In May 2023, I wrote a blog called ‘Thank You For The Good Times’ about the burgeoning atmosphere I have experienced in the Emirates over the past two years. Arsenal were an outstanding young team with a brilliant young manager riding the crest of the wave. Despite missing their spark in the 2022-23 season, supporters feel completely united behind this exciting, emerging team.
One of the central teachings of Buddhism concerns the impermanence of life itself and higher emotional states. Human beings have an inherent balance which means that happiness, pain and sadness all eventually disappear (if not disappear completely) and we regain a mental balance that removes us from those states. There is a famous Italian phrase that sums this up. ‘Tutto Passa’ or ‘Everything passes.’
In the aforementioned May 2023 column, I wrote: ‘Next season will be different at Arsenal.’ As expectations change, the atmosphere changes slightly, and the emotions that create it also change. All of this is natural, there is nothing wrong with it, it is just an evolution of the human condition.’
I think attempts to diagnose the decline in atmosphere at home games this season and artificial solutions such as shutting out fans in the upper tier (which are, after all, against Premier League rules) have been misguided. I think there are concerns about Arsenal’s style of play. I think fans are simpler than that (I know I am). The playing style is the same as at the end of last season.
The conclusion is that our favorite ‘style of play’ is winning. The ‘style of play’ we don’t like is draws and losses. I think it’s more important to consider whether your style will help your team achieve better results. But I don’t believe there is an aesthetic element to it as far as atmosphere is concerned. sorry. Because we have changed, our moods have changed, and we have moved into different emotional states, partly due to expectations and partly due to pressure and frustration.
The pressure of having to compete with a team like Manchester City when they’ve had the second-best season statistically in their entire history and still aren’t good enough is frankly frustrating. It makes us sticky, and when we are sticky we are more prone to frustration and explosions. Of course, that frustration has been amplified by the fact that Manchester City have collapsed this season and Arsenal will probably not be able to take advantage.
Liverpool are enjoying a typically brilliant season for City, and the level of competition has not changed this season, only the name of the competition has. Objectively speaking, given their years of toil with Manchester City’s machine, Liverpool probably deserve to take this opportunity to benefit from City’s collapse, given everything City has taken away from them over the past eight years.
But that’s not our concern. Our frustration was amplified by injuries to key players and a feeling that the referees weren’t smart enough to do anything other than the narrative. And the narrative swirling around Arsenal is not a good or uplifting one. Manchester City lost Rodri to a serious injury and is currently 6th in the Premier League and 22nd in the Champions League.
Rhodri’s absence appears to be a widely accepted factor in their surprising deaths. But with Arsenal yet to put a big trophy on their sideboard, serious injuries to their best players don’t seem to factor into the discussion at all. The negative atmosphere also absolutely contributes to the way Arsenal operate. Especially when it comes to perceptions of time wasting, Premier League referees seem very easily swayed and willing to rule by the headlines.
On Sunday, Altay Bayndir had fun with every goal kick without raising a single eyebrow from the referee. On Wednesday, Simon Hooper was waving a rude finger at David Raya before the ball had even been touched. He also cautioned Myles Lewis Skelly, who was pushed off the pitch. It’s especially fucking annoying and amplifies the feeling of injustice. It also feeds into the fact that we all feel that Arsenal are on the verge of rising to an absolutely elite level and putting a glorious trophy on the cupboard.
It was natural that the atmosphere became more heightened, and it was fully expected. My column, written in May 2023, was not in the form of a prophecy, just a completely predictable observation of the human experience. But I think we need to take a step back and get some perspective. City have lost one of their key cogs and are completely torpedoed.
When Mo Salah returned from AFCON last season with a tight hammy, Liverpool imploded mid-match. It sucks when your best players get injured, and there’s very little you can do to avoid it. Mo Salah has directly contributed to more than a third of Liverpool’s league goals this season. Should his hamstring suffer the same fate as Bukayo Saka’s, Liverpool will have no replacement for him. That’s impossible.
All things considered, Arsenal are dealing with their injury problems much better than Manchester City, and are currently better off than Liverpool (who have finished third and fifth twice since 2018). Of course, this does not invalidate all criticism of Arsenal and Mikel Arteta. However, this does not mean that the squad was perfect even before the injury, especially in attack.
That doesn’t mean the approach or ‘style’ is entirely above reproach. All of this involves analysis, discussion, and criticism. This goes for every other team that has ever existed. The Invincibles had no backup right-back. When Lauren was injured, Kolo Toure slipped into right-back and Cygan joined the team. Fortunately, Lauren was pretty strong at that stage of her career. There is no perfect squad and no perfect style.
If Thierry Henry had broken his hamstring in December 2003, not only would Arsenal not have been unbeaten, they would not have won the league at all. Every single team throughout history has uniquely relied on its best attackers. Ultimately, if we take a step back, Arsenal are a really good team that will position themselves really well for the next few years. There is work to be done, but it doesn’t need to happen in its entirety right now.
I’ve recently found it really difficult to hook up with vitriol online. Sometimes you have to squint and see how people, especially young men, are being radicalized on the Internet in a variety of serious ways. It’s so easy to sit with other people who are spiraling and foaming and foaming and spiraling and foaming and foaming. The more angry you become, the more you want answers and the people who made you feel punished.
Such angry spaces are usually filled with charlatans and populists who fan the flames to pursue their own interests. I think it’s very difficult to understand the intensity from Arsenal’s perspective. I try not to judge too much about how people express their frustration, but honestly I find it surprising and unrecognizable.
Arsenal are not perfect. Despite the criticism and scrutiny, Arsenal remain a really good team with a good core of players at good ages. Of course, we cannot take the future for granted. This is why Wednesday nights feel so important. The goal is to eliminate bad air and lower the volume, even temporarily.
I’ll leave the result to my Arsenal Vision podcast colleague Clive Palmer, who said on the NLD Instant Reaction podcast: ‘It felt like the silent majority got their team back tonight.’ Sometimes pensiveness can lead to silence, but Arsenal still have a team worth shouting about.
