Without delving into stereotypes too deeply, there has always been a belief that a British player offers you guts, hard work and a willingness to lay their bodies on the line. Looking at some of the most successful teams in the past decade or so, there has always been a British core at the centre of title winning teams. Chelsea have had it with Terry, Cole and Lampard, United had it with Ferdinand, Carrick, Giggs, Scholes and Fletcher, among others. Even Man City, with all their billions of pounds, saw fit to centre their team around a stable Gareth Barry. Whilst I’m sure you will find similar players from any nation, I think Wenger’s recent push for British talent was two fold; firstly all of these players are of the required quality to make it at Arsenal football club if they knuckle down and work hard, they demonstrate what a bright future the club has and the faith we have shown in them is being repaid. Secondly, as they have been part of this squad now for a few years and they all seem to have broken through at roughly the same time, with the

New Found Resilience

Another impressive result and another goal for Ramsey sees us sitting nicely at the top of the table after 6 games. Who would have thought after the Villa game, we would have responded in the manner that we have. The football has not always been scintillating but it has been effective; something which is unusual for an Arsenal side. But where has this effective style of football come from? Whilst there is no definitive answer, there are clues emanating from our style of play that point in a key direction.

The British Core

Firstly, at the unveiling of our lovely away kit this year, it was obvious that the club were pushing the British core to the forefront of our image. We have 6 young, hardworking and talented British players at the club who have all signed new long term contracts; they are, within reason, the future of the club. I will not delve into what each individually brings to the squad as that is a matter for another article. I do not believe there is a great difference in their technical ability compared with our other squad members but they do seem to bring something different to the squad.

Without delving into stereotypes too deeply, there has always been a belief that a British player offers you guts, hard work and a willingness to lay their bodies on the line. Looking at some of the most successful teams in the past decade or so, there has always been a British core at the centre of title winning teams. Chelsea have had it with Terry, Cole and Lampard, United had it with Ferdinand, Carrick, Giggs, Scholes and Fletcher, among others. Even Man City, with all their billions of pounds, saw fit to centre their team around a stable Gareth Barry. Whilst I’m sure you will find similar players from any nation, I think Wenger’s recent push for British talent was two fold; firstly all of these players are of the required quality to make it at Arsenal football club if they knuckle down and work hard, they demonstrate what a bright future the club has and the faith we have shown in them is being repaid. Secondly, as they have been part of this squad now for a few years and they all seem to have broken through at roughly the same time, with the exception of Walcott, it will be much more difficult (not impossible) for any of these players to leave Arsenal for a rival club, either abroad or domestically. There seems to be a unity amongst them, a friendship that is being bred on the training ground and in matches where they are willing to fight for each other. Could the recent hard fought victories be a result of the unity of the squad, a willingness to really work for each other and not give up? I have seen this with United under Ferguson for so long, an irritating ability to carve out victories from the jaws of defeat. Mayhaps we are seeing it at Arsenal.

Partnerships

Of course, recognition does not solely belong to the British players at the club, there are other factors for our new found resilience. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have established a fine partnership at the heart of our defence; they have a great understanding of where they should be and their abilities compliment each other well. Mertesacker offers a calmness and authoritative presence at the back, taking responsibility to set up the team and take possession of the ball as often as possible. In comparison, Koscielny is a completely different beast, he is a torture to play against, he hassles you, nips in and breaks up attacks. It is not the most glamorous style of play; it is not the composed ball playing centre back that Mertesacker or Ferdinand are depicted as, nor is it the chest thumping, head the ball, wall of defence that Terry or Vidic are. It is an effective style that is made to look even better with Per’s calm presence beside it.

Old School Midfield

In front of our defence we have a midfield that have struck up an excellent understanding given that they were only recently introduced to eachother. Flamini was brought in as a stop gap, someone to fill in for Arteta if and when he was injured. We have had to use him much earlier than we would have liked but having done so, we have found ourselves with someone who will not only provide backup for Arteta but genuinely challenge him for the position of holding midfielder. It looks likely that Wenger will revert back to Arteta once he returns given his stature in the club and his style of play but for the last few games Flamini has really impressed. He harasses and niggles at midfielders and attackers, he breaks up play by fouling in the right areas and he is vocal. It has been a long time since I have seen a player pounding their chest and screaming at others to get into position, in fact I’d have to go as far back as Keown for us, it is something that seems to have died out of the game in recent years. We don’t have players like Keane, Gattuso, Vieira bounding about the pitch, shouting instructions and getting involved in scrapes with the opposition; maybe it is an old fashioned way of playing. Players are paid extortionate amounts of money to play and train everyday, they should not need extra encouragement or motivation; but for me, I quite like it. It’s good to see someone showing emotion on the pitch and I think teammates like to see it as well. The rallying cry helps to wake the team up and the resilience reappears before we find ourselves chasing the game.

Squad Unity and Balance

For years, I have lamented the unbalanced nature of our squad; on too many occasions we have had fantastic youth players coming through but not enough experience around them to lead and guide them to their all important first trophy.

This is an undoubtedly a talented squad, a lot of our younger players are coming of age, such as Szsceny in goal, Gibbs at full back and Rambo in the middle and whilst many may point to the maturity of the young players that have won us recent games, it is important to remember that this maturity may not have come about if it wasn’t for the guidance of some of our more senior players, such as Arteta, Mertesacker, Podolski and Carzola. It is important at all football clubs to have members of the squad to look up to, to try and emulate but also individuals that are supportive and caring. Now it is somewhat difficult for me to tell you the dynamic of the Arsenal squad but there seems to be a great unity in the squad and whilst there may be a few cliques, (you may have noticed the Germans love to hang out with each other and Giroud and Koscielny seem inseparable on tour) the older players seem to encourage the younger ones a lot and do a lot for team morale.

For those that doubt the imp
act of squad unity, you need only look at some of the disruptive influences that have graced the Emirates turf over the last decade to know that Wenger and co will not stand for such. Players like Alex Song, Kolo Toure and Adebayor were sold because of their behaviour, in fact I believe Wenger sold Toure and Adebayor because he believed them to be a bad influence on Song at the time. William Gallas was another disruptive influence in the club. As a player you want to win, but I imagine playing with a group of friends and winning is all the more enjoyable.

Know Your Place

Alongside the morale of the club, there seems to be a clarity of responsibility. Each squad member seems to know their role, players seem to have cemented positions in the club, there is no folly about Walcott playing upfront and we have partnerships developing throughout the squad. What is intriguing, is the situation with Giroud; it was obvious that we were and still are looking for another striker, but what is unclear is whether it is as competition for Giroud or someone to take over his spot relegating him to back up. Giroud’s style of play has become integral to our success, he is strong and quick and his goal scoring has exceeded expectations so far but his defending is also crucial to our current form. He is an added bonus at defending set pieces and he works hard off the ball. On too many occasions we’ve been hurt by a corner or free kick where we didn’t clear our lines; Giroud’s physicality has helped to change that. These traits may not be those of a world class striker but he’s doing a world class job for us at the moment.

The Bould and the Beautiful

Finally, I think it would be unjust not to recognise the efforts of the staff behind the team. Wenger, as always, has tried to set his team up in attacking, attractive style of play but I think Bould also has a say about the personnel, the formation and the way we play. I think both have helped to create a unique blend of flair and work rate, a mixture of improvisation going forward and structure at the back. Bould has helped build a platform for which our more dynamic players can ply their trade. We look as if we have been spending time on the training ground working on set pieces, defending and attacking. Not only that, we also seem to pinpoint threats in our opponents game, something Wenger has previously said he does not do, rather preferring to focus on our own game.

All of these factors have blended together to help us climb to the top of the table. We are playing some scintillating football, whilst grinding out results in other games.

Long may it continue!

JR