Let’s face it – Arsenal don’t yet have that killer instinct to win the title

First it was just the FA cup, then it was the new manager bounce, then VAR, now it’s “at least we have a game in hand”. A winning mentality doesn’t bear excuses. Look at all the great champions across different sports and how they approach their games.

For example, when world chess champion Magnus Carlsen loses a game, he doesn’t just want revenge. He’s out to crush the guy. Killer instinct is a must if you want to win titles. Bobby Fischer was one asked what was his best moment in a game of chess and he said it’s when you break the opponents spirit. When he knows he’s lost and there’s nothing he can do.

Physcology in football is not that different. I remember United teams winning titles with the likes of Anderson, Ashley Young, Valencia and so on. They weren’t great, but when they needed a result, they’d get it. When they played us they knew we were the better footballing team so they changed it up to still beat us.

That is a trait a manager of ours hasn’t had since George Graham probably. Arteta is so obsessed with this one style of play and we’ve been found out. When will we look at ourselves and admit the mistakes made with the squad?

The players have burned out. We make very few change before the game or in fact it is as well. We don’t do subs because our manager doesn’t trust the bench and we didn’t recruit good enough players to help is win the title. I no longer think we’re winning it. Even Arteta keeps banging on about how short the team is, but it’s his squad in his 4th season.

Tierney and Martinelli are two players suffering from the managers played favorism. One can’t get in the team despite being a better defender, and the other is the automatic first sub, because our system isolates him, because there are no overlaps. Jesus was great catalyst for the game of Martinelli, but he’s out as well.

We could try Trossard through the middle, but we’re stuck with Eddie even though he missed 2 sitters against City. What did their players do? They took their chances. We’ve become shaky at defense and bleak in attack. Vieira barely plays in the team even though Odegaard has been poor in 3 consecutive games. You see how Pep had De Bruyne dropped for some games and what does he do, when he came back in? Brought his A game to earn a spot back in the team.

Winning the title these days requires sometimes a run of 10+ wins in a row. This team and manager cannot do it. And we’re crumbling under the pressure. Same thing as last year.

I just want to finish on this. People should be a little more careful when calling others “true” or “fake” fans. A football fan goes through the entire emontonal spectre and it’s part of what makes it so great. It’s the agendas that are the problem.

Being overly positive when it’s clearly going wrong is just as bad as being toxic when things are alright. I’ve given the team enough praise when it was deserved and I will criticize it when it’s throwing away a golden chance of a league title.

Expectations change with circumstances. A race driver wouldn’t suddenly hit the breaks if he’s leading the race, just because he wasn’t expected to be in the lead. Nor should we accept top 4, which might be a problem if we play like we do on the last 3 weeks. I’ve seen us for years live to make top 4 only to not have any chance in the CL afterwards.

The ambition should be to sit on the very top. If not, there’s another club in North London. They settle for whatever. We shouldn’t.