Arsenal made hard work of winning our last game of the season in front of our home fans at the Emirates, but Kai Havertz game-winning goal in the 88th minute made it a good send of to the awesome home crowd, even if it wasn’t quite enough to trigger a Premier League trophy presentation.
But we all still celebrated an amazing season where we came within an ant’s whisker of denying Man City their record-breaking fourth title in a row. Mikel Arteta was very quick to be humble in defeat but voiced his regret that his team didn’t end up with a trophy to share with the fans. “Congratulations to Manchester City for winning the Premier League,” he said post-match. “We tried, we had a record season in many stats, but normally those records have to produce big titles, and we haven’t won it. That’s the regret today because we really wanted to deliver something special to our people.
“When you look at it, the atmosphere they created, how they are behind the team and the players, it’s unbelievable. It’s a little bit of a sad day but looking at it with perspective, we have to understand what we are doing. Hopefully we can still be better.”
Arteta certainly made it clear that he thought the fans faith in the players had played a big part in the teams improvement and determination to get over the line at all costs. “They’ve been unbelievable, they are so inspiring,” he added. “I think they’ve taken this group of players and transformed them into a different level, because they feel confident, they feel respected, they feel loved.
“That’s a real power to have, so home and away, I think they’ve been incredible and today was just a joy to stand there in front of our people, living this team that for many years, we haven’t had the chance to live.”
So at least Arsenal have progressed enough to push the best team in the world to the Final Day before surrendering the title.
Hopefully our travelling crowd will continue to push this young Arsenal team on to bigger and better seasons in the future….
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Hoping we put in proper effort in the cups next season and not the very poor performances we’ve seen in the last few years.
Really isn’t acceptable looking at our FA Cup heritage
Arteta should Just get Victor Osihmen Plz!🙁
He can Make us have Fear Factor as a team.
Haaland has won the EPL for Man City 2x bcos of his Bullish and Aggressive Style of play.
Only Osihmen can Match him, in the Entire Europe.
With Osihmen, we will finally Rival and Surpass Man City.😊🙂
I encourage you to go on Bein Sport YouTube channel and watch some Napoli highlights.
You’ll soon find your comment holds no merit.
I think the one thing we learnt this season is that we probably should have spent that 30 million on Kudus, not Raya
Spending money on Kudus would not have guaranteed that we would have scored more goals or won the league.
I’m still disappointed, but it is what it is. First, we go through a long summer before pre season kicks in, followed up by the season proper. My faith still intact!
There’s a certain European tournament, followed by an Olympics before the pre-season starts. It’s going to be a very busy summer.
Neither has got anything to do with Arsenal, not until it’s Pre-season.
The Olympics might, as France want to use Saliba in the football apparently.
Actually i’m talking about club football viewership not national football or players participating in it, cos i’m never really interested till it gets to the semi-finals. So yeah, it’s a long summer for me.
A good season in the league ,awful in the cups once again .
I think the result against city where we played for a draw showed the wrong mentality ,something Rodri suggested yesterday after they had won .
I know some fans are happy we have come second but after 5 years and some heavy backing and only one trophy to show for it it’s not the best return IMO.
Great managers and teams win trophies at the end of the day ,so without them we are not there yet simple really .
I echo this sentiment.
I’m a bit younger than Arteta and have some football knowledge through playing Fifa. I reckon if I also had been given 6 years and spent nearly a billion dollars in transfers, I’d also eventually find 10 decent players and finish second behind City. Does that make me a good coach?
If we continue accepting “nearly there” and second place and overspend on mediocre players we’ll end up just like Man United. They also finished second just a few years ago and look where they are now.
A great coach improves his current squad and maximises their abilities and promotes the academy.
Not only we have no trophies, we also have no assets to sell to generate meaningful funds. All our academy products are leaving for free.
Football knowledge through playing FIFA !! Haha
I reckon if Arsenal gave YOU 5 seasons and a billion dollars you’d also eventually figure it out.
5 seasons is a really long time…
I don’t know about Marty, but I am CERTAIN that you could do the job, Rootkit!
“5 years is a really long time”
It took Fergie nearly 7 years at Man Utd….
He didn’t have 1.3 billion though did he? We should never compare a man who built a dynasty from nothing with the one who bought and dispose left, right and center.
Correct, but then transfer fees weren’t as big as they are today. Compare the job he had to do at Man Utd to what Arteta has had to do here, and it’s virtually the same.
You really should have kept quite about Fifa😜.
Hahaha. This guy is using his FIFA video game experience as a serious thing to compare with taking on Pep for the title.
Some people need to just let it go because their anti Arteta narratives keep getting embarrassing each season.
It must seem that easy to @Rootk1t. smirk! I’d suggest he manage a digital team in games such as Football manager or soccer manager endorsed by Mikel himself, and come share with us how easy it is, forget about Real life management. Some arrogance by fans on here.
I agree
Jon, you want him to lie rather? Never figured you as someone that is truth averse
PJ- SA Of course I dont want that. I have never said, nor even insinuated, that he lies. Plainly he does not.
But I simply said his tedious and continuous lackof nous in recognising what a superb manager we have, has been and continues, sadly, to be missing. Predictably misssing, which IS exactly my point!
” Great managers” while ours is only 5 years on and competing. ” Heavy backing” you are right and where is Man Utd and Chelsea today with their heavy backings and experience managers. Truly we are not there yet however our comment should be balanced, appreciative and encouraging. It should not be all gloomy
Maybe read my post fully , then next time it would save you writing gibberish.
Going away to one of the best teams in the world and ensuring that we did not get beaten is not “wrong mentality”. It was simply pragmatism particularly given MC historical results against us.
It is illogical to suggest that simply because Rodri has come out with the comment after MC had won the league it must have some substance.
Some fans are happier that we are more competitive than we have been in many years. Fans are not happy that we came second.
The backing needs to be considered in context. Arsenal definitely want to win things and will go again next year. However, it is important to acknowledge that we are up against one of the greatest footballing teams that’s been seen, along with some other great teams.
The problem was the midfield. Arteta spent much time trying to force Havertz as 8. Declan Rice has contibuted more playing as 8.
With Partey playing as 6, we always won most matches since last season. The technical team didn’t see this and although he was scarcely available this season, the manager hadn started keeping him out of the team when he was fit.
Conclusion: We need 2 midfielders of his profile for solid squad depth if he is leaving. We also need a left back. When the back line and midfield function well, our forwards will score goals.
For a striker, my best option remains Gyokeres but if he’s too expensive, we can buy Sesko or just leave that post for Havertz, and promote Obi in order not to lose him. Arsenal must do everything to keep him.
A very good season for us in general but the club will know where the shortcomings were. Depth being one of them. And in particular, the lack of quality in depth. I feel we need at least two “world class” editions in an out and out striker and a world class keeper. Saka needs competition too. We all know the Villa game was our undoing. If we had not lost that game we probably have gone on to win the EPL. City’s ability to bring on players with such quality has always been a huge bonus for them. They can bring on like-for-like players. We are almost there but just need some really good additions this summer if we really want to challenge in all competitions next year.
Tough finish, but there was improvement in mentality this year. We fought to the end and didn’t choke like the finish of last year.
A couple additions and upgrades and we are good to go. No more square pegs in round holes; Havertz is a striker or on the bench, and Jesus on the wings or on the bench.
We did very well in the PL. No complaints from me
2 points behind the champions is very good. If we had beaten Villa it would have been a different story but with some good signings we could win it next season.
We need to do better in the Cups though
The pastdecade plus years of City success COULD look very different if- I say WHEN – City are punished for those 115 charges.
I have taken it as read that the Prem would not havecharged them at all unless they were sure at least most of those charges will be proved , eventually!
The fact that City have cunningly and spitefully done their best to DELAY justice is a slam dunk that they ARE guilty, IMO.
So what remains now is to work out when and how much City will be punished. That is coming closer and we are told wil be FINALLY brought to the charge table later this year.
I doubt they will be relegated, though clearly they ought to be,IF found guilty. Juventus were retrospectively forced to give up titles won , when their own corrution.was proved. So there is a football precedent.
Although I deem it unlikely , it COULD YET happen to City and, if so, we would be awarded last years and this seasons title.
That scenario would massively change SOME peoples perceptions esp about Arteta, though I realise those who stilll loathe the fact he is here at all will probably never change. Dinosaurs dont change, not while they live; they only die out when their time is up.
What I think most likely for Citys punishment is a huge though effectively useless fine AND a massive points deduction, HOPEFULLY BEFORE the start of next season. The Prem league are too in thrall to power and money to face relegating City, as that would diminish their income worldwide, as they are well aware.
AND PROPER FULL JUSTICE will sadly be avoided, as the Prem is corrupt, City are corrupt and the concept of fairness, financially speaking, has been DEAD for decades past, throughout top level football, world wide!!
SIGH!
I doubt that titles would be awarded retrospectively jon. It would cause a nightmare of the administration of recompensing the teams who would be made winners (Liverpool, Arsenal, United) and those below who would then shuffle upwards. Players bonuses, relegated teams, promoted teams, teams that missed out on promotion…what would happen with them? I think City will keep their ill-gotten gains but marked with an asterisk to denote cheating.
I don’t think so though, i believe they will be dealt with accordingly if found guilty. Even if it means doing all you claimed will “cause a nightmare” to address, what i think we and all other title victims and Europe place victims won’t get are extra money for our standings. I’d suggest a mandatory compensation fee be paid to teams who relegated finishing 18th ONLY, over their cheating years, as the others wouldn’t have made it anyway.
Unlike last season, we have pushed Man City all the way ,indeed we have driven them to reach heights of consistency which puts them in contention for being the best ever side in the EPL..However, apart from their dubious financial dealings which will discredit their successes if the multiple charges against them are vindicated, they will almost certainly be faced with having to appoint a new Manager one year down the line as Pep has ,on a number of occasions recently, clearly indicated that next season may be his last with City.No doubt be will be offered a fortune to stay, but I get the impression he will move on before the Rolls Royce begins to splutter.A number of the crucial City players have already peaked and it will be well nigh impossible to replace the likes of KDR ,Bernardo Silva and dare I say, Walker without some sort of impact on the pitch.On the other hand , with the exception of Partey, who is likely to move on, we are a young developing side which has displayed resistance ,effort and skill in chasing City to the death.With 2/3 quality additions, I am confident we can become the major force to be reckoned with next season.Others will of course strengthen their squads but we have a more solid foundation than the other top four contenders, and with the excellent Timber to call upon, and hopefully his ex team mate Hato on the way I am more optimistic regarding our future successes than I have been for many years.
Grandad glad you brought up Hato. You’ve always been great at identifying talent and I’ve thought about asking your opinion on him given there have been links to him for months now.
Thank you for your kind words Oyango.I highlighted Hato in the article today on Kadioglu who is a very decent right footed full back, but not of the calibre of the young Dutchman.To bring about more cohesion and attacking thrust down our left flank I would always favour a natural leftie rather than an inverted full back.Unfortunately, our only senior left footed player who has been used by Arteta at LB is Zinchenko who is a skilled midfielder but weak defensively.The difficulty with Hato is an understandable reluctance from Ajax to let him go.Would they be interested in the ball playing Zinchenko as part of a deal for Hato?
I doubt Zinchenko would be willing to go to Ajax though. Despite his weaknesses, he’s still a good footballer in his prime. They’ll be no shortage of suitors from clubs bigger than Ajax and certainly in a superior league.
The players and coaching staff did their best. The fact that this has been a record breaking season for Arsenal in terms of most metrics e.g. points speaks to this. This is only the third time a team has made 89+ points and not won the league. It means 89 points is good enough to win the league. We just happen to be against arguably the best team the Epl has ever seen and arguably the best manager in the history of the sport.
Despite how good City are, they had to beat their own unbeaten streak record to win it. It shows how good they are- irrespective of whether or not they broke rules to get there. Knowing what we are up against puts everything in perspective. Liverpool have been where we find ourselves now. Their 92 and 97 points were not enough to win it. They had to get 99 to win it just the one time. 99 requires an almost flawless season.
That said,we have made progress and closed the gap between us and City. This season we cannot say we bottled it. In my opinion, we just need more depth to finally win it. Guardiola has about 16-18 quality players he has trusted this season. On the other hand, Arteta has mainly trusted 12-14 players this season.It means we are about three players shy of matching City in depth which can happen this summer.
I’m a big fan of Arteta but my only criticism of him this season has been squad management in terms of rotation. I feel like the likes of Tomi,ESR and Vieira could have played more to save others from burnout. He was however unfortunate with Timber and Partey who would have made it easier to rotate without a drop in quality. With the return of Timber and some quality additions,Arteta will hopefully have a team of at least 16 players he trusts,making rotation possible. It’s the only way we can manage competing in the league and the Cups as well. You could argue the Villa loss was partly due to fatigue as it was in between the Bayern fixtures.Anyway,COYG!
Problems that I saw this season that cost us the league, actual problems I mean and nitpicking on every single blade of grass our players ripped with their boots on:
1. Lack of a consistently available top quality CDM (an elite Number 6). This should be the main priority IMO going into the transfer window.
2. Over reliance on the right wing, nonfunctional left wing. Achieving this balance might demand bringing in some players this window. There are many ways to fix but it needs to be fixed. Just doing this will remove the burden on Saka if our attacking channel on the left was as good as right. One way we can achieve this is having a completely different attacking dynamic on the left than it is on the right. We can get Gyokeres on the left wing. I would prefer him on the wing then on the front. With someone like Timber returning, and player like Kardioglu linked, I think we would be set for next season on the left wing. And having 2 equally good yet dynamically different attacking channels, will certainly help reduce pressure on Saka.
3. Having a functional and consistently available squad players to call upon who don’t drop the quality of the first XI. Of course, that’s harder said than done as we aren’t city who can keep players like Alvarez, Grealish, and Doku on the bench consistently. We just can’t do that on the financial front, but we can’t have the players who are injured often or just recovering from injury on the bench. I would accept fairly decent players on the bench but ones who always take part in the training with starting XI and are ready to come on the pitch consistently. Players like Partey, Smith Rowe, and even Jesus and Tomiyasu, as good as they are when fit, don’t serve the purpose of having a bench. Players I would love on the bench: Jared Bowen and James ward Prowse. Both have exceptional injury record and would add a lot to the team when they play.
To summarize, I want to see incoming players to be exceptionally fit, may be not world class players but very good, young so they can be coached to be even better and always available for training and on the pitch. I would let go all injury prone players this summer, however good they maybe. It sucks to have world class player like Partey and having him on the sideline for well over a season.
Do you mean gyokeres on the left wing? Or , probably a mistake
Yeah, Gyokeres moving into the center from the left wing. His starting position I mean. The way Arteta likes to play is interchangeable positions up front so it wouldn’t matter if he plays left wing. Gyokeres is really strong on the wing as well and with Havertz starting in the middle can create a lot of spaces to allow Gyokeres into the box. Gyokeres, Havertz and Saka, the front three. Odegaard, Rice and a CDM like Zubimendi, Dejong, or even Joao Neves, with the back line of Timber, Gabriel, Saliba and White. That would be my starting XI next season. If we can get Kardioglu, we can play him instead of Timber and play Martinelli on the wing and Gyokeres as CF. Lots of possibilities. Also, Timber can slot in for Ben white and allow a different strategy on the Right, with Saka resting some games and Martinelli playing on the right, while Gyokeres on the left.
This is exactlyb thetype of post I ADORE READING. Intelligent thoughts, well laid out as to why you think as you do and with a heavy dose of football reality.
More of this type please and from ANYONE reading this too, not only this poster.
*not nitpicking
Indeed I’m impressed with my young team improvement this season compare to last season.I strongly believe this season will be ours.We lost the cup to city the day Aston Villa defeated us through the Zenchenko just as last season.DEE RAJ