‘I will never forgive myself if I shut myself into my shell’ during Arsenal’s Premier League title battle with Manchester City

“They will never forgive themselves if they shut themselves in their shell and lose the league title.”

Along with TNT Sports commentator Ally McCoist, who issued the warning at the start of this article, former Arsenal striker Martin Keown is also concerned about what he is seeing.

“If I was playing with him, I would keep going back to him because he’s very skilled on the ball, but it’s an opening for the opposition to press. Arsenal don’t have that foundation. They need more from their front three.”

No filter: Arsenal beat Sporting to reach UCL semi-finals

Video credit: TNT Sports

At the beginning of the season, Arsenal were nicknamed ‘Set Piece FC’ due to their ability to damage teams with corner kicks and free kicks. But recently, the issue has shifted to their spirituality.

Mikel Arteta was then furious at suggestions that screeching past the Portuguese side was a “relief”, claiming he had reacted as if the team were in a relegation battle.

“I wish we’d made an Arsenal documentary this season to give you a feel for the last 48 hours and everything that’s been said so far,” he said.

“Let’s just enjoy the situation we’re in as a club. If someone doesn’t want to do it, that’s fine. We’re really enjoying it and we’re very grateful to the players and the supporters for what they’re doing.”

The criticism doesn’t just come from England. L’Equipe gave a scathing review of Sporting’s performance, writing that “nothing prevents boredom anymore”.

But for Joe Cole, it’s not the style that matters, it’s the mindset.

“We are in the age of social media, where opinions are copied and pasted and become ideology,” the former Chelsea manager, who also faced criticism for his approach, told TNT Sports.

“I don’t think they’re an unattractive team. They’re not the most exciting team, but they’re certainly fine. They just need to win games.”

Speaking on The Breakdown, he said: “When you watch Arsenal play, they play with anxiety and fear, and when you look at Arteta, he looks a little anxious.

“It’s important not to change the etiquette too much in the group, but when the chips are down players look at their managers.

“He needs to be full of energy and belief and find a way to get the players to release the handbrake because none of them are playing to their best potential and it’s what’s going on between their ears.”

creativity worries

With teams getting smarter about Arsenal’s threat from set-pieces, the onus has shifted to what they can produce from open play. And this season, that became a problem.

They trail three teams in taking chances from open play, highlighting their lack of creativity compared to their rivals.

Team chances created (open play) Liverpool 396 Manchester United 378 Manchester City 355 Arsenal 324 Chelsea 322 Bournemouth 317 Brighton & Hove Albion 300

At their current pace, Arsenal are expected to create 385 chances from open play, which would be the lowest total for a title-winning side since Opta began tracking the metric in the 2006/07 season.

Champions (season) Chances created (open play) Leicester City (2015/16) 323 Man United (2012/13) 383 Chelsea (2016/17) 394 Liverpool (2019/20) 396 Man City (2020/21) 401

Still, there was a time when winning ugly was a compliment.

Few would judge Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City to be boring, even though they won the title on the back of solid defence. And there was little criticism when Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United began their journey to the title with an aging squad in his final season in charge in 2012-13.

But Arsenal don’t seem to have the same luxury, especially now that their results have dipped in recent weeks, perhaps because of Arsene Wenger’s free-football tradition, and perhaps because supporters have seen this story before.

But the key for McCoist is not to overthink it, but to rediscover the approach that got him here.

“They have to play the way they got there in the first place,” he said.

“They have to get back to the way they used to defend and score goals. If they don’t express themselves, they will stay in their shell and never forgive themselves if they lose the league title.

“If you play a game and lose, it’s a completely different story. If you shut yourself up in your shell and can’t win, that’s unacceptable.”