As if Mikel Arteta needed more pressure, Liverpool boss Arne Slot has just added to the weight on the Spaniard’s shoulders. The work Arteta has done at Arsenal cannot be overlooked, he has massively transformed the club.
When Arteta took over, the Gunners had seemingly lost their identity. Many fans had started to drift away, feeling disconnected from the team.
Slot fires back after Arteta’s ‘luck’ comment
Arteta is now under scrutiny for his comments about Liverpool’s 2024–25 title win. Speaking after the season’s conclusion, he implied that luck played a part in Liverpool’s success. He argued that Arsenal had earned more points over the previous two campaigns than Liverpool did this year, who won the title with just 82 points.
Arne Slot was not impressed. Responding in an interview, he firmly dismissed the idea that Liverpool’s triumph was due to fortune.
“All these excuses – you could say Liverpool had luck, or that we did not spend enough, or that we did not bring new players in. But excuses are for teams that do not win the league,” Slot said on Liverpool FC News.
“It is nice when you do not have to use excuses, because you still just won it. I have now done it in two different leagues, in two different ways. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
“In a season so long, normally the best team wins the league. You can reach a cup final with good fortune, but you do not win the league based solely on luck.
“Maybe we were a bit lucky that City, for the first time in five years, had a difficult period. But we were also part of their struggles – we beat them at home when they had already lost a few, and we did not slip up ourselves. That consistency is what you need to win the title.
“You simply cannot afford a spell where you drop points.”
Arsenal must now back Arteta with action, not excuses
Slot’s message was clear: consistency wins titles, not excuses.
That puts further pressure on Arteta. Beautiful football alone is no longer enough. Arsenal need silverware to validate their project, and if that does not come soon, the Kroenkes may be forced to rethink their long-term strategy.
Yes, injuries have disrupted the season. But Arsenal have also failed to make the most of opportunities. The decision not to sign an attacker during the winter transfer window now looks costly.
As attention shifts to the summer, the club must act decisively. If Arsenal strengthen wisely, Arteta will no longer have excuses next season, only the need to deliver results.
What are your thoughts? How do we get that consistency?
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Oh, please Arteta do not show yourself up. Too late you have!!!!!
How has he showed himself up? Delusional statement!!!
Doh! Making out Liverpool were lucky!!!!
Where has he said/done that ?
DOH! In the article above. Thats what this article is about?
It plainly says, Arteta implied Liverpool were lucky?
See my post to Davi a bit further down to what Mikel actually said. The article is not factual true ! 🙄
Nothing Slot said was incorrect. Mikel always has an excuse up his sleeve. It’s quite simply time to deliver. The club has given him 700mill+ in spending alone. He cannot use needing reinforcements as an excuse. This is a squad he has built and it could not last the season. Heck, the majority of the season felt like this squad was limping through the whole campaign and I’m not talking about the injuries but the downturn in quality and consistency of a lot of mainstays.
I don’t think so many players should be as safe and comfortable in their position in the squad. But seems we are handing out contracts the players that honestly, I think we should be trying to force a couple of them to move on. Partey in particular outside of his off field issues has under-delivered in every crucial game in the “run-ins” of the past 3 seasons so I’d kiss him goodbye along with his high wages. Trossard ghosts too many games and his impact as a sub has been going downhill and if a good offer came he should be on his way too. Martinelli also for the right price. I would not mind one of our wingers departing because they are probably the most underwhelming position in this squad, even more than a striker. Whenever our play goes out to the left you just know it’s going to lead to absolutely nothing. I
f we dont get a top ST and LW this summer I will blame Mikel 100% and his poor squad building. Not Berta, not the Kroenkes. He’s had 5+ seasons to get this together now, time to finally go all the way. I know Mikel is capable and this team has a lot of things going right for it. The pieces just need to finally all come together and the work the club does this summer will be a massive factor.
Nothing Arteta said was incorrect either.
Injuries this season, have played a massive part in our way of playing and the results.
Even on the last week of the season, we had Timber undergoing surgery!!
We shouldn’t be thinking of selling any of our permanent squad, as that’s been our problem when the injuries have occurred – we’re just to light in the backup areas.
Two goalscorers, a winger, a defensive midfielder and a keeper (Ramsdale and Martinez seem to be available!!) and no further long term or season finishing injuries will see us competing for both the CL, PM and two domestic cups.
We’ve already lost Tierney (what a mistake that is!) Sterling and Jorginho, so further weakening an already lightweight squad, that got us to the CL semi final and 2nd in the PL makes no sense whatsoever.
Unless any player actually asks for a move, I don’t see any more of our squad leaving and we’ll strengthen it in the summer.
Sir, how do we get a striker when Gab J and Kai are starters? How do we upgrade when an aging Leo is on the flanks? How do we upgrade the CAM when Viera and Lokinga are still there?
As for the article what more consistency is he taking about? 3 times no 2 is not consistency? UCL participation is not consistency? We don’t care for trophies as long as we get the participation fee. We should all give Arteta a huge applause and sign a petition to make him manager for life.
The Shoba Reality Show,
Are you being sarcastic again. 😂😉👍
I will have hope for the season if Berta and Arteta sign a Top Striker and Top Left winger, else we won’t be winning any trophy.
Havertz, Jesus, Martinelli and Trossard are not doing well in their roles and need big improvements.
.. kai was actually doing well before he went down ..
Actually, it is time a press assistant is given to this guy, Arteta. He is fearing some shadow now. He is an experienced, it’s his first job as manager, and he his trying to underline standards.
There were times in the past when Le Professor would say, the number of points that could be enough to win the league for the very season, he never mentioned 90 points!
The last time Arsene talked about winning the league, he said you win it when it’s easy for you, that is you know what you are doing and can handle it AW himself didn’t handle some few things properly and thus Leicester won the league. He did not go about mouthing dull things afterwards.
He isn’t experienced I meant
Slot is on top now. Let him enjoy it while it lasts. Liverpool this last season was like Leicester in 2015-16. They were not expected to win the trophy. Everybody expected Man City to win it a record fifth time or Arsenal to take it but Liverpool sprang to a surprise fast start and it never looked back. Liverpool’s situation was further helped by injuries to Arsenal and Man City players. By the time, Liverpool became tired, they were already out of reach for everybody. It is pointless for Arteta to bemoan a lost cause. What needs to be done now is to revamp the team for the next season. I don’t see Liverpool repeating its heroics next season. Instead, I expect Man City and, possibly, Chelsea to start strongly next season. Therefore, Arsenal need to ensure that the team is fully equipped for the coming season. That is what matters now.
I don’t know what arteta said exactly – it’s fine to say we were unlucky with injuries and that seriously impacted our ability to compete with Liverpool, but you can’t say Liverpool were lucky. You have to be gracious and say they deserved it because they were consistently the best team this season, because that’s the truth. Even if we (or city) had been more fortunate with injuries, Liverpool had a very good season and would have been difficult to beat.
We had way less injuries the previous two seasons
The reason we had move injuries this season was primarily due to over playing and lack of rotation in previous sessions, so it’s not an excuse its the direct result of the managers choices over the past few years. Countless games over the past few years where we were winning comfortably and still didn’t sub players off to rest.
If a manager builds a squad he doesn’t trust to utilise fully, well thats nobody else’s fault is it
I fully understand that this fact doesn’t fit the narrative of many here.
I don’t disagree – I’m just saying there’s a big difference in saying we were unlucky to saying Liverpool were lucky.
@PJ-SA
Thank you very much. People on here throwing around the “injuries” excuse to hide the bad man management skills of the gaffer.
Not the point I was making.
.. that’s just a daft comment .. his man management is partly why the team can be so fluent to watch … the players have bought into the style but not since Auba left have we not had any sort of 20+ forward to just make that difference … & that is poor work by previous list management team as well .. I dont think Berta will get the runaround like Edu did with Vlahos & then later by Mudryk ..
PJ-SA, so it was Mikel Arteta’s fault that Tomiyasu has been injured for the whole season?
It’s his fault that Jesus came back from injury, scored five goals in a couple of games and then got another injury that was season ending?
I could go through every player who has been injured this season and counter argue your viewpoint – how on earth could he rotate, when he had nothing to rotate with?
Let’s not forget, we went to the semi final of the most prestigious european competition while seeing off the likes of City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Villa and Forest to finish second in the PL.
Who could the manager have played, that he didn’t, bearing in mind that we were being pushed all the way by those PL clubs I mention above… and… look how just the one change, when Partey was banned against PSG, how that enforced change affected us.
It’s all very well saying bleed the younger players, but does anyone really believe we would have finished 2nd and got to the semi final of the CL if we had??
.. totally agree .. its devastating the last 3yrs & blind freddy can see the missing link for the team .. luck plays a huge part for every team that wins the likes of the epl, 100% .. you take out Salah for liverpool for a 2 month spell & they would feel it immensely .. just not sure why Mikel needs to reference the previous 2 seasons points tally as it means nothing in respect how he stating his fact .. anyways, been supporting since watching ’79 fa cup live as a young ‘un so I have seen their best, worst & most agonising but wouldn’t change for quids .. 🔴⚪️👏🏻👏🏻
I don’t understand how people change narrative on here. The lucky part by Mikel is related to players availability which he made clear in his statement…. 😔😔
Like I said – I haven’t seen/heard the statement
Davi, you have to go back to Mikel’s press conference before our game against PSG in Paris when he made the comment, not after the conclusion of the season as the article says.
This is what he said.
“Winning trophies is about being in the right moment and in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with less points than we had in the last two seasons. With the points of the last two seasons, we have two Premier League titles. So you have to be in the right moment and in the right place”.
While I do agree about the right moment and right place, imho credit must go to Slott for being another Manager/Head Coach on winning the PL in their 1st season.
Thanks HD 👍 (I assumed it was something more recent!)
I agree. Also the points totals don’t necessarily mean too much – could be this season was tougher than last, if all the middle teams got that bit better (hard to judge).
I think slot deserves a lot of credit for tweaking Klopp’s style to make them a little bit harder to beat and making the games less taxing on his players. Didn’t try to change too much, which shows humility and the outcome was very impressive imo. It got the best out of the players he had, especially Salah.
Davi sums it up really well
I’d add that people have different personalities. We’ve seen the best of Slot because they had a successful season. His FA cup departure wasn’t quite so cheerful but overall he comes across as moderate and balanced. Arteta isn’t the same and clearly finds it difficult to control his emotions- hence the unusual behaviour in some post match interviews. The pressure of the moment gets to him and has the adverse effect of making himself sound like a twit.
I genuinely can’t see Liverpool having such a stranglehold on the league next season so it will be interesting to see if pressure gets to Slot as well and if so, how he handles it.
Many fans on here are sore losers, they simply cannot accept faults that result in a defeat and there’s always some external excuse as to why we lost/drew….the manager is no different.
Best way to improve is to admit to the faults and work to improve in those areas, we don’t do that hence the regression.
I’d hate to see these fans kids on a sports field on a Saturday morning for their local clubs with this mentality ingrained in them, blaming everything possible except for their own performances for a loss.
MA needs a serious attitude adjustment for next season and just maybe then, we’d win something. Lets see
@PJ-SA
Nice reality check…👍🏾
This is clearly untrue. Most sensible people refer to the issues that we can control as well those we can’t. The manager has never shied away from the need to improve so you are either unaware of his exact comments or misinformed.
Yes, we had more points the previous seasons than Liverpool have now and missed the title. Because we had Nketiah instead of buying a proper striker. This season we got Sterling. Some people never learn. Some stubborn people.
I totally agree with Slot. It’s easy to make excuses when things aren’t going your way. And lets face it we have one of the best manager’s at making excuses.
To say that we had more points in the previous two seasons than Liverpool got this season is just smoke and mirrors as far as I’m concerned. It still didn’t win us the league, so it’s a mute point really. It’s just another example of our manager clutching at straws as usual. Well as each trophy less season is ticking by, I hope those straws are getting fewer and fewer. And that the straw that breaks the camels back is not to far away, if Arteta should fail again.
Some of the quotes that Arteta comes out with, don’t only make him look stupid, but it doesn’t reflect well on the club either.
If Arteta said that Liverpool were lucky then that’s so poor from him.
I hope he can stop this pettiness and concentrate on his own team. He had had twp opportunities to win the league in 2022/23 and 2023/24 but didn’t take that chance to push his team over the line.
Let’s not be sore losers..
No more excuses !!
Yea right ,plenty more to come 😂
@Dan Kit
Should we get Brendan Rodgers in to replace Arteta? He never makes any excuses.
🤞😊
@Goonster
Seriously, Brenda R. wasn’t bad at Liverpool, remember if not for Stephen G slip up, he was on the way to winning the league, until he met Chelsea and his former boss , Jose, who was bent on not allowing Brenda to ride on his back to succeed.
So then why did he not carry on challenging for the title after that Steve G’s slip in the next seasons?
So he was unlucky that Steve G slipped?
But Arteta too was not unlucky in these last 3 season due to various mitigations?
And I wouldn’t have mind Brendan Rodgers taking over from Wenger, Emery etc back then. I would have given him times here to see how he built his time.
Someone should tell MA that a big part of why Liverpool won with only 82 points was because no team really pushed them to be at their very best.
City and us fell so far behind that even with less points than we had in the last two seasons, Liverpool still won with 4 games to go. They were never under the intense pressure of absolutely having to win their next game or be overtaken, so naturally they could just cruise along and not push themselves to get as many points as they possibly could.
If our almighty leader feels that Liverpool should win with more points then challenge them neck to neck and see if they would only get 82 points
On second thought, perhaps we should avoid ruffling the feathers of our almighty leader. Let’s just put Liverpool’s league title down to them being luckier with injuries. To be fair, injuries did hinder us this season more than usual and it would have been tough to handle for any manager.
MA should also take consolation that Slot had it easy because Liverpool have such a good squad that won the league 5 years ago. Despite half of that title winning team gone, it’s not hard to replace those players. Slot merely took a team that finished 3rd last season up 2 places to 1st in his debut season. It’s not such a tall order after all
Ha ha sushi
Lots of assumptions there. What’s to say that Klopp couldn’t have won this season?
Half the winning team leaving means half the winning team are still there – Allison, VVD and Salah to name 3. Without getting petty about it, when Arteta got the job there had been no. CL for 3 years. Didn’t Liverpool win that under Klopp as well? Apart from a couple of years ago, Liverpool haven’t finished outside the top4 since 2015/16. All the while they have remained competitive in the league and cup competitions
I’m not disagreeing that Slot has had a wonderful season and he deserves all the credit he gets, but he didn’t take on a team in the bowels of the division. They were in a healthy position to start and he had the gumption to make it a winning start
I’m not sure what assumptions are you referring to in my post. Care to elaborate?
We have a good team now. It scares me to think what will happen if we let go of half our first team over 3 years, just one to two players a season. I wonder if we can replace them and be ready to win the league in 5 years. Seems like an immense task but maybe it’s not as hard as I imagine
sushi, your last paragraph sums up what happened when Wenger was our manager, so it’s not hard to see what actually happens.
Yes Ken, those days we lost a star player every season for a number of years. It’s never easy rebuilding a team and it’s the mettle of AW that kept us in the top 4 by plugging the gap with lesser known players and youngsters
i wondered when wenger would appear in this chat . well done KEN1945,always can rely on you , sir.
A lot of tongue in cheekery going on but carry on if you wish…….. however, don’t expect a further reply from me
@Sushi
This is what’s been making me nervous this season. I have been highlighting the point of Losing the players we have right now. Been stressing about it to my fellow Arsenal colleagues and friends throughout the whole season.
Even yesterday when I was giving my father a hair cut I brought this same topic up, and agreed with me.
If we don’t win the League or CL next season then I fear that our players will start getting uneasy. They might start angling for moves away. Next season might be a Make or Break for Arteta, our fans, players and even the owners. I am sure that if we don’t win one of the big trophies (EPL or CL) then the dressing room might have a lot of discontent. And our fans will start going after him.
I hope Arteta takes the breaks off and go for it next season as there seem to be so much at stake.🤞🤞
Goonster
Why worry so soon after the season has ended? Which other clubs’ fans will also be worrying that their players will be looking for trophies elsewhere?
Not Liverpool, but seeing how tight us also rans were, where are these nailed on clubs? Newcastle will have to go through the rigours of the CL, as will Chelsea. Are they contenders with the extra games and higher standards of competition?Villa and Forest fell away but are also in Europe and the expectation.
We’ll know soon enough if Arteta has the chops to prove himself. If he hasn’t then it is looking decidedly iffy for him. Players will still be under contract so it’s not straightforward for them to leave and the powers that be will be sniffing out potential a management replacement who might give players the confidence to stay.
@SueP
My brain biology is set that way. I always look to the future than at the Here and Now on average.
I am a very patient individual naturally because my brain always looks two steps ahead instead of the immediate. This season is already finished so my focus is already on next season as there is no time to overindulge in what’s in the past but what scenarios to consider for next season or two. The truth is that if we fail to win any of the big two trophies (EPL or CL) then how do you think Saliba, Gabriel, Saka, Odegaard, Rice, Raya etc are going to think? Some of those players are in their prime while others are just entering their prime. Four seasons of not making it will surely get the questioning.
And the clubs I am talking about are “Madrid, Barcelona, Man City, Liverpool and PSG (If they were to win the CL this season).
And also the contracts ain’t gonna help too much if the players are destabilised. This is where the dressing room gets unstable due to disgruntled players.
And also if Arteta is to be sacked in the middle of next season then it could be another rebuild where the new manager would want his own players. So we then have to go through another PROCESS etc..
😊
Thank you for your views Goonster
I understand your sentiments but are you underestimating the pull of Arsenal as well? If good players are willing to join Utd, – which they are – why do you not think CL football at Arsenal is unappealing?
There will be players on your list that could well move on. Probably will as it’s the name of the game. It’s whether other excellent players are willing to join Arsenal that will make or break Arteta’s tenure. It’s not static
No more excuses already. Faster bring in Gyokeres and Zubimendi first. Followed by a left winger. If Rodrygo is too pricey go for someone like Rafael leao or Lookman. Sign back up keeper from espanyol.
Gk – Raya / Garcia
LB – MLS / Calafiori
CB – Gabriel / Kiwior
CB – Saliba / White
RB – Timber / Tomiyasu
DM – Zubimendi / Partey
CM – Rice / Merino
AM – Odegaard / Nwaneri
LW – Rafael Leao / Martinelli
ST – Gyokeres / Havertz
RW – Saka / Trossard
If we fired Arteta today he would be managing a top European side as soon as the next job became available.
Yes it’s been a frustrated season but the damage was done when we didn’t sign an attacker in the summer. With the injuries we have had we have done well to remain 2nd and have a good champions league run.
We buy a top left winger and a cf this summer and still miss out then yes sack the man. You got to give the man what he needs! Yes he has bought to many defenders and defensive midfielders but then again we now have the best defence in world football. We have one of the best goalkeepers in world football. He managed to convince Rice to join us over City which speaks volumes.
Since 2019 we have the 4th highest net spend in the league. 5th place Newcastle are only 82 million off and some people speak of Howe as some sort of football god. Had we won the league cup and finished 5th with a refereeing decision getting us into 5th everyone would be up in arms still. If we had finished 16th won the europa people would be up in arms.
@Liam
I feel like we have the team to win. But I do think that Arteta is too cautious in the way we play.
We are becoming very predictable and easy to stop. Once Saka and Odegaard are stopped by the opposition then we seem struggle offensively. What happened to our goal scoring this season? We had goals throughout the team in the previous 3 seasons. This season no player even hit double figures.
I hope it was just an anomaly of a season. 🙏🤞😊
I’m not sure if it’s because we have become more cautious or we are easy to figure out at this current moment. We created a lot more chances when Kai was up top due to his hold up ability and he’s fairly quick for his size. Take that away and we had 5 foot 8 Trossard trying to win headers so that route has to be abolished. Havertz and Gabriel also caused nightmares for the opposition on corners. With our fully fit 11 we were a threat from all angles now we are reduced to Saka and Odegaard. Furthermore Arteta can’t be blamed for Martinelli and Trossard short comings. I suggested a left winger was more important than a striker last summer and got ridiculed on here. Now it’s evidently clear we need both. A flair player like Eze or Rodrygo on the left is a total game changer and means defenders can’t double up on Saka giving him more freedom. Sesko offers what Havertz offers at cf just a better finisher. Calling for Artetas head or calling him a substandard manager is crazy when we are so close to finishing the puzzle .
Arteta is not wrong in his statements, but if you frame them in a poor loser context then so be it. Regardless, he has to deliver a trophy next season, there is no hiding place. It is no longer a project, the weaknesses are apparent to everyone and they need to be addressed in the transfer window. If not, Arteta is as consequential as the failure that surely will follow.
What is this policy called ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’? Does it have anything to do with City’s hundred plus charges which remain unresolved to date despite its potential and huge domino effect implications to other clubs standings? No one talking about it why? What’s independent when certain clubs are paying huge prices?
Arteta broke the team.
AFC’s squad building is garbage.
Have we shipped out or signed anyone yet?
Get back to me on the last day before season starts.
Well, we can’t sign or ship out anyone yet, because the transfer window hasn’t opened.
Finishing second in the PL and getting to the semi final of the CL is garbage with a squad decimated by injuries?
Get back to me when you can actually appreciate what was achieved this season.
Arteta broke the team? Arteta made the team!!! We have a squad with a value of nearly a billion pounds. In the top 5 of world football. Please explain how that is garbage squad building ?
Probably because he can’t win anything with a £1Billion team? I don’t mean garbage because obviously we are not. But I mean underachieving with a £1 billion team. And Arteta would not get a coaching job at a top team and if he did, he would not het 5 months without a trophy, let alone 5 years. Different expectation levels at big clubs.
Where did you get that figure from Reggie? There are just so many different sources that give such a variety of different numbers
Liam above?
Confusion over. Not money spent but value.
Seems to be Sue. I trust his valuation. Should I😃
Good question! I don’t think the value Liam quoted is unreasonable having checked various outlets. I just get frustrated by the suggestion that £1billion has been spent which isn’t the case. The most quoted is around £650m, although that would be close to a billion if using $
It tends to get higher depending on the view of the poster about how much Arteta has wasted in their opinion
OMG
Arteta played everyone into the ground because he has proven not to rotate for the past 3+ years.
Are you not paying attention??
Been playing, coaching and watching sports for decades and have never seen a club that required our players to have hamstring surgeries, a futbol player with a broken back, and whatever else is on there.
Broke, Timber, White, Saka, Havertz, Merino, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel, and purchased a broken Tomi, Tierney, Cala.
Have seen many coaches who are like this, transactional, at the expense of the long run vision of winning.
That is called a poor squad build, and by not allowing players to recover, tried to edge it in all competitions, and never rotating players even after club friendlies, world flop and whatever else fiFalona can conjure up.
All the while actually trying to accomplish this with basically 16 players, too thin!!
Arteta should get to December, and it not in the mix, off he goes!
Liam does the value of the players translated to titles?
If not then it is irrelevant. MA has made many poor
transfer decisions and unfortunately it has cost us. Not having a back up for Saka in 3 seasons is criminal. I hope I am wrong but from all the early
indications I see Liverpool strengthening especially if the sign Wirtz and have done their business early.
we look all over the place linked with every player in the market when even the most ignorant fans know we need to bring maybe Zubimendi and keep Partey a CF like Osimhen or Gyokeres asap and maybe Nico Williams. If you have to sell Trossard or Jesus to fund this so be it. This and MA taking another look at his tactics (slow-predictable) may bring a title to us. As far as MA telling Slot he got lucky is really absurd. Pool played better football across the board than us and had an extra gear at any monent something we lacked in the final third and the 13 draws tell you that. So it is more of really getting the payers and taking a serious look at the way we play forward that will change things. Only if the people
responsible for this must look at themselves first and be accountable.
You guys are absolutely crazy
Of course you need to luck to win the league
He is absolutely correct
Free of injury
Results going for you etc
If you remember at the start of the season pool got away with murder
The best team always wins the league over 38 games but you need a spot of luck
MA hasn’t said anything out of context
@Alanball08
🤔
But you wouldn’t argue that you also need a clever coach? We have people, the same ones, have used the injury card every season for the last 3. If they are right and I think it is bigger than that. Then there is a problem with recruitment and training, to lose so many players, season after season. Going by that, we can never expect to win anything.
I used the injury card but can’t recall using it before this season. You used it in favour of Liverpool’s injury list which was nowhere near as damaging- even in the early stages of the season. It definitely wasn’t 5 nailed on first team choices who were out. Having a better all round squad – numerically and deeper is one possibility – but not injuries
I didn’t use it in favour of, I used it in comparison. And at the beginning of the season they had at least as many first teamers as us. Ours got worse and theirs got better. They got results without their 1st choice keeper. Would we? And many on here the past 3 seasons have blamed injuries Sue. And keep doing so.
There is a world of difference which you recognise Reggie, in relation to injuries this season. I expect I blamed Saliba’s injury late last season. It was pivotal but one that showed that the club was over reliant on him, however, injuries overall last season were average and nothing out of the ordinary. Then, it was Newcastle who had massive problems like ours this season just gone, and they failed to get European football – probably as a result of them.
That is why I get frustrated by the injury issue being classed as an excuse. It can’t be. Can I ask if you think that maintaining 2nd was a credit to Arteta bearing in mind our injuries across the season far outweighed other clubs?
I don’t deny there is now enormous pressure on Arteta to evaluate last season’s shortcomings, some of which are his own and others being circumstances.
Kelleher, by the way, did a really good job filling in for Allison. I don’t think our back up could fill those shoes as Kelleher did for Liverpool
This is just silly ranting. This is a team that has been rebuilding and the club doesn’t have unlimited wealth to just go and spend whatever they want. Have you considered what it would cost to get a backup to Saka?
Slot has done well with Liverpool. Doesn’t mean you have to completely denigrate Arsenal.
I liked the Arsenal Women trophy presentation ceremony at Armoury Sq. I liked them all esp McCabe for her extroverted genuine ecstatic mood. Whatever the heroines do it is so lovely and they have every right to do so for they’ve made their supporters proud of them and the Arsenal brand. The best is yet to come from them. Their bond is extraordinary. Thank you all.
Liverpool were lucky in the sense that they didn’t suffer anywhere near the amount of injuries as the likes of Arsenal did, City, Spurs and to some extend, Utd as well. Not mention the fact we finished with 10 men on a whopping 7 occasions in the league, and it was decisive in every one of those games. Potentially 21 points affected.
Forget Arteta for the minute, City’s drop off was monumental! I wonder if an injury crisis and losing world player of the year had something to do with it or did Pep just forget overnight how to manage?
And for all those saying that is was our fault for not doing enough in the summer, these fans conveniently forget that Arsenal had a way more successful transfer window compared to Liverpool.
The only reason that Liverpool’s poor window is barely talked about is because they got lucky with injuries. If they had suffered the equivalent to what we did, then they would have got battered for their poor business.
For those fans who think player availability is just an excuse, don’t tell me this wouldn’t have affected Slot at all this season:
Salah 4 months out
Jota 5 months out (plus 4/5 of next season)
TAA 5 months out, (plus never fit even before the surgery)
Nunez 3.5 months out
MaCallister 3 months out
VVD 7 weeks out
And that’s just some of the key ones, not to mention a whole host of other injuries on top of that, and 6 decisive red cards.
No one knows what would have happened, but I find it hard to believe Slot could have won the title with all those problems. With all those injuries, especially in attack, who’s getting the goals then?
Gakpo, Diaz? They’re going to suddenly turn into prime Salah? Hahaha!
Everyone was so inconsistent, but ultimately, Slot deserves huge credit because he managed to take advantage of that, and fair play to him.
If Arsenal signed Isak, Eze, Zubi in the summer and they all pick up big injuries, do we blame Arteta again?
I was tbh a staunch believer of Arteta for years but I cannot deny I was let down by results and his empty promises like over my dead body, expect special things etc said repeatedly esp as the season nears conclusion. If next season turns out to be a copy paste of this season, there is no way Arteta survives the sack. No brainer. He starts the new season under too much pressure. He even will have to take the Cups seriously fielding his best eleven as those cups prolonged the tenure of Ten Hag.
arsenal are a club of excuses since 2006,a certain frenchman was the master of excuses. this tradition has been carried on to this day,arteta is becoming almost as good as the professor of excuses,in my opinion.next thing we will see the senor saying he did not see the penalty that was awarded against us.
Can you give examples of what you believe are “excuses”.
everything regarding this club,old chap.
It really must test your stamina and loyalty
not a bit of it, missus,it is all part of following a football club, in my humble opinion.there surely would be something wrong if we all sat here and did not comment on anything, dont you agree ?.
Absolutely mister
I was hoping for a more forthcoming insight rather than not commenting on anything. A bit more detail, that’s all😊
so sorry to disappoint you , girl,maybe another time ,you just never know.as for your claim that i commented on nothing,sure there is quite a few of us on here (not looking at anybody in particular)that are dab hands at commenting at nothing. do you get me ?.
Oh I most certainly do boy
delighted we agree on something ,have a wonderful summer lass.
“humble”, not.
MA deserves one last chance only!
Look around, everyone is winning trophies, and we enjoy watching them and feel happy whenever we play well!
If he can’t be on top by the half season, he must be replaced because his tactics are just too obvious, and he lacks consistency and is rigid with his substitutions.