‘Good enough’ no longer good enough
An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective
There is a knock-on effect to footballers becoming much busier these days.
I think that most of them are somewhat unaware of the details of what else is going on in the league.
Even though video analysis will now be used where it wasn’t in the past, I think footballers intentionally unwind from the heavy demands by separating themselves from football when they are not doing football.
I’d imagine that because the club has people that analyze and prepare for them, it’s not as necessary for the players to be aware of what’s going on around them.
I’m always wanting to separate myself from extreme views and so it’s important to mention that there will obviously be many players who watch the football highlights and some that watch all the football.
I don’t think that a modern day Arsenal player is intentionally taking it easier against easier teams. I think it’s subconscious. An overconfidence which is born out of the confidence that they have in their friends around them. I can imagine that it would be difficult not to believe in the greatest squad in the club’s history.
Because of these factors, I think that Arsenal have inadvertently fostered an attitude of complacency. Not in every game. Not all game long. Just now and again, but ‘now and again enough’ to where it would be fair to label it as part of our style.
Other teams are very aware that Arsenal want to dominate. Control. That Arsenal’s predominant style is one of great patience. Of a desperate design not to play a basketball game.
They know that within this choice is a patience that requires all of our players to be in certain locations and so we don’t transition with speed because the ball moves faster than the players and our game is largely a coached preplanned affair.
We can criticize and have our preferences as to how we feel about the style, but ultimately, it has led us to being one of the top three teams in Europe, so for the most part we need to trust the process because the process has only ever moved us in one direction.
The subconscious knock on effect of this style, and all else that I’ve mentioned, is that overconfidence sometimes becomes the winner. The players know that they are in a team where it is very rare for anybody to make a mistake anywhere on the pitch. That they can’t argue with the style and go rogue because of the direction of travel of the football club. So, what happens is that the team that seems to have very little weakness is being exploited because our players can often look in shock at the quality that they are facing.
I wonder how many of them thought that Brighton could give Arsenal 95 minutes of fairly consistent nightmares?
That Leeds could be so well organized defensively, on and off the ball, that their press could be considered the best in the league.
There will be certain phrases that players unintentionally ignore, which is the phrase that comes packaged in the cliché, ‘don’t take them for granted’.
There is another cliché that has always floated around the Premier League,’ anybody can beat anybody.’
They are all good enough to beat you on their day.
What Arsenal are experiencing is that we have gone beyond this cliché now..
Teams like Leeds, Brentford, Brighton, and others aren’t just good enough to beat you on that day, they are now good enough to beat you on any day.
Modern football relies significantly less on individuals except when you get to the very precipice of the league and cup competitions.
You can be a good team by buying into the team philosophy that everybody has these days, keeping it simple and being well organized. Now you have a situation where a team like Brighton currently look the most likely team to challenge Arsenal. Not a one ‘good season’ thing either. A big bunch of teams have moved from being ‘good enough’ on that day to ‘good.’ A good team.
I’m not sure if Liverpool, Mancheater City, Chelsea and others will give us two more difficult games than the last two we have played.
It is now important that our players check their mindset. Playing in third gear will allow you to win some games because of the undisputed fact that quality will finally win the day. I don’t believe, however, that it will like it did before.
Keith Andrews at Brentford has proven that in modern football it isn’t just the head coach that is the main difference maker. There are a team of coaches, far larger than at any time in the history of the game, who are all trusted and involved, and just because their names are not known or ever mentioned by anyone other than their own fans. Many of them are now likely to be the same standard as the hidden secrets in the background at Arsenal Football Club.
This is how I see it now…
Groupings….
Great teams: Arsenal
Very good teams: Brighton, Chelsea
Good team: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Leeds, Newcastle, Brentford, Bournemouth
Good enough teams: Sunderland, Manchester United, Forest, Everton
Teams that will surprise you: Ipswich, Hull
Capable and should be doing better: Fulham, Spurs, Crystal Palace
Poor teams: Coventry
Irrelevant team, bye-bye: Manchester City
That group of ‘good‘ teams has grown. To be more accurate, this is based on current form and how seriously they need to be taken.
There might be less teams in the top two tiers, but almost half of the league is in the top three tiers.
POSITIVES:
Second goal:
So much of what Arsenal need to be was seen in the second goal.
A quick free kick to unsettle an unorganized Leeds. One touch football which eliminates the defensive strengths of any team. Risktaking when Noni would normally pass backwards and reset the play, but took a risk with a penetrative pass. Rotational movement to confuse Leeds. Saka drifting onto the left side but being more predictable with his outside of the foot turn to the inside. Flair from a player that has the ability but rarely the nature to use it in Declan Rice. The shot from an expert finisher who didn’t give Leeds the chance to block it.
Bruno G:
He’s been responsible for six points already this season. Six points in six games that he’s hardly played in.
He may be a flawed individual and an imperfect Arsenal-type player, but Arsenal have lacked and somewhat ignored different profiles over the years. Profiles that others have and we don’t. In his case, he has the profile or player that thinks to pass forward before he thinks to maintain possession. He thinks he can score from outside the box and so he shoots and he is often successful. I wonder if you spotted this?
https://x.com/LowResReplays/status/2108905558866817505/photo/1
Noni celebrating before he even shot the ball. A player that he’s just met and he knows and feels sure that he’s going to score. What a compliment to Bruno!
Konsa:
In amongst the frustration of the game, Konsa was solid throughout. Probably the only player in the first half that excelled.
Calafiori:
My prediction is that he scores 10 goals this season. There’s no other player in the league that is given the freedom from deep to attack the box and he’s a better finisher than most of the strikers in the league.
Odegaard:
Odegaard changed the game and I didn’t even know it.
Listening to Clive Palmer, he mentioned that the captain got everybody together and basically laid into them to step up their game just before we scored.
Some people criticize him for not being a ‘captain type,’ but our life experience has taught all of us that we are more inclined to listen to somebody that gets angry once in a while rather than somebody that does it weekly.
It sure seems like this moment was a sliding doors moment in the game and in the outcome.
Noni:
I had a small personal celebration all to myself while sitting under a cabana in Jamaica. I heard that Noni was starting on the left wing.
As many of you know, I have been hoping for a strong footed winger who could deliver service with more confidence. Noni wasn’t brilliant, but he was absolutely promising enough to make us think that we might have something there.
The important part is the comparison between him and the others that play there. Eze looks like he will continue to be a moments player, hugely capable, but not consistent and efficient from game to game. Tzolis has had a fantastic start to his career after a huge step up.
The competition will be with Eze as ultimately the main reason for him being there was the biggest box checked on the day, quality delivery.
NEEDS:
Arteta:
To be balanced, he wasn’t just a problem with his decision-making as his second half adjustments, including substitutions, won us the game.
I think my concerns are echoed elsewhere amongst the fanbase. Just that he needs to trust in form players to replace his favourites. Odegaard had apparently played 4 x 90 minutes for Norway and played the first half and half of the second half like he was knackered. Havertz wasn’t at his best and we didn’t even expect to see him, but his inclusion seemed an unnecessary risk especially with Viktor scoring four goals for his country. Merino single-handedly won a game that Spain were losing all by himself and Eze had an impressive performance for England.
Maybe it’s his desire to play his ‘best team’ as long as they show up at the stadium. If ever there has been a time in the history of the club to rotate with confidence, it would be now. It seems like we wasted an hour, hoping that Kai could find himself and perhaps got a little lucky that Odegaard did.
Bruno and Myles:
It’s still early in the season and Bruno didn’t have a preseason and he had to play for 90 minutes, but this sounds like it might be a good long-term solution…
Saka:
Don’t bother reading this part if you are bored of my bleating about Saka needing a fresh look.
I’m not talking about the haircut, either.
We have the perfect opportunity with Tzolis out to try this on the left. Noni gave us hope and he could play on the right with Saka offering a similar and probably better product on the left. The Champions League game on Tuesday would be the perfect opportunity to take a look at it.
There’s a chance that Noni got the first look simply because he was at the training ground for two weeks while Saka was playing for England.
HOPES:
Hincapie had to be given a piggyback off the field after the warm down. He looked in genuine pain. Apparently, Zubimendi had an issue in the warm down, also.
Maybe we need to look at the temperature of our players bodies on a colder day and the intensity of our warm down.
FINAL THOUGHT:
The perspective of a player trying to play against us is always respected. In other games, I’m sure that they would have felt that they were going to go on and win or at least believe that it was likely. You might have noticed that Leeds collapsed the last 20 minutes and even though they just needed one goal to get back in the game, they never really looked like they believed. Their coach said exactly the same thing so we can see that what the club has built has quite a dramatic effect on our opponents.
I’d rather us not have to use our mentality and fix the issues, but it’s still the beginning of the season so our expectations probably need to chill a little bit.
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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