There was a section of our fanbase who were not exactly humble when Arsenal were top of the League for the majority of the season. by Dan Smith
I noticed it and I’m a fellow Gooner!
So, if certain statements made me cringe, I could only imagine what fans of other clubs thought?
It’s not arrogant if you can back it up.
Unfortunately, when you don’t follow outlandish statements, you look a little bit silly.
Some of my peers who talked the talk, now have to take their medicine.
Yet they can also learn from this experience.
Maybe if we are top of the table next February, they will remember this memory and be humbler?
Gooners reject Ronaldo, Mbappe and Neymar!
Domestic football paused with the Gunners 5 points clear of the chasing pack in England.
Ronaldo purposely timed an interview with Piers Morgan to be broadcast at the start of the World Cup, engineering a move away from Man United without having to face the backlash back in the UK.
Mr Morgan (our so-called celebrity fan) said Arteta could do worse than sign the striker on a free transfer.
I agreed, seeing a short-term deal convenient to all parties.
The player would be motivated by a chance to prove his ex-employers wrong by lifting the Prem, while offering a young squad leadership and knowledge they clearly lacked.
My simple question was, in the last seconds of a game who do you want a chance to fall too, Ronaldo or Eddie Nketiah?
I understood the arguments that a superstar with too much baggage might distract from what we were building.
Then I read an article critiquing Mbappe, to which I innocently replied, he’d walk into our team. Which remains an obvious fact.
I was told though by one reader that I speak like that’s a fact and it’s not?
Others offered reasons why Mbappe wouldn’t suit us.
I can only assume some have the immaturity of not being able to admit anyone not wearing an Arsenal shirt is good. Maybe they live in a bubble and can’t see anything outside of North London?
To complete the set, last week Gilberto Silva said he would love Neymar to play for the Arsenal.
Again, the very same people who are happy for Eddie Nketiah to be on 100,000 pounds a week, put their nose up at one of the best talents in the world.
Whisper it quietly, all three would see Arsenal as a step down, not the other way round.
It would be like an average looking person telling the hottest girl in the room they are not interested when she hasn’t even given it a second thought.
I understand the fear of one superstar upsetting a close-knit dressing room.
Yet are we saying Arteta can’t work with big names, part of being a modern manager?
Is our boss only able to work with youngsters who won’t challenge him or have an ego as big as his?
Is that why he froze out the likes of Ozil and Aubameyang?
The irony being, for all their faults, those two won trophies for Arsenal.
While it’s great everyone is friends and has a laugh in training, the priority should always be winning.
Your chances of doing that increase by recruiting the best talent possible.
A Neymar has handled expectation his whole career.
An Mbappe doesn’t freeze under pressure.
Ronaldo isn’t crippled by the fear of failure.
Oh ….and they probably all would manage more the 4 league goals in 28 games!
Let me guess …. Eddie Nketiah still hasn’t had enough opportunities.
Time To Thank the Kroenke’s
A couple of articles went with this narrative. The notion being of course that after years of criticism, our owners now deserved credit.
My stance is it depends when you believe the Kroenke Family truly had power at the club?
The spin Josh Kroenke puts on the subject is only judge the current regime on when they officially owned 100 percent of the club in 2018.
In reality his father owned over 62 percent of the club since 2011.
So, for over a decade Stan Kroenke had a serious say on how the club should be run.
In that time, he saw a regression.
Our business model being only caring about top 4 to get Champions League revenue.
Once the TV contracts increased it no longer matters where Arsenal finished, he would make money off the brand itself.
He oversaw our worst league finish in 25 years, and zero European football for the first time in quarter of a century!
We had been promised we were leaving Highbury to compete with the ‘likes of Bayern Munich’.
Instead, 5th was being called progress.
Oh, and then there’s the Super League.
So, for someone to suggest I should be thanking the 75-year-old for that body of work is a disgrace.
Those asking for my thanks should have waited till we got over the line first.
I was even mocked, ‘didn’t you say we wouldn’t win the league under the Kroenke’s’.
Yes, I did!
And all these years later, I’m yet to be proven wrong.
FA Cup Exit
Some Gooners deflected from being knocked out of the FA Cup by saying they didn’t care about the competition.
That’s the same trophy we have won 5 times since we last lifted the Prem.
The one piece of silverware that put smiles back on our faces.
Of course, if we had beaten Man City in the 4th round, I imagine some’s stances would change?
Bizarrely some used our latest loss at the Etihad as proof that we were ready to defeat them in the League. It was almost like just because we kept the score down, we are taking some kind of moral victory.
In reality what I saw was us barely manage a shot on target.
Arsenal 1-3 Man City
Another Man City win, another time some Gooners put their own spin on things, not wanting to admit the truth.
Some celebrated the fact we were drawing at half time as progress, others pointed to how we dominated the possession stats.
What I saw was our players go missing in the second half letting a glorious moment pass them by, with Ederson not needing to make a save.
It was men against boys as they bullied us.
A clear example that mentally this was too big a step for one of the youngest squads in the division.
Yet when I wrote that at the time, many didn’t want to hear it.
That’s when I realised that some only want to hear what they want. That Arsenal is the best team in the world and are surrounded by rainbows and unicorns.
That’s not a reflection on the football community but society in general.
Gary Neville
Made this point earlier in the week, but some of our fan base acted like Gary Neville had an agenda and was ‘anti Arsenal’.
This man gets paid a lot of money to offer his point of view, that’s literally his job.
So asked his prediction on the title race, this was his opinion …….
That Man City had a dressing room full of experience capable of putting a winning run together.
That we might not have enough leaders to cope with April and May when strange things happen.
That this title race could quickly fall away from us.
At the time, and now, I don’t see what he said that was so bad?
He was supportive of Arsenal, saying we should be excited and look at the positives when we went to the Etihad.
He’s gone on record numerous times saying what a great job Arteta has done and how the club have progressed.
He’s also resisted the need to say ‘I told you so’ with his forecast coming to fruition.
It sums up the world we live in.
Instead of grown adults listening to an alternative belief and having a constructive conversation, they only want free speech as long as they hear what they want. When they don’t, they try to cancel that person.
Ian Wright is just as biased a pundit as Mr Neville, yet Gooners don’t mind that?
Europa League
Ramsdale was beaten by the halfway line leading to Sporting Lisbon winning the first ever penalty shootout at the Emirates.
Again, some Gooners seemed to deflect, like it was a weakness admitting they were disappointed.
A theory surfaced that there were positives to being out of Europe, that now Arteta could focus on just one competition playing once a week.
By contrast, surely Pep Guardiola would get distracted by fighting on all three fronts.
This seemed to be confirmed when we learned that had we progressed, we would have next faced Juventus over two legs, both sandwiched in between crucial league fixtures.
Suddenly now the idea of a Europa League Final doesn’t seem such a bad plan B to fall back on.
When and not if!
When analysing our run in I questioned would we have the mentality to win at Anfield?
Liverpool had only lost once in the league at home all season, including wins over both Manchester clubs, a stadium we last won in the League at in 2012.
Comments included ‘when and not if’ and ‘law of averages’.
I felt some Gooners disrespected the atmosphere of the Kop and the influence they have on a result.
It was a lack of humility, and many had to learn the hard way.
Be humble Gooners.
Dan
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Wow Dan!!!
I think you should put some perspective into your definition of our season.
I’m not going to argue with your point of view, as that is your opinion and we have argued over Neville and the Kronkies before.
Let’s give you another scenario :
First time in PL history that The Arsenal have been undefeated against every other London club.
Only club to have challenged city for the entire season… even up to now.
CL football confirmed weeks ago.
The Emirates becoming home at last.
The Arsenal players and manager being recognised with awards.
Supporters, players, manager together for the first time in many seasons
Yes, we have fallen at the final hurdle it seems, but your negativity seems to overwhelm the strides we have made this season.
We are 24 points ahead of our noisy neighbours, who, lest we forget while reading your breakdown of our failures, finished above us last season.
I’m looking forward to going to the Wolves game, where I can pay my respects to the players and manager for a season unimaginable this time last year, I do hope you will do the same.
Finally Dan, I have to, once again, call you out with regards to disrespecting the atmosphere at the Kop – it was you who disrespected them, when blaming the terrible scenes witnessed at the CL final – your lack of humility in not apologising makes your plea for Arsenal fans to be humble ring of hypocrisy.
OT waiting for the pictures of spud fans leaving in droves after their 3-1 defeat and talks***e to feature it on Monday.
Couldn’t agree more. The team deserve nothing but praise for this excellent season. Return to the champions league and challenging for the title to the very end only to miss on the title because of inexperience.
If the club fail to build on this only then should questions be asked.
And they deserve credit for all of that
Think you missed the point
For example
I’m not critiquing the team for finsihing second or drawing at Anfield
I’m with you, I think it’s been a goo season
I’m saying those who made certain statements made me cringe
I remember at Xmas on youtuber did a combined 11 comparing this team with the Invincibles
if I were a football manager, I’d take young Nketiah over the old Ronaldo any day. That’s because I’d prefer to use the CF as one of the main high-pressers, but I’m sure Dan and some fans here value the CF’s goal tally over other aspects
When they are only 4 ….yes
1. I DISAGREE WITH YOU
At the CF position, our error was not missing out on Ronaldo but in Arteta undeservedly favouring Jesus above an in-form Trossard
2. I AGREE WITH YOU
I’ve always been shocked at some gunners saying we should thank the Kroenkes. I even addressed that in my last article
3. I AGREE WITH YOU
The FA Cup is Arteta’s only trophy fo us. W should have prioritized it. Instead some were justifying the our exit as a helping hand to winning the EPL
4. I AGREE WITH YOU
While we should praise our team for the progress this season, we overestimated their abilities and refused to see lapses. Whoever did was seen as being negative
5. I DISAGREE WITH YOU
Gary Neville is distinctly anti-arsenal, even criticizing us for celebrating goals. The fact that his prediction came true doesn’t change who he is
6. I AGREE WITH YOU
Again like the FA Cup, we used our exit as a cheap excuse
7. I DISAGREE WITH YOU
We could win at Anfield but for whatever reason, we bottled it. The funny thing is that many prefer to blame Xhaka
Preaching humbleness while at the same time ignore the existence of an apology you owe Liverpool fans as I have understood. Where is your humbleness in that? You refuse to even address that issue when asked.
What were you asking before, when I completely agreed with you? That you want to see the team at least challenging for the title, that you want to see the team return to Europe elites.
They have done that but where is the praise you promised? Locked in the same room as that apology?
Gary Neville has never liked Arsenal since he was a player and nothing has changed now. Can’t still believe you had to agree with him just to have another reason to be negative against the club.
Gary Neville is not our friend!
Do you think he would have the same tune if Man utd were in our position this season? That bloke predicted them Champions and they ended 6th. Guess what he did next? He predicted them Champions again the following season.
Didn’t say Neville was our friend
But he got his prediction spot on
You got to be big enough to accept that
No he didn’t – he predicted that united would finish 2nd.
In genral mate he was spot on In terms of city winning run , us dropping silly points , etc
I truly dont think he said it out of being any arsenal
If anything I’m sure he rather us win the title and not City
Cant imagine he wants them to win the treble
But he DIDN’T get his predictions right, so why are you admiring his foresight?
Well he got Man City going on crazy run correct ?
Us dropping silly points correct
Us finishing about 10 points behind correct
I don’t admire him but the greif he got at the time wasn’t nice
A time will come when most people will stop to comment on your post. I don’t get what do motivate you to write some articles of yours. In the first place. Arsenal came second to a Manchester city club that is way better than every other club at the moment and there you are ranting as usual. Are you saying the reason we failed to win the league is because fans on JA were not humble, because I don’t even see any sense or logic to your point… And for God sake what are you trying to achieve by playing the card of “I TOLD YOU SO”… Majority paid their hard earned money to be at the stadium to support the team all the way through the season and most are happy with the tremendous progress this season.. Are you saying they are foolish because they don’t see or share the negativity that you some how see as your mojo, because that what your article seems to imply. It’s normal to criticize when necessary but in your case you don’t even know when not to.. criticism make sense from the place of love not because you want to be proven right…. Shout out to people that make necessary and reasonable criticism on here .. to name few are Dan kit, GAI and Ken1945. they always make reasonable contribution and never been entitled or ever need to prove a point
A time will come when most will stop commenting on my posts …….as you write a long responce to my post lol !
Yet another pathetic article.
100 reasons to make moments that made arsenal proud or believe in the teams article but when your life goal is to vent your frustrations on arsenal it’s difficult to change your habits. I feel sorry for you🫡
You feel sorry for me ?
It’s football mate , don’t take things so serious
Sometimes Dan you amaze me the way you change like the weather.You sometimes tend to believe in your own myth. I watch Gary Neville’s podcast with his bum buddy Martin Tyler. Sometimes it can be a hard watch when they both lick each other’s bottoms squeaky clean. As for Gary Neville criticising Arsenal players for over celebrating,,, let’s look at him. Manchester United scored at 2-1 victory at Anfield. Instead of celebrating the 2nd goal with team mates,,, he went to the Liverpool supporters on his own and pointed at his Man U badge. When his was Assistant Manager to Roy Hodgson for England, he slid on both knees to celebrate an England goal against a lowly ranked European side in an early qualifying match. Simon Jordan caught him out a few weeks ago. Jordan was commenting on how two faced Gary Neville can be. Neville can talk sense,,, other times he can talk utter bullshite. Some pundits show bias. Others don’t. Some of the Invincibles can’t be taken at face value either. Some of them go to home matches,,, I forget what their titles are,,,, but those who are pundits either through radio or television dare not say any critical against Arsenal. A bit like David Ornstein the journalist. He’s more or less Kronkes puppet on a string. He pisses in Kronkes pockets, and the Kronkes piss gold coins in Ornstein’s pockets. As for Mikel Arteta having a problem with big egos like Ozil,,, all managers have experienced a problem with Ozil. Freddie Ljungberg did as intertrim manager. Ljungberg subbed Ozil off. What did Ozil do???? Ozil got a sulks and threw his black gloves on the ground and kicked them off the pitch as he walked off. Someone should have kicked him all the way to China. Ozil has also had problems with managers in Turkey. So you can’t just say it was Arteta that couldn’t handle his ego. Same with Aubameyang,,, look at his troubled past with other managers. You need to look at the big picture. If Arsenal don’t not buy sensibly,,, meaning quality over quantity,,it’ll be a short lived time in the Champions League,, and hello to the Europa League before we can finish singing the Champions League Anthem. Based on their UEFA rankings, Arsenal are likely to be in POT THREE in the seeding system for the Champions League draw. In English, that means we will get a shite draw. Arteta has alot of soul searching to do. He’s made some foolish mistakes. He is the luckiest manager in world football. Managers have be sacked for lesser things. I welcomed his appointment to Arsenal. The training wheels are now off, as well as the “L” plates. We can’t keep using the excuse that the squad is still young. If that’s the case,, they shouldn’t be playing International football, full bloody stop. Come the new season 15 matches in will be D day. Just see who is out the door,, and who is coming in. And quantity over quantity
I don’t change like the weather I just don’t feel the need to say things based on loyalty
For example
When we beat Spurs your get a positive article
When we draw at Anfield I’ll say it’s a great point because that’s my belief
After a shocking performance against Brighton I’ll call it out
I never said Neville doesn’t attack arsenal
But in terms of his opinion on the title race he was spot on ….that’s a fact
Obviously Dan you can not read. Or ,,,, you can read,, but fail miserably in comprehending English literature,,, either way
I stopped reading at the Gary Neville podcast as it’s not relevant to the article
A pundit was asked his opinion , he gave it ….he’s been proven correct
Just got to accept it