Morning all.
There was hope, hope that Totts could at least draw against Man City last night but it was never likely to happen. Not because Totts wouldn’t try to win, regardless of what Arsenal fans might think, but because City are seasoned professionals and they know how to win the league. Arsenal went to Totts just a week or two ago and went 3-0 up before mistakes gifted Totts two goals to make the game look a close affair. It wasn’t though, not really. Arsenal have only themselves to ‘blame’ for not winning the league this season. Results against Villa twice, Fulham and West Ham, especially the home matches, have been our downfall.
Finishing second is no crime, not when Guardiola and his players have been at it longer than Mikel Arteta and his but, it’s just not what we hoped for. What is it ‘they’ say, it’s the hope that kills you.
I’m sure there a many an Arsenal fan, football fans in general, who hang on to the hope that West Ham might cause City a shock on the final day of the season but it’s just not going to happen is it?
This season has been better than last in many ways, especially how we’ve performed against the likes of Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool and Man Utd – on paper at least but three of those four clubs have had a pretty drab season in general. Liverpool have been very up and down, Utd have been a mess and Chelsea are on manager number 364 hoping that this one gets it right. So maybe that’s why I feel this has been a missed opportunity kind of season, a bit like 2016 when we defeated Leicester City twice yet still ended up being runners up to them.
The official website is filled with nostalgia about the Invincible team/squad which is great in one sense but it also reiterates how far down we as a club fell after that wonderful season. Fifteen years of mediocrity followed, fifteen years of disappointment, other than the odd FA Cup trophy. The final straw for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal career was not finishing inside the top four. There was a Europa Cup Final in there too but boy, that was awful. Embarrassing even. Those were the Premier League years which hurt us badly because there was no one to steer the Arsenal ship in the right direction. A direction which would bring us back to be a competitive club.
Then along came Edu, Mikel Arteta and a board right behind their plan.
No one, not even the most ardent of Arsenal haters, and there are plenty of them around I’m sure, can say we’re not a competitive club now. We’re not just making up the numbers in football anymore, we’re challenging the juggernaut which is and has been for a while, Manchester City. During the Wenger early years it was Man Utd, his latter years, Chelsea and Man City but now, it’s really just City. I don’t like what those three clubs have done as far as stretching the financial boundaries but I think Arsenal are now going toe to toe with them in the transfer market.
We’re an exciting club to join again and as Declan Rice proved, not every player will choose City over Arsenal. Other great players will want to join us too and that’s what Arsenal need this to do this summer. Sign players whose only aim is to be in the starting eleven. Bench warmers we do not need. Not if we’re to go better than taking the title race down to the last weekend without being in the driving seat.
I’d love to see us fair better in the domestic cups too but like the Champions League knockout stages, they’re a lottery really. But with a deeper and stronger squad, perhaps we’ll be able to deal with a home fixture against a club like Bayern better than we did this season. Perhaps Mikel Arteta will rotate his players more than he has done this season because he trusts all of them rather than around 80% of them. Perhaps Declan Rice will have a proper midfield player alongside him in every game he plays because that’s when Arsenal have been at their best in my opinion.
I know the financial rules and regulations has seen clubs docked points this season but I don’t think that’ll stop clubs spending money this summer. At least it hasn’t yet and how many years has FFP been in existence?
Twice we’ve come close to pipping City to the post, this season being the closest yet so third time lucky perhaps.
Catch up in the comments..
Well I don’t think the Spurs players could be faulted for effort last night. In fact they came mighty close to pulling off an unlikely draw. I wonder what was in Son’s mind when he was bearing down on goal with only Ortega to beat in the 87th minute.
You can see the headlines if he’d scored. “Spurs captain delivers title to biggest rivals!” The Spuds would have hounded him out the club.
As for our season one can always look back on what might have been. There were always going to be games that we shouldn’t have lost. But taking Citeh to the final day of the season and (if we win on Sunday) finishing with 89 points and 28 wins is a terrific achievement.
We go again!
Agreed Anthony.
I see Big Ange isn’t happy with his own fans..
Morning Rico
The Spurs fans are a strange breed. Imagine cheering a loss, when a win puts you in with a good chance of a spot in the Champions League?
Big Ange hit the nail on the head with his comments.
I expect West Ham will roll over on Sunday, but to push City all the way was some achievement. Arsenal are on the verge of something very special. A few additions to the team and We could win the lot.
I haven’t felt as excited about Arsenal since the 03/04 season.
Morning Pete.
Yep, going forwards things look exciting. Arteta and his players can learn again and should be even more hungry to get over the line next season.
Strange as this might sound but in the same situation, would Arsenal fans have been any different if a win handed the PL to that lot? I’m not so sure they/we would..
As I said last night 99 times out of 100 Son scores that one on one but he had a long time to think about it and football being instinctive who knows if the ramifications crossed his mind. As much as hope springs eternal realism tells us all that we lost the league earlier in the season . We can point to the Newcastle debacle which even Willock confirmed the ball was out but the facts remain that we have lost 2 more games than City and also drawn 2 less.
That’s what it takes to win it these days , to beat City and their like , you have to be nigh on perfect with no slip ups between August and May. All that we can say is that we have closed the gap.
It would be nice if we had the league where anyone can beat anyone but although that’s the case in the middle , the very top is decided on the smallest of margins and the bottom is a struggle for those that come up to compete.
We go again and perfection has to be the aim but the difficulty is how will Spurs and Chelsea strengthen. Will Newcastle go on a transfer and wage inflating spree and how will Liverpool react to the going of Klopp.
I suppose that’s what keeps us coming.
I can kind of understand the Newcastle cockup by the officials because the technology wasn’t/isn’t there to confirm what we all suspected. The onfield decision therefore stood.
Ultimately, we can chew over the season all we like but the conclusion will be the same, we lost/drew too many fixtures to win it.
Yep , we lost 5 and they have lost 3 , we drew 5 and they drew 7 with one game each to go. The two extra points from draws are the difference.
It’s the home games which frustrate me when all we needed was someone to score before they did. That’s why there will always be talk about needing a striker.
Afternoon Rico and all,
maybe lady luck will be on our side next round but Finishing 2nd to these cheats is a great result, on the bright side our players and any new players will know that we can win the title next season.
It’s not quite over yet Rico, The Hammers could come good.
Dropped 10 points at home , 2 draws and 2 defeats.
Afternoon Geoff.
I’ve given up hope Cicero.
Us or City Potter?
Us I am afraid, put that right and Bob’s your uncle .
I had a feeling it was us…
The home games killed our chances..
New post up.