The Title Race - Balancing Quality with Belief

What an odd weekend!

For as long as anyone can remember football’s talking heads have sat scratching their chins, philosophising about the psychological aspect of the game and how much confidence affects a result.

As an Arsenal fan I cringe when we lose and an ex-player or sympathetic pundit puts a clumsy defeat down to ‘a lack of confidence’.

I mean for chrissakes. These are athletes who are the best of the best of the best. Of the hundreds of millions of young men who play football week in week out, they are in the top 500 bracket.

Confidence shouldn’t even be a factor anymore; if you get that far and still don’t believe in yourself, there’s something very wrong with you.

Well at least, that’s what I thought until I witnessed Chelsea’s self belief crumble, as their previously watertight defence conceded nine goals in three games.

A side so bullishly self-assured choked in an unlikely sequence of fixtures: embarrassed by Blackburn, defeated by vulnerable Man City, frustrated by lowly Apoel Nicosia and stumped by struggling Everton.

It’s difficult to put such dips in form down to tactical error or lapses in concentration when your team is topping the league, undefeated in Europe. A poor result can be carried by the mightiest club like a wound, a chink in the armour exploited.

Or it can be shrugged off, as Manchester United have historically done so astutely, and accepted as a brief lapse before full focus it placed on victory in the next game, an immediate return to glory.

Perhaps it is testament to how long United’s players have spent together that they possess such resilience. Who would bet against them putting Wolves to the sword midweek, quenching the frustration of defeat by raining goals on the away end?

Chelsea’s squad is certainly very familiar with itself, but they have a new manager now and are still learning how to be Ancellotti’s Chelsea, diamonds and all.

Arsenal has suffered from continuous transition in recent years and seem to be settling into themselves finally.

Any step backwards has been followed by two steps forwards, and the team’s response to Wenger’s half time dressing-down at Anfield confirms the emergence of that elusive backbone so long sought after.

Meanwhile, despite having a huge squad and a midfield to die for, Spurs still don’t actually believe that they really could challenge for the title (they really could) and followed their astonishing obliteration of Wigan with two draws and a defeat.

On the basis of quality alone Chelsea will win the league, but on the balance of quality and self-belief then it will be United.

If the other contenders can tip the scales in their favour we could have a very interesting title run-in, in a league which is wide open like never before.


Enjoy the mid-week games.



AP