I think it’s fair to say this is a better Monday than last week. For people in the UK it’s even better again because it’s a bank holiday so they get to lie in while the rest of us work.
Yet it promises to be, or should be, a busy week for Arsenal. Having overcome the defeat to Villa with two good wins inside four days, we know have a Champions League qualifier tomorrow night and then a North London derby at the end of the week.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that one of those games is going to much more of a challenge than the other. Fenerbahce arrive in London today knowing they need something nigh on miraculous to reach the Champions League group stages. We know that doing what we did out in Istanbul will be enough to see us through.
In fact, we don’t even have to do anything. Once we don’t concede, we’re through. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of team Arsene puts out. He said he’s not going to rest players but that’s mostly because he doesn’t really have any players to rest. We could see something like Monreal for Gibbs, and maybe Wilshere back in midfield, but beyond that there’s little scope for rotation.
There’s the possibility that a couple of youngsters could start, Gnabry and Sanogo spring to mind, but it’s a touch risky in my opinion. If we start well and get a couple of goals there’s the chance to bring them on for a good half an hour, but not from the start. After that, we have to look ahead to the weekend and the arrival of Sp*rs.
Whether there are new faces before that remains to be seen. The Mirror this morning says that Yohan Cabaye’s people were in London last night to discuss a move with Arsene Wenger. The player has, ostensibly, gone on strike at Newcastle, which is hardly ideal but nor is it unprecedented. Players do this quite regularly. I remember we signed Sylvain Wiltord under similar circumstances back in the day.
I wonder, given what’s going on at Newcastle, if it speaks more to the situation up there than his desire to join us. It doesn’t seem healthy there. The Pardew – Kinnear axis appears strained, to say the least, and we’d certainly offer an attractive escape route. Still, if he does want to sign, all well and good. He’s got that whole somebody being better than nobody thing going on, but more than that, he’s a very decent player.
Meanwhile, Arsene has spoken about how, perhaps, the media have ‘brainwashed’ fans into thinking there are bigger problems at the club than there actually are. He said:
The media in general has brainwashed a little bit the Emirates. Maybe rightly so, I don’t know, because we haven’t won trophies for years everything is negative. But we have to live with that and focus on playing well football. People always want news. We live in a world which is very interesting but very excessive. When people are not loyal, you are critical. When people are loyal, you say they have been there too long. It’s always excessive reaction. The people in charge need to keep their distance from that more than ever.
It’s interesting stuff in some ways because I agree there’s an plenty of opinion, especially around Arsenal, some of it tends to get a bit hyperbolic. I think we must be the most talked about football club in the world. And I don’t mean just by the media in general, but more than any other club there’s an Arsenal specific media because of the huge number of blogs and commentators dedicated to the club 24/7. They range from the excellent and illuminating, to the polar opposite, but there are plenty of smart, well informed people writing about Arsenal if you choose to find them.
I realise I’m part of that but it’s kinda funny that people’s perceptions vary so wildly. To some people I’m far too positive about the club, others think I’m far too negative. Which is entirely fine, people’s opinions differ and that’s a fact of life, but I can’t possibly be both things.
What’s clear is that it’s easier for people to get behind the ‘crisis’ narrative than it is a more positive one. There are all kinds of discussions you can have when Arsenal, or any team for that matter, loses a game. Was it down to the manager? Lack of signings? Quality of players? Formation? Tactics? Individual or collective mistakes? The referee? The relative strength of the opposition? A mental block? What would new/different players have done? It’s endless.
When a team wins it’s a little more closed. That was a good win. These players played well. The team dug in. The opposition were a bit poo. Erm … uhm … and so on. So it’s normal that when things go wrong there’s more to talk about. It’s human nature. It’s now just broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week straight into our pockets, onto our computers and phones, and it’s interactive like never before. People can tell you what they think while sitting on the toilet. I don’t say if this is good or bad, but it is what it is, and we can’t just ignore it.
But the club have their part to play in it all too. They added fuel to the fire this summer by talking about their extraordinary ambition and desire to improve the team and spend all this lovely money we have. Isn’t that a kind of brainwashing?! Even some of the most cynical and distrustful got behind them, and wanted it to happen for all the right reasons, so when it didn’t (and hasn’t yet), you can’t really lay it on the media when there’s a backlash.
It’s all well and good for Arsene Wenger to say we’ve only lost once since the beginning of March. On the face of it he’s absolutely correct, but what happened last season is now completely and utterly irrelevant. What counts is this season and what makes people upset is that we lost our first game of the season.
The run-in to secure the top 4 last season was gritty, determined and required the players we had to really dig deep – but let’s not pretend it was much fun. Getting over the line was great but the games themselves were stomach-churning, heart in mouth, scraps that were based on defensive solidity and pure guts rather than scintillating, attacking, decisive football. The football equivalent of walking over broken glass to reach a little bit of paradise. It hurt, but it was worth it.
As I’ve said before, the reaction to the Villa game wasn’t just about the Villa game. It was everything. The realisation that the team had to improve even if our record was good in the final three months of the last campaign. The public declarations of ambition, wrapped around our newly minted status, served with a dollop of ‘we’re working hard’ let people believe reinforcements would come, but in the end we’re still a club in profit during this transfer window.
I don’t think people are brainwashed. Not at all. I think they have, because of the constant discussion and coverage of the club, a rounded view of where we are and what’s going on. Of course there are people on the extremes. Those who think everything is utterly shit and those who think the club can do no wrong. They defend their positions with belligerent anger and it’s amusing to think they have more in common with each than they’d ever like to admit. I go back to the Chris Rock quote from the other day.
But in-between that the vast majority of people can see for themselves, make up their own minds, and come to their own conclusions about the state of play at this football club. Most of us want exactly the same thing: for the club, the team, the manager (even if you have doubts), to achieve. To win things. To be successful. To compete properly and fulfill the obvious potential we have.
So, we have just over seven days now to build a squad capable of doing that. As it stands, I don’t think we’re anywhere near strong enough. I want to believe that Arsenal Football Club will do something about it. Nor for me, really, but because it’s what they should do. Because it’s what’s best for the club and for the team. Time will tell.
Yours, brainwashed, over and out.
Arseblog.
