Credit must certainly go to Arteta and his boys for having the hutzpah to take the game boldly to the Red Devils with some final semblance of organizational order and savvy to look more like the Arsenal boys of old instead of the raggedy motley crew that the League couldn’t take seriously at all the last few months.
The players all seemed to finally take cognizance of what was required of their individual, and collective, roles on the pitch from the get-go regardless of whether they had possession of the ball or not. This was the significant difference that clearly stood out compared to the way they just couldn’t hold it together against Chelsea in the second half and were subsequently made to pay the price for their dissolution.
Under Arteta’s astute helmsmanship, the Gunners showed no signs at all of confusion as they plunged headlong into battle, making concerted forays into enemy territory with precision and teamwork as they kept to their new boss’ carefully laid-out strategies. Evidently, the groundwork that the Spaniard had carefully set in place even against Bournemouth and Chelsea had taken root and beginning to bear the early fruits, much to even Arteta’s own surprise.
The overall execution of their gameplan had improved much with clinical precision attacking and much more coordinated defensive play as a team united, instead of playing as disparate individuals without even the foggiest of what they were even vaguely supposed to do before Arteta’s timely arrival.
Arteta’s tactical foresight and managerial prudence led him to identify key players he knew he could mold and play the way he expected them to even at this early juncture of his takeover, players with the prerequisites and Arsenal DNA that he urgently needs to inculcate into the entire team almost overnight! Granit Xhaka was hastily recalled from sick leave together with a not-quite-ready-for-action Sead Kolasinac. Then, the most expensive club signing member who didn’t seem to fit anywhere in the line-up under Emery’s short-lived reign, Nicolas Pepe, was given his first start nod and blessings.
All the players, none exempted, rose to the challenge and waged their finest battle to date. The results say it all. Arsenal is certainly savouring their most deserved moments of resurrection and are beginning to rise from the ashes. If they can keep this up and continue to pick up the pace against Everton in the 6 Jan match-up, this is certainly a precursor of what’s to come for the revitalised Gunners!