I hope am not too late in saying happy new year to this wonderful Arsenal family and here are my wishes for the year:
Better health
More time on JustArsenal and
More success for the Arsenal.
Speaking of success for Arsenal, we have experienced some failures in recent weeks which is inevitable in my opinion and seeing the reactions of fans and the football world in general, it is clear that most people still fail to see the reality, hence the overreactions and lack of perspective. And these are the realities:
Arsenal CANNOT compete financially:
I strongly believe this is the first reality we need to understand as Arsenal fans.
I know some would rather say “Arsenal have the money but are not willing to spend” or “Arsenal does not want to compete”
Whatever you think it is, I want to believe we can all agree that the game we love is being ruined by greed from top to bottom.
Governing bodies are greedy and corrupt, (you believe Champions League draws for example are not planned and carefully fixed to get more money??), players have also followed suit and are only loyal to their personal ambitions which in most cases is money.
Clubs want to get crazy monies for the players, players want obscene wages and after that wants to win the biggest trophies and play in the biggest competitions, That is the summary of the game these days and this reality is a constant pain in my heart especially when I think about the future.
How then can we compete as a club amid all these?
We need to do things differently, or should I say, maintain the right way which is as simple as spending what you earn and promoting the youths.
And for Arsenal as a club, it is best to maintain these values because for every 10 million we spend, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester Utd are ready and able to spend 20 more million and at the end of the day, we have only one winner.
Is spending, the only way to compete?
I admit it goes a long way but there are other ways.
Adequate and efficient scouting is one of those ways, long term planning, stability, hard work and patience.
Right now, Spurs are the new Arsenal and getting all the praise for what we were criticised for, and no one is talking about their lack of trophies..what a biased world.
I strongly believe in Mislintat, Emery and the new board, we are in good hands.
Emery needs time and support:
But how many times are we going to say this?
Am usually surprised when fans think they know better than a manager. We are all guilty of this, we always think we know more than the club, more than the manager, when in actual fact, we don’t.
The manager will not always win, there will always be critics, sensible and foolish ones. If they go right, “no he should have gone left and that’s why we lost” and vice versa.
Wenger said,
“Our job is now so difficult because
everybody has an opinion”…..
Each person believing he has the best opinion.
I have already seen people calling for Emery’ s head and I can’t believe it! After 6 months?!!
Many have questioned his style of play among other things. But for me, Arsenal have the best transition in recent years, progress is being made and its only a matter time before everythings starts to gel.
For instance, I remember how awkward we looked when we started the “play from the back” thing but now we are getting it gradually and its starting to become our template.
Pep in his first season finished 3rd despite having a title winning squad, and while Pep can be ruthless in offloading players he dimmed not good enough as he had the resources to do so, Emery doesn’t have that luxury.
I say this because it is clear Emery does not fancy some of our players, he needs time to gradually build his own team which is never possible in a window for ANY team or manager.
I thought we all agreed that this season should be a free pass for Emery?
Why the sudden lofty expectations? Because of the unbeaten run?
Emery cannot change what we had for 22 years in 6 months, nobody can! It is wicked to think he can.
The biggest challenge is changing the mentality of our players and he is doing a good job, open your eyes and you will see we are making progress.
The league is super competitive:
Who would have thought that our long unbeaten run wont have us sit comfortably in the top 4?
The league is so difficult its crazy and we are still very much in the top 4 race.
Chelsea will still play Arsenal away, Spurs and Liverpool and the occasional draws and losses against the lesser teams.
That said, we also need to improve and be ready to take advantage when they slip up.
All in all, I am absolutely happy with this club and what it stands for believing that the future is bright as we proceed in this new era…
Peace
Goonerboy.