I am reading a lot right now about Arsenal’s unconvincing wins.

The last 3 Premier League games have been won by a single goal. But the key is 9 points from 9 games. We are now also 5 wins in 5 in all competitions.

Last season we drew 14 games in the Premier League. We dropped 21 points after leading games. 8 of which were dropped at home. Being unable to hold onto a lead was the reason we did not win the league.

I look at games such as against Everton, Brighton and Wolves and think “last year we would have draw or lost those games”. This year we are winning. And that is shown in the fact that we are 10 points better off this season than last in the “corresponding games”.

Liverpool last seas  won 9 out of 38 games by a single goal. Their ability to come behind to take the lead and hold on to win was why they won the league.

I have never known a fan base to be so negative after 5 wins in a row. It used to be said that a sign of champions was winning whilst not being out of 2nd gear. 

Yet for Arsenal we are being criticised for winning whilst not getting out of 2nd gear, and being top of the league despite the injury issues we have had in his season.

I am just glad that most of the negative nancies gave up their season tickets, and now just sit online or phoning up TalkSport to share their special brand.

Today we face Aston Villa who, after a very slo start, are the form team in Europe.

Smaller clubs with players with no egos certainly suits Unai Emery. Whilst some will say “Arsenal made a mistake getting rid”, he has shown throughout his career that he doesn’t not have the mental aptitude to handle the pressure at a top club, or deal with top players. The likes of Aston Villa suits him and good luck to him. I always liked him (he was my favourite to replace Arsene Wenger even before he went to PSG)

UTA

Keenos

Before we signed him, there were plenty of question marks around Viktor Gyokeres, with the biggest red flag being that at 27, he had only really had a decent 2-years in the Championship followed by a fruitful 2-years in Portugal.

The step up from the Portuguese league to the Premier League is huge, just ask Darwin Nunez. So no-one should really be too surprised of Gyorekes’ gol scoring struggles.

But where I am hopeful is that Gyorekes’ atttude is spot on. He is clearly working hard in training to adapt his game to Arsenal, to improve. And his attitude on the pitch is if someone who recognises that he can not just be a goal scorer.

The way he presses and run the channels both pushes defences backwards and creates space for others. It is no surprise that when he goes off, opponents defenders seem to have more time on the ball, can push up 10 yards which means the entire team has more attacking threat.

When you look around the Premier League, the lack of top strikers is frightening, Erling Haaand apart.

Igor Thiago is second on the scoring charts with 11, but if you watch Brentford you will see the Brazilian contributes nothing if he is not scoring goals.

Hugo Etikite (8 PL goals) is clearly a raw talent and is developing well, but he would have been huge risk in the summer of been signed as our first choice striker. Especially at his fee for his previous output.

Nick Woltermade has started wel at Newcastle with 7 PL goals. But he is very one dimensional. He reminds me of Peter Crouch that he will score 10-15 PL goals a season regardless of who he plays for.

Tha you come onto Joao Pedro with 6 Premier League goals. That is just one more tha Gyokeres. This is the Brazilian’s 4th year is a Premier League striker.

Meanwhile, Alexander Isak’s injury issues have continued. I can not tell you how pleased I was that we missed out on this one.

So we went for Gyokeres, and of the PL new boys he looks no worse than them. No better either. And he was the cheapest.

Calvert-Lewin, Mateta and Welbeck have all had spells of goal scoring form, but thESR are not the sort of profile we should have rem looking at.

The only other name is Ollie Watkins. But before his double against Chelsea he had just 3 PL goals. Now he has 5. The same as Gyokeres.

I am confident that the goals will come for Viktor. We just need to ensure us, the fans, stay positive so that he keeps his head up.

And with Gabriel Jesus back and Kai Havertz imminent return, we now have different options to ace different defences.

Keenos

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— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) December 20, 2023

Whilst Mikel Arteta is a “son of Arsene Wenger”, making waves in the managerial game alongside the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Patrick Vieira and the recently appointed Jack Wilshere, he is more comparable to another iconic Arsenal manager – George Graham.

Graham came into an Arsenal Football Club in the doldrums.

When appointed in 1986, we were 15 years without a title, 7 years without a trophy, and loitering in and around mid-table.

A squad filled with players reaching the end of their career who were not performing as expected, one of Graham’s first tasks was to remove them from the club and replace them with younger, hungrier players. New players were signed and youngsters promoted from the academy.

This is comparable to the situation that Arteta came in, where his first task (or Phase as some like to call it) was pushing out those overpaid, underperforming, egotistical former superstars (Ozil, Aubameyang, etc), and replacing them with younger, hungrier talents.

Graham built a team based on being defensively solid and discipline first. This did not mean he built a defensive team, but one that understood if you did not concede, you did not lose. Likewise, Arteta’s team are disciplined and defensively solid. We do not concede shots on target, let alone goals.

Both Graham and Arteta respected the importance of set pieces – Tony Adams scored 22 goals in the 5 seasons from 1986/87 to 1990/91, whilst Gabriel has 19 and counting in the last 4 and a half years.

This season (and we are in the early stages) is reminding me a lot of 1990/91. The almost invincibles.

That year, Graham’s Arsenal won the league, conceding just 18 goals. And whilst the “Boring, Boring” tag was beginning to materialise, we finished 2nd top scorers with 74 goals. Meanwhile, that lot up the road were beginning to play “thrilling attacking football”, which they were heavily praised for.

In reality, Tottenham’s play was not thrilling, attacking football. It was an ill-disciplined approach that led to chaos, high-scoring games, and not particularly great results. They failed to score more than the 74 league goals Graham’s Arsenal scored in 1990/91 between 1985 and 2017. And have only achieved north of that figure twice in 60-years.

And it was a bit like that last season. Whilst Arteta was being criticised for his disciplined approach, Tottenham had “Ange-ball” and the Australian’s supposed fre-flowing attacking football. We outscored Spurs last season just as Graham continually did as manager.

The key is discipline and defensive solidity. You can do both without being a defensive team.

Graham’s 91 side conceded just 18 goals and won the league as second top scorers.
Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea conceded just 15 goals in 2005/05 as they won the league. They finished 2nd top scorers.
Right now we have conceded just 3 league goals in 8 games. We are second top scorers.

I am sometimes baffled by the way some of our fans who rightly glorify George Graham and his achievements are then critical of the way Mikel Arteta sets up. The parallels between the two are so obvious.

From inheriting transitional squads, integrating young players, and prioritising a strong defensive structure. Respecting set-pieces and being a disciplinarian. Promoting a pragmatic, defensively solid approach to the game.

The only thing missing for Arteta is the honours (although many seem to forget he has an FA Cup and 2 Community Shields to his name). These will come.

When Wenger left, the question was “who can replace him?”. The correct answer seems to be the reincarnation of George Graham.

PS: Yes, I know GG is still with us!

Keenos