When the title race was in our own hands, some Gooners were not exactly humble.
Examples….
Odegaard being better then De Bruyne, myself mocked for suggesting he wasn’t an obvious captain, Eddie Nketiah apparently a better option then Ronaldo, this squad compared to the Invincibles, arrogantly dismissing the other cup competitions, we should now be grateful to the Kroenke Family, and verbal abuse for the likes of myself and Gary Neville for correctly predicting we wouldn’t have the mentality to cope with the run in.
It’s hard to argue when the Gunners are top of the League, but it is like a movie we have seen before.
Like Tottenham are known for being Spursy, we have a reputation for going missing when it really matters.
It’s not even criticism, just a reflection of where our young squad are currently at.
Pundits warned for months that April and May takes a certain mindset. It separates the good from the great.
The good disappear, the great deliver moments that last forever.
For example, most of this campaign the narrative has been De Bruyne was in poor form, yet when it counts, he’s been sensational.
If I had suggested 2 months ago that there were zero world class talent at the Emirates, I would be called all kind of names.
Those readers may have been humbled, and hopefully have learnt some lessons.
If this time next year we are top of the Premier League hopefully a section of our fanbase won’t get carried away.
Here are those who turned out not to be as good as some thought……
They are good but not yet great ….
Ramsdale
I love his personality and if everyone in our dressing room had his character, I don’t think we would have fallen apart in the manner we did.
In contention for the Golden Glove but time of the year he made mistakes can’t be a coincidence.
Beaten from halfway line in the Europa League, knocked out in a shootout which two pens he got two strong hands too.
VAR’s failure to draw lines against Brentford overshadowed that he came out and grasped at thin air (did the same in Eindhoven).
Beaten at near post at London Stadium and Etihad.
Literally passed the ball to Southampton for their opener, and for first time that seemed to impact on rest of his performance.
Has the personality to not let these errors impact him long term unlike others.
At 24 and in a position where many don’t reach their peak till after 30, he will only get better, but too many howlers to be called one of the best.
Zinchenko
Maybe sums up this current Arsenal team.
Form celebrated most of the year, but when we really needed him couldn’t be trusted.
His experience of winning silverware at the Etihad was supposed to benefit us, but if anything, the Ukrainian has been over emotional.
Timing when to drop into midfield has tactically been smart by Arteta, but also an example of our manager over complicating things.
First and foremost a left back’s priority should be defending. If you can’t trust him to do that, but are willing to sacrifice that for his ability on the ball, start him in midfield in the first place.
This is one of the tweaks to the system our manager refused to make, even when it was obvious our full back was being targeted.
Arnold nutmegged him before setting up Liverpool’s equaliser, while he didn’t follow Theo Walcott’s run for the Saints second.
Then had the audacity to try a huddle to calm down his peers when he was the one at fault.
Pep Guardiola allows Stones and Walker to alter positions but when they need too, they can defend.
Gabriel
Even when we were winning, I argued he makes too many mistakes to get the plaudits he does, so I’m not just going to use Saliba’s injury as an excuse.
Think of his error against Fulham, conceding a pen against Spurs, being out of position at Old Trafford, and being bullied home and away by Haaland.
When things have gone wrong recently he started to lack composure with last ditch defending.
Partey
Of all our players, this man’s drop in form has been the most alarming.
Unlike his peers can’t hide behind his age.
Trying to flick the ball over Declan Rice outside of his area led to West Ham’s comeback.
Hasn’t been the same since, with his Saints performance so shocking, he should have been dropped.
All he did on Wednesday was concede needless fouls.
Future should be in doubt.
Odegaard
I made the point in the summer that he shouldn’t be our captain.
The All or Nothing Series proved he’s not vocal enough, and doesn’t lead by example enough when it really matters.
Apart from the last 10 minutes against Southampton, he went missing when we faced adversity at Anfield, London Stadium and Etihad.
Is a good player, but comparisons with De Bruyne are almost disrespectful.
Again, these are all good players but not great.
Dan
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“Odegaard being better then De Bruyne, myself mocked for suggesting he wasn’t an obvious captain, Eddie Nketiah apparently a better option then Ronaldo, this squad compared to the Invincibles” – No pragmatic, knowledgeable, realistic Arsenal fan would say these things, other than the clowns on Twitter, whose opinions are so extreme that it’s fruitless even debating them.
I have only seen real fans say that Odegaard has been having a better season than KDB, which he has, but none of the opinion that Odegaard was the better of the two.
jen I am not sure that even as good as Odegaard IS, that I would say he has had a better sespon than KDB. In fact, I would definitely NOT say it
As for thr debate around who is and who is not so called world class, I say that before even starting such a discussion, IF we want a serious debate at all (which many do not want and only wish to air their personal prejudices anyway) there NEEDS to be some universally agreed definition of PRECISELY WHAT world class means.
As that will not happen and no such so definition would ever find universal agreement anyway, the whole debate is entirely either subjective , or ,or full of personal prejudices.
I will merely agree that none of the five listed are what Iwould claim to be “world class” Though I do feel Odegaard has had ONE world class season , when taken as a whole, this season.
How you ever judge any player as world class, UNTIL he has proven it in our Prem, the widely accepted BEST standard league of all, is impossible to say.
But I WILL state that KDB is not only world class, but probably the worlds very BEST, in his position.
In my opinion, obviously, which is all anyones comments can ever be. By definition!
I would say Odegaard just shades it. Not only has his output been outstanding for goals and assists, its his work rate off the ball that tips it for me. KDB doesn’t offer the defending from the front nearly as much, and although Odegaard has gone missing on occasions, lets not forget KDB’s form pre WC was poor, and not that great immediately after either.
With you there. Do I sense the button with “Panic” on it being pressed?
A very provocative article, think Dan is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
This whole predicament that has comes about as a result of our last three games is down to our mental strength.
Class is permanent and one just doesn’t get up one morning and suddenly becomes average.
Who said they were average ?
Okay so they are not average then but Partey has been a world class player before even joining us in my opinion.
Martinelli and Saka are not far off, but all players goes through a dip in form that doesn’t make them far from been world class.
You are right anyway but stop writing scrap all the time.
Can you coach a team?
It’s good to stand by the side and talk know it all.
Good day
I never trusted arsenal to win the league title.have followed them since 2006 and they seem to always fade up when its matter the most.
This is football. Remember you play opponents who have prepared well and want to beat you to the 3points. They boys have shown a good run in.. we can only hope they learn from the mistakes and that Arteta can add depth to the squad.
– Ramsdale: Firmino/ Jota/ Watkins beat him from tight angles and he can’t be relied upon in penalties. Great ball distribution and agility for a long marathon like EPL, but I don’t think we’ll ever win a major European knockout competition like UCL and EL with him
– Zinchenko: Good playmaking abilities and he’s been playing an important role at cementing our position in EPL, but he lacks pace and aerial ability to defend as a fullback. I think Arteta will stick with Tierney and him next season
– Magalhaes: He made some errors, but not as many as Saliba did. Unlike Saliba, he was unlucky because his errors weren’t absorbed by our victories
– Partey: Still the best at making us escape from tight spaces in deep midfield area, although there was a drop in his performance. Maybe he would perform more consistently if he plays with a more physical AM like Kudus and a CF like Watkins
– Odegaard: He has great stamina for high pressing and excellent vision, but we can’t compare his physicality with De Bruyne’s. In fact, De Bruyne at 31 years old showed that he is still much pacier and accurate than the younger AMs like Silva, Maddison, Mount and Fernandes
Zero world class players? Maybe. But zero world class talent? No; I say that’s too harsh.
We forget that these players are still young; and with good coaching they will certainly be world class before long. At their age, the likes of De Bruyne and Sala were being tossed between several clubs .
Just because our title expectations have not come true is no reason to begin castigating a team that has given us the kind of joy we haven’t had for a long time now as Arsenal fans.
Dan, I said very similar things about Partey and Gabriel not only early this morning but for the last year or so. Partey started playing well this season and made me change my mind about him, however he has reverted to being too ponderous again. I so badly want him to do well, but we are going to have to upgrade. Earlier this week I almost mirrored your comments about Odegaard and one of the trolls came down on me like a ton of bricks. We did better than expected this season and we started to believe. That’s why it hurts so much to see the team collapse like they did previously.Don’t be surprised if Newcastle catch us. Eddie Howe has literally worked miracles up there.
The writer should have coached Arsenal himself. He seems to know all their problems.
Hopefully he’ll provide solutions as well.
This writer is not totally correct, I have followed Arsenal for over 20 years, the problem just repeated itself. In 2007, Eduardo got injured against Birmingham City and that ended the title chase after leading the table for long time. After Birmingham match which ended in a draw Arsenal played 4 consecutive draws against teams they would have beaten easily. Here comes the same problem with Saliba absence the defence started leaking.
The problem is lack of depth
Oh, and by the way I love Odegaard and he seems like a genuinely great guy, I just think he goes missing sometimes against the big teams. We need better CBs. I see Gabriel as a squad player. Zinchenko is a drama queen and can’t defend at all, however I wish him no malice. We just need a better LB. Tierney is OK but not the best distributor. How many of these guys will be happy to be squaddies after we upgrade. Trossard is not being given as much playing time as he should have. What’s going on with Kiwior ?
I think tactical awareness of Arteta is part of the current arsenal problem. Leading 2 – 0 on two occasions within 10 to 15 minutes, and failed to retain results. He was supposed to shift the line up to 4-5-1 and allow Martinelli to hang around for a counterattack.
Saliba Partey Saka for me is the three players that can reach dizzy heights of performing up there with the very best counterparts. Not too far behind them then we have Martinelli White and Odegaard making up the next wave
Bottom of the first team rung for different reasons, I think we can improve on Xhaka Zinchenko and maybe Ramsdale. I like Ramsdale but I think we lost a better shot-stopper to Villa. I love Ramsdales passion and his deliveries, I’m a bit more torn on that one.
Not Martinez, he seems to be a really horrible person. Glad he left. Even Unai Emery was fed up with him after Jorginho bounced the ball off his head fothat goal at Villa.
What a load of bull …. from start to end! We have led the table till April, yes I agree we lost points, I’m devastated we are losing the title, but to slander the players who kept us happy for the majority of the season is being too harsh. I have been reading your posts for a long time and you were never critical of Leno, Mustafi, the Greek legend (sorry, I forgot his name, age is catching up) , Kolasinac, Ozil, Auba, Laca, and the rest of the dross. Your bias is exposed pal, I can infer that you may have wanted these players to remain so that we get relegated. Every GK has a howler so did Ramsy against the saints, but if it was not for him, we would have been where we were when “the greatest manger in the universe ” got the boot. Where are ManU with Anthony? Where are CFC with Mudryk? Where are TH with Richarlison? Where are Liverpool with Allison? My last glance at the EPL table showed that they are far far below Arsenal. What a post to ruin my weekend.
Ramsdale has pulled off some incredible saves for us, although I think he should have kept out DeBruyne’s shot for the first goal. He’s very important to us though he is a bit nutty.
Disagree on KDB’s goal. It was pure class imo
Sorry SueP, only just saw your comment. It was a good shot by KDB but I still feel Ramsdale was a bit late to see what was happening. Still I wouldn’t swap Ramsdale for any other keeper playing right now in the PL. Something has happened to the lads lately and I wonder what Jesus meant when he cryptically said there’s alot going on in the club at the moment. Did anyone pick up on that at the time ?
I hadn’t
You are very correct brother. This author isn’t helping situation at all. I can vividly state that Partey has been wonderful for this team this season. Man City’s game is the only game that Partey played 90mins that we lost. He has been a world class player for us. I dont know he not being rated as highly as midfielders like Casemiro, Rodri, etc. Some people have forgot so quickly that Partey and Rodri played together at Athletico Madrid and there was never a day i remembered he was rated ahead of Partey. Last season, we lost out of top 4 because of injuries to Partey, Tierney and Tomiyasu. Partey was a devastating effect on the team. In that Arsenal team,i think 3 player have no replacements. Saliba, Xhaka and Partey. Injury to anyone will sell the end to our title ambition. Let me simply put it that lack of squad depth and inexperience killed it all but those guys will go again next season with addition of top top quality players we will definitely achieve something. We have a promising team full of immeasurable potentials. Let no one discourage you with their pessimism and sarcasm. Liverpool could only take the league from Man City once out of 5 years, with the qualities and experience they paraded. Including a world class Coach in Klopp. Man City is a different class in the league. We have a developing players. Lets trust the process. Mr Author, please write some positives in the team this season and how we can get to the next level. Back it up with stats please. We are back in Champions league now. Thanks to the players,the Coaching crew, the recruitment team and the board. Lets start from where we are now. Thanks.
Saying they are not world class is not critical
They are very good players but this time of the year seperates the great from the good
Loose cannon just made my day. You’re spot on fam!
At his best Partey is probably our only truly “world class” player.Unfortunately, for reasons which may not be football related, his form has shaded off of late as has that of Odegaard and Zinchenko who is a central midfielder who will never be a decent defender.He is a great technician who is being played out of position by our Manager who refuses to acknowledge the errors of his way as far as the Ukrainian is concerned.It took opposition teams some time to exploit the inverted role allocated to Zinchenko but even the likes of Bournemouth and Southampton have made hay against our defence weakened by injuries to Saliba and Tomi and the bench warming sentence imposed on one of the best left backs in the League by our Manager.In terms of Ramsdale and Gabriel, I concur wholeheartedly with the writer, and I very much doubt if we will be strong defensively if they continue to be first team picks.They have some admirable qualities but they are outweighed by their deficiencies I’m afraid.Arteta bought Turner and Kiwior yet he does not appear to trust them to play in League matches?Both are full internationals, and Turner was very impressIve in the World Cup.
Lets get this into perspective, we are going to be second and that in itself is very good. I do think Ramsdale is an excellent reflex shot stopper, is that where it ends? Zinchenko by many of our fans is so over rated. Gabriel is a very good defender with too many brain farts in him. Partey has been left high and dry by Arteta leaving him isolated in midfield. And making Odergaard captain and making him the focal point has worked but not fully as shown by the end of season callapse again, like last year. Can they all get better? Of course they can. Will they?
Exactly Saliba and tomiyasu injuries have screwed us more than some people realise. White, gabriel and partey the most. Its a domino effect with one player dropping a little back to cover holding lack of pace then another and another to keep our structure until you see the whole team has lost 20 meter on the pitch or disjointed/cut in half.
Without any surprise we have crybaby Dan back.
Nobody seriously said odeggard is better than de bruyne, better season sure but he need more season at this level and be more present in big matches.
Ramsdale makes mistakes sure but just the amount of pts he saved us with ridiculous saves this season more than compensate for that.
Zinchenko plays an unorthodox position so difficult to quantify his performance. Also do keep up with the times, the era of players playing a specific position is over. Now its what you gives us in this position, what you cost us. Tierney and tomiyasu are better fullbacks but white plays a hybrid rb, cb dm and zinchenko lb, cm at the match.
Gabriel is too emotional I’ll give you that and can’t carry a weaker cb partner in a match.
Partey well the last couple of matches he’s been crap no excuses but he’s the most affected by saliba injury as he has to play his role while also doing half of saliba jobs as holding can’t do it.
Again me saying they are not world class makes me a cry baby ?
Dude it’s always the same thing with you, you are hurt with our failures and start lashing out like a baby. Always pointing the negatives and never the positives. e.g Where were the articles when Ramsdale has been saving our asses in so many matches this season or even in this article. There is a clear difference between playing at a world class level and being a world class player like some of our players have been playing.
You never budge when you form an opinion no matter how biased it is like a child so any discussion is worthless so yeah you are correct always correct take the win.
If you can’t refute the guys argument without resorting to insults please don’t bother. Thanks.
“You never budge when you form an opinion no matter how biased it is like a child so any discussion is worthless” – this seems a bit ironic because your way of reply is screaming that about you.. Dan has an opinion he wrote you can discuss about it or not but you are crying like a child as if only positive opinions are accepted, so you are the biased one
I dont see saying they are not world class as an insult
I would understand if I said they were all rubbish
Im simply pointing out that this time of year tells us who are the special players
For second season running our big players went missing when it mattered
Dan they’ve been a bit unfair to you. Nothing you said in your article offended me. Our rivals at other clubs would be laughing if they could see all the ballyhoo that’s been going on today. We are all Gunners together and want the same outcomes (i.e world domination starting with another league title). Best wishes.
Ackshay, its called opinion, dont be a dick, like some on here of the older variety, stoop too.
Hang on a minute Reggie, I’m of the older variety, but I am a good guy (I think)
🥴so am i when i think about it. 😂
Perfectly said in this article
I agree with most of your points. Though the author is not really a “crybaby”. There are a few others on here who are and have rushed out in their typical hypocritical finesse.
The article is evidently aimed at some of our more exuberant fans although typically presented as if many of the views countered are amongst the most mainstream.
As usual he also puts a generally negative slant on things with limited context. This feeds into the generally pessimistic perspective on the site which dominates any setback; highlighted by the rantings and ravings that we have seen in the last few days.
Playing Fabio Viera against Southampton was indulgent stupidity. Not starting Leandro Trossard in all 4 of the last games…what was the point of signing a quality Belgian international if you don’t play him, even though he was March player of the month? How can Thomas Partey be played in all 4 games when his max score was 3 in any of the games? A man with incarceration on his mind. Poor choices. When it counted….tactically stupid.
Trossard has to start for the rest of the season as long as he does what he does best. I think he’s a fabulous player. He must have really annoyed De Zerbi. Jesus may have to make way unless Arteta changes formation.
If so, Saka,Martinelli,Jesus,Trossard,Odegaard can all be incorporated at the expense of Zinchenko.
Rather a harsh article.
If anyone actually looked at the fixtures people would have actually pointed to this period
The fact that saliba’s injury has clearly shown the level of influence and solidity he provides the defence and midfield .
The criticism i do have is – in three windows we have tried to sign cover for partey , danilo, luiz and caciedo and each window it’s always been the last week .
I feel we need another lb similar to how zinchenko is , zinchenko himself should be the replacement for xhaka in midfield.
Tierney , holding, nketiah to be sold. Nketiah isnt good enough to come off the bench or in reality to start with arteta’s aspirations. Balogun was the superior talent and has shown in Ligue that he does everything and more nketiah can . Tavares – has had a good loan spell but his rashness still is evident he can be brilliant one week and then awful the next at marseille .
I dont believe we need any additions to our attacking options , just balogun returning. We certainly dont need raphina at barcelona who was vastly overrated at leeds. A proper pre season for smith rowe and viera along with some additions at either cb or rb, the youngster on loan at cov is doing well so perhaps he could be drafted in . I do expect arteta and edu to realise that signing young players is fine but when we need back up or a change of game plan – if those youngsters are not playing regularly and need time to adapt they wont offer much
Yeah mate some of us did
Some of us said our record at Anfield and Ethiad were so poor it was unlikely we suddenly win when the pressure was as big as it has been
Let’s just say some were not humble .
I remember lots of if and not when comments
How humble have you been about your prediction, we wouldn’t make top 4 this season?
How humble have you been arguing with me that we mentally wouldn’t handle the pressure of a title race ?
I am not the one claiming to be right on a false pretence. That is you.
And not only, do you fail to admit it, you actually think you have the right to judge other fans.
I was wrong In terms of us not finishing top 4
I was right to say mentally the title race was too big a step
Don’t forget about the constant complaining about “lack of depth” with the team. We don’t have quality in every position, but certainly enough to rotate and drop underperformers.
Trossard and ESR can play across the front, but haven’t been rotated for starts.
ESR, Jorginho, even Zinchenko can Plat midfield, how many starts have they gotten compared to others automatically picked?
Tierney at LB and Tomiyasu at CB or either fullback position. Even when healthy how many matches did Tomiyasu go unused?
We have good players who can perform, but Arteta sticks to his 11 or 12 and wears them out over the course of the season.
Sorry but no way can you excuse all Tierney’s wasted time on the bench, Tomiyasu not being capable, Trossard in form dropped for Jesus instantly on his return, or ESR and 10 goals last year not getting any chances.
Poor by the manager, he needs to use the quality of the squad, not wear out his favorite 11 or 12.
I dont buy this lack of squad depth garbage. As a manager, its how you deal with squad rotation, injuries and suspension and we haven’t dealt with it yet again.
Hi Reggie
Are you as comfortable as you can be with the standard of our second 11?
I’m not. I’m not convinced Arteta is either. One of the key reasons for his refusal to rotate when he could have is a lack of faith in our second string. Lets be honest, even the rashest optimists have bemoaned Viera filling in. Jorginho looks okay against the lesser lights and in non pressure games but not otherwise. Holding is a willing trier but isnt a first team regular for a reason. Gabriel, well… Eddie, lovely guy but you could make the goal forty feet wide and he’d still miss. We could go on. Clearly the side does need to be recruiting in the summer.
Sue, i dont get the question. I will ask you one. Was Claudio Ranieri comfortable with his second eleven?
My answer to my question would be, he coped with it as best he could because that is his job. Am i comfortable with Tierney sat on the bench? Am i comfortable with Trossard being sat on the bench? Am i comfortable with ESR being sat on the bench? Am i comfortable with Viera getting game time? Truth is i m not happy our squad was utilised enough and i dont think our squad is the reason we have failed at the business end of the season.
Tierney on the bench and not being used much is puzzling but beyond that I’d say that with Tomi and Saliba out, the fact that Holding is the best on offer shows lack of depth. Vieira so far, has not been good enough and from what I read somewhere, Arteta is not fully satisfied that ESR has displayed enough focus to start. Jesus hasn’t fully got his game back, and Trossard. – although coming off the bench is at least worthy of a starting spot or gets regular minutes.
I believe the second 11 in the main, isn’t good enough and if a regular first teamer is ill or injured then looking at the bench does not fill me with any sense of excitement or expectation
Regarding the Ranieri and Leicester season, 19 teams were not good enough and that included the usual top teams. ManC were not the force they are now either whereas now with the investment in players and the quality in Pep, they are streets ahead.
I’m puzzled by the meltdown and profess to being surprised that 3 incidents in 3 matches could have had such disastrous consequences, making a win at City almost a lost cause.
Obviously, you can hold on to your opinion but others disagree.
Our bench is clearly not strong enough which has meant that certain players have been selected whenever they have been available.
Ranieri’s Leicester are not competing this season. That was years ago with different circumstances and without a juggernaut like MC about. Leicester’s story is inspirational however it is overly simplistic to suggest that an approach modelled on Ranieri’s methods would work for Arsenal this season.
No David, the year tgey won the league, was Ranieri blessed with a fantastic second 11? NO he coped. Our second eleven has hardly been utilised by our manager, even when it was full strength. This BS about having top players waiting on the bench is never going to happen. A managers job is not just to manage when its going well. His real job and that i what makes good managers is to manage when you have players out. Like last season we are poor against average teams when the chips are down, we lost last season to teams not so well of as us, palace Southampton, Brighton, Bournemouth etc when it was sqeaky bum time, we have misperformed this season against Bournemouth, Southampton and others as it has good yo the business end. THAT IS A WORRYING
Well, it seem you have forgotten, you actually predicted, we couldn’t make top 4 this season.
A few months ago you also predicted, we couldn’t go to places like Villa and win.
Maybe you should actually be a little more humble and not put yourself up to be a judge on other fans. Lean back, learn from your mistakes and start acknowledging this is the first season for around 15 years we actually are challenging for the PL title, because those who make the decisons on players and tactics, do very well. Just imagine, if we had bought or kept the players, you wanted, like Sterling and Auba.
Mate no one thought we challenge for title but at a certain point your asked an opinion over the title race
Gary Neville didn’t say we challenge for title but once we did he then has to give his opinion on the outcome of it .
You seem to have come up with this rule that unless you said Arsenal would challenge for title you can’t now have a prediction on the title race .
Arsenal have had a great season but we have to discuss what is now relevant.
Eg I have to now comment on the title race and what I see
What I see is mentally its been too big a step
Do you disagree ?
You are asking fans to be humble over ther opinions, yet you fail to admit how wrong you have been on your prediction for this team.
To make new predictions and form new opinions is of course everybody’s right.
But maybe, you shouldn’t aske others to be humle, as you hardly seem to be in a position for that.
Anyway, I personally see our last few games as a mental let down, along with a dip in form, which can’t be calles unnatural. But should this young team really be slated or should they be praised for what they have achieved this season?
They could never be expected to become champions, but they have played themselves into a great chance, and now that chance has diminished, but it isn’t even gone. Well done, I say, and no need for self established pundits to
start putting young and talented players down.
They are our future, and it looks bright, so cheer up.
No I wrote many times I was wrong about my prediction of us not finishing top 4
That’s obvious as we are second lol
But you seem to think that means I couldn’t then have an opinion over the title race
Saying they are not world class is not putting players down
I think your a fan who can’t handle any criticism
You can have as many opinions as you like.
But don’t try and make it look like you ofte know better, when it clearly isn’t so 🙂
never said I know better
I said I predicted we would finish outside of top 4 and got that wrong
got us mentally finding the title race too big a step spot on
Dan…
“we are second lol”… But we are not second at the moment… And if that was more of a prediction… Then, don’t you think that, perhaps it would be wise to demonstrate some humility by waiting until the end of the season to determine whether we will be title holders or not.
Presently, it sounds more like you trying to portray yourself as being the true prophet, as you now seem to draw solace from your fellow-prophet in Gary Neville.
In regards to labeling our players as world-class or not, it is important to exercise humility. Asserting that they are or are not world-class is simply a matter of pride in our ability to accurately predict the future, dont you think so?
It is true that every world-class player experiences some dip in form. What separates a world-class player from the rest is their ability to rebound from setbacks. Therefore, shouldnt we wait and see how these players recover before making a determination on their world-class status? Wouldnt this approach be a more humble one?
In my opinion, your article was quite critical of a group of players who have fought hard to try to win a title after so many years, despite being written off by many as not even having a chance at a top-four finish.
Nonetheless, you have put forth a thought-provoking piece as seen by the many emotions your have provoked! You deserve some commendation!
Cheers!
nah mate , think grown adults can cope with our players being called not world class
Dan…
I hope they can…
Cheers!
Having read most of the posts, the fault lies with Arteta. That’s so woth the last few games anyways. Not calculating with respect to strategy when he needs to — same first team players, same approach every game.
He made some very inexplicable decisions.
Speaking of that, maybe Trossard also stepped on Arteta’s toes.
He never changed players or tactics when it was screaming at us to do it.
It’s easy to criticize the coach when things don’t go well.
But we are talking of same Arteta who is still topping EPL with mostly “inexpensive and inexperienced” players
Presently only Gordiolla appears better manager.
There’s absolutely nothing really wrong with these set of players. The problem squarely lies on Arteta who’s being carried away with the plaudits of the pundits. He is too predictable. He can not improvise or tweak the team to better handle different oppositions. Maybe he’s proud or expect the players to perform magic. In the last game against city a better coach could have come up with far better results. He needed to make changes at the back. Tierney, Gabriel, white, party. In midfield, xhaka, odegard, jorginho, trossard,saka. Upfront Martinelli. That’s all. We needed to compete for every ball in the midfield without creating gaps to be exploited. Arteta proudly ignore the fact that man City are better than Arsenal. Unfortunately, people are talking about next season as if City, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool will go to sleep. The best opportunity you have is NOW. While spurn the chance. If Arsenal fails to win the title then Arteta should be fired. He is too proud
8Th, 8th, 5th, and this season we make the Champions League. Yes Tom, and Jerry, sacking Arteta makes perfect sense!
Yes, sack Arteta. Useless.
Amazing our players have done so well with such a manager. They must be absolutely fantastic and we will surely win the league next year with a new manager. Maybe we can just put a fan in charge?
🤣🤣🤣
I was going to disagree on Gabriel, but going through the comments, your point hit through – I was going to say that yes he’s made a few mistakes but overall has been really great this year, however to say he’s not world class on the basis of some of those, and their importance is not unreasonable.
As others have said, partey has been the biggest disappointment for me – consistently absolutely brilliant until the last few games. Completely reliable until it mattered the most.
Odegaard I think has come on a lot this season – generally very good with flashes of brilliance. Still not quite at the level many people thought, but getting there.
These players are excellent but they lack the mental strength for combat.
1. They defeat lesser teams before they go to the pitch and lose against greater teams before they start the game. That’s the simple truth
Atangana, we’ve beaten Man U, Liverpool, Spurs twice, Chelsea, and Brighton the most improved team at their place. Unfortunately, we couldn’t beat a “lesser” Southampton in either fixture, and we got well beaten by Everton at Goodison also. In other words we did well against most of the better clubs. Those points dropped against Southampton alone would have kept us 6 points clear of City. You’re right though about walking onto the pitch looking already beaten last Wednesday. They regularly get intimidated against Man City. They shouldn’t. At Emirates we gifted them the game with two excrutiating mistakes. Champions don’t capitulate that badly.
Obviously your article Dan so you can pick who you think hasn’t delivered sufficiently for you but I think the whole premise of writing this is flawed – sorry.
At various times all the players have had bad games or made mistakes. Arteta picks his team so you could have made an article about his shortcomings rather than picking on a handful. Yes, Partey has gone off the boil, others too but what gain is there in adding to dissatisfaction from recent results?
The gain is if let’s say we are top next Feb we don’t get carried away , we stay humble and don’t over hype our players
Remember near the world cup fans were saying they wouldn’t have mbappe ?
I’d rather have hope than no hope
For a club/team so far off the pace, there has been a significant turnaround. On the basis that we really haven’t had a sniff of winning the league in years to running City close this year (even though it’s not yet settled) is remarkable.
Personally, I would not have singled out any player to – if you like – undermine
As the saying goes .. you win as a team and you lose as a team.
Nah I’d rather identify who’s not good enough and then get better players in
Well Dan
I hope Arteta will follow your suggestion but like all things it’s not always straightforward
Get me Ivan Toney and Declan Rice next season and let’s set up like this
3-2-3-2
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu Ben white William Saliba
T.Partey Declan Rice
Bukayo Saka M.Ødeegard Zinchenko
Gabriel Jesus Ivan Tony
Dan
Everyone in that team now are performing far bellow their standard, including Arteta.. It’s a mental thing. However I single out one player, he seems to be quite decisive once he come on ,and that may because he is not been playing regularly; Nelson.
All the trst of the team are super disappointing at the moment.
I’m surprised you chose to single out this set of guys while sparring the likes of Saka, Matinelli etc.
Even you for this below average article you’re out of form
Barring City I feel Martinelli been quite good
If Arsenal has not gotten to the top , porndits would be scratching their head for trash to write. Being Title contender is not enough for porndits.
You don’t have to criticise all the time.
Give praise when and where due bro. That’s the better way to go.
Am sure you and your follow porndits never believed Arsenal would be on top 4 now not to talk of Tittle challenger.
I given Arsenal lots of credit
I comment on what I see
So unfortunately , if you go 4 games without a win , throw away 2 goal leads , draw at home to the team bottom of the table and don’t show up for a title decider ……people are not going to write positive things are they ?
Title contenders for any team in this league is good enough. Everyone forgets to mention that City have spent a lot on a deep squad of class players and are charged with over a 100 financial records doctoring offenses. All EPL teams would be that world class if they decided to cheat like City. You will see there will be nothing done about it after a lengthy, hopeless inquiry. Others have no chance the way the EPL is set up now. There needs to be a salary cap. That will stop the corrupt behavior.
Arsenal dropped points and of course we look at the players because they are on the field. A more comprehensive way to look at this would include
MA who has done a great job bringing a winning attitude and fight to the group but also lacks the experience to “finish” the job with City hunting us down. If you look at Pep he has kept KDB out to rest and motivate so he can do his thing at the business end of the season. In starck comparison MA even when we had played lower level teams has not rested his players accordingly.
Example:Saka . He has practically played every minute even when we had the game wrapped up.
Martinelli got a bit of rest after WC and it served him well because his form stayed sharp.
I hope he learns from the process and also add some quality in the summer.
As far as Dan’s assessment Ramsdale too many errors in critical moments Gabriel the same
Zinchenko for me is a major issue (too slow) in tight areas Partey needed what Pep did with KDB
and Odegaard needs more “steel” as he has lost the ball in critical moments and areas.
Still can’t understand who so-called fans feel the need to take cheap shots at our senior players at such a critical point in the season. Such a pity.
It’s amazing how this article points to errors committed by the stalwarts who stood head and shoulders above their peers for over three quarters of the season, while ignoring the mediocre performers at the Emirates.
Nketiah seized his moments and made a huge difference to put the team where it is now. I can’t say the same about Holding, ESR, Viera or our no:2 shot-stopper.
Arsenal has a good first eleven or 14 at best, but we are still very shallow to go a whole season without the dips we’ve experienced lately.