Arsenal on brink of brilliance or close to calamity?

Thankfully for Arsenal fans, we have seen our team win all of the last four games, which have come in three different competitions. So while our sting among the top four was short lived after Eden Hazard scored the only goal of the game against Bournemouth to put Chelsea back above us, Arsenal are in the quarter-finals of the Carabao cup and in pole position to finish on top of our Europa League group.

We badly needed these wins, though, after the first game back after the last international break saw Arsenal concede two late goals to lose at Watford. Even though that game was controversial with another dodgy decision from the referee going against us, it left the fans on the brink of revolt and the team close to being out of the title race already.

Perhaps that result at Vicarage Road and the heavy criticism that followed has galvanized the Gunners because we have come from behind ourselves in the last three games, against Swansea, Norwich and Everton, while it took patience in Belgrade to pop up with a late winner.

These performances were not always convincing, although the results were right, and I can see one of two things happening; either the performances improve as the confidence grows from winning, or the results start to falter as the performances are not quite there.

So are we on the brink of brilliance, with Arsenal in full flow as we saw at times against the Toffees, or are we about to see more calamity like we saw against Watford?

Bob.

20 Comments

  1. bobinski we will do this all season
    few winds loss – few wins loss
    brilliance left a decade ago
    this club is different now ..goals…personnel .

    we are not the arsenal of old, i remember the fear going to highbury caused rival fans, we were this fast aggressive continental club, with this dapper manager .
    that era brought most of our fans
    have u seen how many players now quote henry as the sole reason they became footballers-
    thats real…thats a legacy

    we will have it again …a lion will always be a lion
    but until then we drift

    sorry just watched braveheart ..feeling prophetic

    1. Never mind … Wenger cultivated Kroenke who only knows profit & loss accounts. Thus he is still there after a decade of failing with his personal ambition (obsession) about beautiful football – on a self imposed, mean budget. Little respect for defence and little clue about tactics. If he parks the bus vs. City and gets a point his remaining fans will say he’s a genius but they ignore the last 10 years. Don’t be surprised if he stays beyond this current contract.

      1. You must be a very mean fellow who sees nothing good in Arsenal. You even have the audacity to say that the small budget was self imposed by Wenger! This is beyond hate. Be realistic and analytical and less emotional. We all know that the small budget was due to two factors: construction of the stadium and billionaires who bought Chelsea and Man City and we’re engaged in spending sprees.

        1. Hahaha! How soon we forget. We were the only club in Europe not to buy a single outfield player 3 seasons ago. Are you telling me we didn’t have the funds? That was a self-imposed decision.

  2. Getting carried away again? Run of easy opponents before, and after the Watford game (bar Chelsea, which we didn’t win, or even score in), and some think we’re back to our best!

    People keep disagreeing with me when I slate the likes of Wenger, and Ozil, but I refuse to judge them against the likes of Bate, Red Star, Swansea, Bournemouth, etc. Let’s see what they do in the really tough games, and against the big boys. Not so good so far:

    Stoke (A) 1-0 Stoke away is a perennially difficult fixture for Arsenal, and yet again we lost, didn’t score, and a poor performance.

    L’pool (A) 4-0 Horrific defeat, shocking team selection, standard performance

    Chel (A) 0-0 Very good performance, we were the better team, but still no victory, or goals scored

    Our record against City is decent, but when Arsenal have an off day, they’re easily the worst team in the premier league. Not even promoted teams concede 8 in one game! The 4-0 defeat was flattering, as it should have been many more, which was a very good example. If Arsenal have an off day against City, I am genuinely concerned that we could concede double figures, given the form they’re in.

  3. Well, we have played 10 games in the PL. We are in 5’th place and in danger of falling 12 points behind the leaders. So what do you think?
    Hardly on the brink of brilliance is it?

  4. First two things
    1. I’m happy we won. Any win is a good win in my opinion.
    2. We should concentrate on beating the Serbs. Winning Europa League is our best chance of making Champions League. I’m not saying it’s impossible for us to make the top 4 but I expect City and United to make the top 2. Liverpool, Spuds and Chelsea are going to be tough to beat.

    In terms of City, there are a few things that make me very worried.
    1. Our defense has been shaky. Especially without Mustafi. We also don’t have a good defensive/holding midfielder like Kante, Matic, Wanyama, Fernandinho. I think we should play Coquelin against City. Xhaka has been inconsistent
    2. Ozil was excellent against Everton but pitiful against Swansea. I don’t understand why because he is usually good against poor teams. We should consider starting Wilshere against City and bringing on Ozil later.
    3. Alexis is getting better but still not at his best
    4. Lacazette was surprisingly average against Swansea. Not a big deal as every player has a bad match from time to time.
    5. City have blown out several teams this season. Look at these scary results:
    7-2 against Watford
    0-6 AWAY to Watford
    5-0 against Liverpool
    5-0 against Crystal Palace
    3-0 Against Burnley
    In Champions League 0-4 Away Feynoord
    Even on Saturday they won away without Aguero.
    So, Those are some scary results. We need are defense to play out of their minds on the weekend

    Again, I think for the City match we should consider starting Coquelin for his defensive skills and Wilshere because he is harder worker than Ozil and due to Ozils inconsistency. We can bring Ozil on later in the match. I would also start Mertsacker for his experience and bring on Holding later.
    AS for the Serbs, we will qualify with a win and Cologne getting a result in the other match. But I want to win the group, so it will help our mission with a win on Thursday. So hopefully Wenger will get the lineup right.

  5. Are you kidding Bob? We’ve lost three games already in the Premier League, done reasonably well in two Mickey Mouse cups and I mean reasonably, scraping through against Norwich with a second string team. Sorry, I think closer to calamity than brilliance

  6. It depends on the fans. If they start booing their own players or fly a banner that basically says “you’ll lose” or some other defeatist antic to undermine their own team then Arsenal’s “mental fragility” will return. If the fans act like part of the team and cheer, it’ll be to victory. But everyone knows Arsenal fans are self-entitled bitches that are much keener on shooting themselves in the foot and complaining than actually supporting their team. I think we’ll see the fans shit their diapers and turn on their own players and each other and then Arsenal will implode like Chelsea but unlike Chelsea the talent will all leave in disgust and it’ll take Arsenal 10 years and 4 different managers to get back to the top half of the table. The fans will get exactly what they deserve.

    1. @Stephan Larose

      Arsenal’s “mental fragility” was there when they had the fans undivided support, and 9 years without a trophy is proof of that. Victory doesn’t automatically come with the fans support. It helps for sure, but it’s no guarantee of a win, and I am not sure how you came to that conclusion? If success was down to the fans support then shouldn’t Newcastle be winning the league most years, given they probably have the most passionate, and supportive fans in the division?

      I wouldn’t say the fans are self-entitled, but when you pay the highest ticket prices on earth, then you expect something, at some point!. I would expect the same in all walks of life. If I pay £100 for a meal at a micheline star restaurant, I would expect it to be better than a £5 meal from McDonalds for example. We have been extremely patient, and yet we’re still waiting for some kind of progression on, and off the field.

      1. If the away fans are better than the home support then we can safely say that fan criticism is not the cause of any poor performances.
        Why, that is obvious we have lost something like 10 of our last 17 away games abut have not lost at home for about 8 months.
        Perhaps the casual fans who talk such rubbish might start using their brains to the root cause.

        1. So you think our home support is good then. You obviously don’t go to many games when you hear away fans refer to us as the Library. 90% of the Emirates crowd never went to Highbury including you

  7. Stephan you are absolutely right with the kind of brainless fans on this site spewing crap instead of supporting their team they are doing the opposition work for them

  8. It is an appalling situation when you refuse to be realistic with your expectations, the fans here critisizing the team for years won’t get what they want simply because of a revolt against the management of the club. It’s just fair as an arsenal fan to expect a win or lose in every single game and go home and find yourself a good reason to smile and still hope for a better result on the next game reason for this thought pattern of course is “wenger is still the manager at arsenal”. Until he leaves or tries something different we remain in the same circle. So stop hoping that the team will dominate just like that. Worse things have happened in arsenal fc than whats going on now. Give your self some just support the team and hope they win by the weekend. Don’t make things worse by denting the little confidence they’ve been able to build with the recent run of wins with your revolt. Bottom line is just support the team till your dreams come true, or another option is go support another team.

  9. Ha ha ha brilliance u say we have been in calamity over a decade ago.. How can u not support a team if u see everything is going in the right direction every decision on and off field spot on cheering even when loosing knowing that ur manager will twik tactics n booom!! Result

  10. A bit of both, as usual…

    Arsenal have always been able to be brilliant on their day, but those days have been fewer and further between during the last decade, and the calamities have been more frequent in recent years.

  11. We’ve been winning trophies for the past 4 seasons. And yet you see fans still complaining about the ‘trophyless decade’.
    It’s like, even if you’re a CEO now. You’re still thinking about the years spent in cleaning service.
    It’s a broken record now to complain about the trophyless decade isn’t it. Everyone has their theory why that ten years was hard.
    • Self-imposed / limited fun
    • Stadium Building / Stingy Owners
    • Selling star players etc etc.

    Then when all is said, explained etc. You get the final bomb. “You expect things when you pay the highest ticket price”
    Dude! There is no such thing! Ticket price has nothing to do with success on the field, success in the transfer market, other teams having country/state backed funs. So if you’re into supporting a team that makes you feel all powerful, dominant, overwhelming, consider not supporting arsenal but support PSG instead. They’re the up coming team. No limit on funds, cheaper ticket yet have endless budget to blow any other team out of their league, FFP made redundant. Go ahead….

    Think about it…..

  12. Listen, little old man @kenny rolfe, you are wrong in both comments.
    1) I did go to Highbury regularly (before the seating started first in the boys enclosure and then when I was 16 stood in the Clock End).
    2) I did not say the home support was loud. What I said was our home form was good and therefore the claim that we were losing was due to the protests is rubbish as it is our away form that is shocking.
    Get it right next time!

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