Mikel Arteta ‘loser philosophy’ has left Arsenal with ‘perverse’ Anfield record
So near but so far for Arsenal; good, but not quite good enough. Even with a host of new players, it was the same old story. Not brave enough to make mistakes and somehow a bit soft in general, as embodied by the pleading eyebrows of David Raya, who looks the opposite of strong and confident.
But I suppose it would be ridiculous to expect them to be any different. New players are subsumed into the existing culture. And when new players embody the same old issues, you know that the issues are endemic.
They have needed and still need an alternative attitude instilled into them; it’s obvious that they can’t get this from their manager. His innate conservatism was on show again in his line-up. He used Eberechi Eze only in the 70th minute and seemed happy to get a draw rather than try to win. It was too late. The game had swung Liverpool’s way by then. Arteta had got it wrong.
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It’s fine margins but this is where they operate. It’s not surprising that their motto isn’t ‘he who dares wins’ because they clearly don’t dare. They were lucky to beat Manchester United, turning in a similar performance but getting fortunate in being gifted a goal. We can expect some good performances against many teams. But they just get scared in the big games. You can see it.
This isn’t natural or innate so it must come from the top. The fact it’s consistent across different line-ups proves it’s managerial. It’s something he instils. On Sunday, they probably had the best of the first half but created nothing, as if having the best of it is the point, not actually threatening the goal. They haven’t won at Anfield for 13 years, which is statistically unlikely for a side as good as Arsenal. Perverse even.
Of course, as you could have predicted, Liverpool dominated the second half and dared to win, while Arteta cowered, taking solace in them playing a good half, like that’s the same as winning.
They pressed Liverpool well for half the game but were primarily set up to stop Liverpool. If they lacked a striker, Viktor Gyökeres was all but absent, sat on by Konate throughout. They are simply held back by themselves, Arteta’s loser philosophy lodged in their brain.
At times in the second half it felt like they were sitting deeper, intent on a draw. And it felt like Arteta’s post-game interview would have been the same if they’d drawn, unable to accept or perhaps compute that they had lost. I suppose that’s because the failure is all his fault and he can’t see that or won’t because he’s fooled so many for so long into thinking this way is the right way. And the big wins over the likes of Leeds are good at blinding people to their obvious inadequacies.
They almost had the same possession as Liverpool. Had more shots and more corners. But they still lost. That’s a terrible indictment and reveals the attitude behind it. Arsenal need not be the ‘nearly’ side; without Arteta’s caution they could achieve more. Of course, they may not want to. Given they stick with their manager through serial ‘almosts’ despite a barren half-decade they must love being the nearly men. And that’s fine. Winning is not everything and changing managers might lead to a worse outcome. That’s the risk you take, of course, and if the club and supporters don’t mind paying the manager so much to nearly win something but fail time after time, then that’s fair enough.
I think it’s a product of this ‘aren’t we good?’ loser mentality that refuses to give proper weight to failing season after season and reaching for ever more arcane stats and outright untruths to explain and excuse losses. Accepting criticism requires courage and bravery. Judging by Sunday’s game, Arteta and Arsenal don’t have an ounce.
