Arsenal Are Not Boring. The Teams That Play Arsenal Are.

As Jamie Carragher has recently said, one of the clearest indications a football club is in a great place is when the debate switches from whether the team are winning to how they are winning. There is no team close to experiencing this more than Arsenal. 

When Arsenal won the league for the first time in 22 years, the main discourse Arsenal fans were forced to hear was not how impressive it was to finally get over the line, or how they had beaten one of the greatest club sides in Premier League history, who we now know to have committed industrial-level cheating or even how Arteta became the second youngest manager ever to win the league. Instead, it was dominated by discussions around set pieces and their style of play. 

It's a strange thing to be criticised for, especially when it led to beating the other nineteen teams in the league. Most expected that once Arsenal did break their hoodoo of finishing second, the argument would end, but instead it only changed. 

The set-piece debate has been the go-to shorthand for dismissing the achievements of this Arsenal team. Yes, Arsenal score from corners (well, not this season so far). In the previous campaign, Arsenal scored a record nineteen goals from corners and twenty-five from set-pieces, but this shouldn't be a criticism. Arteta has spoken about margins throughout his time at Arsenal and this was a key example. Corners are a vital part of the game, which takes rehearsal, individual quality and coaching, hence the increase in screen time for many set piece coaches. This is exactly what we praise for every other aspect in the game, but for Arsenal it was different. When a team scores from pressing well, it's called intensity. When Arsenal score from corners it's boring or cheating. 

But this season, Arsenal aren't doing well from set pieces and yet the narrative surrounding Arsenal, even after winning ten out of twelve, is still a negative one. And is impressively, even the more baffling. What often goes unappreciated is Arsenal's open play threat and quality. Apart from one penalty at Sunderland, every other goal Arsenal have scored this season has come from open play. There has been numerous examples of Arsenal this season playing free flowing football and being to many exciting to watch. Arsenal have the fourth highest expected goal (xG) in the league this season with 11.93, whilst generating the third highest xG per shot. Not bad for a team many struggle to watch. 

So the main question is where does this label of "unwatchable" arise from? Largely from the opposition. Arsenal spend much of the Premier League season facing sides who have no interest in playing football against them, which to be clear is no criticism. Every team has every right to play the way that has the most chance of winning that game, and against Arsenal, many teams are aware they can't compete with the quality the Gunners have if they go toe to toe. Matches become stale as Arsenal pass and probe attempting to find a way through a block which has eleven men behind the ball, with no better recent example than Nottingham Forest. It took Arsenal until the 80th minute to break the deadlock, and yet still get the blame for it not being more of a spectacle, despite only one team really trying to win the game. 

Then came Wednesday night in Munich. 

Having been at the game myself, if you wanted a single game to settle the “boring” argument, this was it. Four goals, two elite sides, and chances at both ends throughout. On the rare occasion a team deems themselves good enough to play Arsenal the way Bayern Munich did, what transcends is a simply a fantastic game of football. It was the same Arsenal, with the same manager and the same principles that are supposedly “unwatchable” every other weekend. The issue many have is that they can't separate their own personal feelings about Arsenal and the objective truth. 

Many fans are not bored of watching Arsenal's style of play. They are bored of watching Arsenal win and be successful. There were no problems with Arsenal's style of play when they were well beaten away at Brighton, or when Arsenal fought back against Bayern Munich to secure a 2-2 draw. This noise has surrounded Arsenal for the past few years, as they developed under Arteta and became of the most dominant club sides in England again. 

The Arsenal manager has spoken before about outside noise, and the importance of using it effectively. Arsenal mastered that last season and it won't affect them this season either. Arteta is not going to change his successful Arsenal way to appease others and Arsenal fans should do their best to channel their inner Arteta and ignore the outside noise as well. For as long as Arsenal are successful, they will be unpopular. It's a natural course for a big football club and it's something Arsenal should embrace, not shy away from. 

The point worth making, plainly is that the Arsenal entertainment factor was never missing. It is being prevented and it's on Arsenal to find a way around that. It’s lazy analysis that Arsenal are boring, and when Arsenal play elite footballing teams, the low-blocks, time wasting and counter-attack-only mentality disappear, allowing Arsenal to showcase what they do so well. 

Arsenal are not boring. The teams that play Arsenal are. `