After a run of 5 defeats in 8 games, and dropping out of the Top Four, Arsenal have stuck to Wenger’s formula and suddenly decided to pick up the pace again when our place in next season’s Champions League became in jeopardy. This is like a broken record for Arsenal fans, as this sequence of events seems to occur in every campaign for the last 5 or 6 years.
It seems to be that once we get destroyed by one of the big teams in the Last 16 of the Champions League, the Arsenal team lose form and confidence for a couple of months, and then suddenly remember that they still need to make Top Four to make sure that our cycle can continue next season as well.
As Wenger said after yesterday’s game: “I must say, individually when the confidence is high in the team, you see that all the players play well.
“I think this result is a continuity of what we have done during the week. We played well against Man United, we played well at Southampton and again here. So overall, I think we had an exceptional performance, we have a great team spirit and I am very proud of what we did.
“We have not a lot of recovery because the games come very thick and fast and we just have to maintain the focus and prepare well for the next one.”
We have always managed to get the Top Four in previous seasons but this time though our final placing does not lay in our hands as we await the outcome of Liverpool’s game against West Ham, and there are arguments that if we do not make the Top Four and play in the Europa League instead, then maybe we won’t get the sudden drop in confidence we get every year after being slaughtered in the Champions League.
Obviously I would prefer to play against the giants of Europe, but avoiding them next season may allow the team to keep their confidence in the Premiership for longer and stay in the title race until the closing stages. I’m simply not sure what is best for the club in the long run.
What do you think?
Darren N
Liverpool battered Westham today. This is what you get when you allow Watford, Everton, Southampton, and Crystal Palace to beat you. Arsenal players are not just serious in almost every game. Shame on them all. I’m very disappointed.
I think that top 4 looks very distant all of a sudden…..tbh I’m not bothered as long as this doesn’t effect who we can buy in the summer, and, more importantly,doesn;t effect who stays i.e. our goal/assist machine energy freak superman that can score on one leg
Well if we consider last summer, I don’t think our purchases were the types of who wouldnt come to a Europa League side.
Alexis Sanchez has reportedly agreed a move to Bayern Munich.
-Alexis prefers Bayern move over PSG, Chelsea, City and Inter who are all interested.
-Bayern have apparently been given the ‘ok’ by Alexis.
-German club set to open negotiations with Arsenal.
-Chilean allegedly demanding £427kpw.
To think that dropping out of the top four might not affect who we buy is a very myopic point of view (IMO). Not getting top four will affect who we buy, who stays and the effort needed to get back into the premier league’s elite top four next season.
I personally hope that we do not linger in the Europa league so that we can concentrate on domestic matters.
who comes to play at a non ucl team who also has huge issues w leadership, certainly not world class players. why do we lose cesc? nasri? rvp? soon ozil? soon sanchez? why?
Those people left even with UCL every season, what made them leave is the ambition of the club, 4th is like a trophy and failure is rewarded with more improved contracts.. if you want titles leave Arsenal, it has always been like that, with or without UCL.
thats my point, but now w/o ucl, and a really crazy manager situation, how to attract?
I just want Wenger gone at d end of d season…
?? Winning a quadruple next season is far more realistic,mate.??
I think it’s better to miss out on UCL for the long run.
Barcelona, before they beat Arsenal in the final missed out on UCL the season before or a few seasons beofre that, they came back stronger and now are one of the best 5 teams in Europe for the past 10 seasons.
Juve also missed out, got demoted to Serie B, and it is only in the last 3-4 seasons they’ve come up the ranks again.
Bayern Munich, were ashamed to miss out on top 3 in Bundesliga in 08-09 season I believe. They entered Europa, where they got thrashed by Arshavins Zenit st etersburg in the semi 4-0.
Aletico biuilt their team on Europa foundation from some succes in Europa, now they too are amongst the big 5.
The only one I missed out is Real. There was a patch of 5 season Were Real were really bad, always getting out of last 16 in UCl like us. They didn’t miss out on UCL becuase there weren’t any better teams than them at the time. They got their succes mainly through heavy spending as was always the case.
SO there you go above are the best 5 teams in Europe. Most of them had to miss out on UCL to become better. Whilst that was happening, they made many changes. I doubt we will see that in Arsenal? I doubt it.
They all had a board who were in it to win something.
All our board want to do is nothing and let the idiot make the same mistakes year after year.
Europa or no Europa we have no chance of challenging for the PL – not with that manager or with those players.
I feel to challenge again we need seven or eight top players
A GK, LB, RB, CB, HM, RW, LW and CF
Cannot see that happening though…
like @ HA559 said, change is necessary and that’s what Arsenal needs if we are to progress.
hahahahahaha……….massive destruction for the hammers
.
MORAL LESSON: Next time, don’t put your destiny in another team’s hands!
Liverpool will probably go and lose at home to Middlesbrough now that they got the harder game out of the way, a draw would be good enough for us, as long as we win our last two games.
Man city could still fork up as well, with WBA at home & Watford away.
Call it what you like, scratched record or GroundHog Destiny, either way the same old ?? always = a Wenger trophy at the end of it.?
It’s not over until the fat bitch sings?
It would be typical Liverpool if they won the harder game and lost the easier one. Having said that West Ham didn’t exactly make it “Hard” for them today. I can’t believe how Ayew managed to miss from about 1 metre from the goal line!
Gutted about no champions league, but we never win it anyways so who cares. I just want wenger to leave. Good luck attracting top players now…. I’m kind of looking foward to the summer to find out what is going to happen to this $hit show we call a football club. WENGER/KRONKE/GAZIDIS/DICK LAW OUT!!!!!!
Work towards achieving your goal…. You set the limits..
.
your destiny is the product of your effort!
.
Work hard from start to finish
.
Have an ambition…… Aim for the top
.
Don’t settle for less
.
Don’t let mediocrity take the better of you
.
Only then can you think of “Success”
Wenger’s problem is his age, character and timeliness. The bad thing is that it has long been a problem with Arsenal, our common problem. No one will deny Wenger’s merits to the club, but he has to know when to leave if he does not want to be expelled and scolded at last. Apparently Wenger has no longer any real idea about himself and the team. It is already a great burden for all of us. His impudence is surprising and disturbing to us all. We can say a lot about his weaknesses now, the inability to teach the players the necessary things about modern football, the team spirit, everything. But I want to tell you only one friend and it is the most important thing – the big players follow the big coaches. No really classy player will sign this summer with Arsenal if Wenger remains. If another coach comes to us, he will bring the players we need. With Wenger will not happen …
Well we know Law is on his way out and one of Wenger or Gazidis will be going (but not both) but there is no way Kronke will be going anywhere.
Gazidis has time on his side ….
Apparently he could be off to the USA, if Wenger stays.
Yes only when the league is gone does Arsenal start to play for the Wenger trophy. It’s in the Arsenal DNA you know. After the Invincibles in ’04 Wenger believed he was the greatest ever. But immediately Wenger got burned by Mouniho in ’05 ’06 and Wenger retreated into a world of delusion refusing to acknowledge he was being left behind. Ferguson though fought back and won in ’07 ’08 ’09 then Ancelotti won in ’10 and still Wenger claimed he was the master. In ’09 Kroenke bought the club and the perfect partnership was formed. Kroenke did not want to win the league because it meant spending too much money on players and salaries. Wenger was happy because he could get paid 7 mill p/y with no pressure to win the title. Arsenal fans spent the next decade living in their own deluded world where Arsenal history ended in 2004 and winning teams bought the league had plastic fans whereas Arsenal played the best football and had real fans. City won then United then City then Chelsea then Leicester then Chelsea and still the Arsenal 4th place mantra team claims to be the best FC in the land. Arsenal will probably beat Chelsea in the minnie mouse FA Cup and Wenger and the fans will say we beat the Champions so we are the best FC in the land. “2-3 decent signings and we will tear the league a new one” The delusion continues…
This is the real Arsenal story for real.. great comment mate
Yup, great sum up our reality.
Hahahahahahaha, it would have really been funny if it wasn’t so true
We won’t get spanked in the UCL but we could still loose confidence by getting spanked in the Europa!
By who lol?! Europa is for the weaklings..we can manage there…
You seem very sure. I don’t feel the same.
Arsene teams are more than capable of having a mare against anybody.
Okay then ive got furiously thumbed down but I think we will make the headlines in Europa like man utd…no tough teams there….
Lyon, ajax, every third loser cl group dumped to this prestigous cup?
So Liverpool spanked West Ham and spuds are giving Man U a footballing lesson. Spuds are now sure of second place with City third and if Liverpool beat Middlesbrough at home they will be fourth and we will be fifth. First time in what, 20 years we will not be in UCL, shame really but will hopefully do us some good in the long run.
@GrahamB……..middlesborough have nothing to play for (they are as good as relegated), unlike the scousers who are hoping for UCL football
.
They will go ahead and give em a beating…..only then will it be crystal clear we belong in the Europa league
.
This one’s for all the doubting thomases
Does it really make sense to qualify for a champion league competition we can never win? As long as Wenger remains Arsenal Manager, the club cannot get anywhere. I pray he walks out now that there is nothing to boast of.
I am not too bothered with 4th place.
If we get in there then great
But all i care about is winning our remaining 3 matches. 2 PL and FA Cup final
However, even if we make CL with the same manager and not enough improvements then we will finish in the group stage or 2nd round of Champions League as usual.
If we dont finish 4th its not the end of the world
We can try our luck in Europa League
Mourinho will be very happy if he wins it this season and he has won Champions League
In fact Mourinho and Ibrahimovic were extremely happy when they won The League Cup
They want to win Trophies
Same with me
I want Arsenal to be strong enough to win Trophies
We need a new manager to start with
I don’t know how credible all this stuff is, about “Josh Kroenke wants a Director of Football” and “Either Wenger or Gazidis is leaving” and “Allegri wants to come to England” and “£200m war chest” but I sure can’t wait to find out. Roll-on end of the month!
I’d take that with about 17 pinches of salt buddy. I hope I’m wrong though.
Yeah, probably a whole bag of salt unfortunately.
I’m expecting Wenger to stay, maybe one big signing + a few “Promising young players” (Who will be out on loan for the next 7 years before not making it at top-level) and maybe a deadline-day transfer if somebody gets injured in pre-season, then going well next season until the pressure is on and the usual rot sets-in.
Having said that, missing 4th and playing in the Europa might mix-it-up a little. Also if the protests keep going, that won’t hurt. Here’s hoping anyway.
There is a lot of rumours stating it’s either wenger or Gazadis to leave both would be good but wenger is the best option to leave
Alegri is a dream
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… If Allegri takes over and gets a decent transfer budget, I think I’ll wet myself with excitement! We can dream I guess.
me too
I do think there is a big difference between CL and Europa League. We won’t win either but playing on Thursday nights really puts a lot of pressure on the squad for weekend and Monday games. With our players already being injury prone, to play on Thursday night is a big handicap.
I hope we get eliminated quickly and can just focus on the PL. Chelsea won the PL fair and square and I won’t take anything away from them they had a great season but it sure as hell didn’t hurt that they had no Europa league IMO.
Would be awesome if somehow finished the season in 4th place, but even if we don’t, it really will not be the end of the world.
What is important is to come back next season and challenge for the league, ideally with a new manager in place and with both Sanchez and Ozil signing contract extensions.
I keep saying it again and again, this is very decent set of players, and with the right motivation & tactics – Wenger of Allegri (I wish) – this team can still achieve good things.
i just cant wait to have carzola back 🙁