“I would come out of the match thinking Norwich were a good team”.
The words of Arsene Wenger in the direct aftermath of Saturday’s mauling and they’re worth clinging on to.
Of course you expect opposition managers to be magnanimous in victory – although there are some who still find it difficult – but in Wenger’s case you sense it was heartfelt, as is his admiration of Chris Hughton.
Typically the comforting words of the Arsenal chief were drowned out by the usual suspects who again took to Twitter and the messageboards to call for an immediate change of manager; a 4-1 defeat, regardless of quality of opposition, sufficient for them to mobilise.
In the real world, however disappointing the final score, there were positives to be had.
For the third consecutive match City passed the ball well and played the game on the front foot; the midfield triumvirate of Fer, Howson and Tettey again looking by some way the best combination at Hughton’s disposal.
That they came up well short was naturally disconcerting – crushing in fact in the hour or so after the game – but, as Neil Warnock has confirmed many times, perspective is a beast to grasp when the taste of defeat still swilling around.
Arsenal – as much as it pains me – were pure quality, yet Wenger admitted for the middle third of the game City made them “struggle”. And if Arsene says it…
He was right. Once the heads had been cleared after that fraught opening twenty-five minutes, City bossed proceedings and were able to replicate the head of steam they built up in the second half against Chelsea; only that sprawling save from Szczęsny denying Leroy Fer just before half-time as the Emirates crowd grew increasingly impatient.
The whistles as the interval approached told a story of their own; the Arsenal faithful, as opposed to the Yellow Army, urging Lee Probert to call an end to proceedings with City in the box seat.
It wasn’t just Wenger who knew they’d been in a game.
Even more encouraging was that City’s ascendancy continued after the break; the Arsenal chief’s team talk doing little to change the course of the game early on in the second period.
Alas with a goal not forthcoming – Gary Hooper ploughing a solitary and ultimately unsuccessful lone furrow – there was a horrible inevitability about the Gunners snatching a second on the break. And sure enough…
When faced with the likes of Wilshere, Ozil and Carzola, Cloughie’s old adage of “it only taking a second to score a goal” has never been more appropriate… in fact it was nine.
That’s how long it took the Gunners to shift the ball from the edge of their own penalty box – Fer’s attempt to slide in Hooper being initially intercepted by Koscielny – and on to the head of Ozil.
And that in a nutshell is what City were up against yesterday.
To their credit they refused to lie down and Howson’s consolation was no more than they deserved but, despite it reinvigorating the belief of the Yellow Army, it was a flicker that was soon extinguished.
Ironically it was Hughton’s desire to ‘go for it’ that was ultimately City’s undoing; the replacing of Redmond for Pilkington, and Hoolahan for Tettey both designed to provide the missing creative spark in the final third.
It didn’t work – Arsenal exploited the space vacated by the departed Tettey with clinical precision – but what what would we prefer?
Much was understandably made of Hughton’s approach at Tottenham, where a dire performance was exacerbated by a tepid and unadventurous approach – the upshot of which was a ‘respectable’ 2-0 defeat. The shift of approach at the Emirates was seismic and was hopefully a sign of things to come.
That City have suffered in consecutive game by twisting when the option was there to stick is not, as some have suggested, symptomatic of City being unable to adopt either approach successfully. It’s because the opponents in said games were Chelsea and Arsenal.
Some will accuse me of persisting with the yellow tinted spectacles, but I expect Hughton’s new-found bravado to pay dividends when we go toe-to-toe with those outside the top six. More of the same will ensure our stay in the bottom three is a temporary one. I’m convinced of that.
That some of our number rear up at every setback is as disappointing as it is damaging. Paul Lambert has gone, never to come back. Get over it.
Alas my fear is the ‘out’ brigade will not be happy until their target has been eliminated; their campaign being reignited off the back of every defeat. And that, more than a 4-1 defeat in Islington, is what is really troubling me.
On the pitch there are positives signs; in the stands and behind the keyboards we’re reaching a crossroads.
From an Arsenal season ticket holder – have to say I was really impressed by the football played by Norwich. Whilst I’m not going to take anything away from the breathtaking goals we scored, I think the shoreline flattered us. We always had the ability of breaking away and scoring (John Ruddy had a great game btw), but Norwich stuck to their football, didn’t panic, stroked the ball around comfortably. With Wilshere, Ozil and Cazorla creating chances from small opportunities, we are in for an exciting ride this season and that kind of game-changer is clearly what Norwich are lacking at the moment because the gameplan and ability are there. Good luck for the season!
As a Arsenal fan I can only say ‘hats off’, Norwich played a great game, and in fact during some spells bossed it. I took two worldclass performances with the first and incredible tiki-taka goal, and a better-than-Brazilian slalom for the third goal. The Norwich fans are better berated not to look at the scoreline, but at a good performance, and a promising indeed.
Gary, as always, a great read and, for my money, the nail hit firmly on the head! It’s laughable and quite embarrassing to hear the Hughton outers proving to the watching World that they know nothing about football, I mean, what would they have done had they been the manager?
I am really delighted that my opinion of our great club matches the views held by you! Thank you!
Gary an excellently written article. I believe Wenger was being sincere when he spoke after the game. Your boys made us work hard and it was great from an Arsenal supporters perspective to see our players meet that challenge and overcome it. Too many times in recent seasons our mentality has not been as strong as it appears this season. I hope this game helps to strengthen that belief.
There is a long way to go before the end, and I for one hope that Norwich cement their place in the premiership, why, because they are playing good football now and deserve to be there. Look at Swansea, a spectacular team now and they are moving up. To those Houghton doubters (and as a Gooner it hurts me to say this), I would say consistency! He is a good manager and deserves time. Don’t go down the route of changing managers. Get behind him and get your board to do the same. The past few years at Arsenal has been about consistency. For nine seasons we haven’t lifted silverware, but we are still there and hopefully now moving forward. Give your manager the time and the authority to manage his players, and not go down the slippery slope of board members or worse, players managing it for you.
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day… that said they didn’t have a billionaire sugar daddy to pay for it. Money and stability will come with consistency. The more money (to build and maintain a bigger squad) and stability the more points!
Be careful what you wish for, I said this to many disheartened Gooner’s. I just hope Wenger does sign a new contract soon.
I agree that the performance yesterday belied the result. We can’t criticise the management for being over defensive then berate them for bringing on attack minded players to “go for it” when we are on top and have a chance to get something from the game. While goal difference matters in the end the difference between 2-1 and 4-1 is small enough to justify the risk. I do not advocate a change of management and agree that consistency is the best way forward. I do think we need a coach who is capable of helping our forward players to learn to work together to create chances. Our first team coaching staff is dominated by players who do not have a glowing record in the attacking third – especially not at top level. There is much potential at the front but at the moment it is not being translated into goals. Imagine the possibilities if RVW and Redmond could learn to work to
As a Hughton doubter, not ‘outer’ one full season, £25m and 10 games ought to be sufficient for a manager to show his stuff and while there are positives to take from our last two games, it does seem to be our swan-song these days, and it’s wearing a bit thin. Our defence are still scrabbling around like headless chickens at times so Hughton still hasn’t sorted out that area and were it not for Ruddy, Arsenal might have scored close on double figures yesterday and then we really would have heard the screams. We may need to line-up a replacement for Ruddy come January, because while the team struggles, he alone impresses week on week. Wenger and Mourinho two possible suitors! For me and fellow disillusioned fans, it’s seems clear that Hughton is unlikely to unlock the squad’s potential for scoring goals so the next 5 games may well seal his, and possibly City’s fate this season. If we don’t get a decent number of points from these 5 games, it’s going to make last season look like a stroll in the park.
This is a great article, Gary, and the comments of the Arsenal supporters above add a balanced perspective that sadly evades many of our own supporters at present. I would have been very happy had the score finished 2-1, and its ironic that the two late goals were aided by Hughton’s ambitious change of bringing on Hoolahan for Tettey. Having wanted to see Hughton be more ambitious with his instructions and tactics – and for me the earlier part of the game, as with Chelsea, had delivered that – i would not have upset our midfield balance, even whilst still seeking an equaliser, but probably just tried Becchio’s fresh legs for Hooper.
But regardless of that detail, I was sorry to see Hughton ‘taking responsibility’ for the last two goals, since in fact his greater responsibility was for the team producing a vastly more cheering performance for the third game in a row (in fact since the turn around against Watford). It amazes me that many people supposedly watching City don’t seem to have seen this rather obvious change. Of course, we still have to turn it into more wins and points, so indeed it is next week’s test that is the more critical. But regardless even of that result, if we keep playing with this type of cheering, enterprising performance (which is not at all gung-ho in the Lambert mode), it is quite ridiculous to keep calling for Hughton’s head – and we will be safe.
Good article. I look at who we’ve played – 5 of the top 7? And got four points from them. When we’ve played 5 of the bottom 7 I’ll be interested to see how many points we have then. The win at Stoke is more telling than the loss at Arsenal.
I’m hopeful that the current style of play will be more productive against bottom half sides. We have at least scored against both Chelsea and Arsenal, so we aren’t entirely bereft of goals as some would suggest.
In the end, I simply don’t agree that changing managers is the way to move the club forward. At best it’s a gamble, and one that history tells us fails more than it succeeds.
Purely out of interest, which of our previous coaching set-up had “a glowing record in the attacking third” – let alone at the top level?
And does anyone think Steve (commenter number 6) actually sussed this article was totally aimed at blinkered fools like him?
Good well thought out article but a major assumption is that we can transfer performances against (some) top 6 sides into a similar level of effectiveness against bottom half teams. That for me is where the jury is out.
In 2011/12 season we took 18 points off just 3 lower half teams but we never looked convincing against top 6 sides. So far in the Hughton era we have performed well at times against top sides when they have given us the space to play, but we have persistently struggled to break down sides which we must take points off.
By Christmas we will know whether we have reached a turning point with only 3 teams in the next 11 games that we might reasonably expect to lose. I think we’ll all breathe a bit more easily if we’ve won convincingly come 5 o’clock on Saturday.
Of course we have to stick with Hughton. There is no alternative,and change is not in the least bit desirable. We really do look to be going in the right direction, at last: our play is more fluid and fluent. All we need now is consistency, in every department.