Tyler Adams, captain of the U.S. men\u2019s national team, said the atmosphere at the Emirates stood out during Bournemouth\u2019s Premier League victory. On the Men in Blazers podcast he recalled the moment plainly: \u201cWhy\u2019s it so quiet in here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt certain moments in the game I heard our fans celebrating or cheering and it was like: \u2018Why\u2019s it so quiet in here?\u2019\u201d Adams said, underlining how subdued support for the home side felt during that lunchtime kickoff.<\/p>\n
Arsenal have long carried a reputation for a restrained crowd, a stigma that dated back to their Highbury days when opponents dubbed the ground \u201cthe Library.\u201d That tag migrated with the club to the Emirates, and Mikel Arteta has worked to improve the matchday atmosphere. Ahead of the fixture Arteta urged supporters to \u201chave an early breakfast, bring your lunch [and] bring your dinner.\u201d The noise, however, was not always evident on the day.<\/p>\n
Adams reflected on how those conditions influenced the game: \u201cThey\u2019re trying to chase a title, we\u2019re trying to chase potentially finishing in a European position, but it feels like we\u2019re playing for a little bit more in the circumstances,\u201d Adams damningly reflected. \u201cI think it can be really difficult when you\u2019re in an environment like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe told ourselves before the game we had to put ourselves in their shoes,\u201d Adams explained. \u201cThey have a whole lot to play for. We have a lot to play for but it\u2019s a different circumstance when you\u2019re chasing a title.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew it was probably going to be a little bit nervy, and if one things goes wrong, and the fans start getting a little bit anxious, and I think we played into that occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early on the crowd\u2019s nerves were obvious: every Ben White throw-in was not taken quickly enough, backwards passes drew groans and Bournemouth\u2019s forward moves prompted audible gasps. Adams added: \u201cYou can tell early on, when they\u2019re trying to play out from the back, that there was a sense of nervousness,\u201d the USMNT captain explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing was, the team was playing well. Arsenal in the first five, 10 minutes played some of the best football they did in that game, and you saw they were confident.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it just takes one little error, one little mistake, and the fans get a little bit nervy. That\u2019s a difficult atmosphere to play in and thrive in when you\u2019re trying to chase a championship. Because we talk about them like they\u2019re not sitting first in the table still.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an opposition it\u2019s the best thing too hear. When you\u2019re playing an away game and all of a sudden it feels like the momentum is swinging and it feels like a home game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tyler Adams says Emirates silence helped Bournemouth as Arsenal\u2019s nerves showed in defeat. at Emirates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,739,172],"tags":[984,1006,1601],"class_list":["post-12657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-bournemouth","category-epl","tag-ben-white","tag-captaincy","tag-fan-atmosphere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}