The talk of response and lessons learnt has always been synonymous with everything Arsenal. Such talk of responses often comes after a bad result. So it came as no surprise that old clichés were copiously repeated after the win over Manchester United in the last round of Premier League matches. That win came after the defensive debacle that plagued the team in the 3-2 defeat to Olympiacos a few days earlier in the Champions League. The players led by Theo Walcott took turns to mention how the team needed to respond to an earlier defeat, while Per Mertesacker emphasised a renewed defensive focus from the team as a result of the defeat to the Greek champions.
This talk of responses has become a common trend after a
defeat. The situation begs the question as to why the players cannot sustain a
long period of consistency by building a momentum of results, instead of
waiting for a defeat before they would play well in the next game.
There has been an uncanny knack of inconsistency and
complacency from the Arsenal players. And it seems that the team's focus is
determined by the calibre of opponents they are facing. If an opponent is a
lesser team, there seems to be an unconscious complacency that creeps into the
players that they only need to turn up to win such a match. The pattern of
result this season has reflected this. This situation was reflected by the
defeat to West Ham in the opening match of the season when the players simply
did not turn up. Many would point to the fact that West Ham have gone on to
beat both Manchester City and Liverpool
away from home. Yet it did not cover for the insipid display that was that
performance on the day.
The defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos owe much to a
bout of complacency than the rotation that was blamed for those defeats.
With the key matches coming up after the international break,
the question is whether the performance against Manchester United would be the
standard for the rest of the season or it was just a stand out display that
this Arsenal team is capable of once in a season? For all intent and purpose,
the team can follow up that win against Louis van Gaal's side with a dire
display against Watford this weekend. And the
same team that has gone on to lose two of its opening group matches in the
champions league can also go on to beat Bayern Munich a week on Tuesday. That
is essentially the world of Arsenal, one littered with inconsistency.
Alot would ride on the ability of the team to stay switched
on defensively for the reminder of the season especially in matches where they
are expected to win on paper. Arsene Wenger's teams have seldom lacked the
capacity to create chances; rather it is the capacity to stop leaking goals
that has been an albatross for most of this team's life span.
Will an Arsenal team attach the same level of focus in a
match against Manchester United, to a match against Watford?
The answer obviously lies in between which is where the
manager comes in. It is Arsene Wenger who has to denounce the culture of
complacency that has become a recurrent theme every season, where the nature of
opponents determines the level of focus the team decides to accord a fixture.
Wins against any opponents in the Premier League brings the three points irrespective
of the opponent, so the level of focus should not be different, rather the same
effort that should be geared towards winning against a lesser team should be
given to a bigger team.
It would take detour from this maliase that has hunted
Arsenal for seasons for this issue not to be revisited, because it has happened
on more than one occasion this season, where the team needed a defeat to jolt
them into action in the next couple of matches. Yet for a team that aspire to
achieve great things this season, it must cultivate a culture of consistency
and not wait for a defeat to a lesser team before coming out to mention a
respond and renewed focus.
It was something Petr Cech harped on in an interview in his
homeland last week when he mentioned that the team has to learn how to cut out
emotional moments which causes a lack of focus, According to him, it was what caused
the defeat to Olympiacos in the Champions League. Such emotional moments stem
from losing focus or wanting to hurriedly get a match won which could lead to
ball been given away that could cause an opposition goal.
The buck will never stop ending with the manager which
is Arsene Wenger, it would take more than just repeated talks in the media
about how his team needs to respond and focus for it to really attain anything
near that. Talk has to consisten
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