Why this season is a failure By Vivek Julka
We have failed this season. I am sick of hearing that we overachieved with the youngest team in the league. This is nonsense. Just call it for what it is. A trophyless season equals failure for a club the size of Arsenal. So, who is at fault for this capitulation? Let’s discuss.
Mikel Arteta has to be sacked now. He was proving me wrong for the majority of the season but when it came to crunch time again, he couldn’t get us over the line. To bottle the league in April while being 8 points clear is unacceptable. We were top for 93% of the season, yet we are finishing second and have handed the title to Man City with three games to spare. We could even finish ten points behind them.
That doesn’t look like we even challenged them. This is the biggest bottlejob in Premier League history. Not beating the likes of West Ham, Southampton and Brighton in a title run-in is not good enough. And to fold at Man City in the manner we did was disgraceful. ‘Oh, but we can’t compete with Man City’.
Arteta has had nearly four years and has spent over £500 million. So how much more time and money does he need to beat Man City in the league? Because he has not won once against them in the League since he became manager. In fact, he has lost all of them. Embarrassing.
He has won one trophy since taking over and that was in his first few months. From then on, he has thrown away FA Cups, League Cups and the Europa League multiple times. How is this accepted by the fanbase? It has become normalised for us to constantly get knocked out of competitions without any consequences.
The excuse for this season is that we were focusing on the league. Yeah, that worked out well. As much as I don’t prioritise the League Cup, it is still a trophy. It means more than being first loser in the league. Therefore, Man United have had better season than us.
‘At least we are back in the Champions League’. This is the narrative now being spun by these ultra-positive deluded fans. Wake up! This manager can’t even win the Europa League. We are going to be embarrassed in the Champions League once again. Arteta won’t be sacked though as the fans are letting him get away with it and will get another £200 million to blow which will once again result in no major trophies.
Edu has to go along with Arteta. He is just as at fault. Not offering over £70 million for Moises Caicedo was a huge mistake. Also buying an inexperienced defender in Jakob Kiwor as strength in depth for a title race was another bad move.
Also £35 million each on Fabio and Zinchenko is a sackable offence in its own right. Also, the new contracts given to Elneny and Ramsdale is rewarding failure. As much as Arteta is to blame, we would have won the league with Caicedo and a more experienced defensive signing.
The players are at fault too but that is a discussion for another day.
If we are serious about winning league titles we need a proper manager and an experienced technical director.
By Vivek Julka
Video – Alfie and Rob are back for the summer transfer window
Here is their first analysis of the summer, where Alfie and Rob discuss and predict every single possible Arsenal incoming and outgoing this summer, including fees and potential destinations for outgoings.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
