Kieran Tierney says Arsenal are growing in confidence and belief as their hard work on the training ground comes to fruition in big games.
The Gunners picked up where they left off at the beginning of the month by picking up more silverware at Wembley, this time beating Premier League champions Liverpool on penalties to secure the Community Shield.
Having beaten the Reds in the league at the tail-end of last season and overcome Manchester City and Chelsea on the way to FA Cup success, Mikel Arteta’s squad are on a roll against England’s bigger clubs.
While there’s still much work to do – evidenced by the 45 point gap that separated Arsenal and Liverpool in the league last season – Tierney is pleased that his teammates are showing the required level of belief and effort to compete week in, week out.
“The spirit is one of the main things in the changing room, belief and spirit and we’ve got that, we’re building on it,” he told Arsenal.com. “We’re just looking to continue and keep building this way.
“I think that comes from the manager and the staff. It’s continued from what we’ve done last season and building on it. When we came back in last week we’ve just continued. We’ve never had too long off so last season doesn’t feel too long ago.
“Coming into games like this we’re starting to believe more and more and I think that’s what it’s all about, belief and spirit.
“Mikel’s drilled that into us since day one, defensive organisation and the transition. That’s what we do every day in training, we watch videos on it. It’s not by luck and it’s not by chance. It’s by hard work.
“The fans and the club deserve to be in the Champions League. They deserve to be top four and we want to do as well as we can, as best as we can and put up a fight in every single came we come up against this year.”
Becoming more and more excited aout whats ahead!
Those games against city with no shots on target, battered by liverpool, collapsing v Chelsea, stupid goals given away straight after we’ve scored..etc..etc..early days I know but the belief Miki and his staff has instilled in our players in such a short time is thrilling, by the time us fans are allowed in to support our team hopefully unlike the last time I wasn’t convinced we can confidently sing WE’VE GOT OUR ARSENAL BACK
The best left back ever
Take it easy, mate. He’s good, but he’s not up to the standard of Bob McNab, Kenny Samson, or Nigel Winterburn. Or, it pains me to say it, Ashley Cole.
But he’s a fine player and has the potential to get up amongst those names.
40 thumbs down (and counting) for Bob McNab, Kenny Sansom and Nigel Winterburn.
Man, that’s a lot of ignorance.
I think the thumbs down are more to do with the fact that Gudang was quite clearly joking and you swung and missed with your comment.
Oh, it was a joke. Very good. Ha-ha and all that. Crack, there goes another rib.
?
yawn
Not sure why the down-votes. Cole, it pains me even more to say, was the best left fullback of the lot, probably the last English player who was best in the world at his position. There is no correlation between being a good football player and a decent human being (this is known as the second law of Terry-dynamics).
What… no Sammy Nelson in your list. “Sammy’s gonna get yer, Sammy’s gonna get yer, Sammy’s gonna get yer…”
Top post mate. How indeed could I forget Sammy? A squad member of the 70/71 double side and of course, a big part in all those late 70’s/ early 80’s Cup Finals.
I was in the North Bank the night he scored and then dropped his shorts – that was hilarious. Great player.
*Sansom.
(Fucking auto-correct)
Oh the Irony, after you called me out for mispelling Sansom’s name a while back ???
That being the case, does that then make you any better at dealing with auto-correct than me?
Erm, no it doesn’t…..
Auto-correct makes no difference in gender, race, belief, language…..perhaps not.
Quality
Potentially
It shall come to pass. Pun intended ?
Ashley Cole was fucking incredible and I don’t mind saying it even though he’s a cunt. However, Tierney definitely has the potential to be better than him
Those full backs were great… in their day. The game has moved on even since Ash Cole. Tierney is already top of his class and getting better. He is such an intelligent player and is awesome in a back three.
Can’t compare him with our legends of the past.
Can’t have a lighthearted comment in here can we? 🙂
But in seriousness, surely Andre Santos is the best. No contest.
TGLBTEL
You can clearly see how motivated our players are. One thing Arteta has changed is the mentality. We have beaten Liv (twice) , City and Chelsea in last month or so. If we add proper midfielders then we can definitely finish top 4 as for me, Arteta is better coach than Ole and Lampard.
…as for me, Arteta is a better coach than Ole and Lampard (put together)
Next skipper
Now that is a good call. Yep, he definitely has potential to become the next skipper after Auba.
KT has amazing Attributes as a Human Being!!!! That’s why he is an Outstanding Athlete!!!! Sets High Standards ; Humane; Team Player and very HUMBLE!!!! MOTIVATOR!!! AND LEADS BY EXAMPLE!!!KT KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!!
This is definitely right. A few months ago, when we came up against the really big teams I’d be thinking, I don’t know whether I’ll bother watching this; we are going to get battered. Now, I’ll think we’ve got a really good chance. We are organised, we are defending properly, we are motivated, we have decisive, tactically-aware coaching from the touchline and we have Aubameyang upfront. I would say if we had this level of defensive organisation and in-game management from 2006 to 2017, with the players we had, Arsene would have won 3 or 4 more titles.
Agree about the Wenger point but that must be down entirely to Wenger and his staff. No point in going over old ground, but plenty of people remarked about it at the time – to no obvious effect. An opportunity missed.
2007/2008 season still haunts me smh
It wasn’t the defensive organisation, it was the quality of the defenders. Wenger didn’t suddenly change the way Arsenal played in 2007- 17, he always maintained his in-game philosophy. What he didn’t have for that final decade of his time was defenders who were up to the same standards as Adams, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Campbell, Toure, Cole and Lauren. Instead, we had selection of jokers that included Senderos, Silvestre, Gallas, Eboue, Squillaci, Santos, Miguel – and, Drum roll please….topping the lot…..to see us safely out of the ECL and Wenger safely out of the Emirates – Mustafi. In other words,… Read more »
Would you defend your way out of a paper bag?
What are you defending?
Surely you should be defending the paper bag itself? So you should be in the outside.
Maybe you should stay in the bag if that suits you.
We also had Szczesny, Clichy, Sagna, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker and Holding. Decent defenders.
Hope we can improve performances against lower teams now – Brighton, Villa, Spuds.
Hope for the same thing.
I’m cautious though since the tactics of playing from the back against the big teams cannot be used against the lower teams as they tend to be a low block (aka park the bus and counter).
Creativity and sustained pressure are the key and currently this is (kind of) added by Willian. Haven’t seen him in action for gooners yet so let’s see how much improvement he does for us.
Coyg
100% correct and it’s a quality that, if we’re honest, has been absent from the team/squad generally (not everyone) over several seasons now. Good to see it’s back and what a difference it’s made in a relatively short time.
Scotland now know how to use both Tierney and Robertson together. Their two best players. One as a wingback and the other in back 3.
Well nobody’s getting in down their left at least
IIRC Tierney actually plays right back for Scotland, a real testament to his versatility.
He’s played right back before but it doesn’t really work. I want Tierney at LCB so they can both play in a position that suits them.
I must admit I am getting more optimistic by the day. Beaten Liverpool twice now in succession, doesn’t matter that it was only the *community shield*, both teams clearly wanted to win it! And did you see Kieran charging up the left wing just before Auba scored? Last time I saw someone running that fast up the left wing it was speedy Marc Overmars!
Glad someone finally mentioned. Great job in distracting Neco Wiiliams’ attention from Aubameyang. Love to see it.
Something is definitely solidifying in the spine, the core, the grit of this team. Mikel has brought the calcium – forgive me.
He’s gradually becoming one of the finest LB
The belief ,togetherness and relentless work the players display is truly profound, I can’t ask for more as a fan, Win or loose I am 100% backing a team and manager showing genuine desire. If we aggregate the talent of our squad and compare with rivals, it looks tough to compete. But With Arteta very capable of getting the majority to raise their game, we may only be a few signings away, some more depth to be reckoned as a top 4 squad. From a tactical point, arteta seems to integrate an interesting ability to Adjust how our team plays… Read more »
There’s been an obvious and continuing improvement but I don’t think we should get too carried away quite yet – particularly before a single ball has been kicked in the new PL season. Yes, we’ve certainly got a lot better since Arteta took over and he’s done a fantastic job with the squad in a relatively short time. However, several of the teams above us last season aren’t standing still waiting for us to catch them up and they have already, or almost certainly will be, improving their squads. Realistically, an automatic Europa League place and hopefully a cup win… Read more »
Gunning for top 4 is not the same as expecting it to happen m8, As long as they give it their all I am with the team. I am however tryin to pinpoint what may be our strength in comparison to rivals, true or not.
Tesco Tierney
Just reading the headline of the article alone sent chills down my spine!
Tierney is quickly becoming my favourite arsenal.
Yeah but it’s a lot easier to watch videos of defensive organization when you have a big Tesco bag to bring the videotapes home. Not everyone is blessed with a large collection of Tesco bags!
/s
Djourou, senderos, Walcott, Gibbs, just to name a few players you saw season after season, with no improvements in their skills or match intelligence.
One can safely say you see the changes in the performances and attitude of xhaka, willock, amn for example. I’m anxious too see what changes there are in smith-rowe(one of the asst coaches was having a talk with him after the first preseason match).
Let’s as fans give the guys the support like the coaches are doing.
Personally, I prefer Artetas demanding management approach, it seems he is combining Arsenes boldness in playing young players with a non conditional 110% commitment from the players. While Walcott did look like a massive talent at 15, I personally think AW sacrificed both the ox and gnabry in his patience with Walcott. Yes they had injuries but when they didn’t it was clear they didn’t have close to the same bandwidth in patience from AW that Walcott enjoyed. It seems AW had decided he will make Walcott world class, period.
Definitely an element of this, though the favouring of Theo over Serge and Alex also coincidided with Theo’s best season for us.
And let’s be honest, when he was being played up top, or just coming off wide of a front three that season, rather than a more traditional winger Theo was excellent.
The problem was the injury at Sours, he never really recovered fully from that.
Shame really, I’d still love to have seen what a peak Walcott, Serge and Oxlade- Chamberlain in a front three could have been.
Ok well, that’s what football manager is for ?
Reminds me of Roberto Carlos minus the free kicks
Mikel, KT and the boys are making us proud and believing again, can’t ask for more than that. They’ve shown their capabilities and should only get better from here.
I used to recall that ppl says we cannot get any win over the big fours. And look what we have done. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but hey that’s better to start the season than all doom and gloomy right.
Off topic slightly.
Santi scored a nice goal on his debut
Can we all just pretend that it’s Santi alone hosting the WC and not Qatar?
Its Fifa that hosts the WC, that container sizes money landing in all countries that voted for them was not deliberate bribing, It accidentally fell out from the Qatar family pockets since there is not enough room to retain all the money they save from slavery work force.
If it’s about Santi, then you’re never off topic, mate.
Tierney is adding something unique to this team, ability and speed a side he is taking no prisoners, setting a very high “brave heart” standard, he is not as technically gifted as many of our other players, but he has the intelligence and desire to become a truly great player, already making me as a fan roar In joy watching him play with his heart on his sleeve.
That’s the no nonsense Sergeant Major. Always with shirt tucked in. This guy is a legend in the making.
This guy is just fantastic. Defends, attacks, fast, fiercely competitive, best crosser in the team — what’s not to love?. I swore off buying Arsenal shirts with players’ names on the back, but if I change my mind it will probably be for a Tierney jersey. More like him please, but in midfield!
Honestly, the best piece of business we did. Waiting for his injury to clear was worth it. Captain material.
Hahahaha, my beloved Xhaka is also there