Premier League Alert, This Arsenal team is for real.

When you feel you know something well, you have the level of confidence (or conceit) that if another person were to tell you differently on the subject, you’d mop the floor with them if a debate ensued. Two things I know extremely well, sports in general is one, the other is Football. And I am not talking about American football friends; I am talking about World Futbol as we have it aptly named on this site. I know the beautiful game in and out as if I had played it at the highest level for years, I didn’t. But I have been following the sport since I was a child, and the team I follow closer than any other is my Arsenal. So let me be the next one to say it in case you’ve already heard, Arsenal is back, and it’s not a sham.

 If you pay close enough attention to any sport, not just football, certain things are done or said (in some instances both) to put you on alert as a fan. Something happened during the last day of this summer’s transfer window that let me know ok, Arsenal is going to be the old Arsenal again this season and I couldn’t wait. You may be under the impression the event that brought on my epiphany was the signing of Mesut Ozil, it was not. As much as that signing was a stroke of genius by Arsene Wenger, it was the signing that didn’t happen, and from the manager that didn’t allow said signing to occur that put me on alert.

Jose Mourinho has coached some of the biggest clubs in world football, has won two Champions League titles, won league titles in four different European countries, and had this absolutely deft slide in a suit I probably couldn’t afford in two life-times.

Courtesy of overthebridge.info

So when Mou speaks, I listen. On the last day of the transfer window Arsenal also tried to get a back-up striker to ease the burden on Olivier Giroud, and to also give Giroud competition. The signing of another quality striker would have helped Arsenal immensely. The striker Arsenal went for was Chelsea’s Demba Ba, a proven Premier League big game striker. Ba has not had the level of success at Chelsea that he did during his time under Alan Pardew at New Castle United. Once Mourinho came back to Chelsea and brought in Samuel Eto’o and kept faith in the floundering Spaniard Fernando Torres, it seemed as if Ba would be surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge.

So Wenger made a call to Stamford Bridge and it seemed in the closing hours of the transfer window Arsenal would add another striker; that is until Mourinho realized we just signed Mesut Ozil, possibly the best number 10 on Earth. He immediately pulled the plug on the transfer, smart man. When asked why he did not allow Ba to move to Arsenal, Mourinho said because with the signing of Ozil, Arsenal was a title contender. Wow. I know some people would chalk that up to legendary Mourinho mind games. I wouldn’t, do you know why? Arsenal are currently sitting atop the Premier League after 8 games, they haven’t hit full throttle yet, they’re just now getting Santi Cazorla back, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski are still out; and oh yeah, their display on Saturday against Norwich City was pure-class. The Gooners won 4-1 against Norwich, and the goals they were scoring were nothing short of Blaugrana-Esqu, for those of you who don’t know the Blaugrana are Barcelona. (Don’t worry; I’m here to help new football fans). The one touch passing, the tiki-taka football, the decisiveness in the box, ball possession, closing down on the ball, the works. This was vintage Arsenal and current day Barcelona at it’s best. The goal between Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud had Xavi  & Eto’o written all over it.

Courtesy of ftw.usatoday.com

Then came Aaron Ramsey’s goal that was so eerily similar to many of the goals scored by Lionel Messi, that both that announcer and I said it at the same time, this is Messi-esqu. Ramsey’s goal showed the sort of small space control, dribbling and artistry that makes Messi the best footballer on Earth. To pull off goals like that you have to be in a space mentally that just tells you “don’t worry guys, I got this,” and in his current form Ramsey is in that mental space.

There were mental lapses against Norwich that we’ve seen in recent Arsenal sides. The team is so talented that they take their foot off the gas pedal and coast for portions of the game, and that allows the other team to creep back into the game. Arsenal has lost the equity with fans that allow us to not panic when your team is only up by one goal. Too many time during this trophy-less run Arsenal have given up an equalizer late or lost games period that we should have won. So when an opposing team scores to bring the deficit to one, we are still nervous. We are still missing that little bit of Patrick Viera/Gilberto Silva mentality. We still play beautiful football, but we have to be a little more ruthless when closing out opponents.

Regardless, Saturday’s game and the entire season as a whole have been up lifting for Arsenal and its entire fan base. I wrote a piece not too long ago asking was this Arsenal team for real? Every week this Arsenal team is answering that question for me on the pitch, just how it’s supposed to be.