Holding Out For A Hero
He's gotta score goals and he's gotta be free
As two more points make their escape from this season’s possible tally, a tiny flicker appears on the Tension-O-Meter. A small bounce of the needle. A micro tremor waves through a resting glass of water. Failing to turn domination and superiority into points is like missing meals, ok for a while but eventually you start getting hungrier and hungrier.
Of course the Tension-O-Meter flickers because of why points are being lost. Ridiculous red cards and we can maintain our high confidence, that isn’t our fault. A challenging fixture list at the beginning of the season, no problem, we can still make up the points when the fixture’s even out. The odd straight up loss from being not good enough. OK, let’s learn from it.
But, there are other reason’s for point’s making their escape. Frustratingly playing an obviously inferior team and not beating them is one. Peppering their goal with oohs and ahh’s but failing to actually rip through the net is another. Seeming slightly off, not quite at the races, a little fatigued on a pitch of treacle is a third. And then there are games where we experience all of these horrors at once. Yep. Frustrating. After all, we’ve seen these things before.
But a needle flickering on the Tension-O-Meter is not the same as outright disaster. There’s plenty of time and plenty of solutions. Most obvious and easy to point to is…score more goals! Yep, that’s right, I am a high-level expert speaking here! So let’s have the score more goals conversation. Quickly. Just once.
In a couple of weeks the January Transfer Window opens. Or in other word’s, the moment we all become You Tube Armchair Scouting Experts able to impart our sophisticated knowledge to a stuttering and myopic Arteta and Co.
Oh yes, the coming transfer season! Like a teenager sitting in a cafe, falling in and out of love with all the staff in a twenty minute wait to be picked up by mum. The transfer season of fleeting hopes and dreams all based on nothing but proximity and desire.
I remember a couple of seasons back imagining Tammy Abrahams was the guy, something about that Freaky Friday, gangly, uncoordinated body pulling off super star moves through pure determination and the power of a smile.
Or Victor Osimhen and his storming through delicate defences in a way our current overly-considerate strikers just don’t seem to be achieving.
Then there was Lautaro Martinez. Or Zlatan. Or Eden Hazard. Or, well, you get the picture, some solve-all-our-problems guy with an eagle eye and a quick draw. The Saviour motif in football form. The saviour who comes and does things the townsfolk just can’t do themselves. But the problem is that Saviour players don’t really exist. The are created after the event, not before. No one can buy a player like that. ALL of the saviours we’ve had were built at the ground, by our manager, with a team of excellent players around. We didn’t buy them. They came along with the culture, the times, the flow, the tactics, the styles of play, their own development arc, and a huge amount of talent that was nurtured at the right time.
So maybe the thing for us to do is take a few risks by buying some actual attackers to see if they turn into Saviours or not.
The next question is Who? This I’ll leave to the Arsenal Coaching Staff and the You Tube Armchair Experts because in many ways it doesn’t matter, it’s a risk whatever you do. For every Henry there are twenty Lacazette’s. And I wonder whether somewhere this is affecting Arteta’s decision making. No matter how grudging you might be there are few people that wouldn’t admit Arteta has done an amazing job. The latest addition might well be his legacy, the choice he makes now could define his tenancy forever. Pressure? Yep. Pressure. And for a man obsessed with control heading towards chaos and uncertainty are scary. Even for professional managers.
In the end it’s a team game and the team wins or loses as a unit. End of. Arteta will have to continue his learning curve and make the decisions. If he buys Isak and all goes well, we are all geniuses. If he buys Isak and it all stays about the same, will there be another Saviour waiting in the next transfer window? Can Arteta loosen his control grip a little and allow for a touch more risk and reward? My feeling is the he can, that he’ll recognise the problems and act, nit by buying the perfect last piece, but by changing the way we play to free up a more attacking force. Watch this space.
Let’s see how we do against Palace in the cup, relax a little and remember we are second favourites to win the Champions League! Who know’s maybe we’ll save ourselves :)
Have a great week Wonderlanders!
Good shout Jonathan though I do marvel at the fact that Arteta has hardly bought any attackers in his tenure…what’s that all about? He’s talked about needing more firepower then bought another defender or midfielder. I think it’s his Achilles heel and he should probably do some reflection about it. For all we’ve scoffed at Chelsea buying all the attackers look at them now. Look at Liverpool or the attacking brio of Liverpool. Can do much better on that front and must.