Morning all.
Credit where credit is due….
Over the years, home or away, Arsenal versus Leeds has usually favoured the north London club. How many times during the buildup to Saturday’s fixture did you read or hear about the number of years it’s been since the Yorkshire club had a positive result against Arsenal? Numerous I’m sure. Being the cynic I am, I’m pretty sure the media and pundits alike built the history up in hope that Leeds would cause a shock, the fallout being mighty had they done so.
Leeds were good, more than good really and during the first half it was quite clear to see why they went into the fixture unbeaten, albeit with just a handful of games played so far. Their recovery from attack to defence was speedy, their defensive organisation is to be admired, the progress Daniel Farke has made in a relatively short time, should be praised. Do they use every trick in the book to win challenges or stop other teams playing? Of course they do but why not? Don’t Arsenal do the same sometimes? We would be hypocrites to criticise them really, after all, it’s the referees’ job to punish those who cross the line when they do.
I think it’s great for the Premier League to see clubs like Leeds Utd as strong as they are because it makes English football stronger, better too. More competition equals more upsets which in turn helps to stop a league title being over in March or April. Of course I’d love to see Arsenal confirmed champions in either of those two months but do we really want the top league in England to become something akin to the Bundesliga, La Liga or Ligue 1? I don’t. I would have loved watching the way Brighton battered Arsenal if I wasn’t an Arsenal fan because the team from the south coast, regardless of how Arsenal played, were very good. I just hope they can do the same to a few more clubs this season, especially those “expected” to be challenging for the league title.
As football fans, perhaps we are not appreciative enough of what other clubs and managers are doing, instead preferring to lay the blame for a negative result on our own. It’s either Arteta’s fault for being a poor man’s Guardiola, Saka’s because he’s suddenly lost his pace or direction or indeed any other player who has not played very well. Yet I’m 100% sure that every player in this Arsenal squad will go onto the pitch with nothing else on their mind other than giving their all, doing their best and winning the game. Arteta and his staff will have done their homework before the game better than you or I but sometimes, even the best plans don’t always bear fruit. That’s life! That’s sport too because opposing managers and staff will have done their homework too.
Arsenal should have won the Premier League sooner than they did? They might have had Saliba’s injury not scuppered our season a few years ago. We might have had the officials dealt with other club’s players the way they dealt with ours just the season before last and let’s not forget the huge elephant in the room which is still ongoing because I’m sure that the years mentioned in the Premier League findings were not the beginning or indeed the end of what went on up in Manchester.
Two seasons running Arsenal finished second to Man City. Let that sink in for just one minute. Just five points and then two points divided the two clubs at the end of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons respectively. I know we cannot rewrite history but I can’t help wondering what might have been had the playing field been 100% level. Maybe Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal would have won the Premier League sooner than he/the club did.
Still, let’s not let the truth ruin a good story eh. Let’s not take into consideration what Arsenal were up against in recent seasons either and I don’t just mean injuries. After all, beating him with the “should have won it sooner” stick is a much easier to do, if that suits one’s agenda of course.
Me, well all the time he and the players have The Arsenal crest on their chest, they’ll get my support 100%. Yes, even Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke. 😜
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Kev, ha ha.
The default setting can be to berate our own when sometimes, perhaps it’s better do give opponents some credit. Leeds deserved credit I think because they really pushed us in the first half.
Great post on Arseblog, Andrew Mangan describing Sham City’s 0-3 win at Anfield perfectly and the media’s disgraceful attempts to downplay the 114 guilty charges.
Morning Rico, a chest thumping post, the dentist obviously did a great job. 😁
Couldn’t agree with you more btw, my son who was at the game even had to admit that Madueke had a good game and he doesn’t rate him at all – it’s that Chelsea thing…
It seems that Arteta spent most of the Interlull working on Noni and maybe straightening out some of his rough edges, Viktor also looked engaged so maybe the discontent among a couple of our players over playing time has gone for now. It makes me wonder if Mikel is currently working with Zubimendi and trying to regain the player we saw for 5 months following his arrival just over a year ago?
Geoff, if Arteta continues to pick Saka then he must trust him, we maybe have to accept that the Saka we used to know prior to his hamstring operation has gone and that Bakayo has had to adapt his game to protect his hamstring, you know a bit like Gabriel who also doesn’t sprint around so much anymore more.
Morning Geoff, all
Sometimes I just think perspective helps.
Morning Rico and all, nice write up.
On the whole I am enjoying this season so far, not because we second but the fact that the difference between 13 and 20 place after 6 games is only 4 points, and 4th to 12 place is only 3 points, this still giving the bottom team hope of making the top half.