BEST FOOTBALL EVER – HOW WE GOT THERE (LONG READ)

by .

Have you been into the rival fan GCs? Lathering your artisnal smug salt into the gaping wounds of literally anyone who criticised our great club over the past 3 seasons?

Good job.

As a fan base, I hope people think we’re unbearable now, we deserve to be as annoying as Liverpool fans after a Champions League win, and as triumphant as Spurs fans were after that Audi Cup win. We’re back and it’s hard to know where to look!

I told a story on the latest podcast about going to The Rocket after the game. They had a United vs Arsenal classic on the big screen. It was circa 1997-98. I was there, watching the football back then, mesmerised by the speed, power and technical WOWness of it all. But when I watched it the other night, it felt very basic compared to the era of football we’re watching now.

So what am I about to say?

The football Arsenal are playing now is the greatest we’ve ever seen in our history. The speed with which we move the ball is outrageous, the intensity is truly shocking to witness, and the intelligence from every player has never been matched. It’s 11 players contributing to a work of art every week.

… and it’s only just begun. We’ll add new players with new superpowers and it’ll get better and better. We are at the cutting edge of the game. The football is so good, it has chairmen all over the world pointing to how we’re doing this, demanding they get some of it.

Imagine that, Arsenal, without oil money, setting the global standard for how the game should be played.

Without meaning to be self-serving to my own narrative, I have always said that you don’t have to be the richest to be the best, you have to be the smartest. Arsene Wenger missed this when he simply gave up competing when Chelsea and City came onto the scene. It’s easy cloud cover to say money cannot be bested. Well, here we are, in a richer era, proving that you can only have 11 players on the pitch at any one time, and there is more than one way to skin a cat.

The most important shift to the way Arsenal operated is they finally admitted who they were as a club, what their superpowers were, and they leaned in hard to make them work for us.

Namely:

Our superpower is our name. We’re the biggest club in London. Of that, there was no doubt.

We had to admit buying a title was impossible against beastly competitors, but there was an opening we could take advantage of…

Big clubs don’t like to invest in young players, they prefer to buy readymades. If they do sign them, they don’t often get the minutes.

If we could hire in a bright young coach, give him the best young players in the world, maybe we could get to the top in 3 seasons if we could keep them all together.

Mikel Arteta was ultimately the catalyst for the movement towards where we are now, but you really do have to give Edu a lot of credit for seeing the vision, and making a bold decision. Remember, this was all on him, he had Jorge Mendes in his ear with all sorts of bad ideas, and he passed up, and took a risk people called negligent.

Then you have the second major shift at Arsenal, the shift in age profile. Arteta realised the hard way that he was not going to be able to cobble together a group of older players to do the work he wanted to the level he needed. Willian was his ground zero. His decision. His error. His biggest player mistake.

But he rectified it and learned a few things. Firstly, older players did not want to listen to his ideas in general. Players in their thirties, at the level we were at, just want to have a good time on the IG feed. They don’t want to learn new ideas and they don’t want to suffer for the system.

Young players? Different gravy. Emile Smith Rowe might have been the catalyst for the shift. He was agitating for a move in December so he could get minutes. Mikel finally relented, put him in against Chelsea, and the rest is history. The best young players want to learn, be part of a system, and they want to secure a glittering career. They aren’t thinking about coaching badges or penthouses in Miami.

We followed ESRs debut with a loan move for a young hungry Norwegian who came in a showed the path forward.

That summer, instead of spending £150m on 2 superstars @ 28 years old, we spent it on 6 players, all under the age of 24, with some real head-turning names.

That window was ridiculed. Troll accounts literally savaged the club. Newspapers laughed about the difference in quality of Varane to Benny Blanco. It really was eye-opening how lacking in vision people were at the time.

But that set the wheels in motion to where we are now.

What did we learn? Young players with 2-3 seasons of experience and the requisite hunger really can move to a high level quickly with a generational coach guiding them.

Last season, we missed out on top 4 with a really high points total. 2 extra points could have taken us to the promised land.

We can all point to Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney, and Tomiyasu as the reason we crashed. There’s merit there. But what was the real reason? That it took Arteta until April to realise the best striker at the club was Eddie Nketiah. If he’d started playing in January, we’d have picked up the extra two points, of that, there is no doubt.

Young players again proving that the recipe for success is investing in hunger.

The ground zero moment with regards to performances was the Newcastle game. The issue? Bravery. Part experience, part that we lacked true winners to guide in moments of despair.

So what did we do in the summer? For a reasonable sum of £70m, we invested in two players that had won 4 Premier League titles. The best bit of business of the window? Clearly.

Missing out on top 4, in hindsight, doesn’t look like the worst moment for us. Big teams have to face up to bad moments, they can act as a driving force, it can spark a shift in mentality. Look at how we’ve played this season. Has there been a moment when you’ve doubted our application? I haven’t seen it. We learned something from that Newcastle game and I think there’s an element of that horrible night under the lights that has us driving towards objectives we didn’t think were possible in the summer.

Clearly, plenty of other things have gone on, but what I’m trying to say is the path to the top isn’t always linear, bad moments inspire good moments, lessons failed can be lessons learned at a later day, and when you’re basking in the glory of the moment right now… just remember, things will get tough again. The key is not to catastrophize, because bad things happen to every team and we have been absolutely privileged this season to have dealt with very few of them.

There is a whole swathe of media that does not like that Mikel Arteta snuck up on them. They have their ‘this was all a mirage’ articles ready to go. They cannot wait to point to our slump being linked to behavior on the touchline. They are desperate to roll out the ‘you can’t win it with kids’ line. When the time comes, these people that cannot see what is going on at Arsenal, the folk that call this a Leicester-like run, will unleash all their powers of doubt onto the base.

Stay calm, the people that don’t understand strategy still don’t, the people that support other teams out in the open don’t like looking silly, you just have to remember their neutral observations will be caked in partisan beliefs, and they’ll be iced in the desperation not to look generationally silly. No one wants to be Alan Hansen right now, but there are a few heading that way, and they know it.

So enjoy the moment, know where it came from, and be calm when the storm comes.

P.S. Welcome Jakub Kiwior! Would imagine he has the same profile Lisandro Martinez has, but he’s way taller. Great move for us for £40m less. Arsenal moving rapidly in the window on great scouting an analysis.

Ok, now get into our latest podcast!

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Emiratesstroller

Pierre

Nketiah on current form should retain his place in starting X1. The issue then is where will Jesus
play when he returns.

Jesus can of course play in any position in attack. He will need some game time in March, but I doubt that he will start until he is “match fit”. Maybe he will start in Europa Cup when that
competition resumes.

In the final two months of season he will of course be competing for a starting place.

Mr Serge

Bloody hell sid making sense this morning all true, the board decided to go youth and wenger would not work with a DOF hence being left behind other teams as Arsene could not let go

Wicked Willy

Stroller Am in complete agreement. We’re filling in the gaps with what appear to be quality backups, but I still think we should buy three world class, ready made talents, and i genuinely believe we will have the finances to do that. Whether we can get the creme de la creme is another story. But if we were able to attract Khvicha and Bellingham for example (assuming Tets considers they have the right blend of attributes for our system and our culture), then we are suddenly one of the favourites for the Champions League. I still feel that’s where our… Read more »

TheBlaster

I disagree with much of the to and fro about Wenger above. He was a revolutionary coach in this country in terms of changing the way we played, all the diet and fitness stuff, making everything more professional, but I have to argue that the aggression and winning mentality came from the players themselves, specifically Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira. Arsene left them free to express themselves and the guys were natural born winners. I always at the time contrasted it with Fergies United where I always felt the winning culture came from him and was drilled into everyone. While Arteta… Read more »

Northbanker

Pierre – yes i recall them around that time. In fairness to them, there was a drift that was starting to show. Every season it seemed there was at least one team stepping up to totally humilate us – Liverpool, Man U – where we would concedde anything from 4 to 8 goals. Wenger’s lack of interest in rebuilding his defence and apparent total disdain for top goalkeepers had become a problem. He kept his disciples due to his past track record. I personaly foud myself torn out of loyalty to a man who fundeanemtally changed Arsenal in his first… Read more »

dSidstathopoulos

Odegaard is finding consistency,
@Raulishuss is struggling with consistency, some days he ups his game and makes me proud, some days its meh

dSidstathopoulos

Lokongas pass completion% is very good (struggling with long passing but that can be learnt) tackle completion % also very good and dribble succuss % very good, good in arial duels.
We should let Elneny go before him.

Pierre

The blaster “While Arteta is tactically decades ahead of those days, drilling a winning culture into the team is very like Ferguson , and I think it’s why former Fergie players like Roy Keane and Rio are heaping praise because they recognise that mentality to seek to win until the final whistle.” You are not wrong, probably 18 months ago my son likened Arteta to Ferguson, i thought he was bonkers at the time, but Arteta is ruthless like ferguson and i dont think he will settle for 2nd best, which is a good thing . Will just point out… Read more »

Useroz

Elnney is still linked to a Turkish club . Like a Mo upgrade naturally however unless that’s happening in the Jan TW, prefer to keep MO for depth.

Nelson, don’t think he’d make our grade. Could be wrong but he has not the intensity, relentless and technical skills that are now common themes of our forwards. Suspect he’d not be renewed t when contract lapses in the summer.

Pierre

Sid “Lokongas pass completion% is very good (struggling with long passing but that can be learnt) tackle completion % also very good and dribble succuss % very good, good in arial duels.” I rate lokonga, but I’m not sure Arteta trusts him and that’s why I think he will probably leave. The only thing that may save him is if Partey is injured and Lokonga comes in for a decent period and plays a blinder, similar to Eddie who was written off by the majority on here, though i do have my doubts that Arteta will use lokonga if Partey… Read more »

Pierre

Northbanker
“Pierre – yes i recall them around that time.(2008) In fairness to them(WOBS), there was a drift that was starting to show. ”

2008 /9 season

Champions league semi final
FA cup semi final
4th in the league

Wanting a manager out after that season reeks of entitlement.

Ankle-biter

Little mozartJanuary 24, 2023 18:49:35
Wenger didn’t couch his players….realy?? So the young players like Fab just became world class players under Wenger without him couching them?!!

🤦

raptora

Pierre: ” though i do have my doubts that Arteta will use lokonga if Partey is injured.” Probably because he already did that last season and it cost us the top 4 spot. While when Eddie was given a chance, he did quite good. This season Lokonga played all 6 games in EL, didn’t impress. He started 2 PL games, we won vs Villa at home 2-1 and lost to Manure away 3-1 when Lokonga was involved in a couple of their goals being completely out of position. Eddie got his chance to start this season again, and it’s visible… Read more »

China1

Pierre ‘ China, you are the epitome of an entitled fan.’ Define entitled Pierre. If you mean I consider myself entitled to have the club try its level best to win. Yes. I will wear that one proudly like any self respecting fan who doesn’t enjoy watching their club slowly run itself into the ground for no good reason If by entitled you mean I expect us to actually win every trophy each season, nope you’d never find me expecting or asking for that. It’s the TRYING, the ATTITUDE, the HARDWORK, that was all largely absent in wengers final years… Read more »

G

‘ How is it we, the supporters, can see the frailties, but Wenger couldn’t.”‘’

Generally supporters can’t see shit, that’s why they’re supporters.. if you want proof look at the comments during a game

Chris

Not every signing works out, for many reasons. It’s hard to say what it is with Lokonga, because he isn’t as bad as some are saying, but we have yet to see any standout performances either. And if any questions linger over a supposed attitude problem, perhaps he isn’t expressing his frustration at not making the big breakthrough in the correct manner. I’d be inclined to hang on to him at the same time as looking for another midfielder. We will need big squad depth for next season in the CL and challenging on all other fronts, and he may… Read more »

dSidstathopoulos

1st season in the EPL, 23yrs playing in midfield, foreign language, next to Xhaka.
Those are tough job environment.

dSidstathopoulos

It also highly likely Tierney was our LB not Zinchesko most times Lokonga has game time.

Chris

The age of social media also gave fuel to Wenger protests. All too easy to go on Twitter, Facebook etc and start spreading stuff, and for people to get easily sucked in. I remember we had a very poor run in late 1998, I was at the Wimbledon game at Selhurst Park where we lost 1-0 in what one might describe as an indifferent performance. And then again at Wembley we lost to Lens a few days later to exit the CL. I distinctly remember a shitload of griping back then, months after becoming champions. If Twitter had existed then,… Read more »

FB

G

You are so right. There is such a gulf on this site between general comments and those during a game.

There are many very knowledgable Arsenal fans on here, as well as insightful about the game.

But the chasm between the tone of comments while on a winning streak or through darker times and during the games…oh dear, and god forbid we concede or go a goal behind.

Hats off to Pedro for a great blog, and to the good guys for their common sense and civility.

englandsbest

Wenger was DD’s man. With DD making final decisions on transfers, their partnership worked fine. Without DD, Wenger went from good to mediocre to bad. Giving him absolute power on football matters by BoD (ie Stan) led to terminal decline.

Two errors that would never have happened if DD was around: selling RvP to Man U and and bidding £40 mill plus £1 for Suarez. Nor would DD have allowed Wenger ego transfer of Ozil.

Moray

I’m sorry, Pedro, I’m not accepting that we play better football now than under the Invincibles. Technically, maybe, as we are very disciplined in both attack and defence and we can control a game like never before, but to watch Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Freddy, Vieira etc counterattack at pace was something out of this world.

All this considered, I feel privileged to have witnessed both generations, and maybe won’t take things so for granted this time…I may not be alive to see the next one.

Trilbilly

Lokonga needs a loan for the remainder of the season to build his confidence, he’s too much a liability. I personally think he’ll be sold in the summer, he’ll be 24 soon after and isn’t really where he needs to be for a such a key position. Shame, he has the attributes of a strong player but there’s something missing, maybe the personality/character/confidence to own the midfield.

dSidstathopoulos

Edu is proving to be as good as Dein

raptora

Sid,
what about 2nd season in the EPL, not even one substitute appearance in 11 games?

Freddie Ljungberg

“Wenger didn’t couch his players….realy?? So the young players like Fab just became world class players under Wenger without him couching them?!!

Wenger sew Fabregas into a couch Frank Reynolds style and he came out, naked, as a fully formed world class footballer

Isn’t that how it’s always done?

Pierre

Raptora “Probably because he already did that last season and it cost us the top 4 spot.” Losing to Tottenham and Newcastle cost us top last season and Lokonga played zero minutes in those games, so it’s wrong to point the finger at Lokonga in that respect.. As for blaming lokonga for our defeat to United, it is well recognised that we dominated the game for 3 quarters of the game and fell to pieces in the last quarter. Lokonga played the first 74 mins and yet you blame him for the goals in a match we dominated at old… Read more »

Pierre

*top 4

raptora

Pierre: “Losing to Tottenham and Newcastle cost us top last season and Lokonga played zero minutes in those games, so it’s wrong to point the finger at Lokonga in that respect..” We were in prime position for top 4 at that point because we had won four in a row vs Chelsea, Manure, West Ham and Leeds, with Elneny who Arteta only used because with Lokonga we lost vs 14th placed Brighton (H) and 15th placed Southampton (A). Lokonga played a total of 1 min in the four wins we registered vs real quality teams, and 180 mins in the… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

The debate about whether the current team is better or more successful than the Invincibles will come at the end of the season if we win the title. The Invincibles had one world class player in Thierry Henry who was also a match winner. That team had also a large number of experienced players at tail end of their careers at Arsenal. Finishing a season unbeaten is “unique” in the modern era, which has not been managed by Man Utd or Man City. However, as I posted yesterday they drew 12 games in that season including against some weak teams… Read more »

Pierre

Raptora “Eddie got his chance to start this season again, and it’s visible he’s got it. When one player delivers, and the other doesn’t, it’s hard to make a case in support of Lokonga.” I’ve no doubt you was one of those casting aspersions on Eddie earlier in the season the way you are casting aspersions on lokonga now… Jesus is irreplaceable they said …..and believe or not we look a better team without him , which i will add is not just down to Eddie , it has as much to do with the return from injury of Zinchenko… Read more »

raptora

Real quality teams – not Leeds obviously but Chavs, Manure and West Ham at the time – all 3 teams part of top 7.

Pierre

Raptora
Stop rewriting history , we were 5 points clear of tottenham with 3 games to play , we blew top 4 without lokonga in the side..

raptora

Pierre: “you blame him for the goals in a match we dominated at old trafford whilst he was on the pitch”

I blame him for being out of position for their first 2 goals. For their first he was our most advanced player on the pitch pressing from the front? They eliminated him with one pass then our midfield was open like a crater. For their second, he literally had his feet on the touch line when Manure again, broke from the middle and again there was no DM there.

Wicked Willy

Wenger left us pretty much where he found us, a little bit behind the chasing pack. In the middle of that, he gave us twenty years of being one of the top ten teams in the world, and at times, we were arguably the best. And he did it whilst remaining a consummate gentleman, and managed it on an almost shoestring budget. We can relitigate the mistakes and the flaws all we want. We can strongly conjecture that he should have left sooner. But why o why do we need do we have to keep reliving the past like this?… Read more »

Pierre

Stroller
If Arsenal win the league this season , it is comparable to any of Wenger’s title successes in my opinion.

raptora

Pierre: “So if Partey is injured , who’s to say that lokonga can’t sit at the base of our midfield and hold the fort and maybe add something extra like Eddie has done in the past few weeks.”

Probably Arteta will be against that seeing Lokonga has registered a total of 0 mins in the last 11 PL games.

Pierre

Raptora
We were playing a 4-2-3-1 ….xhaka was also playing centre mid.
Will repeat , we were dominating the game/midfield with Lokonga on the pitch

raptora

Pierre,
If you think losing to Spuds and Newcastle, both Away games btw, without Lokonga in the team, is worse than losing to 14th and 15th placed Brighton and Southampton with Lokonga in the team, then yeah, we blew it without Lokonga in the team.

raptora

Pierre,
Yes, we were dominating the game, then a player left his zone open and since then hasn’t started a PL game. Glad we’re clear now.

raptora

29 mins in our last 14 PL games. He was supposed to make Xhaka’s position his, at least. Nope.

raptora

James Olley 49m
Exclusive: Fulham are set to complete the signing of Arsenal defender Cedric Soares on a six-month loan. No option or obligation to buy. Fulham will cover wages, which total close to £100k-a-week. Silva views Cedric as a key signing.

raptora

New post ofc.

Pierre

Raptora
“Probably Arteta will be against that seeing Lokonga has registered a total of 0 mins in the last 11 PL games.”

Eddie had zero starts in 14 premier league games, so similar circumstances.

I’ve said lokonga should go many times so no i don’t expect Arteta to use him ….but that doesn’t make him a bad player or he should be blamed Arsenal not making top 4 last season.

Zacharse

“And here we are, in the present, with an unbelievably exciting team that is built on the foundations he created, and overseen by the players he brought in and nurtured. ”

HEAR HEAR. VERY well put sir. Victory through harmony indeed

Zacharse

The NLD at the end of last season…the only time ive seen a player dismissed as strangely as Holding was… RVP at camp nou – or maybe on the samne level was the confusion between gibbs and AOC. sure there are plenty more examples – oh yeah how could i forget michael oliver giving martinelli two yellows in 2 seconds… wonder if any of the footie encyclopediasts on here can name 3 or 4 equally incompetent dismissals for utd, pool or chelska etc. i tend to doubt it. for all the ‘mind your biz’ bullshit about the PGMOL, they wear… Read more »