Our one AISA rule is we don’t crticise individuals. We support them, even when things aren’t looking good.
That feels harder today than it has done for some time. The only plus side of the performance against Fulham is that we don’t need to single out any one player. None of them did themselves any credit. Even those who have been virtually flawless all season, icons to admire for their talent and consistency, were caught napping and misplacing passes. What’s worrying is why.
From behind the sofa (I’ve not wanted not wanting to be watching a match since the days of bleak, heavy Anfield defeats – though i should say I never have, even on that darkest of all days at Old Trafford) it looked like no players were enjoying themselves. It’s not that it looked like they weren’t running, working, trying, just it seemed like it was hard, repetitive and – dare I say it – boring. Perhaps after months of constantly being kicked, shoved, fouled and running themselves ragged, a New Year’s Eve in the cold and wet was a match too far.
The bad news is that, in the decades I’ve been watching Arsenal, I’ve seen many players who were stroking passes and slamming in goals with ease suddenly find the same moves ending up a few inches off target. And it doesn’t end quickly. Instead of instinct, they either become introspective and hide or they try too hard – with the same effect – poor performances and no goals. Some of my distant memorizes are of teams that completely forgot how to score. The harder they tried the less effective they became. ‘We’re gonna score in a minute’ was a song often heard when the team was on he attack and getting closer when things were going well (why don’t we hear that now?) but it became, ‘Couldn’t score in a brothel’ as chance after chance went begging. Back in the gloomy days of the sixties, talented players come to mind, like Joe Baker, George Eastham, Bobby Gould, John Radford, Charlie George and George Graham, who would go ages without scoring, often being dropped to the reserves to recover their touch and confidence. And if you’ve not been spoilt by a diet of goals from the Wenger era, you’ll probably remember similar phases in different years with different players. What’s worrying is that – to misquote Wenger himself – confidence takes ages to build and seconds to be erased. And unlike those past eras, there are no reserve matches or easy fixtures to rediscover the freedom and fluency players had before and have lost.
So who or what’s going to perk them up, get them going again? I may be wrong but I do recall reading last season that three of the players who kept morale up in the dressing room when things weren’t going well were Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and Aaron Ramsdale. Who’s there to give them all a lift today?
But maybe it’s not just the players who aren’t enjoying themselves so much. Are we, the crowd, feeling numb from too much football or from just wanting three points to keep ahead of City and co? Is game after game after game, squeezed in between drinks parties and gluttony, turning up, expecting to be entertained and see a victory – needing a victory – sucking some of the joy out of us? And is that translating on to the pitch? You read what Klopp said about Anfield. And doesn’t our captain often try to whip us up when they are struggling on the pitch? But too jittery to give him what’s needed.
One thing is certain. We’re not going to make the same mistake as last year. Last year we were top in January and being tipped to win the title. We know what happened at the end. This year, we’re not top. Perhaps the need to catch up rather than protecting a lead (and the nervousness and anxiety that creates, especially in the crowd) will create a different – and successful – dynamic in the weeks to come, and take us back where we want to be.
We can always hope!
Richard Smith January 1 2024