By Daily Sports on June 1, 2017

Arsenal surprised many football followers all over the world by beating almighty Chelsea (2-1), who are the newly crowned champions of the English league, in a pulsating FA Cup final match in London’s Wembley Stadium last Saturday. The Gunners were very much the underdogs in the game given that they had failed to qualify for the Champions League and finishing a huge 18 points off Chelsea in the table.

But the form books were upset when Arsenal showed up at Wembley with guts and outplayed Chelsea to emerge as the club that has won more FA Cups in the history of English football.

The Gunners played with intelligence, matching Chelsea’s 3-4-3 formation and proved to be the more tactically and technically accomplished team of the day.

One player who surprised many though with his display for Arsenal was captain Per Metersaker. There, was a player who hadn’t started a competitive football for about a year after suffering a big injury before the start of the season. Given the fact that he is 32 and has never been a fast defender, Arsenal were heading for a horror showing against Chelsea with him and with the other three first choice centre-backs of the club out injured or suspended (as was the case of vice captain Laurent Koscielny)

But Metersaker held Arsenal’s defence together firmly against Chelsea, playing with calm intelligence and a presence of personality that ensured that young defence partner Rob Holding and left-back cum central defender Nacho Monreal had a reliable last man to trust.

Metersaker has been injury-free for months now but was not selected to start a premier league game as manager Arsene Wenger opted to use his other centre backs as the season reached its finale. As Captain of the squad, it would have been easy for Per to lose focus and self-belief which could have led him to sulking and thereby contaminating the team spirit in camp.

When you are a professional and you feel under employed, it is a firm psychological test to keep your spirit up and to continue to be a positive influence within your organization. Metersaker passed that test in flying colours. Reports have it and Wenger confirmed that even though he was not being selected for games, Metersaker continued to work hard in training and, at the most trying time for The Gunners, when results were not going well during the dreadful February and March period, with fans turning on the manager and the players, Metersaker was an inspiration to his teammates as he showed strong leadership and motivational qualities in keeping up the spirit of the players. It was a show of selflessness that has now been rewarded not only with praises but with the bright prospects of being employed by the club as coach when his playing days are over.

Young Nigerian grassroots players can learn from Per Metersaker on how to stay focused and keeping a good attitude in times of personal difficulty.

Like I always argue, players have to learn values such as loyalty, perseverance, an ability to lose (whether a match or your shirt) with grace and so forth. These values not only contribute to making a player better in the round leather but can also make him a better human being and can put the player in good stead to get something bigger in life beyond playing matches.

Unfortunately, when many young players are not selected for matches, they always lay the blame on the Coach or someone else in the club. They feel unfairly treated and apply a my-way-or-the-highway attitude in dealing with tough conditions and end up ungracefully exiting the club after doing their best to create a bad blood in the team as they seek to take their revenge on the coach for daring not to select them.

Of course, it must be noted as well that some coaches and clubs do not treat their players (especially those at the fringes of the first team) with enough respect. Some coaches lack the ability of showing comprehensive respect to players who are not being selected and that could contribute to the players doing their utmost to fight back by spoiling team spirit. But two wrongs do not make a right, as the saying goes.

Per Metersaker’s journey as a disciplined player who leveraged tough conditions (by working hard for himself and his club) to become a bigger hero for Arsenal and to improve his career prospects is one big example for young players to copy.

Source Daily Sports

Posted June 1, 2017

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