Arsenal: Trust the process… by Goonerboy
As the final whistle blew in Baku with Chelsea emphatically winning the Europa league, I felt the world crashing down on me, it felt like the end of Arsenal football club. I was humbled and greatly devastated. No, it wasn’t just because of the final score alone, but the way we completely gave away the 3rd position which had made me believe that with Emery’s record in the Europa league, our strike forc,e and the game being our last chance of making the UCL, we would fight like animals and redeem our season – but it wasn’t meant to be.
Furthermore, I would say the chief reason for the doom and gloom for me was the speculations about our budget for the summer, as we were made to believe by multiple sources and the so-called reliable sources that, not only do we have only 45m to spend, but also that the future of the Arsenal depends completely on qualifying for the Champions League. So having believed all these rumours, I began to wonder how we can improve this ageing and mediocre team, replace the deadwoods and offload our ‘unsellable’ and unwanted “stars”. Other teams will get better, how do we compete? but I found no answer.
However, Arsenal came out of nowhere and went on to have, in my opinion, the best summer for the last 10 years, and with a reported budget of 45m, we addressed ALMOST all the holes in the squad for the first time in a long long while.
Do the Kroenke’s now invest their money in the club? Was the reported budget true or false?
Or was the little protest (#WeCareDoYou) by fans that turned things around? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I know the board has done a great job.
I know time will tell before we can say if we had a good summer or not, as we have not really tested most of our new recruits yet but I love the ambition we have shown. We acquired very good players, without the CL, in fact, David Luiz, Dani Ceballos, Nico, all came from champions league teams to sign for Arsenal. Not only that, at least Nico and Ceballos had the options of going to other teams with CL, but they said no, we love Arsenal, and if reports are to be believed, both Saliba and Ceballos opted against signing for Spurs, we even signed them without paying obscene wages to all these stars. These buys have given me my optimism back and my ‘Oooh to be a gooner!’
Emery took over a sinking ship, but still had a mediocre season as he adjusted to English football. He has now had two summers and after almost 14 months at AFC, we can see a clear philosophy taking shape. His playing out from the back, and developed a squad in which many of the players are now his own. In my opinion, there has been a clear improvement since Wenger’s final season where we hardly won an away game. The last two years have shown me a transition period from a spineless weak Arsenal team who were ageing to a fighting passionate Arsenal team littered with young talents. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a process and this season will continue to be a learning process with a defeat likely to Liverpool today. If we are being realistic- we are not on that level…. YET.
However, this process looks bright and again I can look up to Arsenal with great optimism and hope as we leave the banter era behind. Emery is managing this process well, and I have been impressed with his tactical nous, passion and decision making since he joined us. With players such as Bellerin, Tierney, Willock, Nelson, Guendouzi, Niles, Martinelli, Holding, Chambers, Smith-Rowe, Saliba, Torreira, Pepe and Ceballos all below 24, it is safe to say we have a bright future.
Trust the process and Back Emery and the Team, Arsenal football club are on the Up!
On a lighter note, I wish we play 4-5-1 today,??
Pack the midfield and park the train, midfield five of
Pepe-Ceballos-Xhaka-Torreira-Chambers ?… Lol
I hope we find a way to nick it!
Peace
Goonerboy….
Arsenal News 24/7
ITs pretty damned obvious that with stage payments 45mill will go further
5.30 will soon be upon us… and I’m scared ???
Dear Sue, there will be no need to be scared, Pool will beg to get a draw today…
? I hope so, Gogo
Well, as Negan says, I hope you got your sh***ing pants on! ?? On a serious note I don’t think it will be as bad as it normally is. They won’t put 5 past us. Am going for a draw, 2-2.
Come 7.15 I might need Lucille ?
I’d be happy with that, QD, very happy!
Park the bus and leave no gaps…frustrate Liverpool n hit them on the break and hope to nick one goal ???
Lol..like what Atletico Madrid did to us. It just might work! Bore them to death with excessive stoppages and time-wasting, then when they get desperate and start lobbing the ball and shooting from distance, recycle the ball and release only Auba and Pepe to catch them on the counter while everyone sits back. It would work best if VVD has a brain fart and does a Koscielny at the 85th minute!
Quantic Dream
What a plan!!! Reads like a movie script.
I don’t expect us to win this game but I’ll sure be mad if we get another pounding! Emery must bring back some respect to this club we can’t keep getting swatted off like flies every time we go to Anfield. Pepe MUST start! Auba, Laca, all of them! We must FIGHT till the very end!
I just hope, whoever plays, they put on a really good display for our fans. It’s a long way to travel & to sit there through YNWA, all the teeth on display & an annihilation, I really do take my hat off to them (Phil ?) Here’s hoping it’ll be a happy journey home! COYG
Monreal to Sociedad news hitting up. Think that will affect Emery’s selection this evening?
Whatever the case we will be having a positive result this evening
It came out of nowhere!!!
The key this year should among other things be that we play the B team in the UEL at least until (including) quarterfinal. That way our first team won’t lose sharpness in the final 2 months.
Martinez
AMN – Mavropanos/Chambers – Holding – Kolasinac
Willock – Guendouzi
Reiss Nelson – Smith Rowe – Saka/Mkhitaryan
Martinelli
It had nothing to do with the protest, these players were identified well before that letter. If we hadn’t of been capable (from their point of view) to spread the money out over the contract, instead we had thrown the money in all up front, then I would ask myself – would they have spent that without the protest letter? No, I don’t think they would, but I don’t think the letter would’ve made them do that neither. We done similar to this last summer when we brought in Torriera, so it’s a wonder that it was such a big surprise to people, some people even asked afterwards ..why don’t we do this more often esp with bigger names. We would’ve done the same last season only Emery did not really know what he had, he knew what Wenger had, but players don’t all play the same under any old manager. I expect similar again to happen with our next recruits, and I reckon Raul might kick this into gear with more teams seeming to be adopting the approach. Raul’s not the first of course, but he is skilled at it and it gives us a glimpse in how he went about his business during the Galacticos era.
I don’t like when fans want top be responsible for certain good occurrences but never take any blame for poor form/confidence despite all the talk with belittling and cussing leading up to games or when frequently targeting a certain individual player. Some think Wenger was too nice to them, do you not think that some of the time he was trying to mend the damage that fans can do to their egos. Some of them were youngsters like Bellerin, Szcz, Coq, Theo, Ox. If you want to take credit more, then you’ll need to be seen holding your hands up from time.