Human Behaviour

In May 2023, I wrote a blog called ‘Thank You For The Good Times’ about the burgeoning atmosphere we had experienced at the Emirates in the preceding two years. Arsenal were a brilliant young team with a brilliant young manager riding the crest of a wave. Even though their spark ran out in the 2022-23 season the supporters felt totally unified behind this exciting, emerging team.

One of the central teachings of Buddhism relates to the impermanence, both of life itself and of exalted emotional states. Human beings have an in-built equilibrium which means that euphoria, pain and grief all eventually fade (if not disappear entirely) and we reassume a mental balance that removes us from those states. There is a popular Italian phrase that encapsulates this, ‘Tutto Passa’ or ‘everything passes.’

In that aforementioned column from May 2023, I wrote, ‘Next season is going to be different at Arsenal. Expectations will be different, which means the atmosphere will be slightly different and the emotion that engenders it all will be different. All of this is natural and it’s not even remotely wrong, it’s just the evolution of the human condition.’

Attempts to diagnose the drop in atmosphere at home games this season, together with contrived solutions such as bunging away fans in the upper tier (which is against Premier League rules in any case) have been, in my view, misguided. As, I think, are concerns over Arsenal’s style of play. I think fans are simpler creatures than that (I know I am). The style of play is exactly as it was at the end of last season.

The bottom line is, the ‘style of play’ we like is victories. The ‘style of play’ we do not like is draws and defeats. I think there is greater heft in considering whether the style helps the team to get better results. But I just don’t believe there is an aesthetic element to it where the atmosphere is concerned. Sorry. The atmosphere has changed because we have changed, we have moved into a different emotional state, one partly borne of expectation and partly borne from pressure and frustration.

The pressure of competing with a team like Manchester City, when you can have, statistically, the second best season in your entire history and have it still not be enough, is, let’s face it, annoying. It makes us tetchy and when we are tetchy we are more given to frustration and outburst. Of course, that irritation is amplified by the fact that Manchester City have imploded this season and Arsenal probably aren’t going to be the ones to take advantage.

Liverpool are having the sort of season City would usually have in their pomp, the level of the competition has not changed this season, merely the nomenclature of the competitor. Objectively speaking, given their years and years of toiling with the Manchester City machine, Liverpool probably deserve to benefit from City’s implosion on this occasion given everything City have taken from them over the last eight years or so.

That is not our concern, however. Our frustrations have been amplified by injuries to key players and the feeling that referees are just not smart enough to officiate by anything other than narrative. And the narrative that swirls around Arsenal is rarely a good or uplifting one. Manchester City lost Rodri to a big injury, they are currently 6th in the Premier League and 22nd in the Champions League table.

Rodri’s absence seems to be a widely accepted factor in their remarkable demise. However, Arsenal haven’t put the big trophies on the sideboard yet, so significant injuries to their best players just do not seem to be factored into the discussion whatsoever. The negative air absolutely contributes to the way Arsenal are officiated too, especially when it comes to the perception of time wasting and Premier League referees just seem to be very easily swayed and very willing to govern by headline.

On Sunday, Altay Bayindir took his sweet time over every single goal kick without raising the eyebrow of the referee even once. On Wednesday, Simon Hooper was wagging an impertinent finger at David Raya before the ball had even gone into touch. He also booked Myles Lewis Skelly for being shoved off the pitch. It’s exceptionally fucking annoying and amplifies a feeling of injustice, which is also baked into the fact that we all sense that Arsenal are so close to ascending to the absolute elite level and plonking those big shiny trophies on the sideboard.

It is understandable that the atmosphere has become more wrought, it was entirely foreseeable. My column from May 2023 was not a form of prophecy, it was just a totally predictable observation of the human experience. But I do think we should take a step back and have some perspective. City have lost one of their key cogs and they have absolutely and totally torpedoed.

When Mo Salah came back from AFCON with a tight hammy last season, Liverpool imploded during their run-in. Injuries to your best players just suck and there is little way around them. Mo Salah has directly contributed to just over a third of Liverpool’s league goals this season. If his hamstring suffers the same fate as Bukayo Saka’s, Liverpool do not have a replacement for him. It’s not possible.

All things considered, Arsenal are dealing with their own injury woes far better than Manchester City are and, to this point, better than Liverpool have (who have two third placed finishes and a fifth placed finish since 2018). That doesn’t invalidate all criticisms of Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, of course. It doesn’t mean that the squad was perfect even before the injuries, especially in attack.

It doesn’t mean that the approach or ‘style’ is totally beyond reproach. All those things bear analysis, discussion and criticism. This is also true of every single other team that has ever existed. The Invincibles didn’t have a back up right-back. If Lauren was injured, Kolo Toure slid across to right-back and Cygan came into the team. Fortunately, Lauren was pretty robust at that stage of his career. No squad is perfect, no style is perfect.

If Thierry Henry had torn his hamstring off the bone in December 2003, not only would Arsenal not have gone unbeaten, they wouldn’t have won the league at all. Every single team in history has been uniquely dependent on its best attacker. Ultimately, when we take a step back, Arsenal are a really good team who remain in a really good position for the next few years. There is tinkering to be done but nothing wholesale need happen for now.

I have found the vitriol online really difficult to connect with of late. Sometimes I squint and I can see how people, especially young men, are radicalised in different and more serious ways on the internet. It’s so easy to spiral and foam and froth and sit in the company of others who are spiraling and foaming and frothing. As your anger rises, you want answers and you want people to be punished for making you feel bad.

Such angry spaces are typically filled by grifters and populists, who will stoke the fires in pursuit of their own interests. I think, from an Arsenal perspective, I have found it very difficult to understand the ferocity of it. I try not to judge people too much for how they vent frustration but I have honestly found it remarkable and unrecognisable.

Arsenal are not perfect. There is criticism and scrutiny to go around but Arsenal remain a really good team with a really good core of players who are at good ages. That’s not to take the future for granted of course. And that is why Wednesday night felt so important, to clear some of that bad air, turn some of that volume down, even temporarily.

I will leave the payoff line to my Arsenal Vision Podcast colleague Clive Palmer, who said in the NLD Instant Reaction podcast, ‘It felt like the silent majority reclaimed their team tonight.’ Sometimes pensiveness can create silence but Arsenal still have a team worth shouting about.

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