The one thing I have noticed about teams that have won titles, is that they take their chances – I mean even the one chance you would consider slightest, to win a football match. Pundits have termed it ‘champion’s luck’ but in actual sense, every team has this champions luck. What makes the difference is that some teams take these chances and win titles; others do not and end up in the championship! While others stay in there but without a title (am talking about Arsenal).
At Arsenal, the ‘small opportunities’ come so often, but how many times have we took them? Answer that you Gooners! Small opportunities make champions for they win football games at any costLet us look at them.
Set pieces.
At Arsenal, follow the rules of the game in that, if a set piece is awarded, we go for it and take it. The question is; what do we gain from such set pieces? Is it nothing or something? It is actually either of the two. In this season alone, we have won several corners and free kicks. If you think the rate at which we convert set pieces is impressive then perhaps you have a different outlook! One set piece can win a football game. I think we should not make it a formality that we are ought to take free kicks but we should ensure that make the best out of them.
Decision Making.
It is amazing how some people down play the role of decision making in winning soccer games. Doing this would actually mean ignoring the role of psychology in the game – this is highly dangerous. At Arsenal, many points have been lost to poor decision making. In fact, any point we have lost, a decision poorly taken can be spotted.
I will not take you too far, the game against Blackburn was our last loss and IF Gervinho has released RVP10, we would have stretched the lead to 3-1. Knowing how goal margins change the whole course of games [sometimes even the game plans], this simple decision would have won the game for Arsenal. Am not trying to blame Gervinho for his decision; and besides, I respect everyone’s decision, what am trying to put across is that good decision-making wins games.
If we are to avert such ‘blunders of the mind’, we need to approach games with an enterprising approach – with a lot of ease and enjoyment. This comes with knowing that there 10 other players on the park and not you alone; and above all, the players bearing in mind that the decisions they take not only affect them, but also the entire team and its season.
Taking Chances.
Everyone misses chances, even some of the world’s greatest players like Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry have failed to put away some of the easiest chances. However, if missing chances becomes your second name, then there is a problem somewhere. For all ye Gooners, this point is very clear – as a crystal. A champion needs only one chance to finish off the game.
The way we miss the easiest chances at Arsenal is crazy, at some instances, I have come to reduce all these misses to lack of motivation on the park and maybe some ‘dressing room issues’. At this point, learning to take our chances in order to maximise our opportunities is the way to go.
Avoiding Bookings.
A team can afford a yellow card if a scoring opportunity is to be averted. Reckless bookings sometimes enter the minds of players hence reducing their productivity on the pitch. This comes in an effort to not to commit a second bookable offence. In addition, such bookings carry match bans that range from one to three games; this means a team not having its valuable players for some games and sometimes-vital games. For instance, we have seen Alex Song’s work rate cut short by a booking and this has cost us valuable points.
Overall, as we endeavor to put our season on the right course, let us hope that our team ARSENAL learns to take the “small opportunities” as important ones – at least for once. Am thoroughly confident that if we do, titles will come our way.
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