Probably helped to some extent, no way of saying how significant it was really imo.
Just felt like a valid thing to mention if you were going to cite Liverpool finishing second last season but falling off this season as a cautionary tale for us. It can absolutely go the other way too.
I don’t see the sense in having stayed full of positivity and backing the boys in this current season but then adopting an overtly pessimistic view about next season, acting like this was a flash in the pan and our one opportunity to win the league (not saying this is your position, but it’s a vibe I’m sensing from some)
Well that was a good thing and is a move in the right direction.
There’s so many players you rule out if you use a one dimensional look of yeah he’s good but we can’t get anything back off a transfer fee down the line.
Right now nobody’s telling me anything other than these players are struggling with pressure of expectation.
That’s fine. It’s all new for them but as we have seen the easiest of fixtures is leading to unforced errors.
They are basically all looking at one another for a lead.
It’s what all these little huddles are about. They are probably feeling more tired after games because of this mental pressure.
It’s not like making a suggestion of two or so experienced older players disrupts the overall direction the club would be moving in.
I don’t think any club, including Arsenal, actually pursue that kind of dogmatic strategy. The only clubs that might come close are Brentford or Leipzig but even Leipzig have bent their “rules” over prioritizing resale value recently.
I agree with Strolls. The transfer market business has very much been buy younger players that can improve over time and fit the timeline of when the club thinks we should be competing for titles. Issue you had is the timeline kind of went in the trash this season because all of a sudden you are challenging for a title and you have no experienced players except for the ex city guys (who are young anyways). Might switch that strategy up now, but a slide backwards could very much be onnthe cards and the chance to win the title gone.
Isn’t that how most clubs work though? Either buying young guys or promoting from an academy but supplementing those young players with a few experienced signings or having an older core supplemented with young signings. What Arsenal did isn’t revolutionary or controversial in my opinion.
They had a ton of old, underperforming players on big money, moved them and replaced them with young players on lower wages. Then started supplementing that young core with slightly more experienced players starting last summer.
It’s fine to point at Liverpool making signings like Matip or Milner as experienced pieces that helped them but Arsenal tried making signings like that this summer in Jesus and Zinchenko. If the issue is not enough of those signings, I can get behind it. We ended both windows at least a player short.
Just as I previously predicted you have come out from under your rock, just as Arsenal’s form dips…already referring in posts to sliding backwards and chances of winning the title disappearing. Your agenda is more transparent than ever!
Saying that, pleased you are back and look forward to countering your agenda again!
already has stated that he hates Arteta whatever he does so it doesnt matter if he wins the EPL this season and the treble next season he will have something negative to say, just ignore him.
4 Seasons ago, 10 seasons ago, The Arsenal were losing the games against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton. This squad and it’s mentality is the best it has been for over a decade.
The team are not bottling it, our strongest 11 would be fighting for the title to the bitter end and I believe winning it. What has happened is injuries and our squad depth is insufficient for a title challenge, the squad needed such an overhaul over the last 3 seasons that we have not been able to remedy that.
In raw emotion, not winning the title will be a dagger to the heart, but objectively this squad has come such a long way, I expect we challenge again next season, irrespective of what happens in the run in. Last season I was reading that if we didn’t get top 4, we would be out of it again this season, we would never have a better chance at top 4, blah blah… The Arsenal are back
I agree, this team has gone a long way since last season.
As I said before, if we don’t win it , there’s no way it could be called a bottle job and Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and spurs supporters would all swap their poor seasons with ours.
Not sure I agree fully, we have imo bottled it a bit (as much as I hate the phrase) as it really seems the pressure did get to them these last couple of games.
The nervousness on the ball from certain players who are normally cool as ice, the trying to hold a 2-0 position and ceding the ball rather than just go for the jugular. These things are signs of players and potentially also coaching staff having an eye on actually winning the title.
Can I blame them? Of course not. Is it the same weak ass mentality we’ve had for a decade? I don’t think so, this group have responded many times to going behind or to shock defeats - the spirit is there but I think they’ve just had a wobble at the wrong time.
They’re simply in an unfamiliar position and shown a few cracks. I don’t think they will shy away or turn up scared on Wednesday.
100 % agree with this. Should be going to the Etihad 9 points clear having played 2 games more as I said in another thread, but we’ve mucked it up big time.
I’d argue against any sort of bottling narrative if our lead had been overturned due to losing away at City and Liverpool, I’d say that having that lead and subsequently losing it was in part due to the fixture schedule throwing up our two toughest fixtures of the season at the taile end. After all, I think we were all to some extent looking at those two matches throughout the season and mentally considering the strong possibility that City would gain 6 points on us due to those two games, and hoping we’d have built a large enough lead to still have an edge on City after those games.
But when you draw against West Ham and Southampton, conceding a two goal lead in one of those games, and more generally conceding 5 goals to two abysmal attacking outfits, it’s a lot harder to outright deny any sort of bottling narrative.
Those two results feel pretty bottley to me, sadly.
I pretty much agree with what you’ve just said, I can’t help but feel if those West Ham and Southampton games were January we’d have won them, the pressure of the situation has got to us.
