Title done? I think so! by Shenel
Well my fellow Gooners, what a difference a week makes, hey?
How are we all feeling after our awful defeat to Brighton? Or did we deep down all really know we were not going to win the league? I guess we can safely say our title run is over, well 99% I would say so yes, barring a miracle of course!
I cannot deny that the team was a shambles yesterday and there is no doubt that seeing Manchester City play before us and see them sweep aside Everton 3-0, just put even more pressure on us before we even kicked a ball.
Had we played first I guarantee we would have won, but it seems now, more often than not, the fixtures have been selected so that we are playing after City and with that comes a build-up of pressure. Because the boys for sure know the City results before they take to the pitch and anyone that says otherwise is lying.
On that performance yesterday though we deserved to lose the game! It was sloppy, it was shameful and we just didn’t look like we wanted to win. Fair play to Brighton after their own 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Everton last week, they turned up completely ready for the fight and they wanted it more, well Roberto De Zerbi said they would and they did!
Alas Gooners, I guess second place it is, if it can’t be first than second it will have to be.
Let’s not be so negative about our season though, after we spent around nine plus months at the top of the table, and have surpassed expectations for where our team are meant to be, but it doesn’t mean that it hurts any less, but may this be a lesson to learn from!
All in all it has been a good season for Arsenal, despite coming away without a trophy we have shown what we are capable of, if only we can learn not to capitulate when it really matters, maybe third time lucky and next season will be ours, and we need to continue to stick together and remember how we got to where we are today!
Here’s hoping hey Gooners, onwards and upwards we go!
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
Video – Mikel Arteta explains what went wrong against Brighton “Individually we were below par”
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We did what we couldn’t for 7yrs and couldn’t do what we couldn’t for almost 2 decades
Only this season’s cup winners will be remembered.
NO ONE ELSE.
I know what category Arsenal FC falls in but I will not say
But dgr8xt, Arsenal fans will remember this season, won’t we. That matters doesn’t it ?
We know we’ve had a good season even though it ended in disappointment. We will be better next term after recruitment and having learnt from the experiences of this season. We will remember as we have remembered past seasons when we didn’t pick up silverware. Well real fans will anyway.
“…We will remember as we have remembered past seasons when we didn’t pick up silverware.”
That’s the description this season will get in the future, even from Arsenal fans.
Other teams will also be better next term ,seems a theme for us bottling when it counts most ,Emerys pathetic attempt to get top 4 ,Arteta last seasons and now just limping over the line when we had a 8 point lead ,which could now see us finish 8points behind .
Great that we have advanced from last season but…..
Yes dgr8xt, but I think the season was worthwhile and hopefully a stepping stone to better things next time. The guys got us believing again and didn’t we have many great days ? Without wishing to put too much pressure on Arteta, I would say that we need to win something next
season for sure. Let’s hope we do.
If we go trophyless next season then the pressure will be ramping up on him, the squad have to win something to have a taste of success that will push them more and give them the experience of winning silverware
To be honest Gun Down, I’m only interested in the Prem and Champions’ League. We used to win the FA Cup for fun. For awhile we owned that trophy, but now it’s time for us to properly rule again. Going to be tough but that’s what we are due.
Big clubs don’t go trophyless, there must be something to show for your season, you may have an off season and come back stronger not winning for years have it’s own hurdle and at a time it becomes a problem, we rule in Fa cup but at a time we were been mocked for trophiless seasons and the fa cup became saving grace, winning silverware Is essential it means there is something to show for a so long season with ups and downs, if we had won any cup this year the feeling would be a lot different here
Gun down, To be honest even if we won a knock-out cup competition this season, I’d still have been disappointed that we didn’t win the Prem. I’m now going to bed to have a damn good cry !
If we fall to build on this going forward this season will be remembered as a missed opportunity… Just like other seasons even in Wenger era,
Gun Down, you’re right it was definitely a missed opportunity and I was as pissed off as anyone that we didn’t grab it with both hands. Sometimes though, you’ve just got to let it go. We could have won it but ultimately were not able to. If we don’t “go again” next season, that really will be something for us to be even more disappointed about.
Arsenal have a propensity to bottle, collapse or capitulate – whatever you want to call it.
Arsenal did squander what was once an eight-point lead. They’ve also dropped 11 points in their last seven games(2 wins in 7 games). But Manchester City have won 11 in a row and they’ve got Guardiola, the way Arsenal have let Man City in under their noses looks like a textbook bottle-job. We only dropped seven points in the first half of the season, but 20 in the second already. When the pressure ramped up, they crumbled, happens every season Wenger, Emery now Arteta, this is the story of arsenal
I am not disappointed because I never believed we wouldn’t fall apart because I have seen this quite very often
I am happy we finished 2nd at least the bar has been set high for next season
Never get your hope so high on this club not good for your bp
I don’t think I have seen a team spend so much time on the top of the table only to not win it, that must be a record
Gun Down, your last point is particularly interesting, because it may well be unprecedented in modern times.
In the 60’s and 70’s (last century) Leeds United should have won more titles than they did, but they had seasons when they were leaders for nearly every week only to end up runners-up.
With regard to us, over the last few years we’ve had different managers and different players so there really shouldn’t be an Arsenal that traditionally is falling at the last hurdle. It’s just coincidence, Remember only one club can win the league each season. Can you imagine how frustrating it must be for Liverpool who in a golden period for them, were only able to win the title once. !
You can’t call something that has a pattern a coincidence… This has been arsenal even when Arsene was around, something is wrong with this club, they don’t want to operate in intense pressure, I have watched arsenal long enough to know it’s not mere coincidence
Ambition comes from the top, I have always had this feeling that the owners are not doing enough, an abrahimovic run club can’t fail this often, I can’t see the possibility
There is some truth in what you say, but the Kroenkes where not the owners for all of those years and Arteta, Emery and Wenger are all very different characters..
By the way, and I’m not saying this in hindsight, Unai was badly treated when he was with us. The man is a VERY good manager (re: Seville). He could have been given more time, but I heard that some of the players made fun of him because of his accent and didn’t respect him.
Aston Villa will benefit from his abilities.
Evgunner
Your wasting you breath
The so called fans who now turn out In there flocks and say I told you so
I could see it happening
Bottle it every time
Didn’t see a peep out of them in the 25 wins we picked up this season
Yes we were 8 points clear
Yes we are all disappointed we let it slip
BUT
we are 2nd to one of if the best team if not one of the greatest prem team has seen.
A team over the past 3 or 4 season who have racked up the last 10 to 12 games with max points
Even Pool in there pomp failed to live with them in past seasons
No shame in what we have achieved this season
People calling the ma ager out and asking him to replaced
Ranting about players who they think aren’t good enough for us
Same players they were waxing lyrics over a few weeks ago
And to all the moaning people venting and ranting about gutless, spineless displays ..Grow up
Alanball08, always a pleasure hearing from you. Yes it’s a shame that disappointment and heartache leads to negativity, but I don’t blame most of the guys for feeling deflated, especially when, from going 2-0 up at Anfield and looking to all the world like Champions, we fell short. It’s an emotional time for many. However, if we put everything into context, most of us are privileged to be living in a time of comparative comfort, and we should be at least grateful for that. Roll on next season, I can’t wait. Poor old Leicester, they are as good as down.
You are right brother! The same players whom they are blaming are the same players who brought us all thus far..
What can we say ? That’s the best God planned for us this season but we are the best… because if you turn around they are some teams that have got what we call key players with the the best price bought with but still we can’t guess where exactly they gonna end but we are comfortably stamina in our position and with much hope for next season..thank🙏
1000 % agreed. If we compare our players with theirs, we have an edge only in the wings and City dominated us in all other departments.
Haaland – Jesus.
KDB – Odegaard
Xhaka – Gundogan
Partey – Rodrig
Silva – Roe
All defenders..
Keepers
They are still different level..
However z it’s amazing to occupy 2 spot with such thin squad..
Since Arteta started there have been widely different viewpoints.
At the beginning there was optimism with an FA Cup win followed by the realisation that a change of fortune would not be easy. It took until this season to really show that the jigsaw pieces were beginning to make a picture of what could be achieved.
I will be viewed by some as an Arteta apologist, but I really am not and certainly not now that his reign is well into his 3rd year. I did have hope and a wee bit of expectation that we could cross the line in first place but it is a marathon after all, and after months of stuttering from City they are sprinting the last mile to win and my team is not.
Even after the terrible disappointment at the weekend, Arteta and his players and backroom staff have done a very good job l and there really isn’t much point picking out a few players who weren’t at the races on the day because others will have had their bad games at other times.
It irks me that Neville was right, but I did listen to him talking about the class of 92 on tv and he gave Schmeichel, Keane and Bruce as examples, who were the spine and the spirit of the Man U team as the ‘class’ although talented and ultimately winners needed that experience behind them. That was lacking this year.
Coming second behind one of the richest and most recently successful clubs in the world, with one of the most successful managers at the helm can’t be classed a disaster. We all know that they have more than several world class players and will continue to attract the best talent in the world each year. As much as the Kroenke’s have been generous, it will take more than that to oust City – unless Pep decides to do something else. I still believe that Arteta will continue to improve as a manager and this will continue to grow the team.
SueP, although Neville should be viewed as an inconsequential little man, I too have to confess that it’s irritating that we couldn’t have shafted it to him and prove him wrong. I do think he was hoping we would not win it and ultimately he got his wish. He was a little twat as a player (I’m hoping I don’t get penalised for using that word) and he is a little twat still. 5 foot 11 ? More like 4’10”
An ostrich has bigger brain than Neville’s and Caragher’s combined.
Yes sir, I feel you.
SueP
I will disagree with you on 1 point
Arteta and his players and backroom staff have done a very good job
They have done an excellent job
Restored pride back in to us
Mad us get off our seat in anticipation. Given us excitement back in to our play
The 2nd youngest team
A group of players who will grow and another season of experience under there belt
I am as disappointed as everyone on here that we didn’t see it through bit proud of my team
I hate losing and when we do I can’t stand the media so I go cold turkey on football news until the next games comes around
Haven’t had to do that much this season
The only thing that truly disappointed me this weekend was seeing the hordes of departing fans making an early exit. Sad really that a couple of weeks ago the fans in the stadium were in full voice. Short memories I’d say Allanball08
Let the kids rest these final fixtures.A huge season is coming
Nearly can never kill a bird
Game 29 8points clear
The story of arsenal
Stick Declan rice or Caicedo in our first 11 and I don’t think we drop points against Southampton or West Ham. Our first 11 when fully fit is top class and only as the season drew on did they began to falter. We are one good window away from being a real force again. Cancelo, Rice, Lavia and Toney would elevate us and add real physicality and quality into the squad.
Liam, all those guys you’ve mentioned would be great for us, but at the moment until the papers are signed, we’re just playing Fantasy League (Dream Team) football. We want these players but can we get them ?
What does progress look like next season?
As I have said many times, the issue for me is in the way in which we fell apart. The moment Xhaka got into a squaring up with Trent Alexander-Arnold. That was the moment things seemed to change. What was evident was that this squad could still not match the physicality and pace of a team like Liverpool. The heads dropped and so we bottled it at Southampton and West Ham. When the going got tough and the game came to us we lost composure and belief. For me, this was the aspect that was ALL TOO FAMILIAR! Even with six additions during the summer we’re quite likely to see the same thing next year. The soft under-belly is always there. As soon as the pressure is on..
GunneRay, True. I’m probably stating the obvious, but the singlemost important thing we have to do next season is vastly improve our game management. Also we need to be more ruthless (don’t think I need to expand on that one). Third thing – Cold-Blooded. We played too many games which although were entertaining, we were winning by the seat of our pants. What happened to nice, calm,”boring
1-0/2-0s ?
Then ofcourse getting the recruitment right this summer. Sorry if I’m repeating myself.
Next season one hopes that action will be taken to build on the improvement of 18 points on season 2021/22 and address the obvious deficiencies in squad quality and depth. When injuries occurred to key players or the demands of a long season became evident, the lack of squad depth and quality was evident.
Personally I was upset by Arsenal’s limp exits from the Europa League and domestic cups. Losing to Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup is excusable. Manchester City has the strength and depth to rotate 5 players a game, replacing one top class international with another for each position. Thus they are still ultra competive in 3 competitions.
It will depend on the financial largesse of the Kroenkes (KS&E) and the ability of Arteta and Edu to identify these deficiencies, identify the profile of the players and positions required and use the available transfer funds in the most efficient and effective way to be better than the competition.
The competition next season should be more competitive with Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Brighton trying hard to make top four if not win the title.