Why preparing for a mediocre season will not work for Arsenal fans

Like any other fan I read Arsenal related news and articles avidly, I visit other site and even watch AFTV and when you do that you can get a general feeling for what most fans agree on, disagree on and so forth.

Well, one of the things that has struck me is that expectations for next season are what you could describe as slightly negative, nothing wrong with that, that is what the average Arsenal fan seems to feel, let me give you an example.

We ran a poll on JustArsenalForums asking where do you think Arsenal will finish next season, now, this is as unscientific as one can get and the number of voters was tiny just 131 of you but it was interesting that 54% of you voted that we would finish in a position outside the top-four.

Arsenal fans are no different than any other fans and will, for the most part, be biased towards our own club and so only 46% believing we will finish top-four is fairly depressing and for the record, just 4% said we would end up as champions.

The point I am making is that most of us are not expecting us to set the world on fire next season, we are realistic enough to know that our team is not as good as we would wish it to be and so we align our expectations up based on that.

That is good, but we all know it will not last.

If we win five or six of our opening six games then we will have forgotten what we prepared ourselves for just a month earlier and going forward we then judge the team on that winning start and no longer what we had prepared ourselves for.

Let me try and put it this way, before last season started hopes were not high and after losing our opening games to Chelsea and Man City I remember what a lot of us was saying, myself included and if at that point someone would have said to us that by the end of the season with six games to go we would be third and on the way to the Europa League final we would have taken that all day long.

Of course, we would not have taken what the end of the season actually ended up like but even so, if we would have been told we would finish fifth, a point behind fourth and runners up in the Europa League final we would have called BS because the truth is that very few of us believed that would happen.

So, this summer, expectations are generally low and if I said to any of you do not worry with a few games left we will be top-four and in the Europa League final you would probably say, yes that will do considering the team we have.

But that will change depending on how the season unfolds, our expectations will rise and fall and the one thing I feel I can say with certainty is that however much we prepare ourselves for a season of mediocrity we will have forgotten that long before the end of the season comes around.

There is simply no point preparing for an average season because it will not last, after even the tiniest of winning runs we will expect so much more and again, nothing wrong with that but it just goes to show that no matter how prepared we are, the truth is, we are never prepared.

25 Comments

  1. There’s no point raising the expectation. The flaws was all over, everyone could see it. Error prone defense and zero wings. The story from the transfer market is same old. So why raise your expectations unnecessarily?

  2. Media changed the story of Alexis Claude-Maurice to suit them.The player said Gladbach is his second choice if Arsenal can’t agree a fee with Lorient and subsequently those those good things about Gladbach.He prefers Arsenal over all the other teams but once again media tries to skew things.
    If he doesn’t join us it’s because we couldn’t agree a fee not because of skewed media narrative

      1. There is no official announcement yet, so there might still be a chance

        Besides, his YouTube highlights look uninspiring

      2. My guy pipe down. You are talking out of frustration. Media can skew words of people to have clicks.
        Read the full interview but forgot the blog. His answer was to a specific question. Kev is right the media skewed what the player said.
        If we don’t sign him, that’s not the end of the world.

        1. Don’t worry yourself.There’s naivety and then there’s ignorance.I thought the best thing to do would’ve been to look up if what I said was true but when the world we live in mostly full of negative things all this is normal.A real shame but this is the world

      3. On what basis is he going to Gladbach??The player said Gladbach is his second choice if Arsenal can’t agree a fee bit you ignore all those things.
        Already got Martinelli right from Twitter before the deal was said to be done and as I said I don’t know anything

        Please you are irrelevant in my life so why do you keep replying to me?Is this site for you?How dare you come at me like this?It’s only on a keyboard you can say these things to me.I would keep reporting till the window is over and there’s nothing you can do about it.I decided not to resort to words out of respect but next time I shall prepare a dehumanizing one for you.

      4. Did keV force you to read his post, post your own and leave d guy alone, transfer window is all about rumour. Kev continue your good update pls.

      5. Admin Martin-Do you seriously intend letting this comment pass?If it’s the same idiot that Pat banned last year then why has he even been allowed back?
        Kev is Kev-But he does not deserve that

        1. Comment deleted and action is taken, I never let this guy back and do not know this history but his comments were unacceptable, thanks for the heads up.

    1. So Sky, who most people seem to think on here as a decent believable outlet, have stated Maurice has said he does not see his future in the PL and prefers Borussia over any other team. So why should we believe you over Sky when you have never revealed your source?
      Anyway, at the end of the day, everything is pure speculation until a player is revealed on Arsenal.com.

      1. You can believe them if you want to but if you see the real interview then you’d know he mentioned all this in relation to Arsenal not being able to agree a fee with Lorient.When you apply that condition then you’d see that the whole outlook of the interview changes which is why media won’t include that part.This is why I don’t follow media for transfers and would rather follow people on Twitter.Do you know the interest in Saliba was reported by an ITK first before Kike Marin.At the time there was absolutely no media news about Saliba.Media are slow and deceptive.

    2. @kev, this is getting a bit embarrassing..

      You sure can’t expect us to believe you over Sky sports now, do you?

  3. As long as we cannot ship out the failed players that have been at the club for three seasons, the result would most likely be similar

    If the current decision makers at Arsenal cannot sell the underperformers, the club must look for more competent people to run the business

    1. Even Del Boy would have trouble selling some of our dross on his market stall……. cushty……

  4. It doesn’t matter how much you accept a mediocre season any genuine fan that loves Arsenal will get frustrated and start to vent their anger eventually, I love Arsenal to bits and have supported them sinceI was 7 years old I am now 61 still love this great club and will continue to love them until my demise,But no i cannot be happy to accept mediocrity, no club as big as Arsenal should have to because because they have the resources and they should take full advantage of them to be better than that I want to see them win things I want to see a great head coach agreat board of directors and a great owner who worship the club as we do not just accepting mediocrity or worse.

  5. I have been away for a few moments and on my return i have noticed that “ADMIN MARTIN” is under attack from a certain sensitive section of fans.

    Some people have to know that we are all Arsenal fans and your personal feelings about a given players mean nothing to everyone.
    Give you opinion and stop being emotional melts when it comes to individual players.

  6. Who knows what will happen..(except Le Coq & those pasty crumbs ?)
    I’m excited about next season, but I’m expecting the usual let downs, thrashings, missing out by the odd point, brain farts.. going to take a long time to get rid of this mindset!!
    Having said that, I’ll always love my team!!

    1. Sue, Arsenal have entered the race to sign DE LIGT with an opening bid of 30M

      Ajax is understood to have burnt the bid documents immediately on receipt(ESPN)
      ?

  7. Well Admin Martin, having suffered the rough edge of my tongue on some of your recent articles (nearly all about silly rumours on incoming transfers) I now congratulate you on having keen perception and stating it too as to how fickle so many fans constantly are. You also, rightly, say that all clubs fans are like this. We all know how unhelpful to finding the actual truth this well known fan bias is. I am mercifully free of it and though I feel it , I am able to entirelt separte it from my comments. This is because above all else in life, apart from health, I long for the truth and will always tell it, of course as I, for just one person, perceive it. There is a keen and obvious link between being a fan and wanting truth, as only truth lets you see the clear position we are in ; the weaknesses and strengths we have. As soon as you allow bias to distort your thoughts and comments, then you shun truth and thus harm our club. In fact all lies harm freedom and improvements in circumstances. Truth, along with health, is before ALL else. If only this were mainstream among all football fans , our game and our club would both be in a far more healthy and honest condition. I DO accept that many things are opinions only and can only be truth to those who HONESTLY share those opinions. To others who disagree, TRUTH is what THEY HONESTLY THINK. IT IS IMPORTANT TO ACCURATELY DISTINGUISH BETWEEN CLEAR UNARGUABLE FACTS , ON THE ONE HAND, AND HONESTLY HELD OPINIONS, ON THE OTHER HAND. This is why using language ACCURATELY and not sloppily is vital to truth.

    1. ^
      ^
      Bias is not just being in favor, it works just as well going the other direction. You are one of the most bias fans from this site, Jon. As clever as you are friend, I’m baffled with how unawares you are on this one.

  8. Let us all be a bit patient and wait until the new Adidas kit contract kicks in on July 1. Adidas will want their shirts to display high profile players to sell shirts; thus they are investing £300 million over 5 years.
    Adidas will want all new signings to be presented to media and supporters in their new kit.
    I will start being concerned if no signings are made by Arsenal at July 31!

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