Graham Perry
Dear Fellow Gunners
Good question for all Gunners or Gooners – how does Arsenal get into our heads each day? I mean we wake up, get dressed, do the family bit but when does the Arsenal moment happen. For some it is Talk Sport or the newspaper on the mat or Sky updates. Each to his/her own. For me it comes when I go from home to office and stop off at Stanmore Tube Station to get my papers – Steve is in charge of selling papers at Stanmore and there is always time for a few minutes chat. Sometimes the bus drivers and the taxi cabs moan because I have nicked their parking space – I can deal with that - Arsenal is more important. By the time Steve and I meet up at around 6am he has read the papers and listened to the radio and has news about our latest injury but the few minutes together sets us both up for the day. Today was no different – and as we speak fans from other Clubs intervene to buy their papers and there is always good natured banter – be it Spurs or Chelsea or W Ham or Man U whatever. The day has begun.
By today Wednesday’s great win had receded and now we were thinking about Villa on Sunday. We are second from the top; they are rooted to the bottom. We had the great win; they are still scratching for points. A certain banker. Put your money on it. We are home and dry. And that is where it can all go wrong. Arrogance, complacency, lack of mental preparation leads to poor performances. We all know that. It is true of our lives – at work – with families – with hobbies. How do we keep up to the mark? – how do we enjoy success and still start the next match at 100%? A big dilemma for Wenger – he looks at the players in the minutes before the game starts wondering whether they are only at 99%. Are they switched on? – they think they are but are they. Are they really at the races? The difference between 99% and 100% is about 10-15% not 1%. Wenger relies on himself to get the players at the whistle in the right frame of mind ready for the first challenge and the one-to-one battles over their marker.
Taking this further a manager is never more worried than when his team have scored. Will they relax? Will they let the celebration continue to long? Are they up for the rest of the battle? Concentration is a funny thing – you don’t realise that you have lost it until it has gone and something negative has happened.
I say all this because we need the win on Sunday – we need the three points and we need a good performance. It won’t be easy. There are no easy games. Didn’t you have Liverpool down to slaughter Newcastle? And it’s not enough to say that they are well paid. That is down to the market and Mr Murdoch and the sponsors. Each player has to have it deep down and Wenger at the start of the match at Villa Park will be wondering/worrying whether his team have put Olympiakos out of their minds. For sure Villa will be up for it. They are in desperate straits. They won’t need motivating. They are fighting for their lives. And isn’t it possible that all the comment from Villa Park about Grealish has left him smarting – maybe the right thing to do and then play him and let him prove his critics wrong. And then there is Remi Garde who will be wanting to put one over his former boss. The atmosphere as the referee blows his whistle to start the game will be great – we will be up for it – will the players?
In today’s Sun on page 81 Steven Howard notes that TalkSport’s Jason Cundy and Andy Goldstein “expressed their surprise at how many callers were saying the same thing. Then again the hardcore Arsenal faction who want Arsene Wenger out have seen all this before”. But where is the silent majority? Why aren’t we more vocal in defence of our man? Part of the reason is that Radio, like TV and the Media at large, like discord and rancour and bitterness. It makes for “good” radio. But it also distorts reality so let’s be more vocal – and if we like our man and want him to succeed let’s say so. Stir it up a bit – but on behalf of the pro side and not just the anti side.
Another point – and this will irritate some – not intentionally. I want to write on “hate”. A very strong word that in four letters expresses our greatest loathing. But it is a word that is reserved for Fascists (Right and Left), Racists and Bullies. We all know them. They are out there loud and clear. But they are not supporters of rival clubs. No reason to hate them. They are only guilty of wanting the best for their team and the choice of “their team” like the choice of “our team” is luck. It is not a considered political decision. It is not a question of right and wrong, or of Tory and Labour or Greens and SNP. Usually someone took us to a match when we were young and a lifelong association was created. My father took me to Arsenal and Middlesex in the early 1950’s and those are my two teams – Arsenal engenders the greater passion but the lifelong commitment is there for both sports – Joe Mercer and Jimmy Logie for Arsenal and Denis Compton and Bill Edrich for Middlesex. I love them both and check Middlesex scores during the day on Cricinfo. Big parts of my life. But let’s keep it in perspective it could have been Tottenham and Surrey. Of course there are bragging rights and digs and passions can rise but at the end of the day it is the luck of the draw.
I welcome feedback on this – not a stream on invective but different views. Why do we love Arsenal? Why should we ever hate anyone else? Trump – Yes – Kane – No.
Back to Arsenal and today’s Daily Telegraph and page 6 of the Sport Supplement – Jeremy Wilson in a two page spread finds Arsene not guilty of being tactically inflexible; not guilty of allowing the squad to be too thin; not guilty of being unable to win the big games. He finds that the jury is still out on whether he should have upgraded on Giroud and finds him guilty of a bad record on injuries. It is balanced, no axes to grind. I recommend it to all online gooners. Very balanced. Looks at all the hard questions. Today’s Daily Telegraph page 6 and 7 of SPORT supplement.
* You can follow my tweets @arsenalcircular
