Who remembers just a few short years ago, there was uproar at the fact that Arsenal were reporting full houses for every single game, when it was obvious that there were swathes of empty seats visible all over the Emirates.
The numbers were actually correct if they were based on paying fans, as most of the empty seats were left by season ticket holders that had mostly lost enthusiasm to watch the football on display. It got so bad that in a home game against Stoke in April 2018 it was estimated that a third of the seats were unoccupied, that means around 20,000 missing fans.
There was much debate in the media, and ESPN interviewed some fans, and one told them: “The simple fact is, the football is boring,” he said. “It’s not penetrating, there are no quick breaks. It’s frustrating, it’s monotonous, it’s boring.
“I’ve got two season tickets on my own. And we’ve been to six games this season. One of those was the last Europa League game (against AC Milan). And it was monotonous to the point that I’m not sure I’ll bother going this week, because it’s mundane. All I can think of is, ‘What a waste of a night.’ That’s the shame of it, there are so many other things I prefer to do now. I no longer look forward to football. When I go, I go out of duty, not because I want to. And that’s a shame, because it’s never been that way before.”
but here we are a few years later, and now it appears that the fans are returning in droves, and cheering Arteta’s team and helping to turn the Emirates into a fortress. Mikel Arteta explained this was one of his biggest aims when he arrived as coach.”If you had asked me what I wanted to do here, I would have said that I would like to make the Emirates the toughest stadium to play at in England, to create a really unique atmosphere that you feel on your skin when you go there,” he told Sky Sports.
“An atmosphere where our fans feel, ‘I can’t wait until Saturday to go and support the team’, where people are walking to the Emirates thinking, ‘I’m ready, I want to support these guys, they are really worth it, and I feel really engaged with them’.
“If we can do that, it’s going to be a big, big win.”
The players themselves have been talking about the lift the fans give them, especially last week against Wolves, and it certainly looks like there is a great atmosphere at the Emirates again.
Can the fans help push the team into a Top Four place by the end of the season?
Happy about:
– EPL progress, showing some really good signs
– Injury record seems to be getting better
Not happy about:
– FA Cup embarrassment
– Carabao Cup embarrassment
– Not currently being in Europe
– Contract management
– Player sales/loan agreements need improvement
– No plan B when things go wrong
My opinion anyway…
PJ-SA
Why do you keep on calling the Carabao Cup semi an embarrassment?
My mistake didn’t mean to duplicate that. Was not an embarrassment but still unhappy that we didn’t get to the final considering we had no European commitment.
Although I think the FA Cup is a far superior competition and that was a complete embarrassment.
If Arsenal make top 4 no one will care about the Carabao, the FA Cup or not playing in Europe this season. And the fans will be happy. Top 6 and most fans will be pleased with progress. 7th will likely see Arteta sacked.
No arguments with any of those points, PJSA, particularly re Plan B. Ignoring the “10 men parking the bus” defensive system for sendings off, which I must admit is pretty cool, the biggest “tactical” change currently available (there are others but they don’t work!) seems to be sliding Xhaka backwards and forwards by 20 yards…
All the time Plan A keeps working (and it’s being handled much better now with a settled team playing it regularly) we don’t have an issue. But teams will learn how to counter it. And then we are in trouble. Plan A also needs a lot of commitment, pace, stamina and teamwork. On a day where any of those are missing it can look a very poor system.
Our current EPL position has surely pleased most Gooners. But it could change soon, if Arsenal get bad results from the three tough games against Liverpool, Villa and Palace
The supporters at the stadiums are essential for our top four aspiration, especially the travelling ones. The keyboard warriors could also help a lot by holding their unconstructive comments towards Arteta, since negativity spreads faster than diseases and will lower the team’s morale
Is this supposed to be a question? Yes please.
Ignore all the armchair managers and social media fans that were always singing Terta lost the dressing room and caused a divide among the fans.
Only thing you need to see are the nber of fans going to games everyday to support the team and ho vocal they are.
All agendas slowly disappear once they start looking like clowns.
He lost the dressing room, he hates the kids, he’ll ruin Martinelli (That one was so embarrassing when his father his agent came out to say he’s not going anywhere and there’s a plan with Arsenal.), There’s a division between fans, well that seems to be online alone, he hates Saliba, Saliba going on loan has done him a whole lot of good and improvement.
He’ll ruin Tavares and that’s the end for Tavares when he subbed him early… A whole lot of crap.
Just looking forward to the game later on today.
You cannot deny that Arteta’s man management is poor.. Whether he’s doing a good job or not will be decided by the end of the season.. Im not a fan of Arteta’s style and football but if we are top 4 by the end of the season then he’ll get my support.
His man management is poor?
According to who? What court? What standards?
The same guy who all of his players big him up and say how excited they are about him?
The same one that has the team more unified than we’ve seen during the last 8 years?
The same one that has these bunch of players all eager to jump on the pitch to contribute? Same one that if Lokonga, Tavares, Elneny, Holding, Pepe, and others are called up to, they put in everything to add something to the game?
Oh okay, perhaps his man management is poor because he let go of Ozil without sentiments? Cause he told Sokratis straight up he ain’t in his plans, just like Emery told Wilshere? Cause Auba who has been performing poorly for a year and half way let go?
Or because he sent a young Saliba you all tagged as the Messiah our defense needed, out on loan? The same Saliba who has grown more matured now and already said he thought he’d walk into the team but he got a slap in the face and now he’s always on his toes and realizes he needs to do more? The same Saliba that has become even a more better player than he was, and the club are negotiating with to renew his contract?
Or wait, it’s Guendouzi whom even after Emery signed, his previous coached said he’s a hothead whose attitude was always a problem? Or we are going to pretend his previous coach didn’t say that after Emery signed him?
Even after going out on loan to Germany?
Had his issue at Arsenal, and Terta let go?
So which of them is it?
Arteta actually has in-game management flaws and that’s what he needs to improve on the most, but because most of y’all are seeing y’all favorite players let go without sentiments attached to it. You constantly say he’s a poor man manager
@Rashid80. How is his man management poor ?
Rashid, substitute “was” for “is” and you have a point. Squad man management is the most difficult part of being a manager and Arteta struggled badly. Not the first team but the rest were obviously miserable, either playing poorly when they did or asking for moves. But I think he’s learning – Pepe, Cedric, Nketiah are obviously playing with more enthusiasm lately. tbh having a smaller squad has helped in that respect on several levels.
Agreed Eddie, and well said the usual anti arsenal brigade must be seething to se the club improving. The reality is as all the statements you mentioned above you forgot about Arteta Micromanages the team lol. The Arsenal Trolls are really scratching around for negatives now. Some even using our current position in the league as a fault, even though there’s 13 games to go and if Utd lose and we win today we’ll be 4th with 2 games in hand.
If we get 4th no doubt they’ll start complaining how black Arteta’s hair is and how white his teeth are.
James, there was also the “Arteta asked his team to always stay back and defend after we score one goal.”
I swear these people cooked up so many stuff, they cooked to the point you’d started questioning yourself if you’re watching a football game or you’re playing a PlayStation game with a friend 😭😭
Terrible cooking.
It’s been what 9 games with just 1 loss right.
Watch them attack in drove the moment we drop points
Agreed mate true definition of Trolls, the problem is their trolling the fellow fans and the club they apparently support its like their spurs fans in disguise
Please but not happy, my happiness would mean getting where we actually belong a championship club.
Championship or Champions League?
I hope he meant CL AdPat
Winning trophies that’s what I mean
This is the point Eddie
I don’t understand the constant complaints and for a few, excuse after excuse is made to undermine the progress that is being made.
We are not 8th and would have to fall apart to finish lower than 6th. It MAY happen but the wheels would have to fall off stratospherically.
There seems to be an assumption that we are more capable of failing than the chasing pack. Why, I don’t know!
C’mon SueP be fair. Obviously losing one of our last nine games (in the last minute against the best team in the world) shows that Arteta is simply Waaaaaay out of his depth….
😊
One word. Nottingham Forest.
That’s two words 🙄.
They also knocked us out in the same round under Wenger, did you bring it up then ?
lol I’ve noticed that too James. If he wasn’t always shouting directions he would be accused of being disinterested or unable to influence the ingame play. tbh he started off awfully but his ingame thinking has markedly improved recently.
Notice that the “only sixth place” jibes are coming in now in full knowledge that with the 3/4 games in hand we are to all intents and purposes in fifth (with a draw at watford) or fourth (with one win). Sad that a few are totally unwilling to admit that any progress at all has been made.
wait until the end of the season to see if progress was made at least.
it is like those claiming we were 2nd since January.
pffft 2nd since January does not count at all.
what counts is the 38 games in the season, so dont claim victory until all 38 are played.
besides, why be happy with 4th? Wenger was ridiculed for obtaining a 4th place trophy, now you want to worship Arteta for not even achieving that yet.
Wenger was ridiculed for classing finishing in the top 4 AS a trophy, above winning the FA and League Cups.
Wenger was also ridiculed for getting 4th place as a minimum .
And Wenger won 7 fA cups while doing so you’re comment makes absolutely no sense hair dryer .
1 fa cup every 3 years
Maybe he got ridiculed on here, but no one that I know who goes to the games did. As I said, he was ridiculed for classing it as a trophy, above actually trophies. Just think, if he had taken the FA Cup more seriously between ’06 and ’14 he might well have won more.
C’mon can’t say Wenger didn’t take the FA Cup seriously he’s won more than anyone in history.
As I said previously, if he had have taken it seriously in those years he might have won more. Leaving Arsharvin on the bench in the semi final against Chelsea because Hiddink, the Chelsea caretaker manager, was his national manager and knew how he played. What a load of old tosh. Hiddink played him in his natural position as a number 10 for Russia, Wenger played him out wide on the left. That’s just one season. There were others.
Nice one Eddie
Eddie. Obviously I agree with all your post. The clown “so called Gooners” you refer to are just children who know little about life and who prefer trying to bring down anything they cannot understand , instead of having faith as REAL supporters do. Lots ot the pathetically idiotic nonsense they say, which you rightly refer to, are just the ramblings of little minds.
In general I am sure most Arsenal fans are happier than for years.
Hopefully, it is not short lived.
Anyway, Arteta of course has a role in it. But it takes more than one person. Our recent transfer strategy has so far proved very successful, and I am sure, it as a “team effort” by everyone involved.
I think we can see a path now Anders wher before there wasn’t one. If that journey continues under Arteta or not remains to be seen but all I know is were in a better place now even if some fans still can’t see it
I’m ecstatic TBH
Going from 8th to 8th and now 6th shows real improvement especially after only spending 250 million and having less games to play than our rivals .
To top it off the football on show really gets me on my feet i mean I very rarely sit down .
I for one cannot wait till next season .
Dan K – you have looked at the table and are disengenuously quoting 6th place for comparison purposes. Fine. Are you going to make the same statement if we are 4th with games in hand in a few hours?
@Dan kit
Which position, do you regard to be best out of the three:
47 points for 27 games played (Man U)
45 points for 28 games played (West Ham)
45 points for 24 games played (Arsenal)
It seems to me our position is clearly the best, but I am curious how/if you come to a different conclusion.
Huge improvement to be excited about was how much energy we put into the Nottingham forest game. I mean it’s not easy fit beating a team that has won the champions league in their history. One of the best teams in the world. Huge excitement there.
Agree with alot of what you said there PJ-SA, but the squad we have to admit is far from complete.
Contract management I wouldn’t say is an issue as of yet. Players who are not fancied are allowed to leave. Fair play to Laca even though he’s not banging in the goals he’s giving 110%, more than I could say for Auba who shamefully downed tools and Laca has proved that. But players like Nkethia and Elneny are not good enough. When the season ends and before the lads go on their breaks, new contracts for Martinelli, ESR and Saka should be thrashed out even though there is little bit of time to get it sorted.
Again let’s not forget this squad is far from complete. Some idiot on here the other day said they would pick AMN over Lakonga lmfao. AMN can’t get into our team, has failed to impress in the shittest of the “top” leagues in Europe, failed at WBA we’d be lucky to sell him for a fiver and we’ll have to pay his taxi fair. If that’s certain fans standards and that the type of player they want alongside Partey they must have shit in their eyes. It’s no wonder we became a laughing stock. He’s everything that Arsenal were, an echo of a past where we had players full of talent and potential but their attitude was terrible.
To be stronger again next season we need 2 strikers a right back and 2 CMs, one holding and one number 8. Where hopefully we will sign a plan B of which I agree is needed.
I understand every ones sentiment about the cups but realistically if someone said were going all out for CL and will sacrifice winning the FA Cup I’d say okay no problem. Firstly being in Europes top tier is a priority over domestic cup success. Secondly winning the FA cup gets you around 5-10m, CL gets you in excess of 80m plus new very lucrative sponsorship deals. We played a second team against Forrest and were unlucky in the League cup with timing, injuries, COVID and Liverpools antics.
Sales is an issue that we had alot of players on high wages that didn’t warrant them. These wages were far higher than what European teams can afford and would want to pay plus the players were bang average and Ozil was included in that, Odegaard has put him to shame. As a result of the wages, age and as you mentioned contract management of the past we couldn’t shift them. That is now a thing of the past as the players in this squad are all young saleable for the next 6 seasons.
We’re in a great position now homefully City can do us a favour today and Everton tomorrow. Liverpool have done a job and it’s our turn to capitalise against Watford and Leicester.
A welcome read
Cheers Sue, it’s just the truth some tough games to come but the unity in the squad now we’re in control where in the past we’d be waiting for the next mustafi moment to play out
Indeed
There are tough games and I don’t expect them to win every battle but the win against Wolves showed everything that has been missing for so long. Never say die, fight to the last and celebrate with joy!
All the groans must be from Spuds I believe. Is it so hard to think that support is what the team needs now? If we keep supporting and they keep delivering, what more do they want?
If we eventually make Champions League Places, I would be over the moon really. And that will represent huge success and improvement particularly. We will take it from there and we can then raise our expectations after another 2 seasons.
John – I enjoy the banter with any fan who is capable of adapting their views, even slightly, as things change. I think that is something we “centrists” who both praise and critise Arteta, do regularly. Hence I can talk all day to, for example, PJSA and Reggie. But for 2 or 3 other “fans” on this site, it’s impossible to even try to get them to evolve their views or even show a modicum of positivity. We could win th CL and they would find fault. Realists is what they call themselves, but cynics or trolls is IMO closer to the truth as they seem to dislike everything about the club. It is difficult to believe that we “support” the same team.
Forget Arteta, Eddie & James have made me happy again!
I’d be happier still if we get all the points at Watford later, It would be great to see us turn on the style, but a 1-0 win will do
Come on you Gunners
Enjoy the game all
It’s far from being what we what tbh.
It’s understandable how people feel, especially when we look at how far we have fallen from the glory days, from challenging for title to becoming invincible and years of just being happy for top for, falling to fighting for top 6, and getting into Europe competition through cup win. It’s all ridiculous and unbelievable how far we have fallen. However, now we seems to be seeing glimpses of hope and tbh what the team is doing is far beyond everyone expectations, especially the team spirit, these are enough to get fans happy again.
That doesn’t mean we are not ambitious or are stupid, believe me, if we manage to finish in top 4 this season, there is going to be a lot of pressure on the team, the board and the manager, Utd last year is a perfect example.
So for those fan who think we are celebrating mediocrity, they are right, when one consider arsenal of 20yrs ago, but realistically, this is 2022, we are need to accept the reality, we all need to wake up and realise epl has evolved from being a top big 4 league to top big 10 league. Almost half of the team has enough fund to challenge for title.
Chelsea only lost 3 games and are almost 10poinst behind the leader, it’s mad, the standard Pep and city have put the epl is so mad
Chelsea are 13points behind city despite loosing just 3games
I must agree the standard of the teams in the premier league is astonishing. Chelsea the current European and world club champions are miles behind the top two….
We’ll i will wait till the end of the season. Getting kicked out of the FA Cup and League Cup was embarrasing. So if we finish top 6 i guess there is tiny improvement but nor worth singing about
If we finish 4th then i will be happy
Me too Steph, 4th it needs to be, although I wouldn’t call losing to Liverpool in the semi-final of the League Cup particularly embarrassing.
I would warn those gloating that the season is not over, there are many a slip betwixt the cup and lip.
End of the season will be the time for all the “I told you so” from both camps. Plenty of time to rise or fall still, so a wise person treads carefully.
I’ve said previously I’m pleased with our table position and current run of form. Credit to Arteta and the players.
Maybe some consistency has been found, and long may it continue. However we still struggle to score and break teams down.
We fought well against City, the last big opponent. Let’s see how we compete with Liverpool and Chelsea this time around after getting dominated earlier this season.
That is the acid test for me. Have we learned and grown since then? Can we be assertive and capable of attacking them, or will we sit back and cover like in past years?
Durand
I sincerely hope that there is no gloating. Fancy gloating over failure if that was to be the case
It hasn’t been plain sailing and there has been many a time that I have looked upward for Arteta to have divine inspiration.
I have hardly disguised the fact that I think Arteta will do well. Not sure yet about getting where the current top 3 managers reign, but I think he has learned a lot as time has gone on and stands a better than even chance.
As for potential hiccups- there are plenty – but the old adage applies: take it one game at a time and then don’t take one’s foot off the pedal.
Someone wrote earlier that the league is becoming much harder and so it is. Being a two horse race has long gone. There are more and more wealthy investors who want to win rather than be also rans – so maintaining what we considered to be our right (top4) will get increasingly difficult. Without going on about it, those who only knew the CL years, year after year, and not some of our less successful seasons, then they will be finding our recent positions hard to swallow
Kudos Eddie & James for your comments & in-depth analysis of the improvements achieved by the Mikel Arteta regime thus far… I really appreciate you guys big ups 👍
The focus is on the match for today like Fingersfurnell mentioned & the 3points is key no matter the angle you wanna look at it from.
Lets make it count again today boys… I believe you can do it.
COYG!!!👍
The sooner we learn to respect people’s personal opinion here the better… No Arsenal fan is a troll on the club he supports, That’s a big misguided perception…
Irrespective of the differences in opinion we all want to see Arsenal at the top again, atleast being feared by opponents, We all want an Arsenal were average opposition players won’t call our teams soft and weak before and after kickoff.. like Deeney, Toney and Neves did…
Personally it would be a big improvement if we finish fourth not just because of the champions league on offer but because we are going to be finishing above Manutd and Spurs with a young and inexperience squad who just recently got assembled together
The are alot of questions mark about the manager, but I believe the club was ready for all that when he was appointed knowing he was a novice.. I believe he can improve his man management as there are evidences to that like we saw with Pablo Mari’s comment on the manager after he left the club despite not playing as much football, and also Pepe messaging the Manager to inform him he was ready to play.. That’s a sign of a good man management within the squad Irrespective of how you choose to see it…
Whatever is your opinion about the current regime u are right as long as you want the best for Arsenal football club
Now this is a comment to respect ,some of the comments above from the usual suspects are pathetic,seems they are more intent on trying to be proving right than actually supporting the club which like you said buddy is what we are all doing just in different ways .
Great comment BTW
Complaining all the time isnt supporting Dan. We all winge when we lose but the comment you made earlier in reply to someone trying to be positive:
“I’m ecstatic TBH
Going from 8th to 8th and now 6th shows real improvement especially after only spending 250 million and having less games to play than our rivals .
To top it off the football on show really gets me on my feet i mean I very rarely sit down .
I for one cannot wait till next season”
This is highly patronising and shows no intention to support but instead troll the comment the players we signed the manager who coaches them and the club you apparently “support”. You seriously need to look up what supporting is. What you are my friend is a critic not a supporter.
I have never seen a single positive comment on here from you unless it’s when someone agrees with your negative way of thinking.
By the way how was the football for the 3 goals we scored today “did the style of football manage to get you on your feet” lmfao.
Nice “we’ve all had a drink” intervention Buddy, probably called for
“ I have never seen a single positive comment on here from you unless it’s when someone agrees with your negative way of thinking.”
Maybe you haven’t been on here long enough then James .
I supported Arteta when fans were calling for his head early on but like any fan I have the right to change my opinion which I did .
You call my post patronising but the fact remains we finished 8th twice and before the game sat 6th these are facts and the football I’ve witnessed over the last 18 months have been nothing short of watching paint dry ,and this is my problem I have ,when you factor in the money spent to back him you should expect atleast abit of entertainment ,let’s not kid ourselves we sit 4th AT the moment after a really easy run of games but how do you see next season panning out ?we have already seen what Arteta can do in Europe in the EL ,what thinks he can do any better when he comes up agaist the better teams in the CL
Thaeast you had some manners today and refrained from calling me a c…
Atleast *
There lots of things I could call you mate bigot comes to mind.
There are no easy games in the prem mate open your eyes. Liverpool, City, Wolves twice, Burnley are not easy games. Yeah we finished 8th twice as you keep banging on about in every article, it’s getting old.
The first time when Arteta managed around 13 games of that first 8th placed finish we were 15th when he took over. Then we finished 8th the following season more or less with the same group of players. So as this season has proved, the problem was obvious. It wasn’t Wenger, Emery nor Arteta it was the disfunctional, unbalanced team of overpaid lazy boys with poor attitude.
We had a clear out, something that should have happened 12 years ago. We’ve spent 250m on 9 players in 2 seasons so what, City have spent 2.5 billion over the last 10 years, 600m in the last 3 seasons over 100m on one player last summer. Utd 2 billion over a shorter period around 500m in the last 3 seasons and 97m on one player last summer. Then there’s Chelsea over 2 billion in the last 10 years and around 500m in the last 3 seasons 109m on one player last summer. These teams were adding quality to the quality squads they already had. Even Liverpool have spent around a billion since Klopp took over around 6 years ago. You think we should be challenging these teams for titles with the shit we had and what we were buying before Arteta come in by spending 250m to resolve it.
Look fella I agree with you 8th 7th 6th 5th are not good enough for a club like Arsenal. But you have to fully appreciate how poorly the club were run and the self indulgent players we had who showed zero unity or care for you and me as fans or the club they rinsed for wages. It doesn’t give you the right to make a flippant remarks to someone who trys to have abit of positivity towards the clubs development in the last 12 months inmve been commenting on here for over 2 years I’ve never seen you ever defend any management team forgive me if I’m wrong but I tend to ignore most of you comments.
I get it you must be a glass half empty guy
Plus you complain about football thats like watching paint dry and you wanted Antonio Conte as our manager look how well that proven winner is doing
If you unsure what bigot means
“a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.”
“don’t let a few small-minded bigots destroy the good image of the club”
Sounds familiar
I was going to reply to you Jamie but then realised that you didn’t even read what I wrote as per usual.
DK, this is what I meant when I spoke of the high and mighty crew who act profoundly disturbed whenever someone on here delivers an honest commentary with a bit of a bite, yet they do functionally the same thing, albeit hidden under a veil of passive aggressiveness….we both know that Jimmy Webster knew exactly what he was doing when he used that particular word…eventually he simply couldn’t handle owning it so he simply provided the above guilt-induced dictionary definition nonsense
Here’s the other half to the dynamic duo 🙄😒
Look fella i think the shoe is on the other foot, I don’t think you have read a word I wrote my friend.
I’ve discussed every issue you have made in your comment. If you chose to read my full comment in reply to, watching paint dry, to final League standings and the reason for why we finished 8th and 8th and apparently 6th this season (the last one fried my brain considering the season hasn’t finished). To the fact we have shelled out the monsterous sum of 250m over 2 seasons which by today’s standards is penuts. We currently sit 4th with 3 games in hand and still refuse to get behind the boys and see improvement not only in our squad but the club as a whole.
So what if the football is shit we needed to get back to winning football first, not pretty football. Whether it’s winning 1-0 or stuffing teams with glory football you crave it’s still 3pts on the board. Those of us who supported Arsenal prior to the Wenger years will understand completely what I mean.
I think the problem is some of us supported Arsenal through the 70’s 80’s and early 90’s and understand that we have been here before right though our history. Some fans would have only lived though the Wengerball era and are less open minded.
There’s no substance or depth to your “opinion” just sarcasm and flippancy. There’s never a counter argument just a snidey comment.
You are in belief of an situation that is fading from existence. I’m not sure how old you are, but your arguments, oppositions to others opinions and your own opinions are put forward as if your a child. A little like Andy from Little Briton’s duo Andy and Lou “I don’t like it”
Well said James. I’ve often wondered how many people on here that moan about the style of football we play have only been fans since ’96. Give me a drab 1-0 win over an entertaining loss all day long.
🎵 One nil to The Arsenal🎵