The Max Dowman Show - Teenage Kicks Right Through The Night
Boys Against Men. Boys win. Ha!
The world is made up of an infinite stream of moments that constantly change everything. Sometimes they turn toward the darkness and sometimes they light the world with joy. On Saturday evening at Arsenal’s stadium in North London a stunning moment of joy struck like an earthquake through the Arsenal world as a child reminded us that even in all this storm of anger and stupidity there is innocent joy waiting in the wings to change everything.
Max Dowman is a footballing wizard. Twice during the match he slowed down time and twisted fate to his own advantage. From the wing he launched a cross that stopped the clocks. He nonchalantly took the ball from Mosquera’s throw-in, strolled a couple of steps, scanning the potential, calculating the chances, and in a fleeting moment he chose the most difficult one. Dowman pinged a cross so millimetre perfect that Pickford was eliminated and the oncoming Hincapie had to merely let it bounce into the open space for Gyökeres to pounce. Ping, bounce, pounce.
And this was the 89th minute. A wave of relief that finally took Reece Nelson’s Bournemouth moment. The league still within grasp. The Arsenal world dreaming again. But Super Boy he wasn’t finished. He was just getting started.
How many times have we conceded quickly after scoring? When Everton won a corner in the 96th minute the Fates were circling, the Narrative Gods were readying their nails to hammer into Arsenal’s coffin, and a billion Arsenal hearts stopped beating as Garner took the lofted corner. The clocks stopped again.
Then came three of Arteta’s substitute combining, Gyökeres’s header to Martinelli’s header to Dowman’s header and then a shimmy and dodge to round the first defender, a twist and pace change to floor the second and run boy run boy run. And we all knew. From Dowman’s header the future wasn’t a mystery for once because we all knew. That boy is too cool, too graceful, too intelligent, too skilful to mess this up. We just knew and we watched a child run the length of the pitch followed by a swarm of players pounding after him as he scored the most remarkable first goal for a first team in football history.
What an incredible night. The Zombie Narrative Monsters bitch about Arsenal being boring, about our set pieces, about our attitude. They bitch about our players and our manager. They botch about the season as a whole and all the while we are producing incredible, dramatic beautiful stories agony and again and agin. And on Saturday evening in North London we delivered the most beautiful story of the season as a child reminded us that tenacious, never-say-die resilience and unbreakable mentality can deliver joy and happiness.
I want to talk about Arteta. The man who looked at the bench and saw a Brazilian league winning experienced striker, and a child, and he chose the child to save the season. This is management with huge cojones. He chose the child to come on against a team with the third best defensive record in the league, and who were playing brilliantly. A team that had held their own up till the 89th minute and arguably had the better chances. If it hadn’t been for Calafiori’s Kung Fu leg lifting defensive zen move things could have been very different.
Arteta chose the child then moved Saka to the inside to give the child his space. Dowman turned the wing into the playmakers zone. He wears 56 but he played the 8, the 9 and the 10. Incredible. Arteta made his decision based on his heart, his gut, and what he’s seen in training. He took a massive risk and it payed off.
Who could have imagined the impact Arteta would have on Arsenal when he was first appointed? But this is the thing with that infinite stream of moments that constantly change everything. You can predict what might happen. You can predict what you’d like to happen. And then what happens, happens. Arsenal’s game against Everton was like a microscopic universe where one sliding door moment after another piled one upon each other until we were in a state of such high tension that when the levee finally broke the world turned upside down.
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Minute 88 I was living in a totally different world. Minute 89 and everything changed. Minute 97 and the old world was gone. Isn’t this why we love football so much? Isn’t this exactly why the naysayers and the Celebration Police are all so utterly pathetic? Isn’t this why Arteta’s passion and insane locked-in determination are so wonderful?
Football is a team game from manager to every player in the squad. What they do effects every fan around the world. And especially right now, but really since he arrived years ago Arteta has looked after all of us, the players, the club and the fans. Are we going to win something this season? Who knows. But what I do know is that Mikel Arteta has grown, matured, evolved and got better and better season after season. Do we deserve to win? Well, deserve is a strange concept, but Arteta has given us the best chance in 22 years to win the League and put us in the conversation in the Champions League and for that I am truly thankful.
Have a great week fellow Arsenal Wonderlanders! Don’t let your expectations get the better of you because you never know. Next up is our chance to keep the Champions League dream alive against a well drilled Leverkusen. But I’m feeling confident. Then it’s the League Cup Final. Massive moments that could change everything. Fingers crossed but if it’s looking dicey we’ve got a kid to call on to save us all. Crazy world ;)
Marvellous stuff Jonathan. You have beautifully encapsulated what it means to support Arsenal right now-haters be damned. COYG!