Morning all, happy Friday to you.
Here’s Thierry Henry talking to Declan Rice on CBS Sports after the 3-1 win over Bayern Munich.
I will be honest with you, there’s something different this year. It’s not the same as before. Before, I used to say that Arsenal can win because I was a fan. Now I say it without my Arsenal hat on. The way you look as a team, as a unit, is different.
There’s something that’s happening.
And here’s Rice’s reply:
You’re right, I see an anger in our players this season. Like you said, I think you could see it in the derby on the weekend. You can see it in other games we’ve played.
We’ve got that fire in our stomach, whether we’re defending, whether we’re going for a duel, whether we’re defending a corner, whether we want to go and score. Every action, you know, we’re so hungry to do the best we can. We’ve got a group of players now, a group of leaders who are unbelievable and a set of lads who will do anything to try and get this team to win.
For the sake of clarity because of the online world we live in, both Henry and Rice made it clear there is a long way to go, and nobody is taking anything for granted with so much of the season still to play. Because what happens is discussions like these get clipped up, chopped up, and then presented in bad faith. That’s a side-effect of the Twitterfiction and Hate-Watchification of football discourse, which might be something I go into a bit more at some point because I really do feel like it’s quite malign and important to push back on.
But that noise is, for the most part external. Sometimes, as we saw with some of the reaction to the summer signing of Noni Madueke, it can bleed over into reality. In the real world though, he’s been embraced by the fans, and welcomed back this week in the stadium where he scored his first Arsenal goal. I think it’s far too simplistic to say that match-going fans are ‘real’ fans, because that’s just not the case. There are real fans everywhere. It’s more true to say there’s a small online cohort who care more about engagement and reactions than anything else, and from that warped mindset you get nothing good at all.
Anyway, my main point was about Rice talking about sensing an anger in the players. Which I think it fascinating because I don’t think it’s really manifested itself on the pitch in an obvious way. If I had to describe this team now I’d use words like focused, prepared, determined, single-minded, committed etc, before I’d use ‘angry’. Of course that’s my outside perception, Declan Rice would know far better than me if there’s something simmering among his teammates.
What’s so interesting is that if that anger is there, stemming from finishing second three times in a row and, perhaps, from the suggestion that we’ve become some kind of perpetual runners-up, they’re not showing it in a particularly obvious way. Maybe it’s anger that’s driving them to make those challenges, win those duels, battle for 90+ minutes every game, and if there is, there’s a control to it that is something a bit rare.
Anger typically leads to aggression, and while I think any opposition would say Arsenal are a difficult team to play against and there is aggression in our game, it’s about the facets of football rather than man to man, for want of a better phrase. I think we’re well versed in the so-called ‘dark arts’, but I don’t think anyone can say that we’re a dirty team. We’re not violent. And I feel like this is quite deliberate.
You hark back to the season where we were pipped to the title by Man City, and we were being accused of being too emotional. It always felt a bit strange to me, sort of aligned with the Celebration Police aspect of how we were discussed. ‘You shouldn’t enjoy anything until you’ve won something’, was the message, which fundamentally misunderstands what football is really about it. We ought to simply share manly handshakes and say ‘Good job old chap, now onto the next one’ when Reiss Nelson scores a winner against Bournemouth?
It was, and remains, a dishonest and targetted means of downplaying something that was really good. Really good is rare in this world these days, in football or otherwise, and any football fan should take what joy there is in a game or a goal or a weekend without feeling like they’re exposed to Whataboutery C*nts who exist only to diminish every little thing they can because their own lives are so miserable.
However, I can’t help but think there’s a direct correlation between this season’s Arsenal, whether it’s anger or commitment or however you want to describe it, and those accusations of being too emotional. I sort of jokingly described us as a Great White Shark on the Arsecast Extra this week after we won the North London derby, but I think there’s something to that. Ruthless, efficient, quiet beneath the surface, then we bite your f*cking legs off and leave your mother distraught.
If we know anything about Mikel Arteta, he learns from everything. The good and the bad and everything inbetween. That’s how his mind works, and I think the message to his team this season has been about giving nothing away to anyone. Not on the pitch, not in the media, not with a bit of dissent or retaliation. If there is a determination to go better than those three second place finishes, it has to channeled into the way they work, the way they train, and the way they play. That’s it.
Go out, play, hopefully win, good job. NEXT. Even after beating Bayern, something of a bete noire for him as a player and a manager, he said:
Today is another massive victory, but that’s it. Now we go home, have a nice dinner and tomorrow morning we start to prepare for Stamford Bridge.
Declan Rice said the day after the derby, Arteta was preparing them for Bayern, showing them how they were going to play. There’s no room or time for anything other than the work for these players and the manager and his staff. Which is, I guess, how it should be until the job is, hopefully done. And I don’t think we find ourselves where we are right now without that mindset.
For fans though, it should be a little different. We should live this as it’s happening and recognise it for how good it is. The journey is important. Henry went on to say to Rice:
The thing of embracing the fact that you’re good is also vital. You understand what I’m saying? When you arrive somewhere, it’s also vital.
For me, he’s talking about recognising your quality as a team, because that is important. You often heard about how teams playing the Invincibles-era Arsenal knew they were beaten in the tunnel. It’s a bit of a cliche, but it’s also true, because of the quality they had, but also that aura. In Henry’s mind, the way for this team to go on and win the title is to feel that way. Arteta will not allow it to become arrogance, but there’s a middle-ground there that can certainly be a positive.
I think it’s also true for us as supporters though. We should embrace the fact we’re good. We might bear the scars of previous seasons, and I know I certainly do, but it shouldn’t prevent us from enjoying what’s happening on the pitch right now. Winning a big trophy this season would probably end up being a heady cocktail of 50-50 joy and relief, but we need to ensure that this trip we’re on is part of that joy too.
Right, I’ll leave it there, quite a long one this morning! There’s an Arsecast below if you haven’t had a chance to listen already, and don’t forget we’ll have a preview podcast on Patreon, looking ahead to our game against Chelsea on Sunday. For some extra reading, Tim’s column this week is about Mikel Merino.
Also, the Goodly Morning mugs are on sale here, with all proceeds going to charity, so if you’re really stuck for a Christmas present, give it a go!
Till tomorrow.
