games without us feeling like we missed MZ.
Madueke:
I wonder if his scattered end product is simply the ‘Theo Walcott disease?’ Theo, alongside other rapid players, had hugely inconsistent end product especially when in a crossing position because he never really slowed his wheels down enough to control his action. Madueke is fast but more so, quick. When he is executing his shot/cross, his legs need to slow down so his brain can process what his eyes are seeing. A player with elite potential that needs to consider this if he wants to fulfill it.
Eze:
Is he too laid back? Is football too easy for him? Do we need to give it a rest because 80% of footballers would love to have his composure under pressure. I think we are going to have to understand that he is a ‘moments’ player. He’s not going to control and boss games, even though he could. When you watch the extended highlights though, there are so many magic moments that he creates with his quality.
I’m not even sure if you can say that he is simply better technically than others. He’s probably on par with most good players but because he’s cooler than Will Smith, he can execute better than the 80%. I’m not sure that I’ve seen a player so reliable at getting shots on target than him. That is the hardest technique to execute because of the pressure and the butterflies, yet he has laser focus.
Odegaard:
As much as he has been the issue recently, it is important that balance is struck. He has lacked goal threat and he got in the box frequently. If he would’ve headed the ball using his whole body rather than just his neck muscles he likely scores both headers. He doesn’t run through the ball when he headers it, as you should. He uses more the woodpecker approach. He also tried his cheeky lift passes over the top, opening up his can of skills and showing that he was ok with failure.
Gyokeres:
Slowly, he is impacting games with more consistency. His touches, runs, using his body, speed etc.., are getting some airtime. With Kai back maybe his shoulders can relax and that might make his thunder touches less stormy. I noticed that he was more alert in the box. This was because he didn’t plant his feet and watch. A top striker always keeps his feet moving in the box so his brain doesn’t freeze when the opportunity arises. If I had some time with VG, I’d show him his posture when he has the ball. He is very upright which greatly affects his mobility to jink past players or to execute with subtlety. Watch him.
Academy players:
Brando Bailey Joseph is electric. He is probably the quickest player at the club at all levels. Ife Ibrahim is a clone of Abou Diaby. Both players have a shot at Arsenal especially Ibrahim, because those type of players are rare.
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MLS:
That was his best game this season. His passing was a big danger and danger is what he hasn’t offered this season. His driving runs and ability to use his midfielders eye have largely vanished. Competition in his spot is intense but I hope we see him again soon.
NEEDS:
Yikes!
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I didn’t realize it was this rough. I wonder if this was brought up post-United?
FINAL THOUGHT:
I’m out of time today, but this is plenty. We will know if the directness and added flair/risk is real on Saturday.

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4 Responses to Different and better, but why?

  1. NBN January 30, 2026 at 5:06 pm #

    I think you are spot on that the first half against Kairat was a deliberate exercise in playing more passes forward and more quickly into the final third. Interesting that you speculate it was the players suggesting it to Arteta, not the other way round.

    I have mused on Goonerholics Forever whether Gyökeres was bought to be a striking partner for Havertz, with the two of them in tandem being more than the sum of their parts, but also a specific solution to certain game situations. For example, just as Gyökeres doesn’t score his goal without Havertz’s pass, I don’t think Havertz scores his goal without the Swede making the bull-in-a-China-shop run he does to open up a shooting lane for the German. Up until now, Arteta has barely had the two of them fit at once, so he has had to play the Swede more and not in the way he planned.

    Your Nørgaard/Zubimendi point is well made. This is the first season in the Spaniard’s career in which he hasn’t had the mid-winter break that Spanish football takes. He will feel that in his legs at the sharp end of the season if he isn’t given adequate rest in the meantime.

    If Ife Ibrahim is the new Abou Diaby, and doesn’t get blighted by injuries, then that is quite some player we have coming along.

    Reply
  2. Andy January 30, 2026 at 11:10 pm #

    Thanks Mike. A calm voice in all the panic. I just think the team needs a week off too recalibrate and go again. January was a tough month.

    Keep us updated with how your new team get on

    Reply
  3. Ralph January 31, 2026 at 2:44 am #

    Great blog post, Mike. Any thoughts on how to coach away the 90th minute concentration lapses in defense? Our identity has long been a water tight defense and now we’ve lost this.

    Reply
  4. allezkev January 31, 2026 at 12:30 pm #

    Always an interesting read Mike, I’m not going to lie, our profligacy in front of goal against Kairat did really irritate me, I just felt that it was a golden opportunity missed to boost the confidence of some of our players who are not quite delivering the numbers and then conceding that late goal just continued a recent and worrying trend. Moan over!

    Ibrahim caught my eye even though his influence was brief, he made a couple of challenges, clean and crisp, that had me sitting up. Havertz was like a breath of fresh air, a quick brain allied to quick feet, his time sitting on the bench may have given him an insight into how Viktor plays and how to get the best out of him? A very promising partnership in bloom…

    Loved what Eze brought, he gets and gives it with the minimum of fuss, keeps things moving and at a rapid pace. He could be just that piece of unorthodoxy we need at the key parts of the campaign when the prizes are on the line?

    Reply

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