It is thought that Arsenal are too emotional and this is damaging their hopes of success.
Even Mikel Arteta recently claimed that his side can be too emotional in home games, but I disagree with the accusation that it is detrimental to Arsenal’s ability to win the league because they lack a supposedly cold, clinical, dead-eyed attitude.
Pep Guardiola is an emotional man and that has not served him badly. Liverpool won the league title in 2020 on a wave of emotions. Sir Alex Ferguson was an emotional manager with an equally emotional captain at Manchester United in Roy Keane and they did well.
The best teams, the most successful, are more often than not a reflection of their manager’s strongest qualities. Enthusiastic, controlled, educated, emotional energy is a damn good thing and usually Arteta embodies all those things, so I really don’t see what the problem is and don’t understand the feeling of mocking Arsenal for that.
I suspect this argument that Arsenal somehow need to be less emotional to succeed all started around what many consider to be their over-the-top celebrations. That probably creates a sense of resentment among the opposition and perhaps gives people the opportunity to say they are too emotional, but Arteta has an emotional manager and that is his strength.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is often scrutinized for his enthusiasm on the sidelines
However, Pep Guardiola (L) and Sir Alex Ferguson (R) both found success by showing emotion
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Was Arteta too emotional when he made the clinical decision that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was redundant? No, and it heralded the arrival of Arteta as a determined leader capable of making big, dispassionate decisions for the good of the club. Yes, sometimes he overeats the pudding when he falls in love with his players – but so what?!
Some don’t seem to like Arteta being a jack-in-the-box on the touchline, but that’s another matter. He challenges the orthodoxy and is not intimidated by some of the big beasts of the Premier League, allowing him to harness emotions and translate them into emotional intelligence in his players.
Their stadium has often been regarded as a library in recent times, but under Arteta’s watch it has become a feverish, vibrant atmosphere and that is thanks to him. This Arsenal team needs that enthusiasm and energy, it gets the best out of them.
Football is all about controlled, focused emotions and if Arteta’s management style is about reinforcing that feeling in his players so that they understand that responsibility and respond accordingly, then keep doing what you’re doing.
Of course, you need to have the right kind of players to respond and thrive in that environment, but when you have them, tap into that positive energy.
If you create an environment with euphoric bursts and big celebration, you want more of that because that is the best feeling in the world.
Arteta is an exuberant, effervescent character and if he thinks this is the right way to get the best out of his players – which he clearly does – then do what works. His decisions don’t seem to be emotional when he makes substitutions or picks teams because if he were there would be a problem.
I didn’t think it was necessary to give Kai Havertz the penalty against Bournemouth, but that is about the culture of a club that is one for all and all for one. If his players believe that a focused and confident Havertz will benefit from this, there is no harm in giving him a penalty, especially if you are 2-0 up and beating the opponent out of sight.
The Arsenal manager often paints an animated figure on the touchline for the Gunners
Kai Havertz (R) scored his first goal for Arsenal in their recent 4-0 win over Bournemouth
Aaron Ramsdale (L) and David Raya (R) have shared the role of goalkeeper in the first team this year
Some of the decisions he makes about the goalkeeper situation are strange, as are some of the comments he has made. You don’t want people bursting into tears when they win or lose a game and perhaps some element of that needs to be curtailed, but emotion will not determine whether Arsenal can challenge Manchester City for the title.
They didn’t miss last season because of that, they lost because of individual mistakes, the lack of a 25-goal striker and because City are a huge player.
In a sport where so many players walk around with a look of impending doom on their faces, seeing natural joy is something to be celebrated.
Arteta is building an energy and vitality around Arsenal and while that might rub some people the wrong way, isn’t that the whole bloody essence of football?
Wednesday’s owner blew it with a silly, immature statement
Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri released a statement last week promising not to invest another penny into the club.
I think it was a silly letter to write, but I can understand why he wrote it, because it’s an irritating situation to be involved in a football club – in his case spending £160 million and achieving virtually nothing – and being vilified for it to become.
He wouldn’t be the first owner to do this, nor would he be the last. But you can’t make such statements, it makes no sense. Owning a football club is often a thankless task, but this is the price on the ticket.
At Crystal Palace I called the fan forums, I was front and center. If people had a problem with my property, I would let them tell me to my face and see how much courage they had in confronting me, instead of shouting into the air.
I don’t deny that I had problems with the fans at times, but they had a fundamental understanding of where my position was. They didn’t always agree with me, but understood that there was a great desire on my part to make Palace successful – and I was going to do everything I could to make that happen.
So it was an immature, emotional thing from Chansiri. His statement lacked gravitas and revealed certain characteristics that you should not show. You are a leader, keep it up. It was stupid, a case of ‘it’s my ball and I’m taking it away’.
The problem he has is that the fans don’t seem to trust him or have any faith in him. Any goodwill they had towards him was certainly wiped away when Darren Moore left the club after securing that dramatic promotion.
One of the downsides of overseas ownership is that it often has nothing to do with the mentality of English football fans. The golden rule for a football club owner is: you cannot tell fans how to think and behave.
Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri hit back at critical fans in a statement
The Thai businessman called his supporters “selfish” and emphasized that he is being treated unfairly
If it’s wrong, to hell with the protocol!
The controversy over Liverpool’s disallowed goal should be seen as an opportunity for match officials. What needs to happen now is for referees to become braver and become authoritative leaders on the field.
The moment they realized that they had attacked Spurs, and that was within seconds, it took courage, someone who in this exceptional circumstance broke protocol and flew in the face of what is good for the referees and does which is good for the match itself.
Who benefited from adhering to the protocol? No one. Someone had to put their head above the ground, which I think is partly what culture referee Howard Webb is trying to encourage.
Referees should feel encouraged to show leadership that would have been defensible because the right decision would have been made. We need officials who have the mentality that if something is wrong, go to hell with poor protocol.
The PGMOL has released the full audio from the VAR hub during Liverpool’s controversial 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, with referee Simon Hooper wrongly disallowing the Reds’ goal
VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) were dropped from their roles for upcoming matches after the high-profile error
But above all, VAR officials must be diligent and damn competent!
References abroad
The main reason English football has been so strong over the last decade is because other cultures have helped improve standards.
The Premier League’s best players and managers are not English and most of the owners are not English. Geography aside, there is little about our top-level game that is English.
So if we are so concerned about the standard of our match officials, why not also import referees from abroad? If we believe there are better referees in other leagues, then we should go and get them, like the Middle Eastern leagues do with our officials.