Arsenal: Adding steel to the style

Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were always an attacking, attractive team. But their lack of resolve and bite consistently scuppered their progress. This summer, there has been a clear decision to add steel to the style.

Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of Arsenal’s ineptitude in the latter decade of Arsene Wenger’s tenure was the predictability and repeatability of it. It was not surprising when they folded away from home in mid-January. It was not surprising when they were carved open by speedy, counter-attacking opposition. It was not surprising when they crumbled under the pressure when it mattered most.

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This was a team that forever lacked the necessary mental capabilities for success. There was no resolve, fight, commitment, an insatiable will to win that drives inexorable action. There were no leaders in the dressing room. There was nobody challenging and criticising those around them when their performance dipped below what was expected. There was no, in a word, steel.

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But there was style. For Wenger, that had always been non-negotiable. His teams always played with style, or, at least, they attempted to play with style, as, in the latter years, they lacked the quality to play with style but still insisted on being stylish. That, to no-one’s surprise, was not a successful strategy to undertake. It saw the Gunners slip outside the top four for two successive seasons for the first time in the 22-year Wenger reign.

So, when the time for change came at the very top, the ripple-down effect was obvious; style is still important to this club, it always will be, but there is now the keen desire for an added element to the squad, that previously missing element of steel, bite, resilience, fight. And it is clear to see that change in their transfer work thus far.

The players that have been signed, or at least close to being signed, offer key traits in regards to the collective character of the squad. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, for all his on-field faults, is a warrior-like defender who is as happy to fight as he is play; Stephan Lichtsteiner, having won seven successive Serie A titles and currently captaining his national team at the World Cup, is renowned for his experience and leadership in the dressing room; Lucas Torreira is a battling, biting, ankle-snapping midfielder.

These are players that will all help to provide the steel that Arsenal’s style has been lacking. It is something that all successful teams have. Fernandinho, Vicent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi at Manchester City. Casemiro and Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid. Even the great Barcelona teams had Carlos Puyol and Sergio Busquets.

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That is what Unai Emery and Sven Mislintat are trying to implement at the Emirates. It will take time, but their signings clearly show that this is their plan. And I, for one, am all for it.