Arsenal’s late win over Wolves solved one immediate problem but raised several others, leaving a familiar question hanging over the season as momentum stutters.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said this and you would have to concede, I think, the man had a point. This thought has been buzzing around my brain for many of the hours passed since Arsenal’s dramatic and, it has to be said, ever so slightly fortuitous win at home to Wolves on Saturday night.
As is this one. From a philosopher of a different, footballing kind,
“And the important thing is to be there (in March), to be close there and after that arrive at the end of the season with the chance that we can fight for it (the Premier League title).”
Yes, dear reader, Pep Guardiola is in my head. And it’s so, so, so unpleasant. Guys, seriously. Of course, he was talking a few weeks back, when Arsenal were looking just a little more certain that is currently the case and the gap between ourselves and Manchester City was a couple of points better than it is today.
By the way, lest you think I dropped in a Greek philosopher right up the top as some show of learnedness, the reason I started there is a simple one. I was thinking about big Gabby and how his return to the first team, which I think we’re all expecting at the end of this month, might change things and it occurred to me that, whenever he does come back, he will not be returning to the same Arsenal team his injury removed him from. The team will necessarily be a different one.
The imperious Arsenal team who were blocking out the sun for everyone else has gone – for now anyway. If you were to look at our performances since Spurs and file them away, you’d be dropping them into the drawer tabbed “Unconvincing” and this makes it easy to believe we may not see this team again.
But within Guardiola’s words, a message to his team is also a message to ours. “The important thing is to be there (in March)”. It doesn’t matter how, you just have to be there.
10pm Saturday night, despite the winner, I was angry and therefore gratified, when I watched Mikel Arteta’s post match interview, to perceive that anger reflected in the manager’s demeanour and words. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him positively ticking with his team, but there he was. I have to say that my initial reaction to our, curiously passive, performance was that it was complacent, but having listened to the ArsenalVision podcast, their more psychological explanation does chime to a certain degree.
I do also think, as passive as we looked, we definitely had more than enough chances to break the game open much earlier than we eventually managed. I’m not sure if you could see a more graphic illustration of the Martinelli conundrum than the Champions League superstar who scored an absolute worldie from the edge of the FC Brugge box on Wednesday night somehow putting a free header wide from all of 2 yards. Meanwhile, a more alert centre forward than Viktor Gyokeres may have found himself at the near post to tap a great cross in in the first half.
Gyokeres also saw Jurrien Timber beat him to yet another cross later on in the game. At this point, I don’t know whether to be mad at Gyokeres for his lack of anticipation, or at Mikel Arteta for creating a system where one of your defenders is routinely beating your centre forward to the ball.
Either way, it’s not right, is it?
In the end, Arsenal were grateful to – who else? – Bukayo Saka for digging them out of a self created hole. Yes, we were lucky that Saka’s 70th minute corner ricocheted off the far post into the Wolves net via the helpless Sam Johnstone, but let’s not pretend that both Saka and Rice have not been trying this corner out for weeks now.
One of them was bound to get it right eventually.
Similarly, following the latest 90th minute – what a nasty habit we’re developing – gut punch as Wolves found the equaliser they’d been threatening for at least five minutes, it was Saka who turned saviour.
Just three days after former Manchester United and England full back, Paul Parker was presumably offered money to venture this, “are you mad?”, opinion on Saka,
“Saka doesn’t bother defenders because they know what he’s going to do, he’s too predictable. He’s going to turn his back and try and fend you off and then either try to get a foul or pass it back.”
It was Saka who found the time and space to bother Wolves, as he had been all night, arcing one last cross into the penalty area. On his first Premier League appearance in almost a year (and wasn’t it great to see him back?), Jesus rose in a seasonally inappropriate way to deliver us from our sins, only to see Saka’s cross cannon into the net via Wolves Mosquera. Predictable Saka may be, but – despite having had seven years to do so – it seems that Premier League defences are yet to figure out a way to stop him.
I’m kind of wondering whether Parker has actually watched Saka play football, like ever. His description of Saka could have been applied to practically every Arsenal player on Saturday night, but not the man from Ealing who was up and at it all game.
After the game, Mikel acknowledged the need to refocus and restore some basic principles into his players. In fairness to them, they have been going every three days since September, with only international breaks as a pause. It’s been pretty relentless. With a week between this Wolves game and the weekend visit to Everton, hopefully we can have a bit of a reset. At least we get to do it off the back of a win.
If you’re worried about what you saw against Wolves, I don’t blame you but remember; when the players step out at Hill Dickinson stadium on Saturday night, as the river flows onwards towards March and that run in, they will be changed men.