Somewhere between “things I have control over” and “things I don’t have control over” is a liminal zone. A place between the two states where neither truly exists and you, the actor, are caught between your free choice and social pressure. I know that yesterday in my little list I said that I had control over whether I got to watch Arsenal but it turns out that that was one of those liminal zones.
I was at work, but we have this incredibly large screen TV which I use at work all the time to show football matches. So, naturally I put on the Arsenal. Now, clearly, someone could have told me that they hate Arsenal and could have complained to my boss and made me turn it off. But I would still have some control in a sense – I could defy orders, I could leave work under the pretense I was sick, or any number of other actions – I would just have to suffer the consequences of my actions.
No one called my boss, no one complained, but I did none-the-less have choices to make. It was very quiet at work but the first problem is that I did still have work to do. I am an IT manager and we get questions all the time. My choice there is to either let the Slack questions sit around for a while (in which case, people will start chipping in with answers that won’t be 100% accurate) or to let myself be distracted (lol, what am I truly being distracted from? If I’m honest, work was distracting me from the Arsenal) and try to do both things at the same time. I chose the latter, though it felt like an obligation to choose it.
I also had the added distraction of co-workers who don’t understand soccer watching the game with me. That can be good and bad: good for the different perspectives, bad for the fact that I have to stop watching the game and explain things to people. Double bad because I’m not good at hiding the fact that “I really don’t want to explain this to you right now because I’m trying to watch the fucking game”. And so, in short, I didn’t get to watch the game as closely as I wanted to.
Possible future choices:
- Go home and watch the game alone like a hermit because I can’t watch football in other people’s company (like I have done for almost every Arsenal match for the last 25 years)
- Stop worrying so much about this blog and what I say to you all and enjoy what I can from the game while begrudgingly being in other people’s company
- Make it fun for other people to watch the game, laugh about the stupid stuff, answer questions, engage with people around the game
- Don’t watch the game at all (which is like cutting my arm off because I don’t like your arm)
I don’t know why I’ve spent so many years choosing number one. Maybe it was because I thought I owed you a rational and well thought out match report. But it was nonsense. The most memorable matches – and my favorite match reports to write out – have always been watched with other people – either live at the stadium, at a pub, or even the times I’ve invited a friend over to watch a game. I rarely remember the matches I sat at home and watched alone. I should watch with others more often because I’m going to remember details from this match more than almost any other game I’ve watched this season, simply because it was so unusual.
The first 20 minutes Arsenal looked nervous and Wolves pressured Gabriel into a bad mistake, which then caused Ramsdale to make a mistake, and which one of their players was able to capitalize on. That was the obvious problem but there were smaller mistakes I noticed as well. Gabriel played like he was drunk in that opening phase of play and at one point even fell over after getting himself turned inside out like an old tube sock. Ben White should have had a yellow card for a deliberate trip in open play and had Neves been able to make the long pass in, it would have been a straight red card.
But it’s not always the mistakes you’ve made that matter but how you react to them and Arsenal’s reaction was excellent. After we went one-nil down there were a lot of complaints about the specifics of the Arsenal’s attack – turnovers, bad decisions, breakdowns in play – and I get that frustration but I felt what was more important was that we looked like a team that didn’t want to accept that we were losing. They are a very good defensive team (2nd best in the League), they are well organized at the back, they play with a lot of energy, they are in great shape, and they know how to funnel teams into wide areas or culs de sac in order to win the ball back.
And yet, despite the turnovers and the frustration, we attacked them time and again. It wasn’t the greatest attack, it wasn’t always as smooth and polished as I would like (Lacazette once again struggled in possession) but we just kept coming at them. Saka had a wonderful few dribbles on his side which I thought would have turned into goals had it not been for inch-perfect defending on their part. And Odegaard once again took control of the final third with his slippery footwork. But we didn’t get anything from that first half.
And they came out in the second half with the same idea as the first: put us under early pressure and see if they can get another goal. It nearly paid off. Podence is a delightful footballer to watch and I think it was him who played a through ball which caught the entire Arsenal defense asleep. The resulting shot flashed just wide of the empty net at the far post.
But once again Arsenal responded and kept coming at them in relentless waves. The response from Wolves was predictable: relentless waves of timewasting. It is, of course, “what any club would do” and it is also “the job of the refs to add time on” but like so many other things in English football there is “what should happen” and “this is how it’s always been done and I really hate change so I’m not going to change it”.
Arteta’s response was to throw on Nicola Pepe, Agent of Chaos. And frankly, it was fun to hear my coworkers – who are ignorant hicks when it comes to football – all excitedly gasp when Pepe collected the ball, turned his man, and scored. “That was really good” said one of them while chewing a three foot long piece of hay. I just said “it was, but now let’s get a winner”.
There wasn’t much time left so Wolves went into a full on timewasting meltdown. My favorite moment, and one which everyone laughed at, was when Raul Jimenez was booked for timewasting because he didn’t want to leave the pitch quickly but even after the yellow card he kept arguing. And then in a weird moment of defiance which probably should have gotten him a second yellow, turned around, crossed his arms in a B-Boy stance, and refused to leave the pitch. I can’t wait to see how the FA charge Arsenal for that. Probably it’s our fault somehow that we failed to control the Wolves players.
Those last 15 minutes of the game were a bit tense. Arsenal were clearly going for the winner and Wolves clearly trying not to be a bunch of howling losers. At one point, Lacazette chased down a challenge and turned to the crowd and egged them on to get vocal. My coworker said “wow, he’s really angry”, but it wasn’t anger, he knew Wolves were wounded and wanted to get the crowd behind the team. I explained all that and in my heart knew that we would get the winner.
Which did come! In the 6th minute of added time. When the net rippled, I literally stood up, pumped my fists in a Rocky pose, and shouted. In slow motion you can see that Lacazette’s shot was a work of pure genius – playing the ball expertly off Jose Sa’s boot so that it would have a crazy spin and dip into the net. But more than the genius of the goal itself, I shouted because we had gotten a deserved win against a cheating opponent, in the dying minute of the added time that their own cheating had granted us.
Maybe I should choose to watch the game with my coworkers more often.
“That was really good” said one of them while chewing a three foot long piece of hay.”
Man, I howled 😀
Gonna bet that Hayseed was instead sipping a fancy latte, and is actually named Adrian.
Seems I missed a good match. Everywhere I see folks raving about the fight and the spirit. Glad for Laca. He hasn’t had much joy finding the net. Glad for Pepe. He does know where the goal is, whatever the quality of his build up play. Gabriel has been really good for us… hope that performance was a one off. And Tim, I’m seeing Xhaka and Party get a lot of love from folks who saw the game.
People say that Xhaka had a good game because they think that this proves some kind of point, which they think will either change someone’s mind or think they are winning some points in some kind of “war” between two sides. The reality is that Xhaka was ok, he had some good things and a lot of bad things (he only completed 71% of his passes for example). He’s still 90% of the problem in our midfield. He’s still slow, he takes extra touches, and he’s not particularly creative or good at scoring from open play. If he makes a run in to the box (god forbid) it’s a waste of both possession and position.
He is one of the players we most need to upgrade.
This was my experience! In an otherwise delightful game, all I could think was, if only we had someone other than Xhaka there. I get that we are playing well with him, but it’s so clear how much more we could do with a really good 6. LIke you said, it’s not that he was bad, but you can see where we can be way better. Kinda like striker. But Laca has clearly become the spiritual leader of the team, and I love him despite how pathetic he is in front of goal. His fire and tenacity had an impact yesterday, and have for most of this run. Yeah, it’s my narrative and I’m sticking to it.
About Laca, Smokey sang it best: I second that emotion.
Re: Xhaka: I don’t want to go overboard (swallows and summer and all that), but I think it’s worth pointing out that his recent performances have been as an 8, not as a 6. Getting him further up the pitch (and further away from our own box) might be accentuating his positives, and confining his mistakes to less costly locations.
Sounds like you had the time of your life! I didn’t have the chance to watch the game since it was super late, but the comeback looks immense (based on what I saw on Reddit and YouTube)!
Also, just because we gather here doesn’t mean you owe us anything. You can write anything about the game (or even unrelated, to be honest) and we’ll still be here, be it discussing the emotions behind the games, other matches, or even just bread. I like bread.
It sounds like the third option is the best way to enjoy a game, and I hope you’ll get more chance to enjoy games like this. I don’t think that I show my appreciation (since I’m mostly a lurker) enough, so it feels like a good time to say thanks to you for the blog.
I wouldn’t say I had the time of my life, that was had when I went to Highbury and saw Arsenal.
I was watching on my personal PC/monitor while answering emails and having zoom meetings on my work system, which are all at the same desk. Fortunately I wasn’t on a zoom meeting for the ending, as it would have been hard to restrain the cheer I let out.
And yes, Partey is starting to look like the player I thought we were getting. Good tackling, good control, and quick on the turn. Now if only we can get him to lean forward a little more when shooting 🙂
Good read and your ability to capture your experience was very relatable. Sports is best enjoyed in company. Having said that ,I have a Arsenal buddy who is miserable to watch the game with, he moans and is apoplectic about every single mistake, sucks the pleasure out of the game.
Oh? He’s like me.
Happy to admit I was wrong about MO. He’s made the #10 spot his own. Does leave a question as to where ESR plays but that’s a nice problem to have. Confidence should be sky high. This team can dig in – a quality rarely seen in latter day Arsene sides.
funny, i was at home watching the game. my ac went out and the ac guy was telling me how i had to pay $7000 for a new air handler. i was barely listening when the lacazette strike bulged the back of the net. like tim, i jumped up from my seat with my clenched fist over my head and let out a yell! startled, the ac guy looked up from his proposal he was reading, possibly preparing to defend himself. like tim, i explained to this young man that it’s not only the europeans and south americans that are passionate about this game. likewise, i gave him a 20-second overview of how important that goal was, particularly who scored it. lastly, i explained to him the idea of champions league and promotion/relegation. everyone digs that concept.
i too noticed the ben white foul right after arsenal lost possession. likewise, early in the second half, he dived when his flick beat one opponent (a move i did all the time as a player) but his heavy touch presented the ball to a second opponent who quickly released a counter. if not for fooling the referee, arsenal would have gone down by two goals. the jury’s still out on that kid.
in a twisted way, i’m glad smith-rowe was unavailable. if he were in the side, arteta likely would have brought him on ahead of pepe. i don’t think anyone on the arsenal roster could have made the plays that pepe made. likewise, big up to eddie as his impact was also significant. as arteta likes to say, “eddie’s been training like a beast”.
Yeah the post mortem of that game has to cover both centre backs who struggled both in and out of possession. Wolves clearly targeted them, recognising that Arteta demands a huge amount from them as relatively young centre backs.
A lot of our attacking play featured Ben White standing with his foot on the ball, with all passing lanes closed off to him. In a way I admired that composure, but it sucked a lot of energy out of our play.
On the defensive side he made errors, want switched on enough and as a result he was lucky to stay on the pitch in my view. He should have been booked already before his dive that denied a clear goal scoring opportunity.
I say this as a fan of White, but Wolves exposed him, and also exposed our passing structure, how much we rely on his incisive distribution from the back. The coach and the team have to find a way to help him and his partner out in games like that.
“startled, the ac guy looked up from his proposal he was reading, possibly preparing to defend himself.”
I am dying! 😂😂😂
Great post Tim
Ginormous result for us especially when it looked like a 0-1 loss for the majority of the game. I have to admit I never would have predicted that after 24 games we would be considered by many to be the favorites to finish 4th. Huge credit to the players for the fight back yesterday. Spurs and ManU are dropping points and then we get an own goal in the 95th minute to win a huge match like yesterday. Things can change in a heartbeat but right now it feels like the football Gods are on our side.
It did feel like a huge 3 points. Winning it at the death is always huge, though and that nervy, impossible added time finish will stay in the memory forever.
More than the W, I hope we get something more from it that these guys can use to build and grow. I like this team more than the football they play right now though the football is growing on me!
“I like this team more than the football they play though the football is growing on me”, this is exactly how I feel.
Back when the football was dire there was a big debate on whether the players couldn’t execute the game plan, or whether the game plan just sucked.
I had then, and still have, a strong sense that they are trying to realise on the pitch an idea of football that they have in their heads. The glimpses of when they get it right are exciting, and are starting to come more frequently.
Both the performances and the game plan are being refined and improved, and watching that process easily gets me through the times when the football is not great.
Laca will be probably be gone from Arsenal before next season but it would be so good if managed to find his scoring boots. Or at least find a middle ground between doing everything on the pitch except scoring or – like a certain Portuguese superstar – doing nothing on the pitch except scoring.
Greg
It always seemed highly unlikely that a manager who grew up in the Barcelona system, played his best football for Wenger and learned how to coach from Pep would evolve into a manager whose long term plan was overly conservative, defensive minded and included dire football. The fact the football has improved certainly proves what we saw previously was never the long term plan. The reality is the managers ability to create and have the team successfully execute the game plans is going to be limited by the ability of the players he has. At least to me I don’t think its a coincidence the managers game plans look a lot better and the football improves after spending $150M to bring in some players who have been better able to execute the game plan