'Radio Jorginho' using experience to lead Arsenal's title charge

RADIO JORGINHO: Arsenal's Jorginho scores against Lens in the Champions League. Photo credit: John Walton/PA Wire.

Arsenal 2 Wolves 1

Less experienced Arsenal players will be well advised to listen to the advice of a player the Italians call 'The Professor' as they look to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League table with two testing away matches this week.

Italian European Championship winner Jorginho will experience the delights of Luton Town for the first time on Tuesday night. He has done his homework and will be ready.

The midfielder, who appeared briefly to help see this match over the line, is a player Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta coveted for his former club Manchester City. So, it is understandable why he pushed so hard for Arsenal to sign him when he was made available buy Chelsea in last January’s transfer window.

The €15million fee was a snip in the modern market, especially for a player barely 30 and a serial trophy winner for club and country.

Now Arteta is using the player, also known as 'Radio Jorginho', for the way he controls play and talks continually during matches, to guide his young title pretenders into closing out close encounters of the Premier League kind.

His role against a spirited Wolves was to come on as a late ‘finisher’ and help ensure his younger Arsenal team-mates did not throw away a hard fought three points.

Early goals from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka were in danger of being cancelled out b after a lapse in concentration gifted wounded Wolves a route back in via Matheus Cunha goal.

“We need to finish the game before so we don't put ourselves in that situation again,” Jorginho pointed out afterwards.

“I think we managed the pressure well, keeping them away from our box. I don't remember any other dangerous chance. The most important thing was to win the game.

“My role is to do my best as well as helping my teammates and the people in the game. In this match, when you have things completely under control you must remember the game is never finished.” 

That Jorginho conducts all this wearing a smart pair of black rimmed glasses, makes him appear even more professorial and so easy to learn from. One can almost imagine him following Arteta into management. Their views are closely aligned.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Arteta used some choice words at halt-time even though Arsenal were two ahead and in relative control.

Jorginho explained why and added: “it was because for 30 minutes, we were one team and the last 15 was another team. He could see the game was changing and he wanted to get the team back on track. So, that's why he did that at halftime.”

Jorginho highlighted the need to push for goals three, four and five when they had Wolves on the rack. That way, he explained, would have avoided the nervous finish to an otherwise routine win. In truth, if Arsenal had bettered their six goals against Lens in the last game here it would not have flattered them.

“Unnecessary’ was the one-word analysis of how this one ended from Edu, Invincible midfielder now Arsenal director of football operations, while we waited to get a more detailed analysis from Jorginho.

Turning his thoughts to Luton and then a potentially even tougher challenge at Aston Villa on Saturday, Jorginho added: “To win games, you need to be strong defensively first, and then with the quality that we have in the team we are going to score.

"It's something that the team is learning; how important it is to defend. When I say defend it is not just the backline, but the whole team. Seeing [Gabriel] Martinelli on the flag to defend and then sprinting 100 metres to shoot against the post is unbelievable, but that’s the mentality that we need to have. And that's the mentality that we have.”

He could have pointed out how Arsenal top the table with the best defensive record in the division. But lapses in concentration and attitude that allowed Wolves a glimpse of glory in this match are still part of the make-up of this side.

Jorginho reflected: “Concentration and focus is important. Without it, then you get comfortable when the game looks easy. You start a little bit to play around and try to enjoy the ball. Then, I think we need to put in our in our mind that we also enjoy scoring goals, not just to play around and invite the pressure and situations that we don't need.

“I think it's something that we will learn so quickly because we could see in this game the boys are so intelligent and they can see what's important.

“I try to communicate a lot and try to help my teammates with my body language and with my voice and to actually show, to help them to finish the game and win the game. As I said, the game is not finished until the referee blow the whistle so you need to keep pushing keep fighting until the end.”

Arsenal: Raya 6, Tomiyasu 7 (White 79), Saliba 6, Gabriel 6, Zinchenko 6, Odegaard 8 (Jorginho 90+3), Rice 7, Trossard 6, Saka 8 (Kiwior 90+3), Gabriel Jesus 7 (Nketiah 68), Martinelli 6 (Havertz 79).

Subs: Ramsdale, Soares, Nelson, Elneny.

Wolves: Sa 5 (Bentley 23), H Bueno 5 (Doherty 63), Kilman 6, Dawson 6, Gomes 6, Nelson Semedo 6, Bellegarde 5 (Sarabia 62), Traore 6, Doyle 6 (Kalajdzic 90+3), Hwang Hee-chan 6, Matheus Cunha 6.

Subs: S Bueno, Fabio Silva, Chirewa, Whittingham, Hubner.

Referee: Peter Bankes 5.

Attendance: 60,262.