OLIVER HOLT: Read the definition of suffocation… This is not that Arsenal team. We should admire them, not insult them

The idea of ​​“choking” in sport is very stigmatized.

It is used as an insult, an accusation of weakness that implies a lack of character and an absence of moral fiber.

Many academic articles have been written on this subject. Maybe one day they’ll write one about Arsenal and the end of the 2023-24 season.

But are Arsenal’s credentials in this delicate matter really fully established? I do not think so.

I was at the Emirates last Tuesday when they played poorly against a Bayern Munich side who had a desperately disappointing season in the Bundesliga and drew 2-2 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

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It felt like Arsenal were intimidated by Bayern’s European pedigree and underperformed. Bayern, on the other hand, played above themselves.

When Arsenal lost at home to a fine Aston Villa side on Sunday and found themselves two points behind Manchester City in the title race, they were immediately accused of losing their nerve.

In their 2013 article, “Defining Choking in Sport: Re-Conceptualization and Debate,” published in the International Journal of Sport Psychology, Christopher Mesagno and Denise Hill defined choking as “an acute and considerable decrease of skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety in the face of perceived pressure.”

So even though Arsenal didn’t play well against Bayern or Villa, it seems both harsh and lazy to talk about them being stifling. For starters, they’re not out of anything yet.

The odds will be against them at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night, but they are good enough to get a result there if they play to their potential.

And did they really choke against Villa? I do not think so. They came up against a team who have shown repeatedly this season that they are capable of exceptional performances and who have an increasing chance of qualifying for the Champions League. They lost a match. They are still in the title race.

Arsenal got off to a perfect start in their Champions League first leg against Bayern.

Harry Kane came back to haunt them as he gave Bayern a 2-1 lead, but Arsenal hit back

Leandro Trossard allowed both teams to return to Bavaria with the score tied at 2-2.

If you want real-life examples of choking, you could do worse than being at Augusta this week.

Not because of what happened this year, where Scottie Scheffler remained rock solid in the final round on Sunday as a series of rivals tried to overturn his lead, but because of what passed here in the past.

Two of the biggest chokes in sports happened at Augusta National. Sir Nick Faldo, who last week could often be found sitting at his favorite table on the clubhouse balcony, chatting with friends and watching today’s stars on their way to the first tee, caused a of those chokes when he relentlessly destroyed Greg Norman’s six-shot. leader at the Masters in 1996.

And Rory McIlroy, who still seems scarred by experience and still unsuccessfully trying to win the Masters, suffered one of the most famous collapses in tournament history in 2011 when he entered the final round with four shots ahead, only to give up seven shots in six holes and finish tied for 15th.

Both Norman and McIlroy fit the academic and popular idea of ​​a stranglehold. Arsenal do not.

Greg Norman (left) choked on the final day of the 1996 Masters as Nick Faldo (right) won

Rory McIlroy endured a disastrous final round to knock him out of the Masters lead in 2011.

It’s not as if, this season in particular, they have already been so far ahead of City or Liverpool that not winning the title would seem far-fetched.

On the contrary, they have clawed their way through the competition, achieving results without playing as well as last season.

They don’t choke. Maybe they’re not good enough, but that remains to be proven and either way it’s a whole different thing.

The truth is that everyone expected City to win the title this season and everyone continued to expect City to win it. After all, they are trying to win an unprecedented fourth straight title. They are one of the greatest teams English football has ever known.

If you lose to Goliath, it’s not a choke. It is simply bowing to a superior force. This is what I don’t like about the idea that Arsenal ‘bottled everything’ in the Premier League because of a defeat against Aston Villa.

They have faced City for most of the season. They took four points away from them in their two matches. They have shown resilience and character in abundance to get here.

Yes, I thought their performance against Bayern was disappointing and they were impressed by their opponents’ history.

But they drew 2-2. And they finished the game strong, not soft. They have not disappeared. They did not submit when Bayern took the lead in the first half. They were dominated, certainly, but they refused to give in. It’s not stuffy.

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City increased their goal difference by beating Luton 5-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.

Last season, Mikel Arteta’s side lost a lead at the top of the Premier League with three successive draws in April against weaker teams and a crushing defeat to City.

Arsenal are stronger and tougher than that now. This is a team on the rise. This is a team that is getting closer and closer.

I think this iteration of Arsenal is too good to disappear again. It’s not the same as thinking they’re going to win the title, but it’s the same as thinking they’re now full of players who won’t stay quiet into the night. Villa was always going to be a tough game and the gap to City is only two points.

Arsenal and Arteta deserve our admiration for what they have achieved this season. If they don’t win the league, it won’t be because they were clones of Norman or McIlroy.

It won’t be because they’re not made of the right material, or because they lack cojones, or because they choked. It will be because Manchester City were better.

I’m sure I remember hearing impressionable people say that not only was Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly the smartest man in the room, but that his new policy of spending huge sums of money for every football player he watched, payments spread over long periods of time were the way forward that everyone was too stupid to see.

How strange then that there appears to be some concern that Chelsea’s new accounts show a wage bill well over £400 million and a club desperately trying to cut its losses by selling property to a sister company.

Todd Boehly and Chelsea are suddenly alarmed after their payroll skyrocketed.

Oh, and Chelsea are mid-table, almost 30 points behind leaders Manchester City, although I’m sure Chelsea have built some ‘modeling’ that shows they should actually be first.

Until this modeling turns into something real, perhaps English football should be spared Boehly’s smug lectures about his financial acumen.

In his lengthy paean to greed in The Times last week, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters wrote that the organization was “in positive dialogue with the EFL and the FA, with the aim of ensuring the future of the game with a lasting settlement on key issues.” problems’.

That sound you hear echoing across the pitches of all 72 EFL clubs is bitter, incredulous laughter.