Will The Arsenal Ever Be Back? by Goonerboy
Hello lovely Arsenal family. It was refreshing to see the team win convincingly even though it was against an inferior team but it was a nice confidence boost for us and there are now 6 goals to choose from for the Goal of the Month award, lol.
On a serious note, after reading Arteta’s interview after the game against Chelsea, I was asked myself if we are ever going to get “our Arsenal” back. Here is what Arteta said; “I think [fans] tried to support the team very much and I know they are disappointed when you lose at home, there has to be some reaction, but this is a project that is going to take some time,”
“You can see and tell from the recruitment that we’ve done and the really young squad that we have at the moment that it cannot happen overnight.
“We all want to make it as quick as possible and we know that the responsibility for us it to fight with the top teams in every competition and that’s not going to change, and I think we really need them and this group of players really needs them and the club needs them now next to us because we need that confidence, that support and that energy.”
I found myself exclaiming “Again”?! as I read this. Why must this fanbase always suffer this way? Why do we ALWAYS have to be patient? When are we actually going to be competitive? I do not have the answers to these questions.
I believe all Arsenal fans are familiar with the statement above and we have been there before, we went this route under a peak Arsene Wenger, when the league was not as tough as this and we failed, how on earth are we going to be successful with this “young player” project in this ever-competitive league under an inexperienced manager?
“You can’t win with kids” was the most commonly used statement when pundits analysed Arsenal in those years, we were soft, easily bullied and therefore trophyless, I am surprised we are trying to go that route again. We moved to the Emirates to compete, but how many seasons have we really competed, how many world class players have we signed, how many European finals have we reached or won? Now we want to start another “young players” project? When are we going to end our projects? I am not sorry to say this, Arsenal are fast becoming AC Milan, I look at this team and all I see is mid-table.
Under this ownership, Arsenal are going nowhere! We would never compete, there is no need to sugar-coat this. Imagine you were a rival fan and your team is going to play this Arsenal team, is there any player you would be scared to face? I just laugh when the manager is blamed for everything, right now, our problem is a combination of the manager and the ownership, we are a shambles, a joke of a club!
People say we have spent the most money this summer, but the other teams we are supposed to be competing with also improved their teams further, the gap is ever widening.
We are gradually getting used to mediocrity and it is not our fault, I still see people saying we should keep Nketiah, keep Bellerin and the likes, these same people would come and blame the manager when we don’t do well. A club like Chelsea sold Abraham to get Lukaku and are about to sell Zouma to get Kounde, at Arsenal Abraham and Zuoma would be hyped to lofty heights yet we want to compete – well, we compete to stay in the league.
A rookie manager + no money is going to be a disaster in my opinion, I do not mean to be negative but the truth has to be said, Arsenal are moving in circles and the sooner the fans unite to stop this, the better for this football club.
Check your expectations and lower them so you won’t be blaming Arteta (or any manager for that matter) when a midfield of Fabinho-Henderson-Thiago “destroys” Xhaka-Partey-Odegaard midfield. Expecting this team to do better than Leicester, United, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham (even with a better manager than Arteta) is setting yourself up for a massive disappointment. We all thought this summer would be a defining one, but I think it truly starts next season when we get rid of more players.
I support Arteta and want him to succeed but without crazy money, there is absolutely nothing he can do!
Lastly, this is why David Luiz left Arsenal; “Both of us decided to split. I came for two years and the aim was to win something, which I did, the FA Cup and Community Shield. Now, I think the club has a different project for the long term. They have different ideas. My idea is to win, win, win as soon as possible” explained the Brazilian about his split with Arsenal.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are back to where we started, we have a long long way to go! #kroenkemustgo
Goonerboy
The technically gifted youngsters in our U-23 squad show that our academy quality has been improving, as compared to seven years ago. Kudos to our academy coaches and ex-staffs, such as Bould, Mertesacker and Ljungberg, who spotted and trained our hot prospects
We’ll have highly technical young players in the first team after two or three seasons, so we can be optimistic about top four in 2023
Unfortunately, our young squad lacks physicality like our senior team, as shown in their 6 – 1 trashing by West Ham U-23. The players who possess both excellent techniques and physical qualities are rare, but our scouting department must improve to find the unknown gems
Arteta has changed his original idea and is now building for the future. But one thing that is certain is that the future in itself is uncertain. Ignorantly he has focused on the future after seeing the job is bigger than he originally thought. Within his very eyes he will see as the team he assembles for the future will be decimated especially if he doesn’t win in the present.
I believe not in the future but a “continuous present”. The future we all refer to is nothing but is a continuous present. That’s why teams like Man City, PSG, Chelsea, Bayern, Barca, Juventus, Real Madrid etc will continue winning trophies because they are always focusing on the present at every point in time. For them the present never ends. At some point they will face difficulties and may not win but that won’t be for a prolonged period of time.
If Arteta doesn’t find a way to start competing and winning things now then he is most definitely going to loose a large chunk of his exciting prospects by the time they prime and that is a fact.
Spending about 130 mil this window and no experienced player bought is just a joke. I’m not against the buys but there should have been at least a big impact player there, who like Alexis Sanchez transforms the team dramatically.
Arteta’s new project smells of a man who has now realized that it is easier said than done. But it is still an exciting project, problem there is that he may not sit long enough on that seat to see it materialize under his mentorship.
Your points about a rolling present is really well put. It is incredible that Arsenal went from being in a strong position at the outset of the EPL, so well run, in the top4 and at the time limited opposition, to what was a small club like Leicester City with switched on owners now waving as they overtake us in their Aston Martins as we chug along on a tractor
SueP I do not agree that when Arsenal was at the top there was weak opposition. No they didn’t just turn up in games with guaranteed 3 points they worked hard for them.
The opposition was not weak but it is the other way around, Arsenal was stronger. It had top players and top manager. We were the Man City of that time.
What I meantHH was it was us against ManU, and then the threat from Chelsea and ManC came along. Instead of building/consolidating, we allowed others to usurp us
Arsenal has been badly mismanaged for many years now it has become embarrassing
Good point Chapo on the present but you have to build for the future to have that continuous present.
Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool did not have that continuous present at the beginning, they built it. We can build it again but we have to take example from them by hiring right management, right coach and right players. We are spending and paying as much as them but to the wrong people.
Very accurate @HH
Nice piece Chapo, absolutely beautiful.
Thank you @Daz
Chapo, I get your thought process, but you’ve got some of your “facts” a tad twisted…that said, I acknowledge that your attempt here is clearly well-intentioned
firstly, Arteta’s original mandate was supposed to be a “rebuild” of sorts, so that the focus could be placed squarely on his “coaching up” skills, with a relatively more youthful squad…after all, he had absolutely no managerial experience, prior to arriving in North London, so this made perfect sense, albeit this was always going to be a tough sell for some within the fanbase who wanted a much quicker turnaround
now this went sideways when he started to read his own headlines, post-FA, then chose the much more short-sighted “path of least resistance”, last off-season…the organization then mistakenly enabled him further by rewarding him, for deviating from his original mandate, by awarding him the managerial title
when his, and only when his, misguided “retool” initiative went tits up, did he resurrect the whole “rebuild” narrative…now I realize that you have clearly recognized some of what I’ve said, thus your “ignorantly” commentary, but it’s imperative that it be noted that Arteta has changed course multiple times, the most recent of which was an act of utter desperation
Secondly, your theory about the “continuous present” has some merit, but you must be careful to make a clear distinction between the manner in which these teams have pursued this objective and for how long this has this been an ongoing pursuit…there’s a significant difference between the more recent footballing juggernauts, like City, Chelsea and PSG, versus those of Barca, Madrid, Juve and United, prior to Fergie’s exodus of course
we had a the perfect opportunity to be like the latter organizations, as we had a comparable recent history, which we could have built on by maintaining strong relationships with our former stars, including from an organizational hierarchical standpoint, building a state of the art facility and continuing to deliver the kind of football we had become accustomed to…instead our former manager became increasingly fragile and insular, pushing away many of our former talented members, then willingly chose to be the Pied Piper for an obviously disingenuous stadium ruse being orchestrated by our absentee landlord…as such, we fell into this seemingly inevitable malaise
as for your remaining points, regarding what has transpired this off-season, I concur with most of your opinions, as I believe this window was largely mishandled, especially considering the monetary outlay…the lack of significant, proven recruits, combined with underwhelming Xhaka re-upping, has left me wanting considerably more, in light of all the chatter coming from Arteta/Edu since last January…minus the depth pieces, like Lokonga and Nuno, which make sense, we have paid well over 100M only to see functionally the same starting lineup as last season
fact is, for anyone with even a modicum of understanding of the required task at hand, it comes as no surprise that hiring on two amateurs was going to be a incredibly problematic undertaking…as such, this is likely going to lead to a reap what you sow moment for both our waffling manager and our indifferent owner…unfortunately, those that have to suffer the most are the only ones paying for this little experiment, unlike everyone pulling the strings, who, even if they fail miserably, will walk away being handsomely rewarded
It would really aid proper understanding of your complicated post, IF you would consent to use actual sentences. Your present method of “punctuation” of such a long piece makes easy understanding a trial.
I did, in the end, get it but not everyone has my language advantages , esp those whose first language is not English. It really would help us understand, esp as you write so much detail. In general, I agree with most – though not all, as in this piece – of whatever you usually write, ONCE I have properly understood it.
TRVL I understand your views, very similar. You said a lot of things right.
Cheers Chapo
Sorry to completely disagree but there is no such thing as a “continuous present”.
It is simply a meaningless slogan. All things in life and human endeavour, including football, change and move on over time.
In your favour, I ACCEPT THAT SOME THINGS TAKE LONGER TO CHANGE THAN OTHERS.
BUT to speak of the present lasting for ever is nonsense. Clearly so, by definition!
Otherwise it would not BE the “present”, but the future. Or the past, if you refer to the long gone by “present”. Your concept is simply ridiculous, as a moments true thought would show you.
To talk, erroneously, about a continuous “present” therefore is simply wrong and mistaken thinking.
This true reply was to the ill thought out Chapo post.
@ Jon Fox doesn’t matter if you believe in my idea or not, fact remains my idea is my idea and it is what I believe right. I’m entitled to my views as well as you are entitled to yours.
A continuous present is nearer to the reality of things in my book..
There is if you take humans labelling of events/things out the way for a second; no past, present or future. There is simply no line that demarcates or separates these ideas along the thing we conveniently and practically label time.
If you live in the present that is you observing that very moment..if you are always present in the present;) then you are continuously present.
Change is the only permanent as they say but if you are always in the present moment you continue to be in the present because that’s all we have (right now;).
Chapo, I wholeheartedly agree that you are completely at liberty to believe in something that is impossible.
You will be far from alone on JA by doing so.
So many besides you believe in all sorts of impossibilities. I remain a realist and glad to be one!
The one common denominator is the owner who if he knew a shred about soccer and cared about actually competing to win, rather than hover around top4 or worse, our Arsenal would be in a better place
People – me included- can bang on about Arteta or Emery and Wenger’s last years, but if the top of the structure is badly run then it a big ask for those below to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear
SK may arrest the decline but winning the league or a European trophy looks a distant dream
Which Arsenal is “Our Arsenal?” Is it the one during the first half of Wenger’s term, or the latter Wenger years? Or is it George Graham’s Arsenal? Or is it Arsenal from the 1950s? Or maybe the 1920s Arsenal is “Our Arsenal?”… It’s a club with a long history, and The Invincibles was a very short spell within that history, not a fair expectation for all time.
Don’t win anything with kids? Man Utd’s golden generation was the most successful ever, so maybe you can after all.
Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to projects intended to develop things, so I guess we just have to see which Arsenal comes out of the current efforts. I think at last the intentions & ideas look to be correct, and that’s a good start.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.” *
In a sports league of 20 teams only one team can win so it is a given 19 will fail.
Making Europe does not change the odds as only one team in 32 can win meaning 31 will fail.
Even the Mickey mouse cup is won by a top team so every one else fails.
If the odds of winning are so bad why do we fans punish ourselves with unrealistic expectations
getting high on hope and suffering crushing disappointment all season year after year?
Are we sports crack heads? Probably.
As for “Getting our Arsenal back” well you would not want the Arsenal 1972-1988 any time soon.
But remembering the “good old days” just gives us the excuse to complain + rant and rave.
BTW I expect us to beat City 7-0 and if we don’t I will happily rant and rave to my hearts content 🙂
* Ecclesiastes
I too have to wonder what is meant by “our Arsenal back”. As the past, be it the recent or the distant past, cannot ever be recreated, there is no such thing as getting something that has gone by “back” again!
Inaccurate and meaningless language frustrates my logical brain.
To be clear, we can only EVER live in the exact PRESENT moment, as even as little as ten minutes away is still the future. (Hardly a difficult thought, I’d suggest!!) Even ten seconds. Or one second! Just as ten seconds ago is now the past, albeit the recent past. Obviously!
To speak of having things gone by “back again” is nonsense and simply an inaccurately used phrase.
To put aside my above perhaps pedantic,but true point and to look at what the writer means by “having his Arsenal back”, what period of his Arsenal does he mean?
Does he mean MY preferred team of 1998, OR perhaps 2002, OR perhaps 2004? Or any other? Who can say, since the phrase “Arsenal back” is meaningless twaddle!! Clearly so too!
Arsenal have been planning for the future the last ten to fifteen years.The invincibles seem light years ago.
They have been overtaken by Everton and West ham.
Its no more a premium club and soon it will be a club stuvk im mid table
We finished above Everton every season how have they overtaken us? The jury is still out on West Ham. They had a good previous season but they were fighting for relegation the season before. They must show consistence like Leicester and Tottenham to say they have broken into top 6.
Really valid point..
We are a club always looking to build something for the future..buying players with ‘potential’, following a ‘process’ that will one day reap some reward..
All started happening when Kroenke came to town and the excuse machine got plugged in!
#kroenke out so that we get our arsenal back lets hope that we will get back to wining ways
Constantly saying, “it will take some years” is the way Arteta is hoping, his lack of ‘Nous’, ‘Tactics’, ‘Style’ and quality of football, will be ignored by promises of future glory. Zen, though, is in living fully in the present moment, and to ask supporters to wait years for his ‘project’, is pretty disgraceful, and mocks supporters intelligence. Life is being present, here, focused, hopefully with ethics and morals. There is in immature con going on, asking supporters to wait for glory, even though life is unpredictable and impermanent in nature. Things can get WORSE. It’s the con of the century. Don’t buy into it. There is every chance with ‘this project’ we will not get our Arsenal back. We can change Arsenal’s present poor realty. Get a good, capable manager.
Our club was ruined by Wenger in his later years. 3 EPL titles in 22 years is ridiculous. No Europen glory in 22 years is disgraceful. Built his empire on the strong GG values and dismantled the title winning squads without proper reinforcements. AFC should conduct an inquest and charge him for wasteful expenditure. Had he been gone in 2005/6, we may have stuttered for a year or two, but with the dross he left us with, it will take further 2-3 seasons to get rid of them. Even RVP and Sanchez can confirm that he had to interst to be competetive, but merely submit to the owners and collect his wage. I would say that with the exit of Ivan (under whose reign has made AC Milan competetive again, finished second last season). We nose dived with the hirings of the diamond eye or sven – Leno, Mavropanos, Torrera, Guendozi all flops while a big household name like PEA did not need introduction or a rocket scientist to recommend. Further, Raul piled more dross – Willian, Marri, Cedric, Luiz (that goodness he is gone forever form our club),Pepe. While Martenelli and Saliba are not yet dross, they are headed that path with their attitude.( Martenelli has a very poor goal to game ratio)Likewise Tierney was a top, top player who needed no introduction. And for all this mess, Mikel is being blamed and being mistreated by a section of the fans.
Mikel has signed us some fantanstic players – Sambi, Tavares, Odegard, White, Ramsdale and got Saka, ESR on long term contracts, players who will be adored by the faithful for years to come. Mikel is the man with a vision, even a magician needs tools and props to do his majic, sadly some want Mikel to do majic with nothing in hand! Yet the man delivered an FA.
Finally, the answer to the question, is “YES” We will get back our Arsenal under the guidance and vision of Mikel, just be patient and give him time to flush out what remains rooted to the core.
‘Got Saka and ESR on long term contracts’… Hey LC, you forgot Cedric, Mari and Xhaka – clearly not dross in MA’s eyes!
“We nose dived with the hirings of the diamond eye or sven – Leno, Mavropanos, Torrera, Guendozi all flops”
Yeah, we nose-dived in their debut 2018/19 season by climbing one place higher in the league table by collecting 7 more points than the previous season and reached the UEL Finals with all these FLOPS making a combined 138 appearances with 103 of them as starters.
Unlike others who can spot a flop, Sven must be blind eye or plastic eye – eh, Loose Cannon???
Give credit to Unai where it is due, with his brilliance we nearly qualified for the UCL and nearly lifted the EL had it not been due to those shameful,guiltless, souless players who let him and us down. Later the attitude issues came it and it cost him his job. Give credit to Mikel for disbanding the clique and chucking out the ring leaders. It was so shameful as a life long AFC fan that a kid grabs a player and boasts about his wages rather than apologising for the loss and being a proper sportsman by congratulating the winner. And you expect Mikel to tolerate this? Well done Mikel, keep maintaining ethics and your will be long remembered.
Lady Sue, Cedric & Marri are Raul signings, Mikel was the head coach then (correct me if I am wrong). Regarding Xhaka, he needs to move but I’d rather have a one legged Xhaka than a two legged Rueben Neves. If we get Bissouma, then we say goodbye next season to Xhaka for sure.
Totally agree, Loose Cannon.
Credit to Mikel Arteta for not tolerating a seasoned professional’s proper sportsman behavior of flippin’ the bird towards his own club’s fans and serenading “fcuk off!!!” while walking off the pitch and making him the stand-in club captain now.
They may well have been Raul’s signings, LC, but MA wanted them to stay (permanently!)
loose cannon, what an extraordinary reply. well done you , i admire what you had to say, and it is in general the truth.the sooner people understand why we are in this position in the first place will be the saving of our club. too many red tinted glasses wearing fans still around.not healthy to live in the past, the past should be left in the past. we should all look forward, this is our big hope.
The project of integrating youth into the system is good no doubt and will require time. But the more important point is that with youth there must be experience and steel to the team, otherwise it will be men vs boys as was the case against Chelsea in the last PL game. Of course our top players were missing but still we should have shown enough fight before losing. Also, the lack of foresight in not trying out Saliba in such a physically demanding league is really puzzling and the willingness to go for strong midfielders like Bissouma is a must. We must sign Bissouma at all costs before Liverpool get him, because Bissouma wants to come to Arsenal. The project idea is ok as long as tangible improvements are seen on the football pitch. It took Klopp a long time to win the CL and the PL, but every year on year Liverpool were improving under him, climbing up the ladder. Arsenal must start showing up on the pitch, no matter what the opposition and no matter what the circumstances, for fans to have faith in the Arteta project. Even if we lose, dont go down without showing grit and steel.
Not for a long time if the ‘youth’ policy is maintained. I’m all for using younger players alongside proven top players and leaders. We haven’t had a leader since Koscielny and Santi who both led by example and skill.
I like Chapos comment ‘ continous present’ very much, it’s an excellent point
How long are we going to wait for this ‘project’ to be completed? Next season? the season after? 3 years? 5 years? Who Knows. Yes It’s good to plan for the future but you’ve got to live for today as well.
When Man U missed out winning the league by 1 point in 2010 after a poor start to the season, Ferguson said, It won’t happen again, I’m gonna make sure we hit the ground running this season, last pre season I gave to many players half games and they weren’t match fit’. He made sure it didn’t happen again and they went on to win the title by 9 points. He also said ‘ anyone can win the league, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal etc, but our biggest challenge is ourselves’ It reminded me of the saying ‘By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’
I think this sums our club up to a tee. I know from reading JA a lot of fans have their own opinions, but IMO failing to prepare, not hitting the ground running and being our own worst enemy are at the top of the list.
I used wish at the start of every season that we would win the league and all the competitions, but that wish would soon turn to into ‘I hope that we at least win something and finish top 4’. Then hope would drift into despair as I felt we would be lucky to finish in the top half of the table. Then fear would set in that we could even be fighting relegation. This is how I’ve felt for a long tome now, and as of today, nothing has changed.
League title or even top 4, IMO we’re light years away.
Will we get our Arsenal back? I’ll pass on that one for now.
Nice one rob
Guys look here if you look at Madrid, Barcelona, all are integrating new young players in their teams….the trend of the clubs is to change in the coming seasons as a new generation of players is coming in….some teams won’t compete…..Chelsea had the advantage of lambard and see how his lads have taken the team….for arsenal the project is right but we only need more special players to carry the team a head
We need a fabregas, nasri….and a prime Henry…
With that team saka is top….Smith Rowe and odegard are just good…we had to buy lautaro Martinez….or vinicious …..or Dani olmo…plus a beast in the midfield like bissouma then we are good to go….
Just watched, once again, the programme on sky titled PL Legends, the story of Tony Adams.
That is the Arsenal I want back, along with the football that AW introduced to our club…. when we were always a top four club.
I don’t know if MA will bring those days back, but kronkie has certainly backed him up this window.
As for the “dross” he inherited…. well over £200,000,000 has been spent on new players, along with improved contracts for such as Aubemeyang and Xhaka…. so it’s all down to MA now and to continue to blame others for his shortcomings is just burying one’s head in the sand.
Let’s hope he’s more successful than AW, still our most successful and decorated manager – let’s hope we get the top four position that we enjoyed for 20 consecutive years will return.
Ken, while agreeing with what you SAY(to a degree, ref. Kroenke), It is what you omit that causes us to differ.
For example, the fact that when AW first came here, there was no Abramovitch, Sheikh Mansoor. That explains why TWO other rrivals who were not then main rivals at all, have now overtaken us , thus making the job of all managers since around 2008 or earlier much more difficult.
I do not forget that AW went 9 years without a trophy either. M A has so far been 1 full year since winning a trophy, yet is under unfair attack on JA. Context!
Ken, the three eras of our great club I cherish most is the early 70’s, late 80’s & early 90’s and of course Arsene Wenger’s first 9 years. The last era under AW is the one that stands out, what teams and players he assembled, even the most sceptical Roy Keane refers to them as ‘proper’ teams. Realistically I can’t see anyone achieving that again, certainly not in my lifetime. Football has moved on and managers are not given the time and backing Arsene got, in particular, from David Dein. Our owner unlike even Abramovic is not a fan of the club, to him it’s just another money making franchise. I’m afraid he and his family are here for for a while yet.
It does seem that way Andrew.
I remember being able to walk around Highbury when we were struggling and the attendance could have filled just one end of our old ground.
I really think that today’s fans have no perception of what “the bad old days” really means.
Our old board and kronkie sold us all a pup and David Dein /Arsene Wenger really were the dream ticket.
The good old days they certainly were with these two icons of The Arsenal history.
We can definitely improve on what we have seen since 2006, but we’ll never get back to the glory days under Kroenke.
It’s not possibly for ANY club to thrive when the owner has no interest, and no understanding of football, especially European football.