THE DOOM AND GLOOM MERCHANTS RISE FROM THE ASHES ONCE AGAIN!!! by Ken1945
Arsenal lost 1-0 to Manchester City on Saturday and the world fell apart – at least that was the impression some of our most pessimistic fans were saying after the game.
Let me take you back to when Unai Emery was sacked and the nightmare scenario we found our club in.
We hadn’t won a game in seven tries and we had just been beaten, at home, by Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 (the worst run without a victory since the days of George Graham during February 1992).
We were without a victory in the Premier League since the 6th October and were eight points away from the top four spot and nearer the relegation battle.
We only just managed a last minute 2-2 draw with Southampton, where Lacs scored in injury time and the mood was so down, there was hardly any celebration on the pitch, or fans celebrating in the near empty stadium, just a feeling of complete disbelief that we had sunk so low. That was the real time for doom and gloom!
There was such an air of toxicity around the club, you could cut it with a knife, both on and off the pitch – players were arguing with the fans, fans were arguing with each other, the ground was half empty and we were actually talking about relegation, rather than the top four position we had taken for granted for so many years.
No-one had a clue what Unai’s team selection, tactics and plans were, despite the club spending over £130,000,000 in the summer transfer window. Players were being made captain one week, dropped the next and then we were told there were five captains…it was utter chaos from top to bottom.
It looked as if the senior players had gone on strike and Unai had lost the dressing room big time (this is my personal opinion only).
Unai’s record over the eighteen months were as follows in all competitions: Played: 78 – Won 43 – Drew 16 – Lost 19.
He was sacked on the 29/11 2019 “due to results and performances not being at the level required” but he left a complete shambles, as I have tried to detail out above.
On top of this, Gazidis and then Raul had signed over seventeen players and spent well over £200,000,000 whilst doing so.
Unlike our noisy neighbours, who had sacked Pochettino one day and appointed Maureen the next, and despite ever growing threat of relegation, it took a further four weeks for the club to act and appoint a new coach – later to become the manager – Mikel Arteta.
It’s true to say, that this wasn’t met with universal agreement amongst the fans, with such names as Nuno Espirito, Allegri, Pochettino and Carlo Ancelotti being banded around as possible replacements – why go for an inexperienced right-hand man, with these guys all, presumably, available?
On the 26th December 2019, the news that Mikel Arteta had left Manchester City to re-join one of the clubs he had made such an impression on during his playing career was announced.
Since then….
he has had to cope with the corona virus pandemic –
he has had to manage the pay cut situation and the fallout from that decision –
he has had to cope with and defuse, player power –
he has had to bring the discipline required to begin man managing a squad of players who had barely had any for eighteen months (my opinion once again) –
he has had to cope with the corona virus himself, which led to the closing of the PL fixtures –
he has had to cope with the drawn-out contract negotiations concerning Aubameyang –
he has had to cope with the ongoing Ozil and Guendouzi issues –
he has had to cope with not knowing who the club were going to sign before the end of this last window –
he has had to cope with getting the best out of players that had stagnated under UE –
he has had to cope with the in-fighting and people leaving from the backroom staff –
I would argue that he has done all this and even more:
He has won two trophies, the FA cup and community shield, beating such clubs as Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea to achieve this remarkable turnaround in the clubs fortunes.
We have signed a proven central defender and a brilliant midfield player that have addressed the shortcomings that plagued both UE and AW, or to put it more simply, we now have a backbone!!!!
The players, media and, I suggest, 90% of the fans are behind this manager and only a blindfolded fan could deny that we haven’t made tremendous progress both on and off the field.
Once again, we are talking about top four and not relegation issues and yet….
We have one game against City, where, if we are honest, the players let the manager down, we could and should have won the game on chances created, VAR not doing its job and, sure enough, out come those regular “Doom and Gloom” merchants once again.
Useless manager, no ideas on tactics, substitutes at the wrong time, wrong players chosen, too defensive, scared of the other big clubs…you name it, they mentioned it.
Of course, the game yesterday was not our finest hour, as I said, but after all that has gone on before (laid out above) does this kind of negativity help, and were we really that bad anyway?
We still get articles harping back three years and repeating the same old negativity, along with the repeated articles that say nothing new about this person or that player – it’s astounding how we have such short memories on one subject, but can’t let go on others that have nothing to do with what Mikel Arteta is/has achieving/achieved in just ten short months.
I realise that I have talked about UE and AW, but this was to show just what MA has done for the club – let’s not fall into the trap that we expected AW and UE to be faultless and the second coming.
He will make mistakes, he will back the owners up, he will make decisions that seem inexplicable, but he is JUST a fellow human being – please give this man the time to prove himself, because if we drive him out as well, there will be clubs ready to take him on with open arms.
Ken1945.