It is used as an insult, an accusation of weakness that implies lack of character and absence of moral fibre.
Academic papers, a whole raft of them, have been written about it. Maybe one day, they will write one about Arsenal and the end to the 2023-24 season.
But have Arsenal’s credentials in this delicate matter really been fully established yet? I don’t think so.
I was at The Emirates last Tuesday when they played poorly against a Bayern Munich team that has had a desperately disappointing season in the Bundesliga and drew 2-2 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
It felt as if Arsenal were intimidated by Bayern’s European pedigree and under-performed. Bayern, in contrast, played above themselves.
When Arsenal lost at home to a fine Aston Villa side on Sunday and found themselves two points behind Manchester City in the title race, they were immediately accused of losing their nerve.
In their 2013 paper, ‘Definition of choking in sport: Re-conceptualization and debate’, published in the International Journal of Sport Psychology, Christopher Mesagno and Denise Hill defined choking as ‘an acute and considerable decrease in skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety under perceived pressure’.
So even though Arsenal didn’t play well against either Bayern or Villa, it feels both harsh and lazy to talk about them choking. For a start, they’re not out of anything yet.
The odds will be against them in the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night but they are good enough to get a result there if they play to their potential.
And did they really choke against Villa? I don’t think so. They came up against a side that has shown many times this season it is capable of producing outstanding displays and which is looking increasingly likely to qualify for the Champions League. They lost a game. They are still in the title race.
If you want proper examples of choking, you could do worse than to have been in Augusta this week.
Not because of what went on this year, where Scottie Scheffler stayed rock solid in the final round on Sunday as a series of rivals tried to overthrow his lead but because of what has happened here in the past.
Two of the biggest chokes in sport happened at Augusta National. Sir Nick Faldo, who could often be found last week sitting at his favourite table on the clubhouse balcony, chatting to friends and surveying today’s stars on their way to the first tee, induced one of those chokes when he relentlessly destroyed Greg Norman’s six-shot lead at the Masters in 1996.
And Rory McIlroy, who still seems scarred by the experience and is still trying without success to win the Masters, had one of the most famous meltdowns in the tournament’s history in 2011 when he went into the final round with a four-shot lead, only to drop seven strokes in six holes and finish tied for 15th.
Norman and McIlroy both fit the academic, and popular, idea of a choke. Arsenal don’t.
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