Maybe it is because I am an Arsenal fan that I see things in a certain way, maybe other fans from other clubs feel the same way, I don’t know, but from where I am stood it seems that most pundits really do have a negative view of Arsenal.
Going through my usual Arsenal news round up a couple headlines jumped out at me regarding pundits opinions on who will miss out on a top-four place next season.
Starting with former Tottenham and Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, he obviously has his former clubs finishing top four but not Arsenal and Chelsea, no surprise there then.
Then there is former Tottenham and Man Utd forward Dimitar Berbatov who also has Arsenal missing out on a top four spot along with United. A little surprising that he does not include the Red Devils but hardly a shocker that he also has Arsenal outside the top four.
That was just today, if I go back further I have no doubts there will be more of the same and this is after Arsenal have strengthened their squad significantly.
Imagine what it was like before Pepe and Ceballos joined.
I blame myself for clicking on these links because I already know in advance what they will opine.
Tottenham have hardly improved and lost a defender, Chelsea have lost Eden Hazard and United have only strengthened their defence, in better words none of them have arguably done better than Arsenal in this transfer window but for some reason it is always Arsenal that is being underestimated.
What is it that Kevin keegan said, I would love it if we beat them? Well, I will love it if we finish top-four just to see these so called pundits eat their own words.
It’s because our defense is still garbage. If we actually purchased a top CB for once maybe we wouldn’t be brushed off so easily. We keep getting brushed off because we consistently ignore what is clearly wrong with the squad. Running out of time to fix this obvious problem again…
And you think if we do that will solve our defensive problems. Well I don’t think so as I believe our coach past and present are responsible for half the problems. We are fixated on the players but what about the coach. What did Emery do defensively that makes you thing if he had a WC defender we’ve will concede less goals than last season. I want a new defender as well but I believe to have a good defensive unit goes beyond having good set of defenders. The methodology has to be right and good. Each player has to be involved and knows their role. I’m sorry Emery team showed none of these last season.
Enough of the injuries excuses.
Yes, you have a valid point and further even with the diabolical and inconsistent defence, Arsenal should have finished 3rd last season but for the consistently idiotic errors of judgments of Unai Emery, the head coach, in his inept team selections; specially in the last few games, against Palace and Brighton at the Emirates while Arsenal were enjoying a 10 win home game run where even Liverpool Only managed a 1 -1 draw. The fault lay with Unai Emery; why Arsenal lost out on “top 4” by “One Point”. Don’t blame the players in defence though they are mediocre at best, bar Sokratis, including Koscielney who is way past his sell by date.
You just admitted we don’t have a single defender that is good enough yet it’s not the defenses fault? Let’s also remember it was Emery that was the achietect behind our long unbeaten run, AND pulled off big several big results against the top 6. I am in agreement with you that he made big mistakes at the end of the season. But he also made a lot of right decisions as well. I dont think it’s fair to only judge him by his mistakes.
“Our coaches past and present are responsible for halt the problem.” …and the other half? I’ll tell you, the lack of a quality CB is responsible. If our defenders are so good, why aren’t any club accepting to vuy them even when we have offered them to these clubs? Do not deceive yourself. Its okay to believe in the team but that does not negate the fact that the defence need upgrading.
I think it is a good thing to be under estimated
Tierney deal hasnt been done even if it is he will be out for 6-8 weeks.No CB has been signed.So we start the season with the same defence that finished last season that let us down so badly.There is faith and there is wearing blinkers.Without a quality CB we will struggle to get in the top 4.And we still havent cleared any of the dead wood out of the club
@Donaldo.. not only we are starting season with defence that let us down so badly but we are starting with the same defenders that conceded 3 goals in 3 games in a row(palace,wolves n everton) of which were the main reason of being out of top 4… so is not the pundit’s fault of us not signing even a single player at the back, honestly as for me thought we will start season with “atleast” 2 new defenders
I am very glad by Admin’s choice of words. Indeed they are so-called pundits because all they do is report their feelings and emotions and no analysis. What criteria do they use to determine who will be in top four? All they do is juggle with last year’s final table and call that punditry! I would have expected a real pundit to look at the various positions and the personnel each team has and then make an assessment based on that information. What these people do is just look at last year’s results and then start their guess work which they unashamedly call punditry. To just wake up from a slumber and then purport to be a pundit is nothing but sheer hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty . It is actually voodooism! On the brighter side, I am unconcerned about such conjecture! The beauty of it is that we don’t have long to wait before the season starts and then our so-called pundits will start licking their wounds.
?. What is the point of so called pundits….they only give their personal opinions based on their previous affiliations with clubs.
Correction glad about not by.
We simply need to start trying to win the league outright – that means once we have prized our right-back away from Celtic, then Top 3 ought to be our aim.
So far as opinions of pundits go and when we look back over our recent performances we’ve hardly took the bull by the horn and done ourselves any favors. Perhaps this is why we’re looked at as non-contenders. Our task is to prove our naysayers wrong.
Both Liverpool and City just played a Charity Shield match that had more intensity than our UEL final performance. We have a long way to go.
That is one thing missing in our play. If our game is highly intense there be less pressure on our back line.
How do we play an intense game? Just look at our front line last season. Who was there to hold on to possession and actually create something? Only Laca. Ozil mkhi Auba were all culprits for misplaced clueless attempts in the attacking third… now with a proven ball player( Ceballos) and a direct winger with a silky left foot (Pepe), I’m sure our attack will be a lot more purposeful and their presence will help the likes of Ozil, Auba and Mkhitaryan… looking at the games against wolves away, Everton away and many more, we lacked a potent playmaker upfront and we always couldn’t create anything which meant that our Defence was always under constant pressure. Why? Because the best way to defend is to attack with precise and accurate passes.. if we can sign Tierney and still can’t get no CB, I still think we can make top 4. PS: emery should play Ozil often with Ceballos.. Ozil is great when playing with good players as we could see at Madrid, Germany and even in the days of Santi and Alexis. Ozil is not a main man, he has never been, he is only better as an addition not the spine….
Can anyone tell me who exactly is a footbl PUNDIT?
Just watched city win the community shield, you know the trophy that many of our fans decry, along with the media when we have won it previously.
Suddenly, city win it and it’s a massive win for the start of the premiership.
I wonder how many of the fans deemed it a meaningless game, or the pool players, who seem really disappointed?
I look forward with interest to see how the media report it tomorrow and how some of our fans perceive it.
it’s meaningless, but something players and fans would like to win. Even when we won it, it never determined anything about our season. But the fact City and Liverpool put in better performances than we put in a European final is not good. And nobody is calling it massive either. Rio JUST said himself that it never affected his performance going into the season. It was just an entertaining game and media is praising it for that.
Yes they are….It was said by the ex pool player Mcmahon ( think that is the spelling).
Did you even listen to the managers and players after the game?
The city players were even calling it the first trophy of the season, so don’t try and correct me on something I clearly saw and heard.
Rio did say that and I’ve just watched ITV news announce it as “the first trophy of the season” …want to contradict me on that as well?
You think it’s meaningless, obviously Pep didn’t as he got booked…yet again your “superior knowledge doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny, especially when compared to the manager who won the treble last season does it?
A one game trophy? Not for me! You call it a troPhy if you wish. I know differently. The real trophies were won so that both teams could then play this glorified pre-season friendly and the desire and reaction afterwards which you rightly point out is BECAUSE both are deadly rivals keen to lay down a marker for the coming season, once ALL the pre -season friendlies are over!
Jon, could you please tell me what it was that city were presented with at the end of the game?
As you state that”I know differently”, it shouldn’t be to hard to explain exactly what it was the city players went up the steps to receive.
In your eagerness to prove a point, you have COMPLETELY missed the point I was making regarding the topic itself.
Why is the community shield viewed differently when The Arsenal win it compared to the likes of city today by the media?
Hi KEN her we are again about the Community Shield being regarded by some as a trophy! So i rhEmirates Cup then also a trophy? After akll that is atwo game per club competition whereas the CS is only a one game competition. My take is that those who want to call the CS a trophy are cheating themselves and in a way their club too by trying to big up a glorified pre season friendly -and justifying it because it is at Wembley, as if that changes matters- into an honour when it is NOT one! Oh yes, there is a piece of silverware and even medals. Well whoop- i -doo! THAT FAKE TRIUMPH OF MARKETING HYPE OVER SOBER REALITY!
And yes, it is tempting to add another trophy to the list of REAL trophies displayed around grounds for all to see. But self honest ones like me , and many many others too, are sickened by this deceit and self delusion. That is my take . It is allowable to differ but I WOULD AT LEAST LIKE A FULLY REASONED EXPLANATION IF YOU WILL PLEASE, AS I RESPECTFULLY DID ON MY OWN VIEW TO YOU. Finally, the REAL trophies were won the season before this game, by the two teams contesting this friendly! Their obvious glee and despair after the game were what you should rightfully expect of players in such a deadly rival capacity from last season and this season to come too. And YES, most of the players and both managers seem to have also regarded it as a trophy. I choose NOT to take my own life standards of honesty however from fooballers, those “paragons of virtue”(he added sarcastically!) Self deception is not my choice of how to live!
without defensive reinforcement another nightmare season is coming
Not true.. the best form of defense is attack( Man city)
Thank you, Gabriel Jesus ?
YES, LETS ALL “REJOICE” BECAUSE A CORRUPT SHEIHK CAN EASILY OUTBID PROPERLY FINANCED CLUBS WHERE FANS ARE TREASURED MORE THAN MONEY BY THE OWNERS
Hahaha calm down, Jon… ?
Sue, I thought it was a “glorified preseason friendly”?
Surely it doesn’t merit a complete reply in capital letters?
Loved the way Sterling went to the pool fans after the game, let’s hope that action will build bridges…felt ill watching “the little boy” giving his views though!!!
Me too, Ken!! Jeez I only wanted them to win so my Daughter would be happy ?
I must admit, Ken.. I did like that he finally came back to haunt his former team (not just us it happens to then!!) Yes fair play to him for that afterwards.. was a nice gesture giving his shirt away.
I couldn’t believe seeing him in the studio, Ken.. I turned over ? the last person I wanted to see ? Imagine if he’d done that to us – what Sterling did – after a game.. I’d have thrown the shirt back at him ?
What is it with you about my CHOICE in using capitals KEN? I never had you down as one who believed in mass conformity and lack of free personal choice. Was I then wrong in this assumption? PERHAPS YOU WOULD EXPLAIN TO ME EXACTLY WHO MY USES OF CAPITALS FOR EMPHASIS HARMS? I don’t presume to tell you how to write or what style, punctuation, and other technical writing devices to use or not to use and would request the same manners back from you to me.
Yes john where fans are treasured and have the worse reputation in the country for hooliganism and have contributed to more disasters than any other club in the history of the game but it’s never been their fault.
Sorry, wrong Spelling, Correction: Jon.
Kenny, If you take those blinkers off you might care to reflect what I believe you know very well. That is that there are far worse clubs for hooliganism than Liverpools. Heysel was over 30 years ago. Times change. I stood on the old North Bank in the seventies and though Gooners were among the better fans overall, we had our fair share of idiots. Remember Johnny Hoy? I bet you do Kenny! I list Millwall, Chelsea, Stoke, Man City,West Ham. All were (and are, in some cases) far worse than Liverpool. Care to comment and dispute these listed above?
Our defence failed miserably last year
This year we start without, holding and belerin
It’s not rocket science
It’s good to be an underdog, as long as Emery has some different tactics to surprise the oppositions
Leicester City won EPL as an underdog and they did it with 4-4-1-1 that was unpredictable at that time
We have been collecting pacey players like Pepe, Tierney, Ceballos, Nelson, Aubameyang and Iwobi, so I expect more direct counter-attack football style in this season
Btw, Barcelona bought Junior Firpo (LB) from Betis for £16m.
Meanwhile we are still after an already injured player for 25m, and we’ve been at it for 2 months!
It will be nothing less than 40m if he is coming to epl. Besides, it took Barca ages to get the deal done as well. I have being about Barca interest on him since transfer season opening.
Well we were favourites for the Europa League and look what happened there.
But we have a shaky defense and recent history helps them make their forecasts I guess.
What we do on the field and in preparation for games (including signings/departures) so if we fail it’s because we failed to prepare and perform, not because if the negativity aimed at the club from within or without.
Intense Community Shield…. LiVerpool pressing game is a joy to watch. I thought they were the better side in the second half. I think it’s still gonna be between Manc and Liverpool for the title.. I just wish we sort out the defense before the season starts. I don’t want Arsenal to be hammered this season in the league… Yes we are good going forward but can’t say much about the defense for now since I dont even know our CBs that will be starting games this season
Why do we always have this sensitive / emotional attitude when anyone says Arsenal might not finish in the TOP 4.
Most of us think the same but then play victims when non Arsenal people reflect what we gooners think ourselves.
They have predicted that we would not finish in the TOP 4 for the last 3 or so season. We Arsenal fans did predict the same, but we then cry and play victims because they have the same feeling as us.
Sorry but there is nothing more cringeworthy, than this sort of hypocrisy.
Until we can prove that we are a Top 4 club again then I don’t see why we should cry foul about Pundits projecting what most of us feel inside when it comes to our club.
May be this season will be different. We have signed some exciting prospects. But that does not all of a sudden mean that we are a Top 4 club again. We still have the likes of City, Liverpool, Spuds, Chelsea etc that finished in those top 4 positions.
Objectively an honest and unbiased person would give the other clubs that have finished in the Top 4 for the last 3 season more chance to finish in there again. All our players have to do is earn that respect back by getting us back in the Top 4 for the next 2-3 seasons then the pundits attitude will change.
I just can’t stand this victim-hood / hypocrisy that we football fabs in general exhibit. You go to City, Liverpool, Chelski, Spuds, United fans forum etc, all of them cite media bias against them. Play victim whenever a legitimate critic of their club or squad.
I keep saying. We have been a joke club for the past decade or so. No one has been more critical of our mediocrity than us the ARSENAL FANS ourselves. But the moment another person outside our Tribe voices the same frustration we then get emotion and sensitive.
Sorry but I find the whole think cringeworthy. That is my personality.
I like calling a spade a spade, whether it is for my own detriment or not.
Lets just first prove everyone wrong by finishing in the Top 4. Then go from there.
agreed
HALLELUJAH! LET US SPADE CALLERS UNITE IN TRUTH! Please Goonster, do read my own post on here saying why I agree with you.
Jon Fox, have you ever read ‘Don Quixote’ by Cervantes? It would surprise me greatly if you have not.
Kam, Not only have I read it but I have also acted in the play and directed it (on a separate occasion). Though I believe I know what you are referring too , perhaps you would explain to others on her who may not know. It is worth your reply and can lead to further discussion I think. I should explain that I am a theatre reviewer and often act in plays and music productions.
It is obvious why most pundits say we will not make top four. They are not Gooners, mainly, and thus more able to be impartial. And accurate! Unless we bring in this week two top quality CB’s to replace our clown double act, we will not make top four. I will bet this happens once Aug 8th is past with NO quality CB;s incoming. IF they do come in though, then and only then, I fancy us to make top four.
OK naysayers!!!
Then how do you guys explain the statements made by the same so-called pundits that Man Utd will be title challengers once they buy Maguire and Dybala????
Utter nonsense!!!!
I think Arsenal should at least sign sergio reguillon (LB) permanently or on loan instead of injury prone kieran tierney, who is already on injury for 2 months. Although tierney is a good player but he has injury problem, he is known to be prone to injury. Premier league is a difficult league to play and not suitable for injury prone players.
We Will make top 4 this season. I am 200% sure of it.
Lazy pundits and fans often point out the defence but I have always told you our major challenge is the midfield and its 80% sorted with Ceballos.
So defence this, defence that won’t work.
People always point out Van Dijk at Liverpool but they often skip the hard work that Henderson/Milner, Wijnaldum, Keita and Fabinho do in shielding that defence.
I’m sure Thiery Henry used to be careless with words then too until he became a coach. Truth be told all those pundits changes their minds more than six times in a season,its just a guess.No one knows what the new season would bring. Let’s call a spade a spade,Arsenal football club doesn’t respect their fans. The defense would still let them down next season.
Tierney? We’ve got Kolasinac… Get a f**king good CB and we’ll make top four.
Yeah, only when Emery strengthens at the back will i truly believe we can challenge, i am sure we will upset a few of the top sides again this season and flop against the usual mediocre sides,I cannot believe Emery and co think we have adequate defensive armoury,we are awful at the back and none of the preseason games have made me feel any different.I am impressed withe the new aquisitions and live in hope that we can outscore everyone else as I feel this is what Emery is thinking.
Arsenal will loose first 3 games according to statistics. And Arsenal will miss out on top 4 according to stats. This is the only thing I want to confirm first which is the first 3 games.. Until then.