Arsene Wenger's new Orchestra

A one, a two, a one, two, three, four… [The intro abruptly starts]

What is this new Arsenal that we see right now? It seems to me like a coalescing of both Wenger eras, by which I mean the steely ‘Invincible’ period of the past, and the more current era of technicality across the pitch. It's almost comparable to musical clash between heavy metal vs. Mozart; a loud thumping sound, with an underlying smooth melody that makes a hostage of your senses, in some ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ kind of way.

Confession: I don’t really know much about Mozart, it just seemed like the hipster thing to say. Not to say this article is like… hipster-ish, but you know… Ok maybe I could compare it to a mash-up, a la Jhené Aiko and Linkin Park for the sake of my readers that are, just like me, not versed in the world of classical music. Another confession: I have a crush on Jhené Aiko. Anyway, I’m going to stick with the Heavy metal/classical juxtaposition, but you can just consciously replace them in your mind as Linkin Park and Jhené Aiko. Deal? Deal!

So where was I? Oh, ok… So this new Arsenal, is different, right? I mean before everything was so silky to the detriment of lacking substance. One week, Arsenal would go down one end and perform the perfect team goal. However, another week, Arsenal would go down to a myriad of defensive mishaps. Thus, all style no substance, like a intro to a song, expecting for the lyrics to come, but they just never do, and the poor fans who fork out money for extortionate ticket prices week after week were fooled into thinking the drop of the beat would come, but it never did.

So again, what is this new Arsenal that we see nowadays? I see substance now. This feels like a band, no, an orchestra, and more of a team. There's something else. This is a new sound that this team is producing that I'm not used to hearing. A collision of two competing sounds, but it works, it sounds [flips through the dictionary] magnificent. Who is its leader? Who is the conductor of this symphony?

What's an orchestra without its conductor? Probably a civilisation that I want no part of, and neither should you [shivers]. Let's go deeper. What is Arsenal sans a Mesut Özil? Well we've seen it, and I can tell you that it's not pretty. Özil is the classical tone that blends seamlessly with the heavy metal of his peers. Without him, the orchestra is directionless. Just watching the German sauntering around the pitch is watching him at the helm, waving the baton with lithe, yet graceful arm movements, keeping his team in tune. Such a fine performance can have you thankfully lost in the grandeur.

Mesut Özil has come under...

[A heavy strum of an electric guitar halts my train of though]

Finished? Good. Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry dubbed Coquelin as, 'The Policeman' - if only all policemen were like Coquelin, we could allow our kids to play in the streets free from the many vices that plague our dystopian society. The term 'Policeman' on the pitch denotes that he cleans up the green streets whilst his comrades conjure up a symphony, however it would be wrong to exclude the Frenchmen from such adulation. He's more than just someone that breaks up play, intercepts, and clinically tackles - I mean, he does do all of that - but in the same motion, sets up his teammates for a counter-attacking move. He is at times the first note played at the start of a melody. That is his role in this orchestra.

Behind Coquelin, comes the real backbone of this new sound; the important 'substance' that I was eluding to earlier. The backbone of this orchestra comes from Arsenal's back five. Petr Cech, Arsenal's only signing this summer, has played a vital role for the team. To win the league, your goalkeeper will have to save you between 10-15 points a season, and Cech is halfway through this mission. You needn't clairvoyance to know of Cech's world-class keeping abilities. However, his defensive quartet; Bellerin, Mertesacker, /Gabriel/, Koscienly and Monreal - who I imagine are the drummers of this orchestra - have shown such a steely resolve thus far. Their understanding has hardened and they even kept out a Bayern team that could not stop scoring, even if you were allowed to field two goalkeepers in goal at the same time.

"Are you rushing? Or are you dragging?" If you know this movie reference, then major kudos to you. If you haven't seen the film, 'Whiplash', then I implore you to watch it, and then come back to this very paragraph. Back to Arsenal, and the frontmen aka the zealous violinists of this orchestra; Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, and Aaron Ramsey have portrayed the counter-attacking football of the old Wenger period (the invincible season). Although, it's still needs some work, because are they rushing or are they dragging? It's ok if you don't know; I won't launch a chair at your heads like Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) did to Andrew (Miles Teller) in the film (see, I told you you should watch it). Are they rushing their passes, their runs, or are they dragging them? Practice makes perfect, and the players will have to find the answer themselves, if they're to keep in tune with this orchestra, or else the strings of the violin may snap off. Just ask the hamstring of Aaron Ramsey.

Finally, the professor, Arsene Wenger, who is an alumni of all things beautiful ends the performance with a slight tap of the triangle; a very underestimated instrument. A new portrayal of Arsenal is on show these days, and I implore you to grab a seat. You just got to hope that this new sound is enough to challenge the multi-billion studio of Manchester City to the title. Now let the sounds of this football club echo throughout the terraces of the Emirates stadium

[The outro steadily fades out]

Yvens Tiamou