Yesterday, there was a post from Vivek which declared that this season has been a total failure for Arsenal. He goes on to call our team “bottlers” and calls for Arteta and Edu to be sacked.
This article, from first-time contributor Dave Twynham, seems to be a direct response to Vivek….
Shew. Grinding my teeth here. This hogwash being fed to you….. Arsenal bottlers… I simply… can’t… stand it.
1. Man City have by far and largest and the most consistent team. Undeniable.
2. Man City squad: If a team can give this 22/23 Real Madrid team a hiding with 4-0, your team should be top of the EPL. In knockout format this Madrid team is impressive.
Peruse at City’s average games compared to their UEFA games. You may see Alvarez, Foden, Mahrez, Laporte and Rico on the bench as a standard. They start on most Premier League first teams in most cases. That alone is the bench. That’s what analysts don’t see or smell. It’s called squad depth. City have had a win record of 550 points odd over 700 possible points ~. Since Arab spring. So, they have encultured winning into a big quality backed squad.
3. These guys spent 200m when Pep started. That wait for it….2.2 B in today’s kitty over a season (stand to be corrected on season(s). The mere comment that Chelsea and Arsenal have outmatched us” is hogwash. Chelsea now are the biggest market inflaters, Lord help us. Now we must pay 110m for substandard midfielders. 😂
4. Succinctly. Arab money. Money talks, FFP walks (in the opp direction!)
5. Prior to Saliba injury, Arsenal had the best defence.
People were waxing lyrical about Odegaard and Saka being influential at the time. I was a bit more mistrustful of those comments. I remember one man mountain calming down the best in Ligue 1. So, a spine is built strong from bottom up. So thus, with injuries to Partey, to our CM stocks, and and our resolve were tested. I don’t even want to talk about our CB’s/fullbacks.
Moral of the story is that humans win competitions. In the EPL, this competition is a marathon. We just didn’t have the legs of the right players at all the time. And we couldn’t expect to run the same 11 all the time.
Arsenal needs more steel: Caicedo (cough). Dare I say Patino? 😢
6. Arsenal had the best performing front 3 in the league. Goals between them 44….
If Man City had one Erling Haaland taken out, the team is lost. Haaland is a generational talent. It’s like having Ronaldo in the EPL at 21, we will just have to deal.
7. Arsenal were setting the bar for a very long time at the top. Even after the losses we incurred, Man United couldn’t catch us up, and that means that there’s a massive gulf in mentality this year in difference to last year. Massive!
We were pushing ourselves for honours. Over other teams with their expensive squads? Please tell me how hard we pushed Man City? or are you doing nothing but jumping on the Arsenal bottlers bandwagon? Its ok. I will wait…..
Sooo… NO! it wasn’t Arsenal’s loss. This young team OUTperformed their expectations and their beliefs which they had of themselves at the beginning of the year. …. Injuries exposed an inexperienced team in the end, the 3 losses and draws were setbacks. Yet everyone, in hindsight with Arteta, from the darkest point of 3 opening straight losses last season, at the bottom of the log to 8th to 5th to now 2nd, this season was an unbridled success. There is now an Arsenal attacking DNA which I can see and smell.
8.
Lastly. I hate to mention this man’s name, but Mikel Arteta is no Sir Alex Ferguson first off, right? And SAF is no bottler by any means, right?
If we look at Ferguson’s Man Utd reign since SAF took charge, they had finished in 2nd or 3rd place 8 times. I don’t recall the word bottling being used as a word to that face though! So, are the media being more horses for courses?
So if someone says Arsenal bottled it? Keep your comments to yourself and write about your own team’s business.
Dave Twynham
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We didn’t bottle the season but we certainly bottled the run in when we were 8 points ahead.
Of cause we are bottlers
I expected to see something in defense of arsenal not bottling2 seasons in a row but rather saw an article spent more time telling me about city who we only had to play twice in a season, of course the truth is bitter did who bottle it yes we did in a big way, kindly remind me a team that was in our passion after about 28games that went on to lose the league in the manner we did with about 10point. I am scratching my hair to remember such a bottle job
Pal, Dave just mentioned City have Alvarez, Foden, Mahrez, Laporte and Rico on the bench as a standard and we? Our answer ? Eddie, Nelson, Eleneny? I rest my case. Maybe your were excited with the “Top Four Tropheee Hehehe”which we lost by coming second best.
Rico,alverez and foden was molded by gadiola they didn’t come to man city as a big name, so why can’t arteta do the same with nkettiah, nelson or our no 10… How much did city pay for Alvarez,foden,rico or akanji
We are singing their names like they are 50+m players there is no big names in football, the big names are associated with big performances once you start performaning your name goes up the lader….
I don’t even think arteta can we the league with this city squad unless he improves big time, i am sorry
Perfect response.How many youngsters has Arteta molded?
Saka. Martinelli, Saliba and Ødegaard. even White were already on their way to stardom when he came in. Nketiah, Nelson, Lokonga and Tavares have made no improvement. Let’s give City a break please
True, we were already ahead of City in the table, we just had to stay in front, not chase City down.
We BOTTLED IT in the Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton run up, and then sealed it with losing to Brighton.
IF we had beaten Liverpool and bottom of the table West Ham and Southampton, we would have been in decent position.
We dropped crucial points under pressure 2 years in a row; if that isn’t a fitting description of “bottling it” I’m not sure what is.
And as far as City goes, we were above them for 90% of the season. All that glamour and glitz couldn’t get them 1st place while we were handling business. They NEEDED us to stumble to overtake us, and that is exactly what happened; again.
Arsenal didn’t bottle it, they simply ran out of gas. the problem is a lot of fans seem to genuinely believe a footballer can run forever. If you believe that then a team that loses form must have bottled it. The Arsenal squad simply wasn’t deep enough. Given the problems will escalate next season with champions league midweek games that is an issue. If and how the club solve it remains to be seen. How important the number of games is was seen when Leicester won the title. Through the season football “experts” were constantly telling us they would fade away as their squad wasn’t strong enough. This ignored the fact they weren’t playing in Europe and so were actually playing less football than the competition. Which in the end made all the difference.
So every team that has won the EPL did so by only playing one competition? You say we ran out of gas. But City playing 3 competitions till date haven’t run out of gas right? Continue making excuses. We’ve been bottlers since the Wenger days. No questions
If everybody had a similar depth of squad they would all tire at the same rate and competition would be equal, but they don’t. City have the strongest squad in the league by a distance, effectively they have two first teams. So they can and do rotate. As I said some fans seem to genuinely believe players can run forever.
How about the teams who are still winning matches even now? Do they have City’s squad depth? And what’s this excuse of gassing out about? We only played once a week for much of the season and yet you’re saying that players gassed out, as though we’re the only ones playing 90mins. Have you seen Newcastle? How about Brighton? How much squad depth do they have? And how about Man Utd?
Teams who are still winning games now are below us. You scored an own goal there and you celebrated!
Season unbeaten, two doubles, seven FA Cups, and three PL, define bottlers for those successes.
Winning silverware doesn’t mean that you don’t bottle it sometimes. Wenger led the league till February and lost it. Emery needed a point from last four games. He bottled it. Arteta has bottled it twice in a row now
dgr8xt, are a real fun or just a kid talking nonsense ? So many guys gave you good reasons and you still insist on your opinion.
Really
You failed to tell us how we left all competition at earlier as possible just to focus on EPL, you failed to explain why we ran out of gas playing one game a week, you failed to tell us last season that we weren’t in Europe the different it made, fans complaining about playing on a Thursday nights now we are in champions league it’s coming up slowly how it’s difficult to play midweek champions league this is mind blowing, perhaps all this is all about trying to find the best excuse on why we failed big time 2 seasons in a row, people said we pushed city but in reality it was the other way round, we lighted it up and was the team to beat, in 2/3 of the season it was all about us, but when city came calling we chickened out and handed it to them like amateurs, it’s okay but the solution to our problems starts when we acknowledge the fact you have a problem, injuries, happens to every team and it won’t stop even next season,
Our best player at a point was Gabriel Jesus he went out injured for month but we still hold on to 1st position with nkettiah was he fantastic or world class hell no, against Brentford Vieira replaced odegaard and we won 3:0 with him scoring and putting on a show, it took injury to Saka for Nelson to come and score 2 times and performance was good what happened after, I could go on and on, i saw a start showing Saka played all EPL games 2 seasons in a row, really? The team wasn’t out on their legs
The team was over laboured mentally, I noticed they started cracking when games started being over laboring physically and mentally
Arsenal problems is mentally and management problem
“they simply ran out of gas”
Why did they run out of gas? We were playing fewer games than most of our opponents. It was the pressure – even arteta realises it.
It’s ok, it just shows what we need to improve, but let’s be real about the issue.
Great article, because it reveals Man City’s dominance and spending since Guardiola came
I’d like to add that Man City’s backline cost them around £250m. Even the mighty Real Madrid couldn’t steal the ball from Man City’s £250m defenders and GK, when Man City played from the back
That’s why I understand about Arsenal’s interest in Declan Rice, especially if Saliba leaves. Playing from the back requires highly experienced and skilled defensive players
Please stop this
If they like let them have 1 billion defenders? City are benefiting from a period of stability with one of the best coaches that has nothing to do with how much their defenders cost.. I am sure chelsea is not far away from that figures and languishing in midtable
Chelsea and united have spent as much as city too but are nothing near city
Chelsea and Man United only had high-quality defenders without excellent managers
World-class manager + world-class backline = world-class play from the back
Maybe we have world class defenders too without excellent manager, we fail to acknowledge that all our defense is all bought by Arteta except Tierney who hardly play and Saliba who many still believe his absent cost us the league
Our main defenders and GK are very good, but their values + our squad rotation defenders’ values are still below Man City’s £250m backline
Arteta is an excellent manager, but he struggled after Saliba got injured
Performance has nothing to fo with prise how much did salaba cost?
Akanji was bought for 15m too
If we need to spend 250m on defenders to compete then God help us…. Stop this your obsessions with prize tags many managers do not need 1billion€ squad to compete as edie howe is currently proving
This is quite true. It is quite clear that we are not on the same level when we have to rotate.
You know our back line cost around 200 million right?
All the players we have brought in, Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwor, Tierney, Zinchenko, that is around 200 million there. I’m not counting Mari, Soares, Tavares in this list.
arsneal have spent 500million since arteta came and we literally spent the most last summer. so delusional
We did not spend the most last summer.
Although we had an 8pt lead, there were so many games left to play, City had a game in hand, plus we had to go to the Etihad. Throw in the injuries, the inexperience, and City being one of the greatest teams in English football history, I would hardly say we bottled it.
Also, City’s bench against Chelsea cost half a billion. We are a million miles away from them in regards to quality and squad depth.
City this. City that. Bla bla bla
We didn’t lose because of City. We lost due to our own errors. That’s the point.
Our errors were to a large extent due to relatively limited squad depth
What has city got to do with us drawing 3 games in a raw from winning 2 goals up and with a relegated Southampton, or been trashed 3:0 at home to Brighton..
For once let’s look in the mirror for why we failed not city
To both of you, I’m not saying we didn’t make errors ourselves, I’m just pointing out the hysteria over missing out on the title is so over the top.
And it IS also about City, because they are so good. No other team can win 11 or 12 league games in a row, a run they’re currently on, whilst also thrashing the likes of Bayern and Real in-between!
I could understand the bottling if Utd, Newcastle, or an out of sorts Liverpool caught us, but it’s City. Let’s not forget City pulled back a 15pt deficit against Liverpool to win the league, and that Liverpool team had a better manager, and better players than what we currently have.
I have a question for you?
Do you think we will have a better squad than city even if we have the best transfer window?
Can’t answer that until the window closes, but considering their squad has a vastly superior starting XI and way more quality in depth, we’d have to have the most insane transfer window of any club ever to start next season with a better squad than City.
The question is simple but you don’t want to answer directly for reasons you know, do you know that gadiolla won the league without actual full backs? All this players you are saying are world class are nothing without gadiolla players like foden,Alvarez,akanji,aki and few others who are they before they joined gadiolla’s man. City, they were certainly not world class… You have to perform to be classed as world class and gadiolla has molded them to perform to that level… If arteta is looking to buy 24 man squad full of stars from other teams to challenge then we are in a deep trouble
Pretty sure Walker is a full back…
I have know walker for a long time now, walker is more like a left sided cb and he plays that in England too gadiolla now plays him as that’s too in a 3 man defense. But that’s not even the argument walker is a fullback okay so who is the world class player that deputize for him, i heard city has 2 world class players for every position. When lies fly around these often then it tends to be true
Right sided cb i mean
Walker never plays as a left CB, either for City or England !! As for City having 2 World Class players for every position, where did you hear that ?
Walker has been playing right sided cb in city 3 man defense while stones partners rodri in defense. And he played same when southgate played 3cb
Walker diaz akanji or aki
Stones and rodri(for dm)
Check how city has been seting up before arguing
Yes, right CB, which is what i wrote, not a Left CB, which is what you wrote 🙄
Get your facts right before posting !!
It’s because you were too fast to post that you are correct that’s why you didn’t see my correction right after my post
Pretty sure Walker is a full back…
I agree there is a lot of hysteria. I really don’t get why people who claim to be Arsenal fans are so eager to label their own players “bottlers”.
This is a senseless approach to understanding the challenges we faced and how we prepare for next season.
Complete lack of perspective.
David, I don’t get it too. Probably because some fans are imbeciles?
What City got to do? Well, if it were any other team pursuing us, even with those draws, unacceptable as they were, Arsenal would still be champions. That’s what.
It’s not every day you get chased by a team that can put together a 12-game winning streak!
Really? I bet you if Arsenal didn’t get so much point earlier in the season even top4 would have been too much for them, 9 point in 8 games for a team that wants to be champions
But it’s the same team you are now vilifying that won those early points that put us in such a massively advantageous position. Or…….?
You’re completely missing the point.
First, WE DID NOT LOSE THE LEAGUE BECAUSE OF CITY’S BRILLIANT SQUAD. We lost it because of self inflicted injuries. I don’t see what City had to do with that despite your limp attempt to argue otherwise.
Secondly, Alex Ferguson never topped the league from August till April, being 8 points clear at the top in April and lost it.
No matter how hard you try to explain our way out, fat is that we BOTTLED it.
SIDE NOTE: I don’t concur with Vivek’s conclusion that Arteta and Edu Gasper should be sacked
“self inflicted injuries”. Which ones were those?
This is a well thought out and reasoned article unlike the one of Vivek. I have always argued that the moment you discard common sense whatever you do will smack of senselessness and that’s what Vivek exposed. Anybody with a bit of reasoning could see that Arsenal overachieved this season. How? Moving from 7th to 2nd place is a great leap forward. Secondly, moving from no European football to Champions league is simply fabulous.
Let’s look at the team which Arsenal gave a run for their money, Man city. These are people who have been spending recklessly to buy EPL. Thus all credit goes to Arsenal and Liverpool for having given them real good challenge. I am not a betting person but I can see a real tough competition between Arsenal and Man city. We have been on a learning experience and every drawback is a great lesson.
At least before your call other peoples opinion senseless get your facts Right.. You right up is flawed with wrong stats that I am question your own sense
Arsenal did from 7the to second
And did not move from no European football to champions league, in fact when you want to look at what progress is look at Newcastle Eddie howe in 18 months he moved from relegation fight to champions league and that is with a very small amount spent, and guess what I didn’t hear them whining of any process or bottled job
You are quite right that there are some inaccuracies in the comments above. Arsenal were 5th last season and we are now second. We played in the EL and did not do as well as we would have hoped.
Despite the setbacks this season, I strongly disagree with those who say that we are “bottlers”. This is a lazy, negative pundits’ narrative for what has several facets. It is even more senseless and irresponsible for supposed Arsenal fans to jump on this bandwagon.
Eddie Howe has done well with Newcastle but it is wildly inaccurate to state that they have spent a “small amount”.
Arsenal have made progress over a number of years and the development of the squad needs to continue. Several of our key players are still developing and yet to reach full potential. There are clearly areas of strengthening required in attack MF and defence which if addressed effectively will mean that we will be even stronger next season. Overall, the future looks positive and we should be strong challengers next season.
Unfortunately for your point, Arsenal spent the most in the premier league last summer and more than man city have over the past 5 years.
Unfortunately for you lex, you are way off the mark. A certain club in Fulham, Chelsea, spent over £100m more than us last summer. Try a bit of researching before posting in future.
As the knifes begin to come out, this article is food for thought, we must be cognizant of the fact a great leap forward has been made.
We must not lose sight of the massive picture, as we pick up ourselves , we must ensure important lessons learned in this campaign should help to guide us .
Well said
So much angst about what is now in the past without being able to see the future
Vivek and Dave Twynham
Both of you are polar opposites in your views.
For most mature and balanced fans like myself and many others here with whom I have had disagreements now and then in the past, the truth is somewhere in between.
I do not know how long you have supported the club but based on both articles, it does not seem very long and thus IMO immature articles. Of course you have freedom of speech.
I have supported Arsenal for over 15 years mate.
“The truth is somewhere in-between”
This!!
This exactly was in my head as I read this article. We did bottle it, with better squad management the league is ours. On the other hand we overachieved as well with not much experience. We will learn our lessons and come back stronger
My lack of optimism for next season concerns the tactical naivety of Arteta and his failure to utilise certain players when his first team choices were clearly struggling physically.His intransigence has rebounded on him but whether he recognises his failings is doubtful as he strikes me as someone who will not be influenced by others in his Management team , even if they are more experienced.In other words I consider his judgement to be suspect in a number of areas.
The simple fact is, from a winning position, we lost points against a team already relegated (no city influence there ) lost to Forest, who outplayed us (no city influence there ) were dominated at home by Brighton (no city influence there) lost a two goal lead against pool and west ham (no city influence there) and capitulated to city (massive influence there!!)
It doesn’t matter how many games we played versus city – it doesn’t matter who they had on the bench – it doesn’t matter how much they spent on players – it doesn’t even matter if they are found guilty of all 115 charges – it was in our hands and we blew it.
That doesn’t mean we haven’t made tremendous strides this season, as we challenged them right up until the Brighton game, left the rest of the PL in our wake, have installed an atmosphere at the club that hasn’t been there for, what six years?
In my opinion, we lost it against city due to our own failings – let’s celebrate what we have achieved and look for to the summer transfers and Saliba signing his contract.
Spot on @ ken1945!
The way I see it, is exactly the same as you. Yesterday (in another post) I mentioned that our season took a nose dive right after Xhaka got into a scuffle with Trent Alexander Arnold. Whilst I am not blaming Xhaka, what preceded was an Arsenal side who looked nervous and intimidated by a very loud and passionate Liverpool crowd. Until that moment we were beating Liverpool convincingly.
That has been our issue for years. We can play great football, but when the pressure is on we just can’t deal with it and make mistakes. The Liverpool game highlighted the obvious again and we never really recovered from the mental fragility. Although we did still try to attack West Ham Southampton and Forest etc, we were always looking like we had lost the belief and energy!
I have always and will always disagree with this your narrative.
How will you say that professionals who are paid more than 99% of people who have ever or will ever live are intimidated by a crowd to a point of not being able to perform on the pitch. They’ve been playing football for years. It’s nothing new. So how is that a reason to throw away a two goal lead with so much at stake?
And quit mentioning Xhaka. It’s beginning to sound like the proverbial broken record
There’s an interview of gianfranco zola where they asked how he could do the things he could on the pitch, or something like that, and I believe he said that plenty of players could play like him in training, but they couldn’t all show the same level in games due to the pressure of playing in front of crowds. It’s a major reason some players look very good in the youth team but never make it even to the PL. There’s clearly levels to it – it’s also why less talented players can sometimes have incredible careers. I’ve never really understood why Thomas muller is considered to be low skilled, but he’s clearly someone who’s able to think when under pressure.
@ dgr8xt. I am perfectly with in my rights to express opinion, even if it does not suit you. Anyway, the evidence was on the pitch. I saw, a lot of people saw the same thing. We were dominating Liverpool and the home fans were quite subdued. As soon as the crowd reacted, so did Liverpool. They gained momentum and we lost it!
Also, I might mention Xhaka again and there’s nothing you’re going to do about it. Is there?
I will report you to Admin Pat. The team lost and you’re looking for a non-reason. Broken record
Whatever..
You seem to have issue with nearly every post on here.
You make some valid points there.
I agree with you fully. How can anybody in his mind say that Liverpool got rejuvenated because of Xhaka’s off field reaction. Is that really logical? Does he mean to say that if Xhaka had not reacted the way he did they would have sat back and lost? I just don’t get it. Anyway somebody once said that a lie told over time becomes the truth to some people. I am not that gullible and will not be swayed by such irrationality.
I’m not gullible David but I watched the Liverpool game and as far as I’m concerned the Xhaka incident had a bearing – and that is not to blame him – but it did make a difference
you cannot put it down to a single factor. these are the key factors imo:
– saliba injury bringing in the useless rob holding
– lack of winning culture at this club
– poor mental when leading at anfield and west ham
– lack of clinical, world class, dependable finisher
– saka form dropping off
– odegaard too inconsistent
– zinchenko horribly overrated as he is so vulnerable defensively
– ramsdale very inconsistent and occasionally nervous despite supposedly being the best keeper this season
I hate the “bottle” expression when applied to our team as it suggests that they crapped themselves at the crucial period of the season.
I’ll accept “choked”, “lost it”, “couldn’t handle the pressure” or just plain old “lack of experience”, but please no more bottling. Reserve that for more worthy recipients.
More worthy recipients such as…?
Any team that merits it at any time.
Yes I know of one. Arsenal FC 22/22, 22/23
How about Man Utd in the 97/98 season ?
Liverpool in the 13/14 season ?
Newcastle the most famous ?
Who can forget KK’s rant 😂
Arsenal, the year not oil rich Leicester beat us to it. When we beat them home and away. RING ANY BELLS?
you only hate it because it sounds more disrespectful. There’s literally been no bigger bottle job in history – you have put too much love and emotional investment into these players and this manager that you simply can’t stand any negativity. 2 wins in last 8, record number of days in history leading the title without winning it.
Well spotted😜 I dislike any form of disrespect concerning Arsenal, and prefer criticisms not to be ar$e related.
What I think of our capitulations is a matter of personal, private opinion.
@Jax
i don’t like what I consider disrespect to Arsenal either mate, but this forum was vreated for EVERY Arsenal fan to be allowed their opinions up fpr mature discussion. Mobody is right if it is just an opinion, until after the fact, right?
We bottled it that is a fact, if we had lost both games to man city but beaten westham, Southampton and won our last 2games, we would still be top
It’s true that Arsenal boys ran out of steam in the near end. But considering their age, this method is a must to improve the natural fitness of the youngsters which will only serve them very well as they age. The moment Saliba and then Zinchenko got injured, I knew the cracks were getting bigger. Very unfortunate. Arteta will improve the squad and use this failure exactly how he used it last season. I’m excited for coming future. Those who are calling for the manager’s sack can go fly kites with other 3rd world state own team. There’s aplenty in EPL nowadays.
A lot of what you say is excuses that dont wash and should not wash with people but excuses dont reflect what happened. Even though you put good excuses out there. Im afraid we did bottle it big style from the manager down to the players. We can all find excuse but the best way, is not too and learn. Us bombing in the last two months has nader, sweet FA, zilch to do with any excuses. We haven’t just lost the league we have capitulated. Nothing to do with Arab money (losing to Brighton and Forest had nothing to do with any excuse. Except we failed to finish the season off, again.
It saddens me to write this, but there was an element of bottling although like Jax, I don’t like the expression.
It was in our own hands and having taken a 2-0 lead at Liverpool nearly went down the pan completely. It has pretty much been down hill since apart from the Newcastle result.
Yes, there are mitigating factors; lack of depth, injury to Saliba and definitely nerves, but losing such a big advantage almost seems criminal because it was in our own hands. One dodgy game is one thing, but the consequences were a disaster.
However, I am not for sacking Arteta because so much of the season was marvellous and that should not be overlooked
Sue, we have fallen of a cliff, is that better? Does falling off a cliff sound better than bottling it?
Reggie
I’m trying to make it sound less than bottling by suggesting mitigating factors. There were some but not enough to fully understand how it happened
Does anybody know why?
I think we bottled it Sue🥴🤣
I did answer you directly. It’s impossible to answer as the transfer window hasn’t even opened, let alone closed yet!
But as I said, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that City will start next season with a far superior squad than we do.
E.g. to match Haaland’s quality we’d have to sign Mbappe.
Oh and Walker is 100% a fullback by trade. If you’re knowledgeable about football, you should know that.
I despair at the sheer arrogance, by being so self entitled, that the childish Viveks of this world have.
It is like trying to debate seriously with a tantrum throwing two year old and as such, completely pointless.
My view is that we have had an excellent season, though with a disappointing last nine or so matches.
To throw the baby out with the bathwater is what spoilt kids do.
Not for me! I am a proper grown up!
I’m sorry but we were 8 points clear and Arteta has clearly made the league a priority by refusing to put the strongest 11 out for any of the cup comps. And we have what, 2 wins out of the last 8? I don’t care how good City have looked at the 2nd half of the season, we didn’t need to beat them to win the title. Those 3 draws in a row, and the nature of how we threw those games, lost us the title. We have also been top of the league for the record longest time. If calling that bottling gets you mad, then maybe rephrase it?
Just admit, you got caught up emotionally in the hype of us potentially winning the title for the 1st time in 20 years and became delusional. You put so much love into these players and this manager that you just can’t stand anyone criticising them for bottling it. You can talk absoutely any argument, any angle you want – the fact remains that we have 2 wins from our last 8, and have led the league for a record number of days without winning it.
We ‘bottled’ the run in….fact. We never bottled the season….just the run in…but we saw with our eyes how we sank without trace. Weak.
I don’t know what else to call us. “Desperately unlucky, overachievers, robbed, eternal battlers,”, none of these seem to fit. I think the purpose of this article is to only convince yourself. Like the players and staff, I would want to move on.
Fantastic article, Dave. Arsenal by far exceeded all expectations with a very young squad and with very less investments. What we have achieved this season, we must be proud of. With the proper incomings in the summer, we will be stronger and better next season. Our young squad will learn much from this seasons experience and will be better equipped, both physically and mentally next season. I expect Arsenal to challenge for the PL title next season, go deep in the CL and win the FA Cup.
Both sides put forward good reasoning, probably an element of both sides having the truth, a mixture of feeling the pressure and not having strong replacements to aid those who crashed.
We weren’t good enough technically mentally or physically in the end. I think the boys did so great that it was a massive surprise to surrender in the fashion we did, it felt undeserving
I disagree. In this case there is no “truth”. There are only opinions. It is also worth noting that opposing views are not necessarily equally valid.
Vivek Julia’s article was so bad, in my view, that I initially thought it had to be satire. I found it quite interesting that quite a few people agreed with it.
Yeah, I thought Vivek’s article was a bit of a send-up also, and the usual anti-Arsenal mob were out in full support, one of them even claiming on this thread that “We lost it because of self inflicted injuries”. I’m not sure if he/she is suggesting that the players were responsible for their own injuries, that they were self harming or that this is just a metaphor for failure. Fortunately there’s only a very minor element of shabby supporters here on JustArsenal, and at least we know who they are.