By Rob Worthington (Deputy Editor)
Arsenal, it’d be fair to say, have enjoyed a fantastic start to the new Premier League season.
A hard-fought victory over Crystal Palace on the opening day reflected the hard work and courage which emblemises Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, and some of the football during the Gunners’ 4-2 win against Leicester last week was breath-taking.
And yet, people are still taking issue with the Arsenal performances.
This is a symptom of the high standards Mikel Arteta has begun to instil throughout Arsenal Football Club.
Winning matches of course remains the primary goal, and brings much joy, but many an Arsenal fan is now gunning for perfection, just like their club’s manager.
They want to see their team playing with supreme control, a la Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
And for that to happen, Arsenal need to keep the ball as much as they can, and thus prevent opposition from creating chances.
And when they don’t have the ball, they need to be aggressive. Winning it back as soon as possible to ensure the defence don’t really have to do any defending.
Arsenal are capable of this. We saw it during large spells of last season, periods of games this term, and of course during the pre-season just gone by.
But this Arsenal team are also capable of playing in a very different way. They have a bad habit of taking the foot off the gas during periods of football matches.
And there is simply no way that this is an instruction of Mikel Arteta’s. The second his team begins to give up control of a football match, he is visibly unhappy.
But mentally, I’m not sure Arsenal have what it takes to exude control for 90 minutes just yet. And they might not for a while.
Arsenal are seeking to play in a way which is comparable to both Manchester City and Liverpool.
Those two sides, who have enjoyed relentless success in recent years, are both control experts.
They might exude their control in different ways, but the goal is the same – to suffocate the opposition.
Just look at Liverpool’s performance against Crystal Palace on Monday night. They went down to 10 men following a moment of madness from Darwin Nuñez, but it was very difficult to tell.
Still, even with an extra man, Palace couldn’t get anywhere near their opponents. For the majority of the game, they were chasing shadows.
Despite being a man down for over half an hour, Liverpool were very unlucky not to walk away with all three points.
And then there’s City, who managed to keep 76% of possession against Top Four contenders of last season West Ham United…
But these two sides haven’t always been able to play in such a fashion. Optimum control comes hand in hand with success.
Both City and Liverpool know they are the best around, and as such they are able to play with the arrogance required to dominate the life out of their opponents.
Arsenal aren’t there yet. This, by and large, is the same Arsenal team that bottled top four last season. As much as Arsenal fans would like them to be, their team isn’t an arrogant bunch yet.
All indicators suggest Arsenal will reach that level sooner rather than later. As they sign more stars of the ilk of Gabriel Jesus and Alex Zinchenko, win more games, and hopefully trophies, the necessary arrogant trait will become more vivid.
But until then, elements of doubt will creep into Arsenal games, and it’d be markedly anomalous they didn’t.
A team don’t become the best overnight, Arsenal aren’t there just yet, and thus Mikel Arteta will continue to yearn for the moment his team can consistently exude optimum control.
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