It finished
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8th is the new 4th
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Yeah, it’s basically a trophy, isn’t it?
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Gonna be the new standard in 5 years.
Positives? Seeing Troy Deeney get relegated on my birthday.
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Arteta
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Saka, Martinelli, Tierney
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Arteta’s post match interviews
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Beating the two best teams in the league in 4 days
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Lastly, a general feel good factor about the direction we are heading in
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As much as I doubted him and I still have my preservations, I must say Arteta seems to have changed the course a little for now. Those wins over City and Liverpool were really surprising and felt good.
Other positives for me are: 1 year left on Ozil’s contract.
Finishing 8th hurts, but c’est la vie.
Onto the next season.
Getting rid of that shit cunt Emery.
But I suppose also:
Aubameyang being one of our all time great strikers.
Martinelli and Saka emerging.
Our two goalkeepers.
Getting to a cup final despite being a generally awful side this season.
Our lowest PL finish for about a quarter of a century, the lowest amount of wins, the lowest goals scored and some of the worst performances I’ve ever seen.
The defence is as poor as it has ever been and our midfield lacks any creativity and flair.
But at least we got to the FA Cup final and have the best striker in the PL.
Apart from that, everything is just dandy.
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Have we stopped using the Emirates girls since the restart. That would count.
The positives:
- Not having fans in the stadium for the entire duration of the restart. It’s allowed our floundering players to probably rebuild a semblance of confidence without having to hear moans and groans and toxicity in the Emirates from fans who have just frankly had enough. The positive isn’t covid-19, it’s just the fact the players are able to focus on their game without the impact of the crowd.
- Mikel Arteta being appointed as manager. I think we got him at the right time and I genuinely think the additional 18 months he spent with City have been invaluable for him. He’s worked in the pressure cooker environment of being a fundamental part of a coaching team that had Liverpool breathing down their necks up until the last kick of the Premier League season. He got to work with some legendary players (Kompany, Aguero, Silva), a legendary coach (Pep) and help some very great young players develop their game. And now he’s arrived here with a clear idea of what he wants to accomplish and has shown a degree of pragmatism that we can appreciate.
- Bernd Leno and Emi Martinez. I think that in my lifetime this is the very best 1-2 combination that we have had as Arsenal supporters. This isn’t Vito Mannone breathing down Woj neck with a few decent saves. This is a keeper who can genuinely stake a claim to be Arsenal number one. But the actual number one can stake a claim to be the third best goalkeeper in the league (after Alisson and Ederson). It’s a pretty amazing conundrum to have and one I’m excited to see develop.
- The Summer transfer window. I know people weren’t keen on the summer but what the summer did show is that we have a clear idea of what we are doing now. We needed a LB, a winger and a CM as priority going into the new season and we addressed that. We signed a highly regarded CM on loan, we signed a highly regarded LB for a tidy sum and we signed one of the most exciting wingers in Europe (albeit for a princely sum). Ceballos stunk out the joint under Emery but has shown us a lot more of his capabilities recently. Pepe has had his ups and downs and I’d rate him a C+ this season with plenty of room for improvement and Tierney has had his fitness battles. But the positive is simply that we identified issues and we addressed them and that is refreshing.
- The FA Cup. It’s lovely to see us get a cup run and regardless of the outcome that performance against City will be one we can look back on and enjoy for a while. We just looked like a compact unit who could defend well, organise themselves, show some great positional judgment. We were clinical unlike anything I’ve seen from us in so long. Win or lose, that was a great run.
- Bukayo Saka. He has had a real break out season and has had a hand in a lot of goals and that is testament to his decision making and delivery in the final third of the pitch. He’s shown versatility in playing as a FB, WB and a winger and has shown himself to be competent in each position. He’s hungry, he’s talented and he’s disciplined and you cannot ask for more in a young player. How he will develop depends entirely on how he is coached and how he is managed but what Arteta is doing is rotating enough so that we aren’t becoming relying on an 18 year old the way we were with Cesc and Wilshere (which ended up with them having injury issues).
- Sacking Emery. Boy, did I ever get it wrong with Emery. He was never my first choice and never someone who excited me but I absolutely was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I also at times probably went too far in my defence of him and rated him higher than he actually should be. But it was abundantly clear after Baku that this was never going to work and it’s a huge shame it took so long for him to get the boot. Seems a lovely and genuine guy but he had to go.
- The new Gabigol. He’ll be better than the Internazionale one, that’s for sure. He’s got an abundance of energy and confidence and I think if he can develop on his technical abilities he can have a very bright future in the game. His movement in the box is excellent. He seems a little unrefined and raw but that is to be expected of an 18 year old who was plying his trade in the lower reaches of the Brazilian league system only a few months prior to his Arsenal debut.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He’s fast staking a claim to be one of the very best Arsenal strikers. I think RVP was a better all round player but Auba has now given us 2 and a half seasons of consistent goalscoring and we never really got that out of RVP. Right now, he is after Henry and Ian Wright the third best Arsenal striker (I don’t consider Bergkamp a striker in the same vein as the aforementioned) in the PL era. It’s so amazing to see us finally replace RVP with genuine quality and I hope he signs the damn contract.
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I would disagree. Emery should have been fired in the summer, after that EL final performance, and we should have started the season with Arteta.
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I’ve been burned too many times hyping the young so still too early for me to believe in Saka and Martinelli as the new Pires and Henry, but my highlight is Tierney.
He’s someone I wouldn’t imagine Arsenal signing normally but now we have him I want a few more of him. Attitude and ability seem well aligned and a few more like that could change the failure mentality of this club which I think is our biggest barrier over the last decade. He gives me deluded hope that we could beat that.
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I absolutely agree. I probably didn’t word myself well but I meant that I think getting him after that title winning season was much better than getting him 12 months before.
Following Emery is so much better for an unknown quantity than following Wenger.
Although on reflection I worded it with 18 months in my post
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