Arsenal Why does success always require disaster?

Arsenal are having an all-too-familiar problem with their recent string of fixtures, and it’s not a sustainable approach, as Standard Liege proved.

It wasn’t all that long ago, under Arsene Wenger, I believe, that the club had a serious motivation problem (sound familiar?). Arsenal never got started well. They would need the other team to bite them before they bit back. When they did bite back, it was often ferocious and beautiful. But if they were never bit, they couldn’t bite back.

The same happened under Unai Emery. He became synonymous with second half success, and that first half often required some seriously poor play and a goal or two surrendered.

Now we’re seen it again, for two matches in a row. While I’ll admit that I’d rather see Arsenal be bit and bite back then play dead entirely, as they had been doing for about nine straight matches, it grew tiring that this club just couldn’t be troubled unless they had their feathers ruffled.

That’s the big question that no manager has been able to answer—why do we rarely find success without disaster? Why does poor defending against a Belgian league side have to prompt a positive run of form?

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For many, it comes down to the manager. They have to be able to motivate their players before a match to bite first. But these are grown men, aren’t they? Why is it that they need someone else to motivate them?

It’s an unsustainable way of playing football, as we have seen before, and as we hopefully won’t have to see again. If you need another team to strike first before you can fight back, what happens when you face much better sides like Liverpool or Leicester City?

You lose. That’s what. You have to be able to start on the front foot, to start on the offensive. You can’t sit back, wait for motivation, and then attack. It’ll never, never bring success.

Thankfully, this has only been the case in two matches in a row thus far. It’s not an ideal situation but again, it’s better than playing dead. And if you want to be optimistic, like me, this could be a natural stepping stone that transitions into sustained positive play from the start.

Of course, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. Let’s see actual improvements before I go talking like a crazy person.