Arsenal released the frustration of the past few weeks with beauty and finesse (1 Viewer)

[Ayodeji5172]

When you have lost your way, when you feel out of sorts, how do you begin to find yourself again? That was the question facing Mikel Arteta and his players after a draining period of distress and doubts.

The hardest part, for Arteta, was processing the feeling of disappointing people. “Not nice,” he says, the understatement clear in his icy expression. It was, of course, on him to pick up Arsenal and shove them back on the horse. It is an insight into his own inner drive that he focused on resetting himself as quickly as possible to reset his team.

Does he find it difficult to drag himself out of a difficult hole? Arteta considered the question and broke into a broad smile. “I wake up in the morning and I cannot wait to start working,” he says with relish. “What we are going to do? How we are going to maintain it? We are taking those players to the very, very limit. It’s the only way to do it with this group of players to be where we are.”

Arteta notably trusted the leaders in his group to take that idea and run with it. In the aftermath of the body blows they took against Liverpool, West Ham United, Southampton and, most brutally, Manchester City, some of the squad’s dominant characters led by example on the training ground. They helped re-spark a sense of fun, of motivation, of determination to get Arsenal back to a much-improved version of themselves.

Jorginho, in the side to direct play against Chelsea, was full of clever instruction. Granit Xhaka charged up and down the left and cajoled play like a man possessed. Martin Odegaard demonstrated personality and panache. Arteta called the Norwegian an “exceptional” presence in the dressing room after his performance.

Returning to winning ways at the Emirates, it was as if a misty mirror was wiped clean and Arsenal recognised themselves again. It was a vibrant response to their recent dip. Chelsea were treated like mere playthings as Arsenal concentrated on reconnecting with the qualities that helped them to the top of the league for so much of this season.

Arteta articulated how good that feels. It has been such an intense few weeks, he has learned something about his team, himself, and the scenarios of dealing with pressure and problems, heady expectancy and harsh reality. “This is elite sport,” he says. “You are going to have moments when you feel you have failed or disappointed people, which is the worst thing for me. It takes a while to get it out of your system but you have to bounce back and try to give joy and pride to people.

“How great is it to win a football match? The feeling I have right now is that nothing is like that. Going into the dressing room and feeling that energy. All the things we go through, positive and negative, it is worth it when you have moments like that. In difficult moments being next to them, they fully deserve our full support.”

And the support from the stands was raucous. It was reasonable to wonder whether the crowd, as well as the players, might be a bit flat or hurt by recent events. Far from it. They revelled in the manner of Arsenal pressing the Heck out of Chelsea and pouncing to produce some moments of refined attacking prowess. This was a crowd that has not given up.

 

[serkalem]

Arsenal have a game changing reserve player problem

 

[Babayega]

View attachment 98
When you have lost your way, when you feel out of sorts, how do you begin to find yourself again? That was the question facing Mikel Arteta and his players after a draining period of distress and doubts.

The hardest part, for Arteta, was processing the feeling of disappointing people. “Not nice,” he says, the understatement clear in his icy expression. It was, of course, on him to pick up Arsenal and shove them back on the horse. It is an insight into his own inner drive that he focused on resetting himself as quickly as possible to reset his team.

Does he find it difficult to drag himself out of a difficult hole? Arteta considered the question and broke into a broad smile. “I wake up in the morning and I cannot wait to start working,” he says with relish. “What we are going to do? How we are going to maintain it? We are taking those players to the very, very limit. It’s the only way to do it with this group of players to be where we are.”

Arteta notably trusted the leaders in his group to take that idea and run with it. In the aftermath of the body blows they took against Liverpool, West Ham United, Southampton and, most brutally, Manchester City, some of the squad’s dominant characters led by example on the training ground. They helped re-spark a sense of fun, of motivation, of determination to get Arsenal back to a much-improved version of themselves.View attachment 99Jorginho, in the side to direct play against Chelsea, was full of clever instruction. Granit Xhaka charged up and down the left and cajoled play like a man possessed. Martin Odegaard demonstrated personality and panache. Arteta called the Norwegian an “exceptional” presence in the dressing room after his performance.

Returning to winning ways at the Emirates, it was as if a misty mirror was wiped clean and Arsenal recognised themselves again. It was a vibrant response to their recent dip. Chelsea were treated like mere playthings as Arsenal concentrated on reconnecting with the qualities that helped them to the top of the league for so much of this season.

Arteta articulated how good that feels. It has been such an intense few weeks, he has learned something about his team, himself, and the scenarios of dealing with pressure and problems, heady expectancy and harsh reality. “This is elite sport,” he says. “You are going to have moments when you feel you have failed or disappointed people, which is the worst thing for me. It takes a while to get it out of your system but you have to bounce back and try to give joy and pride to people.

“How great is it to win a football match? The feeling I have right now is that nothing is like that. Going into the dressing room and feeling that energy. All the things we go through, positive and negative, it is worth it when you have moments like that. In difficult moments being next to them, they fully deserve our full support.”

And the support from the stands was raucous. It was reasonable to wonder whether the crowd, as well as the players, might be a bit flat or hurt by recent events. Far from it. They revelled in the manner of Arsenal pressing the Heck out of Chelsea and pouncing to produce some moments of refined attacking prowess. This was a crowd that has not given up.

This is beautiful, Arsenal responded in a great way. The title chase is still on