The below article contains spoilers for All or Nothing: Arsenal.
The key takeaway from the first three episodes of All or Nothing: Arsenal, is that Bukayo Saka is the best of us and needs to be protected at all costs. As the show sadly reminds us, following the doomed penalty shootout in the European Cup Final last year, Saka and other England players were subjected to racist abuse across social media. It is deeply abhorrent, but sadly, perhaps not surprising. However, a backlash to the heinous backlash showed that despite there being a minority of sad, bitter, repugnant ‘fans’, the vast majority of people saw their attacks as a springboard for inclusivity, support and praise.
When Saka returned to Arsenal after the tournament, the club had covered a wall with letters, cards and gifts from people – Arsenal fans or not – registering their love and support for the winger. A fantastic thing, but proof that Saka’s profile has exploded, and he now has to contend with that.
“If you step to take a penalty, you are a hero for me,” explains club legend Thierry Henry in an interview in the show. “For me, what [Saka] is doing right now, and how humble he is, it’s great because he’s from the academy. He’s Arsenal through and through. But people do not realise the pressure of being the one [from the academy] that’s going to make it, people do not care about how you feel as a human being, and this is where it becomes difficult.”
In the canteen, Saka explains to fellow players that despite wearing a hoody and a mask, staff at his local supermarket spotted him and asked for pictures, and that he simply can’t do “normal things” anymore. Saka is a mercurial talent and by all accounts, an adored member of the Arsenal and national teams, so shouldn’t he just be left alone to play his game?
The 'All or Nothing' concept has traditionally given viewers a shiny, less-filtered view inside England’s biggest football clubs. It has somewhat lifted the lid on the inner workings of transfers, the man-management tactics of leading coaches and the bond – or lack thereof – between players. But these first three episodes of the Arsenal edition offer something new: a view on the mental welfare of players and staff in the modern game.
The first episode covers Arsenal’s disastrous, three-loss start to last season, and describes a toxic energy directed at the club as the bad results mount. Social media was awash with abuse for the team, and following the Chelsea game, fans blocked Arteta’s car from leaving the stadium so they could bark insults through the window. In an interview for the show, even internet entertainer and alleged Arsenal fan KSI said “being an Arsenal fan right now sucks. Let’s be honest. There’s nothing to really cheer about. Too many lows, especially when we used to have so many highs. It’s tragic.” (KSI recently announced that his energy drink, co-owned with fellow YouTuber Logan Paul, will sponsor Arsenal as the club’s official hydration partner.)
At the nadir, owner Josh Kroenke consoles Arteta, suggesting they circle the wagons. “The only guys you can trust are the ones in the room with you,” he says. For an Arsenal fan, it’s compelling to see how the team dealt with one of the most difficult moments in recent history, but for the neutrals, it’s insight into what happens when a too-big-to-fail brand starts to wobble, and how the humans within cope.
Enter Carlos Cuesta, the club’s individual development coach, who we first meet chatting to Saka about how to shake off the hangover of the Euros. “People think that because you live the dream, your life is easy, but you face a lot of problems that nobody faces. The only thing you need is to play, to enjoy, to be yourself.” Saka agrees and Cuesta smiles warmly, somewhere between an inspirational teacher and a proud older brother (and with the boyband good looks of a TikTok icon). There is a vaguely icky corporateness to Cuesta’s tack, but he is something of a prodigy, apparently, speaking six languages and joining Arsenal after working at Atletico Madrid and Juventus, and he’s still in his mid-twenties. Many teams are investing in coaches focused on the uniqueness of players, so it would seem Arsenal and Cuesta are leading the way. But what does the club do when a player’s issue isn’t completely to do with football?
The most poignant moment of the inaugural trio of episodes is when Kieran Tierney speaks about moving down to London from Scotland and leaving his family behind. “It was hard to start with, I was really struggling, a real low point and the homesickness was terrible. Outside training we had a lot of time to think, and I’m not saying I was ever in a bad place where it was suicidal, but my friends have been. Two or three of them have committed suicide and you’re with these people and you don’t know a thing because they haven’t spoken.” Tierney says he’s out the other side of it now, but without this show people might never have known it even happened. In truth, many simply wouldn’t care.
The prevailing narrative around footballers is that they are overpaid, overpampered boys that can’t be trusted with all the money and play fast and loose with loyalty and adulation. They do get paid a lot of money, and due to the intake system of the industry, they are likely infantilised and anti-socialised to a certain extent. But there is grim, lonely truth to being a professional footballer, and amongst all the passion and striving and moments of elation, All or Nothing: Arsenal has chosen to shine a light on it. That should be applauded.
