Yeah.
I can’t understand why even among our fans many think it’s over the the top to expect for this team to win the CL, or to take us as one of the top favourites.
We got knocked out very tightly by PSG, while missing quite a few key players over those two legs (Gabriel, Havertz, Partey in the first one etc). While Donnaruma had an exceptional performance in that return leg.
Also, even the season before, we got knocked out tightly by a very strong Bayern team. Deservedly but even there we have shown we aren’t far from the top.
You could say we have already established a ceratain consistency in the CL since returning to it and it’s not only our PL form this season that gives you high hopes and expectations about the CL.
I think the main reason some fans err on the side of caution when it comes to winning majors, is because we’ve never done it before (UCL), and the EPL, we haven’t since 2004. Even though this squad we have now, is arguably as good as our 04 team.
Arsenal, PSG, Inter, Bayern seem to be the top trumps for winning the UCL atm…
I’m very curious to see how we’ll fair against Inter personally - will we cancel each other out, or do we have enough to put them down? still remains to be seen.
That said, I think we still have 2-3 more levels to go with this group of players. They can get even better.
That right there is perhaps Arteta’s big challenge this season.
There is no doubt about the quality of this squad or their mentality. We need these players to be reasonable fresh come the business end of the season and for that, we have to start managing their game time.
I am especially concerned about Rice, Zubimendi, Timber and Calafiori. Arteta has to start rotating them and I think he will but will he get it right? He has to pick the right games, or the right moments in games to rotate. It’s going to be tough as the drop off, especially in midfield, will be significant. But this has to be done and how well we do it will play a big role in what we achieve this season.
He won’t be rotating midfield much I don’t think the drop off to Norgaard is monumental, full backs certainly should be explored. Games to play Norgaard might be the remaining league phase games in CL and Domestic cup ties.
Just rewatched the highlights from Wednesday and I feel moved to say that it’s brilliant being an Arsenal fan right now. I absolutely love it. This season has got to be the one.
Zubimendi has been brilliant, but his mistake against Sp**s looked like someone with a tired mind, body or both. Made me worry that we’re running him into the ground.
The assumption was that Norgaard was brought in to help close out games to replace Elneny and Jorghino in that role. He really needs to get more game time to be effective.
That’s still a great week all in. Perhaps a bit of tiredness creeping in on some and some more unforced changes doesn’t really help but we have a great chance to grab another 3 midweek then another huge game up at villa. Lets see where we are this time next week…
Saliba and Gabriel being healthy is a much bigger deal than any of the returning attackers (right now). Need Saliba to be fine this month and for Gabriel to get back soon.
