Do Liverpool really offer a better prospects of future silverware?
I have a friend who is a passionate Liverpool supporter. Or maybe he is no longer my friend after Sunday.
For the past 10-12 years we have each season had a standing bet. At the end of the season, we would go to our favourite local restaurant for “Today’s Special” and a decent bottle of wine. If Arsenal had finished the season above Liverpool in the table, he would have to pay, and if it was the other way around, I would pay.
Obviously this has cost me some money lately. But the money is not the biggest problem. The problem is all the stick I have had to accept. Not only a lot of stick at the end of the season, but also some before each new season, when he would ask; “Shouldn’t we cancel the bet? Do you really want to keep it up – you know how it will end?”
Although I had a faint hope we would actually be able to do it, I haven’t had any confidence in it for God knows how many years, and that lack of confidence has been proved correct unfortunately. The only sensible thing would have been to stop the bet, but I couldn’t make myself do it. It feels like it would almost be the ultimate betrayal of Arsenal. So I have kept up a false front each year, saying this would be the season where we would get above Liverpool again, and of course the bet is on.
I have to admit, after our win on Sunday, I really laid into him. Yes, gloating and repeating again and again, how we dominated them, and how many points they are behind us.
He has now come back, saying we actually didn’t renew the bet this season, so there is no bet!
I said, he is obviously supporting a club which is suitable for him. In the second half our dominance turned them into “Stoke-like” dirty thugs kicking our players all over the field.
As mentioned, we may not be friends anymore 😉.
However, in his behavior there lies a new situation. He obviously no longer has any confidence in Liverpool finishing above us. What a change!
Indeed, there is no guarantee we will finish above Liverpool. There is still a long way to go. But the grapevine is full of new signs.
Many pundits no longer doubt our project.
Other managers praise us to no end.
Our players seem more confident than I can remember.
Some of our fans seriously believe we can win the title.
Admittedly only a few believe we will, but I bet right now a serious number think we are at least the most likely challengers to City.
We have some of our “jewels” like Saka, Martinelli and Saliba entering the final stages of their current contract. In Saka’s case, Liverpool has been named as a club where he would have a bigger chance of winning titles in the future, and this might tempt him. But is that really the case now?
If you take a serious look at it, does Liverpool really seem like having a prospect of winning more than us for the next few years? I am not so sure. I might even bet on it being the other way around 😉.
In that respect our current success with a young team is also of huge importance. Many believe the best times lies ahead of us, but not so far away that we can’t see it happening.
Sure, we have “only” a few FA Cups to show for ourselves for many years, and in that period Liverpool do have more. But we are talking about the future here, and ours may be brighter.
While it is correct that we/Arteta haven’t won any big titles (no disrespect to the FA Cup intended), we/Arteta have created a whole new situation. One which for me seems more promising than any time during the past 10-12 years, and although we/he haven’t won anything, I as an Arsenal fan:
– Feel more pride in being an Arsenal fan than for xx years– Look more forward to the next game than for XX years– See Arsenal as possibly the most talented team in the league and close to being the most entertaining
We may not have CL football this year (again), but we do have the above, and it feels good.
Anders S
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Our team has improved a lot as compared to last season, whereas Liverpool’s new players seem to need time to gel with their new teammates. Maybe we’ll win EL and Liverpool can still win UCL
A fan said on another thread almost all coaches has three to four good seasons after which they begin to lose their mojo, could it be that Klopp has lost his mojo?
Try as Pool have, the Mane factor has really hit home hard, time and time after time it was Mane who really did the dirty work, while the very selfish Sala bask in glory.
But the upward trajectory continues at Arsenal and only a fool could jump ship now.
Gunsmoke That other fan who said what he said about”almost all coaches” is PLAINLY speaking nonsense and for several reasons.
Firstly, not all coaches ever have “three to four good seasons”. In fact the majority do not!
Secondly, there are countless examples – far too many to be mere exceptions to a rule – of coaches who are consistently good whether at one or more than one clubs.
REPEATING OLD WIVES TALES, which is in essence what you have done, is unwise and in this case, as so often , profoundly untrue.
jon, not sure what you term a good season, but I think the fan was trying to show a pattern some coaches develop prior to leaving.
Klopp for example spend seven seasons at his previous club didn’t win the domestic league of the last two seasons then left.
Klopp now approaching his seventh season at Pool, with the primier league not in sight, hence his mojo is in question
Thanks for the clarification. Not sure it makes me any the wiser though. However, we are all free to believe whatever we wish, thankfully.
An interesting piece , I think.
I also wonder, being the curious man I am, why a winking emoji followed Anders saying he “might even bet on it being the other way around”!
Which to my mind says he is kidding when he says that,> , ThougH if he WERE kidding , that would surely undermine hIs whole piece!?
This lack of being properly able to understand precisely what emojis ACTUALLY mean ,even to the writer , is one, among many other reasons, why I NEVER USE THEM.
The other personal puzzle is why the XX, instead of telling us HOW MANY years he has supported our club. That indicates him not being comfortable in revealing his age or generation and I wonder why that is?
Not of mainstream interest I feel sure, but I DID SAY I have curiosity. Care to tell us why then Anders?
Jon, I wil of course answer your questions and reply to your comments:
I became a fan of Arsenal as a 10 year old, when I on television watched Charlie George score the winning goal in the 1971 FA Cup.
I trust you to do the math.
As for the XX’s they are not meant to say, I am now a happier fan than ever. I was probabaly the most proud and happy after the Invicbles season and possibly a few years after that. Can’t remember the exact year I started feeling we were slowly going backwards, and although I still supported and watched as good as every game, I have to admit, there were quite a number of years, where it didn’t feel as good as now.
As for the emojis, I have just included them to lighten things up, but I assure you, I mean every word.
Thanks a lot Anders, 61 years old this year. I am a full decade older and no fan of emojis for sure.
I will never use those childish things, for the simple reason they are not clear as to what the writer means.
More importantly, I firmly agree with you about the latter Wenger years, with our remorseless slide away from every man in the team regularly giving his all, as DOES happen under MA.
AW was a great man but FAR too soft on idle players who needed dropping or selling
I write this as a fan who loathes the obscenity of salaries at such an obscene level but who can just about stomach it PROVIDED,as happens NOW, every team player gives 100% .
That explains my relentless slating of idle coasters , esp Ozil and the latter two years of Auba.
I WAS THRILLED TO SEE BOTH LEAVE AND ONLY WISH BOTH HAD BEEN FORCED OUT FAR EARLIER. I also realise that it was almost contractually impossible to shift idle loafers to another club for any actual fee , given that both had effectively “retired” even while on the field.
In my view idleness is team and moral poison and I have thought this all my long life and always will.
Hi guys
“Arsenal’s Style of Play
Control the game in the opposition’s half
Attack through the middle and the flanks
Short passes
Take a lot of shots
Possession football
Consistent first eleven that makes the core of the team
Their variety in attack is what has made them so problematic to deal with this season. The team now have dribblers, players who can press, set-piece threats, distance shooters and technicians who can work an opportunity through more intricate football.”
Copied and pasted
Arteta quotes
“I cannot have a concept of football where everything is based on the opposition. We have to dictate the game, we have to be the ones taking the initiative, and we have to entertain the people coming to watch us.”
Yep we are being the most entertaining
“Without an identity, you cannot plan and you cannot convince a player to do what you want.”
and we have an identity
“When Arsenal knocks on any door, it’s difficult to say no. When it knocks on my door, this is my house and it makes it very difficult.”
I suppose home IS where the heart is
“You like more the people that you work with, you believe more in them, you share some fantastic moments and that habit of winning, winning, winning… after you win, you don’t want to stop winning.”
and we are going to be winning winning winning
Pep Guardiola .. “He’s so happy when we win but suffers when we don’t and that is why he tries to find a solution. He’s an incredible human being, with incredible values about what it means in the locker room to be together, and he is already an incredible manager and he’ll have incredible success in his future. We see the football in really quite a close way.”
Pep means we are going to be winning winning winning
Enjoy !!!!
I respect Arsene Wenger even more right now. He build the Invincibles from scratch and instead of investing in the squad, he looked at the bigger picture and invested in the club. And thanks to him, we have an amazing stadium, an enviable training facility, a large worldwide fan base, a rich competent owner and most importantly a fantastic financial capabilities. All this made the current situation possible. A young hungry manager with young hungry players. And we still owe the Frenchman a great debt considering the way he left. Naming the stadium and a statue should be in the discussion in the later years.
We have to strengthen in January our squad will not hold the full season Luiz is a good backup and we need another striking to backup Jesus he will not play the whole season, i hope Arteta and Co see what we see