This feels different Positives, Needs and Hopes I respect the world of football stats but don’t search them out. There is something in me that resists stats and considers them somewhat unnecessary even though many are interesting and revealing. I far prefer basing my judgments on feeling. Maybe it’s because I’ve poured much […]
Systems vs Swagger Positives, Needs and Hopes One of the most frustrating parts of coaching is when you spend endless hours working on what seems like such a good idea only for it to hurt the team. I can’t prove this but the first half against Newcastle looked like a plan shut down. In my […]
Structure 3 Balance 1 Positives, Needs and Hopes Arsenal are in a period of sacrifice. It looks to me that the new coaching team has sacrificed needed work on our attacking game to focus heavily on defensive structure. I’m not necessarily disappointed as Arsenal haven’t had a proper defensive structure for almost half my life. […]
When you know the Coach is good Positives, Needs and Hopes Besides good results, how do you know if you have a good coach? Clues are found in various places. a) consistent effort. b) game winning alterations. c) bad runs of form don’t last. d) understanding of importance to build team based on their qualities […]
Do you remember…….? Arshavin’s one touch vs Barcelona. Henry’s rare late header vs Utd. Fabregas from kick off vs Spurs. Kanu going solo vs Chelsea. I remember where I was, who I was with and the level of mad-crazy I went. Fans love moments. They are important. Martinelli vs Chelsea has now become one. A […]
Very clear, very complicated Positives, Needs and Hopes Some games get lost in the joy of the win or dejection of loss. Others give such clarity as to what needs to change. This season it seems that we’ve been part of three results…. a few wins, a few losses and a bucket load of clarity. […]
The Players, The Club, but not The Coach Positives, Needs and Hopes At the beginning of the Arteta reign I wrote a blog about where the improvement would take us. I felt and still feel that although the improvement gives us great hope, a decent portion of it is simply taking us back to neutral. […]
Arsenal in February (part 2) Tactics, Improvements and Innovations How incredibly weird this season is. Fans started the summer happy for a sabbatical as Arsenal had upset us in April and May. We then got excited as Edu returned. Then we panicked, got angry, #wecaredoyou, then we got a handful of shiny signings. Started slowly but […]
When bad is perfect Positives, Needs and Hopes I have two hopes when going into the first few games of a season with the team I coach. I want to be exposed and I want to win. I want to be exposed so I know what needs to change and be fixed before the bigger […]
Arsenal in February Part One: The Players I’ve had this theory for months that Arsenal will run out of energy in February onwards, as Emery had us playing end-to-end basketball for 4 months. As with most everything I’ve feared would happen, I’ve either dialed that back or believe the opposite now due to everything Mikel […]
