How Arsenal’s controlled emotion beat Manchester City – and proved they have grown

The clock was pointing to the 85th minute when the ball went out of play next to Mikel Arteta. As he prepared to oversee the throw-in, he took a moment to turn to the supporters behind him and waved his arm around to give them more encouragement. come. energy. Now is the time.

The crowd responded with a visceral roar.

On the next attack, Gabriel Martinelli’s drive skimmed the face of Nathan Ake and went inside. In a breathless, giddy moment of elation, everyone understood the deeper meaning as Arsenal finally set themselves up to conquer Manchester City. It’s been a very long time.

It was a performance that showed Arsenal’s growth. For a team that has been criticized for being too emotional, failing to overcome high-pressure situations and stumbling on unforced errors, this victory was built on conservative and thoughtful control. Of course there were emotions, lots of emotions at the end, but they were controlled emotions. There’s a big difference.

Arsenal’s players tried to be punctual. They had to maintain extreme focus and confidence and choose moments to step up from there, sometimes even frustrating the crowd’s urge for more adventure. Such an approach was understandable. Maintaining group discipline was an important principle as they were frequently schooled by the City.

There have been significant contributions in this regard from William Saliba, Gabriel and Declan Rice. This trio of his totems ensured a fruitless afternoon for Erling Haaland (Personal xG: 0.00). All of them had to be top class.

It feels very different from Haaland’s Arsenal struggles last season, when Rob Holding was his substitute and Saliba and, of course, Rice were still missing.

Arteta’s side were in top form technically, tactically and psychologically. It was a far cry from last season, when there was a chorus of themes about Arsenal being an emotional, or more appropriately, too emotional team.

Thierry Henry, the great Arsenal player and now TV analyst, said at the time: You can feel the emotions rising, but don’t get emotional. You can feel it, but it shouldn’t happen. ”

This is interesting because it’s very difficult to expect athletes to know to put on the brakes at some point, especially against the toughest of opponents, in the heat of the moment.

We also recognize that some level of emotion is required.

Sports are not robots. It is unpredictable and the mood within one match is changeable and capricious. It depends on many intangible things: adrenaline, concentration, resilience, confidence, expressiveness, control, spontaneity. How on earth can an individual track all of this in real time?

Also, excess emotion is not necessarily a bad thing. Just last week in the Champions League, Newcastle’s frenzied and adrenaline-filled game was a huge factor in their memorable victory over Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal themselves felt it, too, with the lens of excitement the night before. Liverpool’s Croppist sentiment has been central to an era of high competitiveness. Tottenham are riding the crest of an Ange-shaped wave of new possibilities.

Emotions can be incredible fuel. However, it can also catch fire and reduce good things to ashes. Overall, Arsenal found a sweet spot in managing their emotions against City. After a shaky opening 10 minutes, they moved much closer to the game than usual for a game of this size.

“They (City) are always asking questions and provoking and the crowd wants you to leave, leave, leave,” Arteta said. “With what they’re doing, we don’t go and the crowd reacts. We have to manage that. Emotionally, chasing 15 or 20 passes is a no-brainer. It’s not easy, but you have to be able to do it. With this team, you can’t give the ball away every time, so you have to have the courage to play. The players were great.

“We beat the best team in the world. We did it in a great way because there were moments where we had to suffer and there were moments where we showed real desire, determination and belief to beat them. I accomplished it.”

On the other side of the pitch, Arsenal wanted to stick to their plan.

David Raya received some stick for spending untold time (and risk) on his kicks, but Arteta was pleased because it was what he wanted. That meant setting the ball before playing it. Martin Odegaard led the press with extraordinary dedication. Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah tried to harass City as much as possible.

Substitutions, not always Arsenal’s strength, worked perfectly. All four second-half substitutes contributed to the goal, including Thomas Partey’s lofted ball, Takehiro Tomiyasu’s centre-forward run, Kai Havertz’s hold-up and lay-off, and Martinelli’s strike.

It was great for Arsenal to achieve a memorable victory without Bukayo Saka, ensuring that he will be fully fit when the Premier League resumes away to Chelsea on October 21st. I hope you will.

When Arsenal have dropped points this season, they have been demoralized by the pressure of trying to keep pace with Pep Guardiola’s standard-bearers. They had a complex about Manchester City. As much as they wanted to focus on themselves, they were thinking about catching up with the eternal champions. It’s human nature.

Now they have a positive experience that helps them change their feelings towards a particular opponent.

I learned something about Arsenal from this match. They also learned that they can achieve the best results if they can balance a desperate desire to do well with finely tuned focus and dedication.

Have psychological barriers been removed?

“That was something we had to go through,” Arteta said. “To beat them, we have to lose to them – probably the same as we lost at the Etihad (4-1 in April). Today’s team showed real maturity from experience. Sometimes that’s what you need to be a good team.”

(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)