Well lovely Arsenal people, I’m still gutted. The standards to win this league demand perfection. If you have a lead on City you best hold on to it, or they will take it and not give it back. I read the articles and comments on this wonderful platform. People want an “explanation” why we didn’t win. It’s pretty simple, and I said it. We didn’t want it enough, we didn’t look like we cared. We crumbled at the opportunity to take control of the title.
We haven’t learned our lesson. You can’t win the league with 13 players. Pep is the master of managing his squad. He can write a book on how De Bruyne is managed. If he was in our squad he’d have played every second possible and most likely be nursing an injury right now.
The past 2 seasons we didn’t trust our bench, and after 200+ million spent we still don’t. Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Saka, Odegaard, Rice and Havertz play every minute. It’s not a coincidence Villa looked fresher than us even though we had 48 hours more rest. The players are vastly overplayed.
Sure Havertz, Jesus and Trossard all missed chances, but the fact we don’t rotate and trust the bench is solely on the manager and that is his squad. He gave Eddie 100k/w and number 14. Numbers mean nothing anymore I guess, because Smith Rowe with number 10 on his back did absolutely nothing, but is it his fault really? He’s played one game against Luton. He doesn’t have match rhythm.
People sing 60 million down the drain, but Kai at least plays. The real money down the drain went for Fabio Vieira. 35 mill for a player who doesn’t play. I don’t even know if he’s good or not, because all I saw this season was him turning the Fulham lead on his head, before a certain left back gifted them a corner and the game ended 2:2.
But again with no game time what is he going to do? Why did we extend Reiss’ contract? Is Thomas Partey a ghost? The lynchpin of our midfield last season. We needed legs in our midfield which was overran once again and we brought on Jorginho. Do late and poor subs remind you of the previous 2 seasons? The way we crumbled when the expectations were on us.
People voted with their feet when they left the Emirates early and I can’t blame them. They were let down once again. I haven’t forgotten that Villarreal performance and I tried to warn you, but Arsenal fans don’t want to hear the truth. We’re not as good as we think we are.
This has happened 5 season in a row under Arteta and people still want “reasons”. The only agenda I have is for Arsenal to win major honours. Zinchenko shouldn’t be near that squad. The guy is a liability. He cost us against Liverpool last year which started our downfall. This season he cost us against 10 man Fulham at home giving away the corner that they scored. Against Brighton he let the ball past him to put us in danger. I thought we moved past him, and when he was out of the side our defence was solid. Gabriel has looked a mess since Zinny went back in the side. Is it a coincidence?
Player favouritism strikes again and I must say, there’s another player Arteta brought who’s cost us. David Raya. I’ve seen Van Der Saar win United titles with saves that won football matches. When will Raya produce one? Fair play for the Porto penalties, but his nerves set a domino effect that led to Bayern’s equaliser and then our mentality crumbled. He was lucky when we beat City at home that his mistake in the first 5 minutes didn’t cost us. We’re lucky he’s on loan and we can still save 27 million and go buy Milan’s GK for example. There are other options.
Finally, remember how in January 2 seasons back we binned Aubameyang and didn’t buy a striker, and eventually bottled the top 4? Imagine if we had a proper goalscorer, that put the chances we had against Villa away? We didn’t have money for him, because we spent in on player we don’t trust to play the games.
This is the first manager I’ve seen actually backed. We gave him a proper war chest. City at the Bernabeau had Foden put an absolute worldie out of nothing! Then Gvardiol repeated it in the same game! Who in this Arsenal side can do that? We haven’t had a player that can decide games alone since Alexis Sanchez.
We don’t want those kind of players. We have a system and if it doesn’t work, we are done, finished. It suffocates the players. I’ve seen MacAlister put belters against Fulham and Sheffield that won Liverpool games. Their problem is that they relied on this too much on individual quality and eventually it didn’t work out against Palace, but how nice would it have been to have a player that can shoot from outside the box?
We play Bayern on Wednesday. They are not great, but that doesn’t mean we’ll beat them. Our European record speaks for itself. Saliba was shaking his head at the end of the Villa game and that shake told me everything. You think when he goes to the French camp and meets Camavinga who tells him of CL and league titles, he’d want to stay here? Saka has been the best player here how many years? He’s seen Harry Kane waste his career at Tottenham, he’ll move on eventually to actually win things.
We’re no longer a project, it’s year 5. We were promised when we moved from Highbury that we’ll compete with Bayern. Wednesday is a great time to prove that. We need a performance for the history books, but even if we go past them, whixh is highly unlikely. What will we do against Man City? They may have not beaten us this season, but the mental edge is firmly with them. If we play now, they’d wipe the floor with us. They beat Villa 4-1. No choke, no bottle, job done.
I’m sorry for the long piece. If people find my articles annoying I’m happy to leave at any time, but the truth is we need a really hard look at ourselves. Who we are and what we want to achieve. I saw Xhaka lift the Bundesliga title without losing a game all season up to now and Arteta had the audacity to say that our record would be worthy of a title in any other European league. Really, Mikel, really?
Wednesday is do or die. The players didn’t have the fire in their eyes against Villa, will they summon it at the Allianz Arena? I doubt it. And the false positivity I see with a majority of the Arsenal fans will not do the job for sure. Unfortunately this is the real reason we’ve not won a title for 20 years. There’s no accountability, because when someone does an inquest on why we didn’t win the title, they’re deemed negative.
Wenger was labelled crazy for saying a team can go Invincible. He set a standard and defined the odds. It’s what great managers do. Mourinho beat our invincible side and Fergie’s United.
Conte won while Pep was here in the EPL, so did Klopp. It can be done. It’s our own fault if it doesn’t happen. Don’t find excuses and don’t blame anything else.
Konstantin
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
Simple fact is that if he were still making the same mistakes, we wouldn’t be pushing for a title 2 seasons running.
Pushing for a title and actually winning it are 2 different things Jen. The moment control was firmly in our hands we couldn’t handle the pressure like the previous 2 seasons.
We spent so many years under Wenger trying to make the top 4. I want to know what club are we going to be? Is it about balancing the books, or winning the titles? 2nd or 4th doesn’t mean anything in the history books. I’ve seen Chelsea finish outside the top 4 and win the CL. Win, lift the trophy, that’s what I want to see Arsenal do.
I think this season is different since we have been playing CL and still pushing for the PL title. Last year we failed while only focusing on the PL. I understand it is frustrating to be so close and not keep up with City but I think we are getting there.
Realists would say that finishing 2nd or 4th doesn’t mean anything. It’s qualification for the same competitions and people generally don’t care about who the runner ups or semi-finalists are. Can’t argue with that. Financially it’s a difference of about £11m from prize and tv money. £11m is not a significant amount in football money theses days but it still helps to pay some bills.
Despite finishing 2nd last season, I don’t feel that we challenged or pushed City for the title due to our performance in the final stretch.
With 9 games to go, we were 5 points ahead of City.
With 1 game to go, City were 8 points ahead of us.
In a matter of 8 games, City gained 13 points over us, despite dropping points themselves. We took only 9 points out of a possible 24. That was like relegation form. I’m sorry but that was certainly more a capitulation than a challenge or push
sushi, regarding your last 2 paragraphs, with 9 games to go although we were 5 points in front of City, they had 2 games in hand. With 8 games to go they never dropped any points until the last 2 games, which was after they had won the PL.
No HD we were 8 point ahead of City and they had 1 game in hand. They won their game in hand and closed the gap to 5 points with 29 games played for both teams, 9 games to go.
Yes City drew with BHA in their 2nd last game to lead us by 8 points with 1 game to go for both teams. They went 8 points clear by dropping 2 points.. Had they won that game it would have been a 10 point lead. That was how bad the capitulation was.
Would you call that a challenge or a push? I don’t see it because it felt more like an absolute capitulation
Here’s a general question for folks here, if Liverpool finish 3rd and only win the league cup and Arsenal finish 2nd and don’t win the champions league who had the better season? Like last season when United finished 3rd and won the league cup, who had the better season?
Top 4 finish (3rd) with a trophy IMO is better than 2nd with no silverware. It’s not even a hard choice to make.
A better question would be top 4 and no trophy, or 5th and the FA Cup, which would be considered a “better season?”
Spot on. Next year we will do the exact same thing again. And the year after. We will go on long runs and look great at times, but when it comes to actually challenging when it counts, we will choke.
Is this the process we are meant to trust?
Some points made and many negatives too. My point what do you think we should do now. Sack everybody and call on Jose?
How many League has Klopp won in 9yrs? Talk is cheap guys. We will get there soon.
simple sack Klopp
sack Ange
sack Unai
sack Southgate…oops, never mind
😁👍 All but the manager, who wins the EPL should be sacked, because the managerial roundabout will be intriguing! Who will end up where?
More then 0
Are you suggesting we have to wait another 4 years till we can question anything
In the event we don’t win any title, I’d be willing to give Arteta another go, hopping that he’ll sober up and return Raya to Brentford and get a world-class CF. Most of our players are good. Even the subs just need to be rotated to be match sharp. Next season is likely to see Man City get huge point deductions leading to an open title race. Klopp will be gone so we should have an easy ride🤷🏼
Any penalties Man (115) City get will be for the season AFTER next, 2025/2026 at the earliest, even later when the City legal team launches legal challenges to overturn the decisions made by the regulator in summer 2025. The hearings start this autumn.
If you aren’t seeing the same mistakes been made repeatedly, then you must be contented with nearly.
Trossard play false 9 and we were winning, then GJ came back from injury and went straight into the starting 11 at the expense of the Belgian, we know the outcome. GJ is back with his goal drought automatically into the 11 again. Zinc is back and the best defence is leaking goals and you say it isn’t the same mistakes been repeated?
The point is, we do not have leaders in our squad. The mentality of all our players is very weak. Our fans want to appreciate our captain Odegaard staying back after the final whistle to clap at the fans. How does that help us really? We would rather see him fight against the opponents on the pitch instead. The leadership of Xhaka is sorely missed. Its not a coincidence that Xhaka won the league unbeaten, the same date and time that we bottled the league hard. That is the same problem with Bruno and Man Utd, that is also why they are unable to win anything.
Our players are simply too nice and unable to make tactical fouls, win cheap freekicks and disrupt the momentum of the opponents. Take that Smith Rowe incident towards the end of the game, I was hoping he would bring him down and take the red card and that way we would still have a chance to equalize to make it 1-1. The same problem with Kiwior who didnt try to bring down Sane when he dribbled past him easily. On the other hand, Partey immediately kicked a player and got a yellow when he senses a counter would hurt us. He really proved that he is a student of Simeone.
Take that incident with Valverde bringing down Morata clean through on goal, he not only saved a certain goal but also provided his team with a fighting chance which they DID win at the end. Our players simply do not have the mentality to ‘win at all costs’. Its the same Philosophy that Wenger had in his final years and he was too stubborn to change his methods.
Saif, very unfair picking out Martin Odegaard, given his performances and the fact that he is often let down by others. It is a team game.
Maybe he should take the advice of Talks port and move to a club, where his talents are appreciated and he has a chance to win medals?
only 1 team wins the League
sack all 19 others for losing the League
very sad if you can not see the absolutely massive positive transformation Arteta has delivered
why don’t you try ‘Arteta Out’ with some Man U fans, or Chelsea, or even Spurs – they will laugh in your face
If Man U and Chelsea finished 5th , 2nd then 2nd ….they would never be content with that
well they would be right now. MU has been treading water and would die to go to CL. Same with Chelsea.
Let’s give Arteta a life contract and clap everything he does even if we go 20years trophyless, the same way, you are not sure if another manager will make us worse is the same way you are not sure if another manager will take us over the line, if alonso or inzagi haves another excellent season and arteta makes another nearly season then I would take the gamble there is no one irreplaceable
they would be over the moon with that
add to that the attractive brand of football Arsenal play vs the stodge on offer at OT
add to that Champions League
add to that quarter finals of the Champions League
yup, let’s hope they don’t achieve Arsenal levels or will never hear the end of how great they are again
The truth is even at their worsts they still manage to win more trophies than us, what does that say about us then?
Personally, I still believe the Board backed the “wrong horse” and should have supported Unai Emery to the same degree, rather than discarding him.
That’s not saying Mikel Arteta has not done well, given that Arsenal is his first managerial position, but the learning on the job and lack of experience for such a high profile Club has been shown up when the pressure is on.
Wishing Mikel Arteta and Arsenal all the best against Bayern Munchen.
If truth be told, it must be stated in clear terms that Arteta’s biases is bane of not being able to win trophies. Why on earth will you allow Zinchenko near that team? This obsession of inverted full back is no more working and unfortunately,Arteta could not see it. Why would you reward a player by starting him in a game because of one -off game performance? A coach or manager should be able to know and understand his player’s abilities. Most fans know that Trossard is better from the bench. Jesus is always wasteful when leading the attack and ofcourse, the team struggles each time Harvertz plays in the midfield. These are not rocket science. Why is it that Arteta find it difficult to understand this? Why would Arteta keep experimenting after all these years? Some fans will tell you that he has made the team competitive again. Has the competitiveness translated to winning trophies?
I have said it severally that Arsenal will not win PL with Arteta as the coach unless he did away with his biases in team selections. I don’t care to be seen as negative.
This is the third time in a row that the emotions of fans will be toyed by the coach and his team. Is Arsenal another version of American WWF where the more you look, the more you see? I vote for Artetaout if by the end of the season, we missed lifting the PL.
You have said it all, arsenal fans on this platform love to praise mediocrity than state the facts, a time will come that arsenal may not be able to get this far again. These season is the time arsenal should have taken the league.
Let’s pray for a miracle
Whenever someone questions or criticizes Arteta, his tactics and decisions, they are labeled as “negative.” Even some players seem to be off-limits as excuses are rampant for them.
I try to be consistent in my praise and criticism, and base my opinions on standards and productivity rather than feelings and emotions.
In Wenger’s final years with Arsenal it was clear to many that he was not the manager to turn things around for us; his approach, tactics, and transfers were not improving our situation.
However, too many were disrespectful in my opinion, and he deserved better for his accomplishments at Arsenal than he received at his end.
Now, one dare not criticize; our “project” is only in its 5th year, we have ONLY spent nearly 800 million, still do not rotate in spite of having depth in positions.
Rarely have I seen any rational person calling to sack Arteta. The idea is absurd, unproductive, and who would replace him?
However, no one is beyond criticism, and people are merely raising questions or voicing concerns. Is that so wrong? Does that make you negative or merely consistent? Applying standards is negative or plastic?
If one can’t question the manager, then we are finished already. Is that what we want in our manager? Unquestioned, unchecked, just sit down shut up and do as you are told? Are we so meek and submissive as fans?
👍🫡
Durand
That was a thoroughly considered and reasonable post.
Objective criticism has value but unfortunately, I find reading a rant such as Konstantin’s post today and the one earlier of no value at all. It’s just one ghastly long list of everything that could possibly be wrong with Arsenal over years and years.
He apologised for going on and on, but is Arteta so terrible that it was necessary to write a spiel that long? I have no problem with reading opposing opinions to mine. There are times when I have been persuaded into a adopting a different view which is the purpose of decent debate, but I just found the nature of that post hopelessly out of touch with reality
SueP
Thank you for the response, and very well thought out and expressed.
First, and overall, let me say that Arteta has improved Arsenal beyond a doubt, and I am pleased with that as a fan.
I said IMO it would be absurd and reckless to try to replace him at this point. However, that doesn’t mean he should continue to get a free pass as he did early on managing Arsenal.
I believe he got the lineup wrong against Villa, and that setup actually hurt the team and made their job harder.
Jesus as striker was a huge mistake; based on results, productivity, as well as chemistry.
Havertz in midfield is where he struggles and the team ALWAYS is unbalanced, as we saw again.
Zinchenko is a mistake waiting to happen at LB.
Poor management and setup in mty opinion, and unnecessary as our uptick since Dubai was based on Havertz as striker not midfield, Jesus on the bench, and Zinchenko nowhere near LB.
Arteta has to stop forcing these players into a system that cannot produce the results when needed.
Pleased to read your opinions on the game, and I agree with them Durand.
John63 below made a good point that both regarding Jesus and Zinchenko and the latter is as you say, a mistake waiting to happen. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the season. Apart from anything else, Jesus spends a lot of time injured.
I disagree.
GJ did not have a great game. However, if the manager was not going to rotate after a tough CL game when was he going to rotate?
The MF was always likely to be shaken up. Jorginho was unlikely to start as he had played on Tuesday. It is also unclear whether Partey is back in form. Some of his play has been sloppy when he has played.
All this meant that changes in the MF were almost inevitable.
In the first half the point of Havertz was clear and he had opportunities. Unfortunately, he did not take them.
Zinchenko was also a considered decision. Tomiyasu is still to get back to full fitness so the choice was between Kiwior and Zinchenko. There is certain amount of control and creativity that Zinchenko gives the team which Kiwior doesn’t even with his defensive limitations. Kiwior has also had injury concerns in the past week.
Over the course of the game we still had the higher Xg and slightly superior field tilt. Unfortunately, in a low scoring sport like football, and against a good opponent, there is always the risk that the opposing team is more efficient at key points in the game.
Well said Durand.
A lot of common sense.
There is no reason why we cannot criticize as we are all emotionally invested in AFC whilst wanting MA to continue as manager.
Arteta as manager has improved the team. Is it down to Arteta solely? Is the 800 mil invested anything to do with it? Could another manager spending that sort of money have won the league by now? Should we be doing better in all the cups than we are?
Maybe yes, maybe No
Is a hypothetical question
Maybe another manager would have won even with a lower money spent, maybe he wouldn’t have
Would alonso had ended bayern 11years dominate with so many games left in his second season and yet unbeaten in all comp…
This narrative that would another manager
have done better than Arteta is funny, the fair of the unknown, Arteta has done great things, have stabilised the club and got us challenging, but is he the one to take us over the line is the question that has always lingered
Agree! But he isnt the Messiah, The second coming. He hasn’t proved he can take that last step. In fact, probably the opposite. Money gets you things. Managers win you things.
If Wenger and Emery were allowed that kind of ‘financial recklessness’, they would have won something big definitely. I support MA but i am just very honest and blunt. Edu and Arteta must spend wisely and get value for money.
” the more you look, the less you see”
Good, hard-hitting article, Konstantine. I agree. As a coach, Arteta is excellent, but as a manager he is once again found lacking. I have called out his lack of squad management many times and once again he has messed it up during the run-in.
I agree that Zinchenko should ideally be nowhere near the team, but at least keep him away from LB. He could do a job alongside Rice if Kiwior were in at LB. He is a good player technically but lacks any positional awareness, a bit like Jesus.
I think you will be disappointed when Raya is inevitably purchased at the end of the season. I don’t think he’s great, but for the way Arteta intends for us to play, he is preferable to Ramsdale. If it were just a case of keeping the ball out of the net I don’t think there’d be any need to replace Aaron.
I think Kai Havertz is excellent and will have a great career at Arsenal. His purchase represents unusually shrewd business from Arteta. My support of him has been unwavering and will continue to be so because even when he isn’t having the best of games he at least tries. Sadly, Jesus only ever tries, without ever producing anything substantial.
No team, us included, has a devine right to win the league or even be in contention, so the fact that we are demonstrates Arteta’s coaching ability, but the fact we are 4 points worse off than at this stage last season and he is still making the same mistakes suggests this might be as good as it gets for now.
How is the purchase of Havertz shrewd business?? He is poor in midfield and just above average as a false nine, and will most likely be a bench warmer next season when we get a good CF, yet earns 330k every week and cost 65M!!! It’s a huge loss, one of our worst purchases (cost vs returns) in history and we may at one point have to terminate his contract as has been normalized
Kai being excellent is closer to saying pigs will be flying tomorrow. The guy is surrounded by quality players and he is just taping in goals. He was a pedestrian against Bayern and Porto. Very poor against City.HE WILL DEFINITELY BE UNEMPLOYED VERY SOON IF MA DECIDES TO SIGN A TOP STRIKER AND A MIDFIELDER.
No one is saying MA isn’t trying, but 1. he’s very poor when it comes to rotation
2. His favouritism is hunting the team
3. We need a proper finisher (GJ should have scored goals that would have won vs Bayern and Villa)
I just got this to say, “Put Real Madrid, PSG, Inter Milan, And Leverkursen In the Premierd league, and Man City will still be the Favorites” Let that sink in. We have a young manager and a young team still on an upward trajectory, we haven’t plateaued yet. if Mikel Arteta had a couple previous jobs, and maybe five, six, seven years prior to taken charge or Arsenal, then I migth be seeing things differently. Having said that, if we win nothing and he gets the sack, so be it, we move on, but personally am excersizing patience
Over the years there have been many times we were on the same page on many issues., Konstantin.
But at this time I think may people overreact to our loss this past weekend. Piers Morgan included. We are still in the title race which, this year, has been closer between three great teams than I can remember. Villa didn’t kill us the way we lost games late last season. It is clear as daylight to me that we have made a big step this season. And just because we lost to Villa doesn’t mean we bottled it IMO.
When I saw our picture list for this last run in, p[laying practically every three days and knowing we are still a pretty thin squad, it was quite clear that we would struggle with a team as deep as City.
Yes, at time we can second guess the manager. Some journalist thought Arteta should not have rotated his squad against Villa and instead should have started Jorginho. Some, like me, think we should have rotated players like ESR into the squad more often. But it is hard to argue, IMO, that Arteta, is improving this team year-over-year and that the owners have shown their ambition by backing Edu and Arteta with big money. But a deep squad is not built in a few years. Hopefully we will add a top striker this summer and with the return of Timber and perhaps another great midfielder we will perhaps make another step.
And yes, we have made mistakes in the transfer market and Vieira seems to be one of them. But every top team has made mistakes in the transfer market
The players that we bought and fit our budget last year, Jesus and Zinchenko gave us a big boost last year. We have grown so fast and our team and youngsters have developed to such an extent that we have outgrown these two players as automatic starters. To me, that is a reflection of progress.
Finally, every team has injuries, but I believe 100% that if we had Timber for even half the games this season or this past Sunday, our season would have been even better.
For me, if we finish in the top 3 this season, even if we lose to Bayern, we have had a good season with obvious progress, allowing us to make another step this summer by adding and selling the right players.
Having stayed in the PL title race, and still being in it, with two highly experienced and talented squads like Liverpool and City is no small feat.
I wholeheartedly agree
Liverpool squad is no where near our squad, and they have had an unbelievable amount of injuries this season to be even in the conversation, a feat I’m sure we wouldn’t have survived
I disagree
The Liverpool squad is much stronger than you are giving it credit for and is comparable to Arsenal’s.
It is reasonable to say that that have had injuries (which have affected their performances) but to say that their squad is nowhere near Arsenal’s is not credible.
come on ours is stronger but we dont have a manager who assesses himself honestly
I disagree.
Liverpool have a very strong team although they have had injuries. It also worth noting that we have also had important injuries throughout the season.
“I haven’t forgotten that Villarreal performance and I tried to warn you, but Arsenal fans don’t want to hear the truth. We’re not as good as we think we are.”
I’m not sure why you are so “gutted”? If we are not very good, as you believe, and if Arteta does not learn from his mistakes, as you say, then it appears you expected us to lose. And we did. The same goes for Bayern. You say, “will they summon it at the Allianz Arena? I doubt it.” If we lose that game – then your expectations will have been met.
So while I understand your overall frustration (gutted feeling) with the club since it is not winning trophies – I don’t understand being “gutted” by the individual games that you had no hope for and that you expected to lose.
Every Manager makes errors in terms of recruitment,selection, tactics etc but what distinguishes between the winners and the unsuccessful is the ability to learn quickly from their mistakes.In the case of Arteta he has tried the tactic of using Havertz in left midfield and Zinchenko at LB on numerous occasions with little success as evidenced by our losses to Villa(twice), Fulham and West Ham and the draw against PSV.He is a stubborn individual but he needs to reassess his ideas as far as selection is concerned otherwise i am afraid our season could end in frustration and disappointment.
Exactly the point Grandad.
The stubbornness has prevented him from learning from obvious mistakes.
I believe he actually thinks he’s smarter than he actually is.
It’s been the same thing for the past three seasons, at least.
Until Arteta start to learn from his mistakes, we’re always going to be close but not get there.
Relax, i undestand konstantin and many others can’t see the light, out of ignorance but it is what it is. I’m sure you guys will change your tone when it happens. Enjoy!
Vamos, everyone is “ignorant” who disagrees with your opinion.
Unfortunately Vamos, there are probably members of this site, whose knowledge and experience of football dwarfs yours.
Oh, i see. “real deal Ange”.
Vamos, 8th to 4th or 5th after losing Harry Kane and minimal expenditure is a fair first season for Ange Postecoglou. This fair Arsenal supporter of 62 years standing asks “where is he not the real deal?”
Now i see you’re shifting the goalpoast from the “real deal” which implies he is a PL title challenger, which i in your words back then “fool”ishly claimed otherwise given it wasn’t evident to football experts like yourself at least to a top 4 battle “real deal”. FYI, fast start of managers/coaches doesn’t equate to a legendary tenure in the PL. Let’s see what your “real deal” Ange has in stall come next season, trying to improve on 5th, cos i think they will fall short of top 4. what do i even know about Football?
Whatever be the mistakes and errors that were made in our last Aston Villa Epl home match.
Serious concerted efforts SHOULD be made by Arteta and the Gunners to correct them. And correct them properly. Before the Gunners take on Bayern Munchen at away tomorrow in the Ucl.
So that Arsenal will beat them to qualify for the semifinals And beat them and qualify for them unfailingly.
I don’t think us die hard Arsenal fans bashing Arteta and the Gunners for our unexpected Epl match home loss against Aston Villa, will be helpful to the them as they prepare to take on Bayern Munchen tomorrow Wednesday.
But us Arsenal fans encouraging and advising them correctly on what us think and believe that they should do at the Allianz Arena to Bayern Munchen. Should be the noun that us Gunners SHOULD adopt in our support for our beloved Arsenal.
And by the special intervention of God for Arsenal in their Ucl away match against Bayern Munchen. Arsenal will prevail over them in the match.
I agree totally with Konstantin, Arteta keeps making the same mistake. He doesn’t rotate, the players look tired and are overworked. My favorite player ESR doesn’t even get a start anymore. Due to his stubbornness, we will finish top 4, but never win the league.
One defeat and the inquests have begun. Liverpool lost to Palace, we are only two points off the top, there are six games left and we have a better goal difference. City are not as good as they were last year, Haaland is way off from and one slip up means we go top. However the hard bit, we must keep winning which is what you have to do to win the toughest league in world football. We can start the process by winning tomorrow and proving Konstantin wrong. The fact is we are still in both competitions.
Crashing out of the CL tomorrow will not prove him right either. The league title should be our priority! Greediness and unrealistic hopes are ingredients for failure!
Vamos. Exactly! I have posted that PRECISE thought, several times and for many weeks past.
It would be curtains for our league chase if EITHER WE WERE TO WIN IN BM,OR CITY LOSE TO RM. I foresee neither of those events happening, which will massively aid our chance to win the far more prestigous Prem.
The CL, though a misnomer, is simply a mere cup competition and is not even HONESTLY NAMED.
Just the way it is, realistically.
Konstantin is right to air his views about the team. All those who think otherwise should also air their views. However for the past 4 seasons Konstantin is saying facts on the ground backed by the team not winning anything. It would great to win something this season or else we might even start losing our key players.
This yet another rant which provides no useful insights and is also disingenuous in many parts.
To suggest that we can rotate in a similar way to MC is dishonest as we clearly do not have the strength in depth required.
Arteta’s “systems” approach has us on the same number of points as Liverpool. Liverpool have a manager who is currently considered one of the best in the world and he also has two of the best players in world football for the last few years in van Dijk and Salah.
We have gone from a team trying to get into the top 4 to one that is challenging for the league against one of the greatest teams the PL has ever seen. Yet, apparently, we have learned nothing.
The author insults all well-meaning fans and the players by suggesting that it is false positivity to believe we could win a second leg following a draw in the first leg against Bayern.
This is a staggeringly unbalanced diatribe which is unsurprisingly praised by those who can’t wait to pile on the negativity.
A frankly, silly and immature take on what being a GOONER means.
I realise Konstantin is VERY YOUNG and has litlle life experience.
But his sot of self entitlement and my own more patient, balanced view of what being a Gooner means ARE WORLDS APART.
Fortunately for me!
Konstantin has every right to air his views and has some valid points in his assessment of how he sees things.
MA and the team do need to be assessed and picked apart for there failings after the final whistle has been blown for the end of the season if we do fall short.
Until then we should keep our powder dry
reading assassination attacks on MY team by some non constructive comments by some and who have had an agenda to dismantle the team, the manager and spirit we have built up over the past few seasons from day 1 is rather boring 😴
MA is not perfect and yes we are 5 years in and not won the league
Who has…pep and klopp once.
We are so much better as a team then last season
We are talked about in the same breath as city and pool now rather then united, spuds fighting for 4th
Some people have forgotten that
Some people have forgotten how bad the atmosphere was at our stadium and if you have been lucky enough to have been there to sample it, you will know what I am talking about
We are far from the finished article as a team but heading in the right direction
This team, this manager, the owners have given me back the pride, the passion and feeling of wanting to be part of this journey
Onwards and upwards
👍 Allanball08
When I saw the line up with trossard,harvertz and zinchenko I know immediately that we are handicapped on that left side of the setup.
Zinchenko as always was poor and even got a very low rating. Harvertz doesn’t convince me as a midfielder. Trossard is a super sub and if he were to start should have been use as a false nine.
For me arteta got it all wrong from the get go. He should stop all this inverted left back thing he is doing using zinchenko as it leaves magalhaes with the heavy task of manning his position and that of zinchenko. Bring back kiwior into the lineup or use tomiyasu.
Biggest disappointment for me this season besides not winning the title is that for the second season in a row we haven’t blooded one promising youngster to make us believe that there is a future beyond our six centre backs, the aging Partey, Jorghino and Trossard, the ineffective Viera, Jesus and Zivchenko, as well the the bench warmers Elneny and that Spanish fullback whose name I can’t recall. It looks like Arteta will have to spend big again in order to compete next season. Being an eternal optimistic however, I’m still holding on for a positive result against Bayern tomorrow, even though unlike PSG we don’t have a Mpappe like superstar to inspire.
Joe.S, too many games left to give up yet; still mathematically possible to win the title.
Exactly the reason i no longer believe in “the process” my manager has been selling for half a decade.We are just going to see a lot of palmers .
The writer makes some very strong points in this piece. It’s hard for me to disagree. I’m holding on to the this thought that gives me solace- Arteta is actually a misunderstood genius that is way ahead of his time. Like Wenger was when he came. If we end doing the double this year, then it will be proven true. Arteta is a genius!
We get past Bayern tomorrow in 90 minutes. Man city play 120 minutes (for the extra fatigue😉). We beat City in the semis and suddenly we are in the final playing either Dortmund or PSG, fancy our odds with either one of them.
Quietly, in the background, we keep ticking off wins in the league, waiting for them to slip up. Out of their last 6 games they’ve won 4 and drawn 2. They’ve let in 32 goals this season after 32 games, their worst defensive record since 2016/2017 when they finished 3rd. KDB’s minutes are being managed and he is a big loss to them when he doesn’t play. No team has won 4 Premier league titles on a row, another mental hurdle. All the above are reasons to remain calm and optimistic.
Come the end of the season, if we win at least one of these major trophies then the season for me would be a success. Finishing 2nd wouldn’t be a disaster but I would respect the progress made from where we were 5 years ago and challenging the top again instead of languishing and hoping to get into the top four.
It doesn’t really matter what I think though, let’s face it. It’s the Kroenkes that Arteta has to prove himself to first and foremost because they definitely will be expecting a return on their investment, as they have received in their other sports ventures. They invest to get trophies which increases the value of their stock – that unfortunately is what we are- an investment. If there are no trophies this season, Arteta and Edu may only have next season to win something major before the Kroenkes begin shooting from the hip, cowboy style!
I’m hoping it’s the double this year, treble next year, next 10 years of dominating the PL and Europe and Arteta is hailed a genius and the Mayor of Islington renames Hornsey Road as Arteta Street in his honour!
Come on Arsenal! 💪 ♥️🤍
Hopefully Arsenal bounce back
Now is not the time to be tinkering with our formation. We’ve had great successes with Raya — White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior — Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard — Saka, Havertz, Martinelli as our starting eleven. Unless a player is out of form or fatigued, keep the starting 11 the same or at least make like for like changes to the team (Partey for Jorginho, Jesus for Martinelli etc). We’ve not really had plenty of luck with Jesus as number 9 and playing Harvetz as a midfielder.
Barcelona being kicked out because of a red card to probably their most influential player on the pitch is good karma.
“We’re no longer a project, it’s year 5. We were promised when we moved from Highbury that we’ll compete with Bayern. Wednesday is a great time to prove that. We need a performance for the history books.”
WOW, excellently put and we will see what our Manager In Training (MIT) will produce on Wednesday. WTF was that starting lineup against Villa? Amateur hour and an hour before the game we will see if our MIT adds to the mistakes again.
I expect to see Liverpool fans slandering kloop for losing to cp but we won’t see that. It’s always arsenal fans crying and shouting. Where was all this Arteta criticism when we were winning?? Please rest. Some of you can’t even coach a five aside
If we don’t win title it will be down to Arteta, many games he played with silly formations like 4;1;4 1 or 4 2;3 1
Then even though we spend £100m on rice Arteta moves him from the centre where he was the master to the left. Ruining the shape of things.
It’s appalling that players have not been rotated that’s why we nearly lost to Porto
I can see many Arsenal Players putting their hands up at seasons end to get transferred.
Why would Ramsdale, ESR, Nelson and Nketiah want to stay?
Wow we lose to villa and the arteta out brigade are out again, i wonder if they were part of the arsene out and unai out company. Get over yourselves, your desire to have Jose mourinho coach arsenal is too obvious and it reeks. God forbid,
Spurs tried him, it failed, manu tried him, it didnt work out.
We are just 2 points behind city, and in the ucl q/finals at least let the season end before baring the fangs and teeth.
Money buys you things. Managers win things.
If you spend 800 million pounds and fail to win a trophy. Its a problem.
Where did you guys see this MA OUT quote in this article? He pointed out MISTAKES MA made and what you guys see is MA OUT?
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