Why Arsenal’s current season is a resounding success. by Kennedy
Arsenal beat Chelsea 3;1 in the London derby and went back to the top of the Premier league table.
However, many Arsenal fans are in a gloomy mood, after a series of disappointing results in April gave Manchester city the upper hand in the Premiership title race.
In spite of all this, a closer look at the big picture and a candid examination of the prevailing circumstances shows that there is cause for optimism in the Gunners stable, even if they don’t win the Premier league.
The current season has not been an abject failure after all. Why is this so?
Arsenal has secured UEFA Champions league football next season.
It has been a while since Arsenal last featured in the elite European football competition and the Gunner’s return is good news.
Arsenal stands to gain massively by competing in the Champions league. First, the financial incentives will provide the much-needed funds to acquire new players and strengthen the existing squad.
The Gunners are guaranteed £35 million for qualifying to participate in the UCL next season. More funds will trickle in as the team wins matches and progresses through the various stages of the lucrative competition.
Arsenal will also benefit from the Champions league qualification during the summer transfer window. This is due to the fact that top class players prefer to sign for clubs that are playing in the UEFA competition meaning that the Gunners will be able to attract top quality players to the Emirates.
The Gunners also stand to gain from participating in the elite tournament by competing with the top clubs in Europe, and thereby raising their playing standards and profile. Iron sharpens iron, and Arsenal can only improve by competing with the stronger teams in Europe.
The fact that Arsenal will be rubbing shoulders with the top sides in Europe next season like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid and the like is a sign of a successful season.
The Gunners have a proficient, young and energetic manager.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Mikel Arteta has been a revelation this season. This season, the Arsenal boss has won the manager of the month award four times.
He has put together young players and moulded them into a formidable outfit. Moreover, Arteta’s brand of attacking and entertaining football has endeared him to many football fans.
No wonder PSG is keeping tabs on him with a view to luring him to France next season.
Arsenal is lucky to have such a competent manager and no doubt the higher ups in the club will do everything possible to tie him down with a long-term contract.
If you think that the current Arsenal season has not gone well, just look at Chelsea. They have had three managers in the current season alone. Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard without mentioning the incoming Mauricio Pochettino.
The Blues spent £600 million this season to acquire new players and they are now heading towards relegation.
Todd Boehly sacked Potter due to poor performance. His replacement Frank Lampard who was hired to improve the results has lost 6 games in a row!!
Arsenal has set up the foundation for future success.
They say that Rome was not built in a day. Putting together a winning team takes time. Jurgen Klopp for instance took almost five years to build the hugely successful Liverpool outfit. Even Pep Guardiola won nothing in his first season at Manchester city.
The positive thing about the current Arsenal team this season is that it has established the essentials of future success.
The Gunners have a young squad, a young and capable manager, wonderful dressing room atmosphere and the icing on the cake is no doubt the UEFA champions league qualification next season.
All is not lost, and Arsenal will be a force to reckon with in England and possibly in Europe in the years to come.
The Gunners may not win the English Premier league this term, but the season so far has been a resounding success even if Arsenal loses all the remaining premier league games.
Do you agree?
Kennedy Mwanzia
A happy Arteta enjoys great win over Chelsea – “We are still top with four games to go!”
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If we finish second or third, we’ll make a big progress. Pushing Man City to keep winning till the end of the season is actually an achievement, because of their domination in the last five seasons
Doubles over Spurs and Chelsea, 4 points against Liverpool, 3 against United.. This is an impressive record.
Over the season there will always be few slip ups against “smaller” teams. We had it, Citys had it (Everton, Nottingham, Brentford).. Every champion have it.
I think what will eventually be the decider if we won’t win the title, is the home match against City. It was at home against our main challenger so it should’ve been a victory for us just like they did us a week ago.
And in fact, that match was a 6 pointer and City made it theirs. Without it, we would lead the table with 8 points neverminding the slip ups over the few weeks.
The team is indeed strong and we’ll get stronger and we’ll gain more belief. Our manager is also learning and he will be stronger for it too. The future looks bright. This season has trumpeted Arsenal’s and Arteta’s arrival on the big stage
Finishing second behind Man City is, in itself, a fine achievement, and Arteta and his support team, deserve credit for their efforts.However, during the business end of the season certain tactical and selection decisions have cost us the title in my opinion.Teams are now fully aware of the weaknesses in our set up which is a direct result of the inverted left back policy which has seen us ship numerous soft goals just as we did last night.Much as I admire his excellent technical skills and intelligence to continue the Zinchenko experiment is unlikely to be effective against high flying Newcastle who create so much down their right with the interchanges between Trippier and Almiron.I would hope Arteta is man enough to take appropriate action when he makes his selection for Sunday but I am not raising my hopes as he displays an intransigence which is my only concern in terms of his ability to become a great Manager.
This weakness might be compounded by the loss of Gabriel, due to injury last night. No news yet, but if he doesn’t play then our central defense is likely to be Holding & Kiwior (who was pretty sound against Chelsea).
On that subject Jax, personally, I don’t think the loss of Gabriel would be a big problem providing Tierney plays at LB.Kiwior did well last night but he will face a much more challenging task against Newcastle with the backing of their home support.
What??? Kennedy did you just say the season will be a resounding success even if we lose every one of our remaining games ????? What ? Or did you want to see if anyone would take the bait (as I have).
A remarkable comment. If we lost every one of our remaining games we probably wouldn’t even come second. I admire you guts.
Sorry “your guts”.
I read that line and shook my head
If he could believe that then he has already made up his mind that the season was a resounding success..
Using Chelsea as a reference to us having a great season was equally laughable
Gun Down, it’s got to be a wind-up hasn’t it ? Never heard such a thing uttered from a human being before. I’m laughing now. Incredible. I’m sure Kennedy means well though (????). God bless him.
Newcastle and united are teams we fininshed above last season, and they are the teams right behind us, should we be finishing below any of those two clubs? Minding you they both have managers that are barely 1year and 2years with their respective clubs, comparing us to Chelsea too is funny Chelsea that has been ripped apart from owner down to players, man city, liverpool and arsenal are the most recent stable clubs right now…
Out of all that happened this season pushing city for the title and playing some great football along the way is the only improvement i will take from this season, if united and Newcastle could be looking to cement top4 at this stage. looking at the way the season is going, with Liverpool and Chelsea opening a gap in the top 4 if united and Newcastle were to beat us to it, I would be devastated
Its called cherry picking!!!
Has this season been a success? Yes. We were absolutely dire in Artetas first full season, and fell apart too often last season to take anything from it. So of course it’s been positive. It is after all a matter of context.
At the end of the 76-77 season Terry Neill was carried around the pitch shoulder high and roared off – yet we finished 8th. After three seasons of struggling at the wrong end of the table though, it was a major relief to finish top half. In 1986/87 George and the boys were practically seen as messianic. The early to mid 80’s was perhaps the bleakest time since the big sleep. Mediocrity was the order of the day, numbing, endless mediocrity. No-one thought the Centenary season would end with a top four finish and silverware on the sideboard. But there it was.
Now, Arteta hasn’t had to follow those sort of crisis. But, as above, it’s all about context. Emery was handed a team that couldn’t defend, that had no shape, and was carrying too much dead wood. He did his best, but the task was too much, and the players simply weren’t turning up. Enter Arteta.. Same side, same issues.
Arteta has had three key tasks; First, get rid of the players who weren’t prepared to give 100% every week. Two, get the team defending properly and organised into a shape they were comfortable with. Third, sort out the massive back room problems. In three seasons he’s done just that.
The next question will be, can he take the team to the next level? The League title, FA cup success and the Champions greed.
Only time will tell.
But now let’s ask……
What does success look like next season?
This is the reason we needed to win it once 8 points clear. Word it however you want, we were in a great position and we blew it.
How blowing something in our grasp is classed as success is, well lowering you standards to suit.