A team united, a manager listened. The 97/98 title race

By Merlion
January 7 2025

The team was shaken by the fans’ reaction to the Blackburn Rovers defeat. On the following Monday morning, the team decided to call a meeting at Sopwell House to clear the air and the way forward. Fingers were pointed, blame and harsh home truths expressed. The key issue was aired by the Fab-4 – lack of protection from Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.

Arsenal next game was against Wimbledon on 22 December. Arsenal was playing badly and the game was scoreless when the floodlights failed early in the second half. The game was postponed and rescheduled. It turned out that it was a scam run by Far East betting syndicates. It was a blessing in disguise for Arsenal. The postponed game was the springboard for Arsenal to return to form.

Two days later, Arsenal held their team Christmas night out at the London Café de Paris. Tony Adams reiterated the grievances aired at Sopwell House showdown, this time going directly to Arsene Wenger at the lack of protection from midfield owed to the backline. Arsene Wenger was very approachable, very sympathetic to his players’ point of view, listened and took all opinions into consideration.

Arsenal’s fight back to save their season began on Boxing Day by beating Leicester City, and drew with Tiny Totts to closed out 1997. Arsenal began 1998 still in 6th place and 12 points (albeit with a game in hand) behind Manchester United.

In February, ManU was still 12 points clear at the top of the Table. Fred Done, a ManU-supporting bookmaker paid out on bets that ManU will win a 5th EPL title in 6 years by season’s end.

Arsenal went on an 18-game unbeaten run, beating Everton 4-0 to win the title at the 36th game. Arsenal kept 12 clean sheets out of last 14 games run to 36th game. Alex Manninger set a new EPL record by keeping 6 successive league game clean sheets. Arsenal lost the last 2 games to prepare for the FA Cup Final.

Currently, we are 6 points behind Liverpool (and win a game in hand), in a much better position than the 1997/98 team. After the morale boosting wins against Monaco and Crystal Palace, we are posed for a run in 2025, an unbeaten run well within our capability. The fate lies in hands o Mikel Arteta to work out a solution in the absence of Saka. The consolation is that Jesus and Martinelli had found their shooting boots and are playing with new found confidence.

Our Defence is solid with the Twin Tower and with Timber and Calafiori as wingback. The key is a healthy squad by February such that Arteta can rotate players and with viable options to select players to suit opposition. The worry is that we have only one reliable goalie in David Raya and we do not have a “Alex Manniger” to step in. The key is that the squad remains healthy till Tomi and White are ready to play in February.

The Midfield depends very much on Odegaard to up his performances to another level and with much creativity. Currently, he is not playing to his potential and lacks that vision to execute through balls and lack mobility to play “give and go” like Salah with one-two and drive into the box as a goal scoring threat. The blame lies with Arteta who have yet to come out with a solution to counter low block effective with Odegaard’s ability to hold the ball and to execute accurate through balls. Instead, in desperation during 2nd half when it is scoreless, Odegaard and rest of midfield started to lob balls into the box without 2 or 3 Arsenal players there challenging for the lobs. This reflects the failure of the team to develop communication and understanding each other preferences and movements into the box. And it also results in Saka being individualistic and trying too hard to dribble through the low block when passing options are non-existence. It is the sheer brilliance of Saka carrying the team so far. Without Saka, it will be Odegaard and Rice who will carry the playmaking job now. Not forgetting that Merino is still not up to speed yet and he will certainly find his footing by February the more minutes he played.

Goal scoring prowess by Forward-Line must improve. It is Arteta who now has to devise the tactical formation to bring the best out of a rejuvenated and confident Jesus, a Martinelli who is playing with more confidence and a Havertz who is able to drift into more goal-scoring spaces created by the movements of Jesus and Martinelli. Havertz had been spending more time in midfield to hunt for the balls and he is not a natural no. 9 who is always available to receive the ball. No. 9 is Jesus’ job. What Havertz does best is as a deep-lying striker coming in deep into spaces after Jesus and Martinelli had pulled the Defence into disarray with their movements and pace. As an example, before Myappe, both Vinicus Jr and Rodryk are highly mobile, cutting inwards and moving outwards, creating openings for Bellingham to drive into the centre. Deep thinking required for Arteta to rethink and refine his tactical formation for an attacking team without Saka now.

As long as we are still within touching distance of Liverpool and Chelski by end-February, and with Saka predicted to return in March, there is every possibility we can win he 2024/25 title as long as there is no more April/May Collapse. If the 1997/98 team was 12 points (with a game in hand) behind ManU in February, why can’t we go on an Unbeaten Run, with at least 15 wins, in 2025 to win the title?

Posted by: Arsenal Times (IP Logged)

Date: 07/01/2025 10:13

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:01:15:10:04:50 by Flava.