I’m still basking a bit after the derby win. Not just because we won and they lost, but because this game ticked a lot of boxes for me. Things I love to see from my team.
The word togetherness can often come across as a bit cliched or hackneyed, because it’s something almost every manager talks about. It’s something they all strive for, something they all want, but making it happen isn’t as easy as ‘Come on lads!’. It takes time and effort. You have to make tough decisions along the way. Not everyone will be ‘on the boat’, as Mikel Arteta said, and while it sounds harsh, those guys have to walk the metaphorical plank.
In yesterday’s blog I talked about how the three points were earned on the back of our defensive strength, and while our back four is obviously very impressive, it starts at the front. I love defending. I love a team that can really do it. I love players who are obsessed with denying the opposition anything. Obviously that applies most to goals, but when you can celebrate preventing a cross coming into a dangerous area, you know you’ve got the right people on board.
Sure, you’re thinking of Gabriel right now. Just the 8 clearances from him on Sunday. Followed by Kai Havertz with 5, and Thomas Partey with 4. Gabriel Martinelli and Partey with 3 tackles each, more than three of the back four. Players like Jorginho and Jurrien Timber who have had fitness issues, something Arteta spoke about afterwards:
Jorginho … when he’s not playing, he’s training like an animal at his age, after winning everything. So when you ask him to play 90 minutes, like he hasn’t played probably for the last five months, he’s able, even cramping everywhere, managed to do it. The same with Jurrien, he’s been a year out, he hasn’t played 90 minutes at all, and he was struggling today, but he managed to do it for the team.
To win a big game away from home without key players like Rice, Odegaard, plus Merino, Calafiori and Zinchenko, you can’t carry passengers. Even if your teammate makes a mistake, you’re there to bail him out. I saw that on Sunday. Possibly too many times to be entirely comfortable about certain things, but football is a weird, mad game that requires you to adapt to the circumstances which may well vary significantly from the plan. To do that successfully and win games, you need that unity of purpose and I think that was evident in the performance.
The other thing I really loved was when the afters took place between Jurrien Timber and Guglielmo Vicario, the reaction from the Arsenal players was instant. Bukayo Saka was straight over to push the Spurs keeper away, and within in seconds all 10 outfield players were there. Nobody did anything stupid, nobody got carried away, but everyone was there to protect and back up their mate.
I’ve seen too many Arsenal teams down the years who, in moments like this, were just too passive. I can remember incidents when a single Arsenal player was surrounded by the opposition with nobody anywhere near him. That’s not the way it should be, because there is a through-line between how you behave when things like this happen, and your commitment to the game and the team itself.
If you’re not willing to back up your mate when it kicks off a bit, you’re probably not willing to go chasing back to rescue the ball if he gives it away high up the pitch. There was a great example of this in the second half when Leandro Trossard lost it just outside their box, just look at how Gabriel Martinelli reacts.
Image 1– Trossard loses it, Spurs launch a counter. Martinelli circled.
Image 2 – Martinelli makes a challenge on Dejan Kulusevski just inside the centre circle. He falls over in the process, but he doesn’t just lie there thinking his work is done.
Image 3 – Martinelli gets up again, races into the box, and makes a block in the box to stop Wilson Odobert having a sight of goal.
It’s the 72nd minute, and Martinelli has done all that inside 14 seconds, sprinting from one end to the other. I fully understand the discussions about his end product and lack of goals at the moment, but we should also cherish this side of his game. That is the perfect example of someone giving everything for the team. Yes, I wanted him to score that first half chance, but don’t overlook the importance of this stuff too – especially on a day like Sunday when, perhaps, that might be the difference between three points or one (or none).
We had scored by then obviously, and we had something to protect, but if you want to see the manifestation of what Arteta has cultivated with this team, there it is. There are so many things about football that can be a team’s undoing, and players who don’t put in those hard yards are, more often than not, the reason you don’t win games or don’t achieve what you want.
It sounds really basic. You’re just asking them to be switched on, to concentrate, be disciplined and do the job you’ve asked them to do, but that’s easier said than done. How many times have you seen it? A player who is tired and/or can’t be arsed, and at this level that’s all it takes for the opposition to exploit some space and bang. You’re done.
For me, it all comes back to this culture of togetherness the manager has fostered. The ‘foggin estandards’, if you like, but it’s true. It’s not just about the stuff that makes headlines. A Martinelli goal in the North London derby gets him on the back pages; chasing the full length of the pitch to stop an opposition counter-attack, not so much, but moments like that can be just as decisive (depending on scoreline, game-state etc), and I love to see them.
More please. Thank you.
