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Cold hard reality that Arsenal fans will have to get used to

Arsenal fans expecting a summer revolution will be sorely disappointed.

The loss against Olympiacos was a reality check that should come as no surprise to Arsenal fans, but it seems it did.

Until the Olympiacos game Arsenal was unbeaten this year, however, they were hardly setting the world alight and the results to a large extent masked the fact that the squad is simply not good enough.

Fans were lead into a world that this Arsenal team was actually better than it was because of the odd good game and improvement in some players, they are no longer thinking that today.

We all know that Arsenal needs a whole raft of new players and for the deadwood to be shipped out, well, unfortunately, that is not going to happen, not fast anyway.

In my opinion, the summer is not going to go the way we hope. I will run through just a few things that I believe will or will not happen.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will leave

To me, that is a certainty, no Champions League football to look forward to, very little hope of a title challenge and no chance of a huge Mesut Ozil type wage.

Mesut Ozil staying put

He is going nowhere, he has made that clear and there is no club in this universe or the next that will pay him what he is on at Arsenal.

No big-money signings

Arsenal cannot afford it, they cannot afford the wages or the fee because of financial fair play and without Champions League football which high profile player will come on board anyway? Not one under 30 that is for sure.

No mass clear-out

Shkodran Mustafi was told to find a club last summer and no one, it appeared, was prepared to match his wages or Arsenal’s valuation. I reckon the same will apply to the likes of Granit Xhaka, David Luiz, Sokratis etc.

The owners will not dip into their pockets

Even if the Kroenke’s wanted to they cannot. Years of appalling transfer business, bad contract negotiations and lack of Champions League football mean that no matter how many tens of millions they inject into the club they cannot because of financial fair play.

So, in conclusion, Aubameyang is gone, Ozil stays, no big-name signings, no mass clear-out and no cash injection from the owners.

Hopefully, I am wrong but I doubt it. To me, this is the cold hard reality Arsenal fans will need to get used to.

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82 Comments

  2. Cold and harsh reality is we were doomed the day Kronke bought us. Even when fair play was not enforced in de way it is now little to money was injected in the club…before all Kronke supporters start jumping up and down go study the club finencial reports. We mostly break even every year when it comes to buying n selling of players. Revenue are still being generated at fair rate n share price is still good (not at the moment though bec of market slump). Kronke is not running this as a charity business as some of the fans think, he is a business man and he will never run/keep a business that makes him no profit…even Arabs don’t so that and they are football fans unlike Mr Kronke. Club failing is his failing as an owner he appointed the staff not the fans, fans put the money in club while he takes it out. ….he is to blame for board, system, team and every failure at Arsenal.

  3. Luiz and sokratis will be free agents at the end of the season
    I think what we are majorly in need of is a strong and ndidi esque dm and a creative midfielder to replace xhaka and torreira. Ozil needs to be benched more than he plays and if he loves this club and its fans the same way they love him, he would be happy to let other players better than him play and grow. Smith Rowe should be brought back. We are OK defensively with saliba, mari, Chambers, mav, mustafi (hopefully he continues this new fine form) and holding. Bellerin needs to be sold or benched or even sent out on loan. Niles has overtaken him and how Arteta doesn’t see this amazes me. Saka and martinelli should have the wings and martinelli can be cf if auba leaves which looks very likely. Something should be done about pepe not being able to use his right leg at all. That’s pretty bad. Nelson should be sent on loan or sold. Same as willock. Only saka and martinelli seem to have a future with us currently. Maybe Eddie and Smith Rowe too but willock and Nelson don’t look like it at the moment.

  4. Honestly the amount of negativity from some Arsenal supporters since the loss on Thursday night (the first loss in 2020) is staggering. Absolutely staggering and impossible to argue when fans of other teams suggest we have the most delusional and self-entitled fans in the PL. We are turning into a bunch of Chicken Littles.

    1. You could not be further from the truth. If you check for comments from some fans like myself before the game on Thursday, you would know that I’ve been noticing the problems even when we were winning games. I was one of the few who kept saying the jury was still out on Arteta because even though he seems to be a good coach and things seem to have looked a bit better under him, he still made some very basic mistakes which was a matter of time before his luck ran out. A recent lucky game that comes to mind is the goalless draw with Burnley where the ball of the Burnley player it the bar and ricocheted and somehow found its way out of the net. We could have easily lost that game. Arteta is a good coach when it comes to developing players but so far he hasn’t not proven to me that he is a good or even average tactician who is able to change a game when it isn’t going in your favour, emery bests him in this aspect to be honest although emery couldn’t man manage players, so we have a case of what Arteta has, emery lacks and what emery has, Arteta lacks. But the advantage to Arteta is that he’s young nd still learning and I hope he learns from his mistakes too like the how he doesn’t make subs on time or makes the wrong subs. You don’t need a genius to tell u to play martinelli when he has been our best europa league player or at least bring him in sooner to change the game. Instead 70mins, we are losing by a goal with no shot on target and you as a manager didn’t see the need for a change? Hopefully he learns from this and he has my support still but the jury is still out on him like innit said.

      1. U r just a joke for real,why bringing emery in this? I watched our match against Chelsea,1:0 one MaN down we rallied round with the help of his subs we drew the match,I watched our match against Leeds united,appalling first half,only for arteta to change things in the 2nd half and gave us victory,what of our match against Newcastle? Average 1st half only for arteta to change things in the 2nd half and the rest is history,if u r gonna mention the only missed chance Burnley had against us did u even mention the numerous we missed? Serious we have very terrible fan base, what a bunch, ozil,xhaka,saka,Niles,torriera,mustafi,,luiz,etc r all playing well under arteta,yet u r bringing total disaster emery into this pot,what a shame,1 loss in over 2 months na waoo! Arteta is human,he’s bound to make mistakes,his ability to learn from those mistakes will make him a better coach!take ur negativity to another place pls

    2. I totally agree! these so called fans are so nervous and fickle it’s unbelievable .Arsenal we’re not hammered but really unfortunate,but hey welcome to football!!
      At least we will have less fixtures than our other champions league place competitors!

    3. I said the same thing to my mates, a large part of our fan base are so impatient, look at Liverpool as an example, when Klopp went there they weren’t blowing everyone away, they also had alot of dead wood that had to be moved on and even if you look at their squad now alot of them were not stars when they arrived there, it took time to build that unit, its his 4th year now if I am correct and only now it looks like they will take the league so what makes us think we can change a coach and start beating everyone in sight. even if we had better players at our disposal we are building ffs

        1. “We’re by far the greatest team the Worst has ever seen”
          Same song, one word changed to make it a bit more true

  5. Enough of this doom and gloom please.When you reach my age your are happy to still be above the grass.There are some really talented youngsters at Arsenal 2/3 of whom have yet to play in the first team.Youth is the way ahead for our Club and that applies to future acquisitions in the transfer market.No more high salaries for mediocre aging players like Luis and Socratis.The fact that we have not been in the Champions League for a number of years does not seem to have bothered Auba, and I don’t think that will change.When it comes to selling players,Bellerin, Mustafi, Kolasinac,Xhaka,Torreria, Elneny, Mik and possibly Nelson would feature on my disposal list at realistic prices to encourage potential suitors.Ozil does not feature because he is no longer a sellable asset given his unjustifiable wages.We could not sell him for a penny on his current contract.In reality of course it will take time to unload these players and during that period we need to exercise patience and be sensible as to what our expectations are.To me I would be delighted if we could finish in the top four at the end of next season.

    1. Have to agree Grandad. Might not be a bad time for a good laugh. I’m going to watch some Fawlty Towers episodes . Ducks off!

  6. I could see this coming around 8/9 years ago, even further back for others, unless we changed, but we kept doing the same thing every season, so it isn’t a surprise.

    Those who put Wenger before the club, need to take a long hard look at themselves.

    Myself and others were treated with such disdain for wanting change. We wanted to stop this.

    1. Thirdman, it has being two seasons that Wenger has left and do you think that is not enough to have seen some improvements in our club. Only 3of those players that played on Thursday were signed by him and only 4 had played under him for more than 2 seasons. So it was hardly his fault that we got knocked out and also hardly his fault when the team performed woefully. The poor man has put arsenal behind him and so we should do.

    2. Really you’re going to try tell us that you could see this happening 9 years ago?
      09/10:3rd-10/11:4th-12/13:4th-13/14:4th:14/15:3rd:15/16:2nd….with the owners we have if you don’t realise we were overachieving back then with our budget and having to sell players and blaming Wenger like I told you before you don’t know what you’re talking about,by the way the accounts came out yesterday for the first time since the Wenger area we haven’t made any profits,are you blaming him too?ludicrous.

    3. Nobody put Wenger before the club,they put his record forward and just how right it was to realize that top four and CL for 7/8 of the 8/9 years you think were a disaster for the club, was actually an incredible achievement – as it is now being understood by anyone who cares to stand back and actually analyse the situation since he left…without prejudice or favour.

      It is being reported that the club will lose £30,000,000 by being knocked out in the europa league – now try and work out what AW’s CL results brought to the club – plus the revenue from finishing top four, plus fa cup wins, plus new and improved sponsorship deals … and here you are, proudly saying to everyone that you wanted to stop this eight or nine years ago???

      Well, TMJW, that’s what happened, it has stopped and you got your wish – now you have to live with it – don’t start blaming others for your folly.
      In actual fact, it was those of your persuasion who crowed “we have got our Arsenal back” and “Wenger Who” when UE was appointed and it was you who was one of the last on here to admit that he had dragged the club into a relegation scenario – something that was never contemplated in 22 years under AW…in actual fact, finishing outside the top four was never contemplated or imagined until his final season.

      Well over £200,000,000 on players since UE arrived and nineteen players have left, but before he was unceremoniously sacked, the toxicity surrounding our club was unbelievable, we had players questioning his tactics and selections, we had players in open revolt with the fans and we had a coach who couldn’t man manage to save his life – this was the mess that MA stepped in to and yet you blame AW?

      By doing “the same thing every season”, we were a recognised and established top four club, competing in the knockout stages of the CL and winning fa cups, you seeing this as a sign of failure has now come home to roost big time.

      One bad result under MA and you come on as the prophet of doom blaming AW, but so conveniently forget that you championed the changes that the club actually made, everything you wanted happened – and it has turned out to be a complete fiasco and disaster.
      It’s UE’s mess that MA has come into, not AW’s and he has to clear up, eighteen months of anarchy and the disdain that you talk about, comes from not admitting that simple fact, but rather falling back on your nemesis as a defence. LOL

      1. My darling hubby said some years back that Arsenal aren’t what they used to be. I kept up with the view that I should be careful what I wished for. Top 4 but underwhelming football. Champions league was vital Marvellous until the gloss fades and the odd failure here and there with recruitment starts to tell and other lesser teams with more dynamic owners force their way through. New coaches and new ideas
        I admired Wenger so much for his achievements at Arsenal and still do.
        Time doesn’t stand still and I feel it got to the point that we was unable to pull the rabbit out of the hat any longer. Do you think that he could have turned us back to EPL winners again?
        Wenger’s departure was not something we wanted but actually needed. The manner of his departure was not pretty but he couldn’t see that he had had his day.
        If we were still muddling along in 5th or 6th under AW would that be acceptable and would you still want him at the helm?
        I have nothing but gratitude for what he built at Arsenal but it wasn’t working as it should.
        Employing Emery was a monumental mistake with hindsight but someone had to replace Wenger at some point- he couldn’t stay forever

    4. Third Man, totally agreed. I was calling for Wenger’s head as far back as 2008. Being a total realist and never given to self fooling, as naive , mostly younger fans so often are, I was able to see the clear regression from 2006 to 2008. We had lost Dein by then and Kroenke had bought a majority control and it was clear the dynamism had gone from those who run the club. Without Dein there,WENGER WAS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN. I, being a mature man ,could see that clearly and said so. But we realists are a minority among fans and that applies to football fans in general, not just Arsenal . SIGH! We realists are fighting in vain against the natural bias and refusal to see truth that so many fans simply won’t allow themselves to see. Rather like WENGER WAS, THEY ARE WILFULLY BLIND.

  9. We have a new defence lined up … Cedric holding saliba tierney … if we have to sell aubemayang would also sell laca and Nelson see what firepower we can get up front with 100m between martinelli pepe saka and two more strikers should be a decent foreward line … sell xhaka and Luiz bring in top quality b2b to team with torreira … ceballos probably won’t stay so would have to promote youngsters … not willick or naitland miles though as neither is epl standard … my issue with arteta so far is I expected to see a different style of football but still too much the same as before

    1. Your last paragraph is exactly my concern too. That is why I said in other article that we might have been cursed by some jealous fans of other club because of our invincible and brand we played more than a decade ago. Why can’t Emery changed things, why can’t Arteta do now. He is doing what got Emery fired.

  10. I think we should stop all this fuss and just concentrate on the fa cup game.These things happen in football,lets see if we can bounce back

    COYG

    OT
    Liverpool just one attempt
    What a performance by watford.
    Deeney ahould have scored!!!!!man

    1. In 30mins time my friend. So pray, made sacrifices to whatever God you believe in and do what you must for VAR not to mess things up😂😂😂😂😋

  15. KEV82…. where are you??
    You said weeks ago, Watford would beat Liverpool!!! You beauty!! Bravo, Kev 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
    Bloody brilliant….. absolutely buzzing!!!
    Thank you Watford!! Yesssssss!!!!!
    Those gob-shites are finally silenced!

    2. @Sue
      They’re making them look ordinary. Watford unlocked them and set the bar. Pool might win the league, but I see a few more losses coming their way this season… IJS

    3. Sue, I immediately thought of you after that third goal, lol. I am so happy!!! Ismaila Sarr for Ballon D’or!

        1. It’s been a tough season Sue but this result makes it a good one for me. Both records still intact, and the looks on their faces at the end was icing on the cake. Now we need to give them a good kicking at the Emirates!!!

          1. Hello Andrew… I remember a while back, you said there was a long way to go and plenty of time for a hiccup, and here we are!!! Happy days…
            Oh how I love a smacked arse look on their faces.. will watch MOTD later and again in the morning!!! 👌
            I really hope we do!!!

    4. Yeah I did indeed Sue, I told you big Nige would get them 😉 and thank you for remembering 😄 the run is over Sue and trust me they will be hurting 😂😂

      1. 👌 Good old Nige (never thought I’d ever say that!!)
        The thought of them hurting makes it even sweeter!! 😝

          2. Haha I’m only occasionally wrong as you know but I won’t brag 😂😂 Pompey tomorrow let’s do this Sue 😀👊

  17. Watford is spelling a CAPITAL VAR for Livarpool with goals.

    What a day for Arsenal record memory!

    Wenger pressing the right buttons.

  19. Ended up on a totally irrelevant thread with this… who cares, try again;

    Many say you shouldn’t live in the past.

    Part of a great club’s fabric is it’s history;

    YYYYEEEEESSSSS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

    “49”

    CLASS IS PERMANENT!

  21. Best freaking gift you can get to get over that olympiacos heartbreak. Thank you watford, not lucking to a win but kicking their ass all the way down.

    2. Arsenal set a very wicked (lofty) standard for the epl. Now one club after the other keeps thrusting, climbing, getting half way up and then falling over and breaking limbs.

  25. Nice little add on also remains intact;

    Most consecutive games scoring: 55, Arsenal (Premier League, 19 May 2001 – 30 November 2002

        1. Sue, a wonderful result for us the fans, the Invincible players and their manager.
          That “merci arsene” T shirt will be out yet again!!!
          How any fan can disrespect what he bought to the club is beyond me…looking forward sooooooooooo much to see what klopp has to say, along with Lineker and all the others who said they would take OUR record away from us.
          Give them hell when you go to work next Sue…give ’em hell!!!!

          1. Too right Ken!! Haha me too, it will probably be really cringeworthy!!
            Oh I shall, Ken… and I can’t wait!!! They’re gonna ‘kop’ the lot!!! Haha!!

  28. The first headline ” Cold, hard reality that Arsenal fans will have to get used to” – You’re the only invincible PL team!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍👍

  29. The little Man U supporter who sent Klopp the letter, has finally got his wish granted…😂😂😂😂

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