‘Arsenal on the couch’
An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective
Dr. Perspective the football therapist: Hi, Mike! Come on in and make yourself comfortable. I’m assuming you are an Arsenal fan? I’ve had lots of Arsenal fans this week.
Me: Yes, sir I am an Arsenal fan. Partly optimistic and partly terrified.
Doc: You must take this Arsenal thing rather seriously then?
Me: Since 1979. Sometimes I wish that I didn’t care as much as I do. I live in the middle of nowhere with not a single Arsenal fan close by except my family who I have infected with my fandom.
Doc: Well, after meeting with many of you Gooners over the last few weeks, you don’t have to explain what is going on. I’m fully aware. So, how can I best help?
Me: Seeing reality, I suppose. My lens is getting cloudy and I’m afraid that I’m going to drive myself crazy. More importantly, I don’t want to drive my wife to say, “it’s only a game.” I’m a pretty calm guy but my fandom went past that point in the 80’s.
Doc: I understand. Tell me exactly how you fell about the current situation?
Me: Well, I’m a positive guy, but I see legitimate concerns.
Doc: What are they?
Me: Well, we have the best squad in the clubs history and Mikel has done rather well at rotating at the right time, but our team look fatigued. We are usually a team that is defensively so hard working and solid. A team without mistakes. That has changed recently. We are conceding so much ground in transition and we are being scored on with so few opportunities.
Secondly, we don’t seem to have anyone at the top of their game. I know it’s a team sport and therefore hard to be great if others are below par but we are lacking energy to change this.
Thirdly, we are at the stage of the season where teams are familiar with our style of play. Because we are a ‘coach’s team’ and play programmed football we are looking too predictable and easier to play against.
Fourthly, our coach is a serious guy. His standards are the reason that we are where we are but I worry that his body language and possibly his personality create tension in the group. Almost as if we went to the masseuse and this kung-fu warrior comes out and starts doing chop suey on our back.
Finally and most importantly, we look like a team that is really feeling the pressure of expectation. The media have chosen Arsenal as their horse to whip many years ago and it affects our fanbase who get irrationally upset. It is as if our players cannot stay off social media.
Doc: What is your ultimate fear?
Me: That we won’t win anything and that Mikel will be seen as 7/8th’s of a coach. A coach who can rebuild, get you to the gate of success but hasn’t yet got the skillset to get us across the line, either because of something that he is doing that he shouldn’t or something that he’s not doing that he shouldn’t. That another European power house will get the best of Mikel Arteta, rather than Arsenal.
I have never wanted someone to succeed more than him.
Doc: Why is that?
Me: Because he turned my life around. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was so affected by Arsenal heading in the wrong direction. Mikel Arteta is the first coach I’ve ever seen who turned a ship around and kept it on course, never veering. In an incredibly impatient world, he was allowed to start from the chapter of the coaching manual that the club needed, and he took it. He was given the time to take his time, and he took it. He has given us a team that is the best at multiple aspects of the game and competitive at the very highest level to the point where those outside of the British media see us as the best team in Europe.
I have so much gratitude for the club and Mikel.
Doc: Ok. Well think on this….The best way to look at this is from the, let’s call it ‘The June perspective.’
Imagine if you win the Premier League, Champions League or both. That would be one of the best seasons in the club’s history. If you win both it would literally be the best ever. How would you feel in June if either of those quite possible options happened and you spent the winning part of the season being negative?
Me: But it could go wrong?
Doc: But it could go right?
You are going to have to decide if you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution. If I had told you in August that you would be top of the league by 9 points and playing Sporting Lisbon in the quarter finals today you would tell me that I was a dreamer.
You are right, it could go wrong. If you can lose to Southampton, you could lose to Sporting. If you believed that the glass was half full though, you would remind yourself that before Mikel showed up you routinely lost 1-5 to Bayern Munich and the same group of players who comfortably beat Bayern 3-0 in the autumn will be playing tonight.
Listen, you don’t have to go telling everyone that you are going to win anything but you need to tell yourself that you are a fan and you picked football because you thought it was fun. You are on the precipice of being able to tell your grandchildren that you were alive when this happened. If you knock Sporting out and get 3 points on Saturday then the mood will change.
Me: But what does it matter what I do? I’m just one fan trying to build a shield to defend myself from the potential imminent pain.
Doc: I get that. But you have influence. Even though you are on an Arsenal island in East Tennessee, you share your thoughts through your phone and laptop. We live in a world where our opinion could affect the mood of fans who are going to the game itself. Fans who have to decide if they are going to be tense or sing for their team. With worldwide access to anyone, there is a very good chance that someone living in Hong Kong will be affected by what you post. You are part of the energy that will drive your team on or suck it out of the room entirely.
Me: So, what does it come down to?
Doc: No matter whether you win the shiny cups or not, Arsenal are going to face adversity again in likely more than one of their remaining games. When that happens, you are going to want those 11 players to respond positively. You have to ask yourself if you want to be a help in that time or a hindrance?
I have Spurs fans calling me all week. Chelsea fans are pissed. Liverpool fans are very angry. City fans think that if they win anything that it will be taken away. United fans are deluded, I don’t take their calls. I even have Barca, Bayern and PSG fans that contact me and they are concerned that their team isn’t dominating as they should be. Real Madrid fans are furious at their league form and praying that if they get to the CL final, that it’s not Arsenal that they play.
The sun isn’t really shining anywhere.
Outside of England and the influence of the British media, there is nothing but fear and respect for Arsenal. They see you as the number one club on the rise. The one most likely to dominate Europe in years to come. A team with a coach that checks more boxes than any other. One of the best keepers in the world. The best CB partnership in the world. The best out of possession team in the world. Arguably the best back five in football. The most effective team at set plays. The team with the best squad and the team with a handful of potential Balon D’or winners and one school boy who might be the next best thing.
Choose gratitude.
Me: Then I will.
Doc: That’ll be $900.00
Me: I thought you wanted me to leave this couch happy?
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.
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