I wonder if there are any Arsenal fans who, deep down, would be willing to accept that Fabian Hurzeler makes some legitimate points.<\/p>\n
They might not like the way he described their side\u2019s tactics as \u201cnot football\u201d after Wednesday\u2019s match at the Amex Stadium. They might not appreciate his tone, the barely concealed disdain, or the fact that the manager of Brighton & Hove Albion seemed absolutely determined to get under Mikel Arteta\u2019s skin. But that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he was wrong.<\/p>\n
Watching Arsenal\u2026 it\u2019s not pretty, is it? It\u2019s not a team that will make you quicken your step, even subconsciously, if you were walking to see them play. It\u2019s not like watching Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s great Manchester United sides, or Jurgen Klopp\u2019s Liverpool, or the best Manchester City teams assembled by Pep Guardiola, Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini.<\/p>\n
Of greater relevance, perhaps, it\u2019s nothing like the peak years of Arsene Wenger when Arsenal played football of butterfly-beauty and Brian Clough, another of the sport\u2019s great purists, commented: \u201cArsenal caress a football the way I dreamed of caressing Marilyn Monroe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even now, almost a quarter of a century on, I can remember almost floating out of Elland Road\u2019s pressbox one Sunday afternoon after watching Wenger\u2019s Arsenal produce possibly the most illuminating team performance I have seen from any English team.<\/p>\n
It finished 4-1 that day against a Leeds United side who were nobody\u2019s mugs. I was working for The Guardian at the time. The headline on my match report \u2014 \u201cWenger goes for total football domination\u201d \u2014 was a measure of Arsenal\u2019s superiority, and I don\u2019t recall anyone thinking Wenger was unduly boastful when he compared his champions to the Dutch national side of the 1970s. \u201cDanger everywhere, tremendous spirit, a privilege to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was total football.\u201d<\/p>\n
The modern Arsenal will be remembered differently and, as they are currently finding out, that brings a lot of scrutiny when many people in football would still prefer to believe that the team that finishes as champions should do so, for the most part, in an aesthetically pleasing, viewer-friendly way.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n\n Mikel Arteta has Arsenal\u2019s first title in 22 years in sight (Ryan Pierse\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And yet, does anyone think that a club with Arsenal\u2019s current objectives will particularly care about the opinion of Hurzeler, or any of their critics, if they can go on from here to win the league and put to bed the accusations of being nearly men, serial bottlers, and everything else that has been slung at them?<\/p>\n Twenty-two years since the last time Arsenal showed off the championship trophy, does anyone believe it would spoil their victory parade that a line-up of critics are feeling increasingly emboldened, it seems, to question the way they have gone about it?<\/p>\n Will there be an asterisk beside Arsenal\u2019s name in the history books to remind everyone in future years about what was said of the 2025-26 title-winners: *Not hugely popular, hard to watch sometimes, and criticised by Fabian Hurzeler, among others.<\/p>\n Or is it far more likely that Arteta and his players just want to get over the line, however it is done, and that they should care little at this stage of the season for what other people think?<\/p>\n Hurzeler did, in fairness, make this point among his various complaints after his side was defeated 1-0 on Wednesday, when the losing manager remarked there was \u201conly one team who tried to play football\u201d.<\/p>\n He was aggrieved, in particular, by Arsenal\u2019s time-wasting and some of the other tactics that Arteta\u2019s team have specialised in, and which tend to be characterised as \u201cgame management\u201d in the modern football lexicon.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are different kinds of winning,\u201d said Hurzeler. \u201cIf they (Arsenal) win the Premier League, nobody will ask (in future years) how they won the Premier League. You can really feel that they will do everything to win. In the end, it is about the rules. At the moment, I have the feeling they are making their own rules.\u201d<\/p>\n There was more \u2014 lots more, in fact \u2014 and it was quite something to witness, given that most Premier League managers in these bland, media-trained days tend to avoid criticising other teams, let alone one with a seven-point lead at the top of the league.<\/p>\n \u201cI will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way,\u201d Hurzeler added in his post-match news conference. \u201cIf I asked everyone in this room if they really enjoyed this football game, I\u2019m sure maybe one would raise his arm because he is a big Arsenal fan. Besides that, no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n But isn\u2019t that the point? It might not be fun to watch, you might hate the penalty-box grappling at every set play, and you might find it strange that Arsenal take this route when their expensively assembled squad features Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and various other category-A players. Arsenal, let\u2019s be clear, are not short of outstanding footballers.<\/p>\n Yet Arteta might also be entitled to look back over the club\u2019s modern history, with all the near-misses and mockery it has attracted, and think it will be all worthwhile in the end if this is the way to achieve his target.<\/p>\n Perhaps it is also worth reminding ourselves of Arsenal\u2019s longer history here, too, and understanding that this is not the first time they have been in this position.<\/p>\n Lots of us can remember George Graham\u2019s Arsenal snatching the league from Liverpool in 1989 and the epic, almost indescribable drama of Michael Thomas scoring the decisive goal with virtually the last kick of the season.<\/p>\n \n Arsenal players celebrate their 1989 league title win at Anfield (Allsport\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yet I also remember Arsenal winning the title in more mundane circumstances a couple of years later, and the chants from rival fans of \u201cboring, boring Arsenal\u201d that accompanied it. I remember a team that was more renowned for its offside trap than brilliant, scintillating football, and this being an era when their centre-backs could cynically take advantage of there being no rules to outlaw tackling from behind.<\/p>\n It is a long time ago, admittedly, and perhaps there would be Arsenal supporters arguing that it is a distorted memory. But there were other observations, too, from people inside the game about the pre-Wenger years. \u201cIf (Osvaldo) Ardiles had gone to Arsenal,\u201d Danny Blanchflower, the former Spurs captain, once said, \u201cthey would have had him marking the opposition goalkeeper.\u201d<\/p>\n We could go back even further to the 1939 crime-thriller film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, when the team\u2019s manager, George Allison, plays himself giving a team-talk. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to watch these Trojans,\u201d he says of Arsenal\u2019s opponents. \u201cThey don\u2019t play your game \u2014 they play an attacking game.\u201d<\/p>\n Arsenal won the league on Allison\u2019s watch in 1935 and 1938, but who could be sure what rival teams made of their tactics? \u201cOne-nil to the Arsenal, and that\u2019s the way we like it,\u201d was another of his quotes.<\/p>\n The point is that success will ultimately be remembered as success. Yes, Hurzeler made some good points. And yes, I suspect many Arsenal fans know it. Sometimes, however, it is more important to win the trophies and then worry about the rest later. \u201cThe rest is bulls**t,\u201d to quote Harvey Keitel\u2019s character in Mean Streets.<\/p>\n The stakes, for Arsenal, have rarely been higher. And Arteta comes across, unapologetically, as a the-rest-is-bulls**t kind of guy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wonder if there are any Arsenal fans who, deep down, would be willing to accept that Fabian Hurzeler makes some legitimate points. 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