A lot has been said of the streaks that Arsenal are on right now. Since their defeat to Spurs in March they have played 18 competitive games. In those games they have 15 wins, 2 draws and a loss. Also, 10 of those games have been on the road. Not one of them has been lost. In fact, not one of them has even been drawn. The 10 straight road wins are a club record for Arsenal. They have also only conceded 11 goals in this frame of games, and 6 of those have been from the run of play. Quite the run, indeed.
I was told by a friend of mine, whose opinion I respect greatly (and also a Chelsea fan) that Arsenal needs to prove that they can do this while, not only fighting on more than one front, but also still having meaningful games. While most of the run last year was done in the PL, Arsenal did beat the champions of Europe on their own ground. One of, I believe, 3 losses for Bayern in the whole of last season. And, their only loss over their last 30 games of the season. And while it may not seem meaningful to people who are not fans of the Arsenal, clearly the fourth spot, and a spot above Spurs, means quite a bit to not only the Arsenal fans, but also to the players. The way they celebrated after the win at Newcastle shows that they were indeed playing for something in that run.
Arsenal has also already played 3 Champions League games already this year. Two of those were qualifiers, which happen to be games worth in excess of 10 million pounds. Still think that without winning those, no deal for Ozil would have happened. So, for me, there has been things riding on the games for Arsenal during this run. But, beyond that I think there are some important factors that we should talk about involving how this run has happened.
Arsenal have clearly changed. And not only because of the money that they threw out to get on of the most creative players in the game today. But because they only let the players go this summer that they wanted to go. The decision was all Arsenal’s on who left. No player tried to force their way out, bar the “world’s greatest striker”. This team wants to be together. They enjoy playing together and have developed a keen understanding with each other. It was said many times by Arsenal fans this summer that the squad is a good one, and just needed quality sprinkled in. And I think that is quite true, and Arsenal is proving it at this point.
Over the past few years Arsenal has tended to make quite a good run over the last few months of the season. While you could say that it is because they are only in one, maybe two, competitions, it could also be because they have finally had the chance to become a team. Over the three summers before this one, Arsenal had lost at least one player that they did not want to at the end of the season before. And they didn’t just lose anyone, they lost very important players to the team. It takes awhile for the team to settle in, and find a new talisman after such talented ones leave. Two years ago RVP stepped up, and the team relied on him. Last year it was more of a team effort, but Cazorla was on a different level still.
This year, they found their ways to win at the end of the season last year and they still know how to do it. There is no get to know you period. There is no time where the squad is looking around for answers to questions they don’t even know. In the run to finish off last season the team won with great defensive performances, like against QPR when Walcott scored a minute in and we didn’t net again. Arsenal won with brilliant counter attacking performances like against West Ham, when Poldi ran the show. The team found out that they could win in different ways, and there wasn’t anything to relearn coming into this season.
My point in all of this is to say, I don’t think enough people are talking about the fact that Arsene kept his team together. And maybe that is why they are on the run that they are on. Arsenal knows each other. Instead of looking to Ozil to be the solution, they are asking him to be a part of a complex equation. Maybe Arsenal doesn’t have the depth to compete in four competitions this season. And maybe they won’t win a trophy again. But Arsenal is much closer now than they have been since about 2007, and things just look brighter from here.
Off My Chest 