One of the biggest things that affect football is the mind-frame of the players. The impact of the psychological side of football cannot be overstated. On an individual basis, look no further than the case of Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey. A few years ago, after coming back from his injury, he wasn’t the superstar that he is now. Deprived of confidence, his performances especially when playing wide were absolutely lackluster leading to boos and jeers from even some of the most supportive Arsenal fans. In fact the disapproval rose to the extents that Wenger said he could no longer play him at the Emirates stadium.
But something changed…
“You have to get back to basics to gain confidence. Aaron accepted that, he did it and he gained confidence again. Then you saw a different player, because he is intelligent, and when I came out of the meeting I knew this guy would come back,” said Wenger looking back at what changed – and right he was.
Slowly by the end of the 2012-2013 campaign, Aaron started to play with more confidence and started to show the world what he can do. The next season, he had a breakthrough and was Arsenal’s player of the year after scoring 16 goals and getting 10 assists in all competitions despite playing just over 30 games. He is now perhaps amongst the first players to be on the team sheet for Arsene Wenger.
On a team basis, one does not have to look past the Community Shield game against Manchester City last season. Following a 3-0 win, Arsenal became a different side against the Citizens. In the past after conceding in the first half, the side would usually crumble, but that was no longer the case.
In the first Premier League match-up between the sides, a 28th minute goal from Sergio Aguero saw Manchester City take the lead, but Arsenal continued to believe and scored twice to overturn the deficit and turn it in to a 2-1 lead, however the match ended as a draw after the Gunners conceded a late goal from Martin Demichelis, but nevertheless, the new belief of the team could be seen.
Arsenal took this forward and beat the Manchester club 2-0 on the return fixture, at the Etihad Stadium. After that, the Gunners also went on to beat Liverpool at home in the Premier League and Manchester United away at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, the latter being something they hadn’t done for almost 9 years at that point.
Such is the impact of having belief. Sunday’s win will no doubt change things for Arsenal and the club’s players on both an individual and team basis. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who scored the goal yesterday will go on into the season with the belief that if he scored against the team with the best defensive record in the Premier League (2014-2015), then there is nothing stopping him from doing it against relatively weaker sides.
Hector Bellerin, the young 20-year-old right-back, will have gotten a massive boost in confidence after playing a game against the current PFA Player of the Year Eden Hazard and making him ineffective. Bellerin will now look to add on this and perform even better as the season begins. The clean sheet will see the defence gaining confidence in Petr Cech, and the 33-year-old shot stopper gaining confidence in the defence, leading to an increase of harmony and togetherness in the side.
On a team basis, it’s yet another monkey that Arsenal have off their back. The first was the glooming fact of going nearly a decade without a trophy, then there was the unfortunate inability to win against top teams. Arsenal had managed to get rid of both, but one remained; the inability to beat Chelsea and Mourinho. ‘0 wins against Mourinho’ was a stat that the opposition and journalists were not shy to use against Arsenal and Arsene, and perhaps it even played into the mind of the players and the manager in the past. But it’s over now, and Arsenal will go on into the season with the belief that now they can and should beat anyone they face, including Chelsea.
The effects however, don’t end at Arsenal. Chelsea have been brought back down to Earth, and will now be wary of the fact that they can beaten by the north London side. The adverse effect of this is that Chelsea will be even more motivated to beat Arsenal, but they will no longer have the flamboyant attitude in their minds that they won’t lose against their London rivals.
Other clubs will look to question that if Arsenal, with their previous record against Chelsea, could beat Chelsea, then why can they not? Clubs that face Arsenal on the other hand will have doubt crawl in, and they’ll question that if the Premier League champions couldn’t stop Arsenal from winning, can they themselves?
At the end of the day, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Arsenal will beat every side or even beat Chelsea again. But the positive effects of this win are shown in abundance, and they will definitely help Arsenal’s belief and lift their confidence as they go into the season to contend for the title.
