Well, I took a week off from this excruciating heat and my hometown didn’t disappoint. For all the urbanization and industries, there is still some forest left and the breezes are better than the so called recycled, smell-nice air conditioners. We will survive but what about the next generation(s)?!
So, a lot has happened since I went missing. Man City has lifted the Premier League and will probably finish with 10+ points more than us. Newcastle has made it to the Champions League and the almighty Liverpool will most likely play in Europa. For Arsenal, we lost a golden chance to lift the trophy. Saka signed a much needed contract extension in the range of 15m / year, Martinelli, Zinchenko and Saliba were ruled out for the rest of this season due to injuries but are expected to join back before pre-season. There is a good possibility that Xhaka will leave this summer and The Athletic guys are linking us to Rice, Caicedo, Mason Mount and Gündoğan.
First thing first, after leading the table for almost all of this season, the season was ours to lose and we did exactly that. We threw away 2-0 lead against Liverpool and West Ham. We let Southampton score 3 against us at home and settled with one point. City beat us, which was expected, but these 3 draws proved very costly. Adding insult to the injury, we lost our last 2 games against Brighton at home and Forest away. It didn’t matter but the game against Forest was a prime example of brain fart from Arteta.
In a good news, Saka signed a 4-year contract extension that runs till 2027. He will be paid somewhere around 15million / year. Frankly, I don’t get the criticism of putting him into this salary bracket. He has been splendid for us whole season, had few rough games at the end but you can’t really blame the kid when he is being played every game and kicked and pushed throughout. My belief is that, if you buy a high profile player like Antony at United, pay a fee of 80m and then offer him another 300k/week, it’s not sustainable. We must understand that we are saving the need to find this 80m to buy a player of Saka’s calibre. This is also different to what we offered to Ozil. Ozil was past his prime, everyone knew he is only going to get regressed and it led to a situation where no one was happy. Saka’s case is different, so was Martinelli and if Saliba signs, I won’t mind if we offer him a 200k/week wage. These group of players are young, they can be the best player in their positions and winning ‘with’ them is more important than encashing them now and then bringing someone else hoping they turn out to be equally good.
We have some injury concerns, Zinchenko is out, Saliba’s back injury is taking time, Martinelli picked up a knock and is ruled out for the rest of this season. Not that it matters now, but hopefully they will all be back by next season.
It came out as a surprize to me when various media outlets linked Xhaka with Bayer Leverkusen. He is getting a 4 – year contract, and is almost a done deal. I don’t mind it, I have been asking for an upgrade to his position from god knows when, and if it’s ending in a happy way for both the parties, it’s a good thing. I must also applaud Xhaka for his service this season, he has made a lot of us eat a humble pie with his performance in lots of games. We mustn’t discredit him, he was part of a team that stayed at the top for more than 30 weeks against the likes of Manchester City.
So, whom are we getting? There’s been a lot of rumours, Rice, Caicedo, Mason Mount, Gundogan but I will keep this part for the next articles. Wrapping up for now, hope you are having a good week. If not, there’s a thing called mid-week beer and Wednesday qualifies for that.
Cheers!
Bob
Where do you drink?
Fair point, Bob, and Marc is as strong but different in his club outlook.
I wasn’t trying to belittle your objectiveness or beliefs. Live experience is best, and I’m looking forward to seeing games when we return to Europe in a few years time.
For me it’s step by step, so first the summer TW. I’m hoping our CL presence draws the right caliber of player who is strong mentally as well as physically in wanting to win things.
Marc,’ we’ve gone from having an 8 point lead to being a point ahead of being closer to 3rd than 1st.’ I can counter with we’ve gone from 69pts to 81pts(with one game to go!). What do you want to focus on?
I am sorry that you ‘hate’ Arteta as it obviously gets in the way of your enjoyment ‘I don’t enjoy it any more’. For your sake I hope we get a manager in that you can get behind as Arteta seems to have poisoned your experience. I’m much less concerned about him – I’d prefer better but under his guidance I’ve enjoyed many games this season.
After the game I often go to Auld Shillelagh (Old sh- lay-lee) on Stoke Newington Church St or sometimes just up the road in Ryan’s Bar( if the weather is good).
Bob
Yeah, Zaragoza in the PdP. Another negative chapter of my life while in Paris. The other one was work related in the 2000s. My dearly departed Granny was a Spud and I called in to see her in Chatham on my way home in the car. She knew all about it of course, and practically made a wanker gesture in my face talking about Nayim and his ridiculous goal. Auxerre, and Torino with the travel club binge drinking Stella on the boat but my favourite was that 7-0 in Liege. A perfect day. I also saw something as rare as hen’s teeth. An Eddie McGoldrick goal. I played against EM numerous times as a kid in the Corby Sunday leagues. Magic times.
Kroenke, Eddie ‘far from steady’. I’m sure he shone in the Corby Sunday leagues but for Arsenal he was a poor man’s Limpar, Armstrong, etc
Did you get CS gassed too after that Nayim last minute miracle? Just remember not being able to leave the ground and after about 45 mins Arsenal fans were getting really angry about not being allowed out of the stadium and some started to try and climb over the closed gates at which point Les flics used CS gas. I didn’t cry when the goal went in but I did then! Was that 7-0 in that green and blue away shirt?
Banter with your Gran, I’m sure you wouldn’t change it even if you could. My dad was a Spud but he wasn’t that passionate and had the grace to let me support who I wanted to! Orient was the closest team to me growing up(Loughton), 2nd division at the time but I thankfully had good taste at 7 years old and picked Arsenal(winning the double the year before might have hit my consciousness but I can’t honestly remember).
Bob
Almunia loves Eddie McG. – I think he had a stellar career playing for Ireland, at least compared to when he played for us.
You’re going to hate me for this but I was totally unaffected by that. I had a mate who worked at ITN who had a colleague working in Paris who said he could get us 4 tickets. So we travelled more in hope then expectation in my Citroen BX – remember them? It was a wicked car that had an up and down button a bit like those cars that Mexican lads have in LA.
Expecting limited views or to be surrounded by lads from Aragon, we were actually supplied with entries and accreditation for the UEFA VIPs enclosure. The right place at the right time – I don’t think it’s ever happened since.
French hors d’oeuvres, vol au vents, snails the lot. Oh, and free, unlimited beer. We were close enough to Lennart Johanson to have kissed his ring if we hadn’t been so wrecked.
So yeah mate, you and your ruffian friends were getting literally gassed while we were getting figuratively gassed on some nice strong lagers. Hartson got an equaliser didn’t he before Nayim lobbed Seaman (fnarr fnarr). The trip back was hilarious – we bumped into Christopher Biggins at the hover port (as you do) and he kindly bought us a consolation pint.
I didn’t get to the Parma game at the Parken, mores the pity.
https://youtu.be/i6mW43iDVZY
Aah Bob! Anders Limpar. I think he was Guendouzi’ed by George. Or was Guendouzi Limpared by Tets? I was sad when he left.
He was a major and handy protagonist at the battle of Old Trafford. So much for Swedes being peace-loving neutrals eh?
He signed for us from Cremonese right? A team that sounds like a dessert.
Kroenke, kissing the ring eh! I was a big Limpar fan, will always remember when mid dribble he stopped to pull up a sock, class. A little too maverick for an overly conservative GG.
Great perspectives on display today…of course it’s oftentimes difficult to participate in real time due to the obvious time difference…I always find it intriguing to examine how one’s personal investment, visa vie the ongoing expenditure of buying seasons tickets, has on one’s personal perspective…during Wenger’s latter years I always argued that it logically behooved the customer to protect their investment by throwing their full support behind the manager, as otherwise it seemed that their continued fiscal behaviour was foolishly conceived…then I conversated with several holders who held a completely opposing view, as they felt that their investment likely made them more critical and as such they never shied away from showing their displeasure whenever the opportunity arose…ultimately it’s a mixed bag gig, but I would still say that the library-like environment, as the Emirates took on a more corporate, watercress eating ambience, lent itself far more to the acquiescing types than those within the later category
regardless, only a fanbase who allowed Wenger to patrol the sidelines a decade or so longer than logic would have suggested, would once again doubledown on another cult of personality narrative with someone who had very little real connection to the club, at least not during the decade that mattered, and who had no real CV to speak of…this is simply the logical outgrowth of the ridiculous “underdog” mindset that has permeated our once-hallowed halls ever since Wenger propogated the ludicrous notion that we were the best “little” big club in the footballing world so as to justify his latter days failings
In Lennart’s Scandiwegian dreams…. A colossus, but I reckon I out drank him that night.
GG most certainly was a small ‘c’ conservative (except when it came to Pal Lydersen and his agent (Rune Hauge).
I’ve got half an eye on the Cov-Hatters game. BNC playing at RB. Makes me wonder if it’s worth prettying up Tomiyasu to see if we can sell him in that funny period between the start of the season and the end of the TW in order to give him a go in the first team squad. I suppose it comes down to whether his rating is higher than Walters’s. Oh and we also need a manager that trusts young players of course.
Luton… Yuck! We’re you at wemberlee in 87? One of my Arsenal nadirs.
TRVL
I think a shit load of fans gave up their STs during the late wengassic era (like geological eras of the past, it went on far too long) . Every week in the online Gooner, someone would bare their soul and declare that enough was enough.
I’m lucky to never have to travel far to get to home games. If I’d a tube and a train to get home I might have struggled at times to keep my ST.
My first final was GG’s first win the year before the Luton debacle the following year, when I was unfortunately present!
El Pel, Charlie Nicholas and Ian Allison. That one was a really important win which kind of set the table for 89 in my opinion. Notwithstanding Luton of course.
I see Herb was trying to get some of the mouth breathers on LG to recognise 26 May anniversary yesterday no avail except Andy 1886 who’s also of our vintage. I tend to think too many football fans think their team’s history began when they first decided to support them. US based Gooners in particular appear to have little interest/knowledge of our past and it seldom seems to enter paranoid Pedro’s consciousness.
Fair point about historic perspective. A whole generation of Arsenal fans were essentially spoilt by Wenger’s first 10 years and the entitlement became grotesque at times. I remember my Great Uncle Tom, born in the 1890s said to me at a family party in the mid 70s, ‘ Don’t worry about the Arsenal, they were the top club in the 30s and they’d return to the top before long’. It was a long wait to 1989!
It’s why I struggle to understand any real dissatisfaction with our second placed finish this season. Despite the silly points we dropped at the end of the season, beating a City team which goes on ridiculous winning runs was always a massive ask. Best of the rest, even with some top teams underperforming, is not to be sniffed at. Particularly since we can expect room for improvement from a young team, a still learning manager(!) and a healthy predicted net spend, with CL participation to hopefully enjoy.
I can totally accept “improvement” narratives that are predicated on youth and/or finanical related variables, as those are rather commonplace stumbling blocks in any professional sporting realm…in fact, I was originally convinced that Arteta was being brought in to orchestrate a more youth-oriented rebuild, thus allowing the coach and his squad to grow together while simultaneously enabling the existing frugal narrative to continue accordingly…the one variable that I can’t come to terms with, in this particular equation, is the whole “still learning manager” gig, as that’s either a continuance of the failed Wengerian latter days model or a big club foolishly and/or selfishly acting like a “little” club once again…keeping in mind, that before MA we brought in a very experienced and system-based coach, yet gave him a fraction of the funds and no say whatsoever when it came to personnel…go figure…only at Arsenal
” a still learning manager”
OK so can someone tell me when the training bra comes off and we actually something tangible?
When non stop excuses just aren’t good enough?
When spending a huge amount of money is enough?
TVRL- I’m slightly pissed but your recent post looks like an attempt to include as many multisyllabic words in one paragraph as is humanely possible(see what I did there?. I get it, you don’t rate Arteta…..
Marc …..ditto
‘Something tangible’- can you not see an improvement? Goals, points, patterns of play, optimism in the fan base. Are you so down on Arteta that all of the improvements are to be ignored? Sorry to be aggressive(booze talking)but really, take a couple of steps back from your antagonism and objectively consider where we are now to where we were. We finished, even with a massive drop off, in a clear second place to a team that by most judges are the best team in Europe. Are your standards so high to declare so righteously that this is a fundamental failure in leadership? Come on, surely you need to take a reality check. Peace and love…I’m out.
Morning all
Very short one only to say last game tonight and having looked though the result scores and remembering what I can or really want to I’ll say to people I talk in the future that this season was one of what could have been……
Arteta has 2nd in his locker now, which is an achievement in itself considering he stuck to his starters. What could have been is Arteta’s to learn from if that’s possible having repeated last season’s squad management mistakes.
Bob I’ll accept your list of improvements because they happened and can’t be denied as well as being enjoyed. This leads me to conclude that Arteta is a decent coach, but poor manager and more importantly poor man manager is where Arteta has his failings. I’d say Mikel has trust issues which is why he kept to such a small number of players to get through the season.
Mikel isn’t a proponent of the type of player who is average in training but shines radiantly in games. for me it shows Mikel’s thought process rigidity.
We can and should say that Mikel Arteta and back team have brought us back into Europe – a year too late mind, but CL it is next season and that also is a big step forward towards new glory days.
However, let’s not kid ourselves we didn’t know the script for the ending which could easily played out differently but for the mistakes.
I’ll happily wait for the good & tough pre season that awaits and new season in August. The amount of hope I’ll be taking with me into next season all depends on who we buy and how Mikel lines us up with the new additions.
Out with the old and in with the new.
Tony, as you say, Arteta does show a rigidity in approach, some of those fixed ideas can lead to cohesion as the players understand their roles but on selection not so beneficial!
I absolutely take your point about him being a good coach and a less good manager. There are times on the touchline I want an intervention from one of his right hand men to say ‘ let’s change this now, we need to try and affect the momentum in the game’, as Arteta seems lost in the moment.
Bob
You are afflicted with that most terrible of conditions – you’re reasonable. The very fact that you’re reasonable means that you won’t even understand why that’s an issue.
If you’re reasonable then “we finished 2nd that’s better than 3rd” when we should have finished 1st.
If you’re reasonable “we’ve seen a progression in points etc” when the full facts tell you a hatful of teams all had poor seasons and finished with a much lower points tally than they’d usually pick up – this also means we picked up points from them that gives us a false historic points tally.
No one would say Leicester didn’t deserve to win the PL in 2016 but at the same time no one would say 2016 is representative of a normal season.
Unreasonable people drive change in the world and achieve what reasonable people said couldn’t / wouldn’t be done.
Marc, Does that make you unreasonable?
Can I ask you the question,’Are we an improving team?’. You seem to be striving so hard to push a tarnished view of the season that most of us have just enjoyed.
‘We should have finished 1st’ – and finished unarguably above the best team in Europe?
Let’s see how we do next season. I hope that our improvement continues with the addition of some key CM upgrades and allows us to maintain the distance between us and the chasing pack and hopefully allows us to crucially take points off City.
Your argument that unreasonable people drive change in the world obviously supports your position on Arteta. I hope that your ideas are not dominated by the comfort of the thought ‘I told you so’ would generate if we do fall below expectations in a way that forces KSE to act.
Unreasonable people can often be motivated by their own personal gain, decide that ‘experts’ should be ignored and do not consider how their behaviour can adversely affect other people. They can also have a tendency to proverbially ‘stick their fingers in their ears’ when they don’t want to hear a message that is unattractive to them. In my opinion, unreasonable people allow populist right wing politicians like Trump and to an extent Johnson into office. Rant over!
Bob
If it gets rid of Arteta then brilliant. You need to prepare yourself for a season of excuses next season – the only question is will you be making them or dismissing them.
Rumours this morning that Saka wanted a release clause in his new contract which we refused but settled on a shorter deal as a compromise. Saliba still hasn’t signed on so maybe the players don’t believe in Arteta quite as much as many believe.
“Can I ask you the question,’Are we an improving team?’”
After spending so many hundreds of millions is that a serious question?
If you want sone semi-entertaining reading before the dead rubber game against Wolves, you could do worse than check these fan critiques from the various PL team supporters. The Spurs, Everton and Leicester ones are priceless. Enjoy…
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/28/premier-league-2022-23-fans-verdicts-part-one-arsenal-to-leeds
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/28/premier-league-2022-23-fans-verdicts-part-two-leicester-to-wolves
Call it an end of season gift from Uncle Kroenkephobe to all my LiR mates. Xxx
Marc, you’re convinced Arteta will fail and will need to be removed. I’m not so sure, I hope that Arsenal have another great season and progress further. If not, I’ll want changes and the easiest change to make is to replace the manager.
Cheers Kroenke…..and some of you think we have serious issues…..
Great article by Tim Stillman on Arseblog. Great because I agree with every word!
https://arseblog.com/2023/05/thank-you-for-the-good-times-before-the-good-times-fly-away/
Cheers Kroenke…..and some of you think we have serious issues…..
Hi Bob
It’s the longevity of our malaise and the consistent nature of our problems, season after season, that concern me and convince me that after 3/4 years the present incumbent is not the answer. The lack of fight, leadership and innovation (plan B) seem to haunt us now – we really need to dispell this image (however accurate or inaccurate) that we choke at the business end of league campaigns. In Wengo’s time, it was a slightly different problem – ie the tendency to go on arse-wipingly terrible and lengthy runs of defeats.
Anyway, to you and Marc, I hope you both have a great afternoon whatever happens. I attended my last professional game 2 weeks ago (at Turf Moor) and I hate to say I already have withdrawal symptoms. Same to Tony, TRVL, Killroy and the growing LiR Gooner fanbase in India.
Thanks for sharing that Stillman article. Philosophical, self-aware and balanced, almost Bob N16-esque in style and outlook.😊
We’re all offering personalised, subjective views on a club about which we all care deeply. None is going to be the same as the next person so disagreement is inevitable. My criticism of Tim’s piece is the inherent assumption that we just need to go again with Arteta and we’ll eventually get there. I’m not sure. THE most successful modern manager is, we have to admit, Old Bulb nose Ferguson. I know, deep within myself, that if his Manure had just had 2 seasons like our’s, he’d be sweeping out the backroom team at the very least, and looking to change the players/formation before going again.
Standards eh Kroenke! Off to a traditional end of season pre match beers at a mates, will report back!
TP chosen at right back… Sounds like a brilliant idea. I’m delighted that our manager is soooo much more clever than anyone else. He makes Professeur Wenger look like Keith Chegwin