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!
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
PS
Team unchanged from that glorious display at Forest last week. Unfuckingchanged! Let that sink in. All those players, and he keeps the same XI. Breathtaking…
this is a clear statement of off-season intent, so Tierney, Partey, Nelson and likely ESR are on their way out…it likewise allows our seed planting manager to open the door to the possibility of deploying a DM with pace at RB, which could be the case if we somehow secure Caicedo…otherwise why would anyone run-back the same lineup that played like shit last week…just imagine if our skipper had some plans of his own, instead of always playing the role of karaoke manager in training
please allow that to be Xhaka’s final contribution to the club…must be nice when no one ever marks you
based on recent form (last 6 matches) this should have been a rather tight affair, as we’re 11th and 12th respectively
At times this, I’m always reminded of that awful Johnny Mathis (feat. Deniece Williams!) tune ‘too much too little too late’.
Classic pyrhhic victory incoming!
this one’s over, as I don’t think the Wolves even know what scoring 3 goals in a match feels like…this reminds me of when BHA ripped 6 past this oft-times sleeping walking Wolves side…certainly hope that ESR, Tierney and others who need a little valuation boost see the pitch come the start of the second half…that said, I would suspect that this might not happen for fear of an injury occurring
https://youtu.be/a8QlAMcaOBI
Here it is in its full glory. Tony – get into your sound suite and have a go at belting this out Karaoke jam style. To be fair, they do both have beautiful voices – it’s just that I always link this song with Arsenal (late Wengo through to the present).
KP-on the soundtrack for Mahogany he sung another very apropos track, “Do you know where you’re going to” Cheers
TRVL
Quite. Arteta is such a team selecting cretin, it’s not worth bothering to predict what he’ll do. The only guarantee is that it’ll be fucking inane and illogical.
TRVL
Do we know where we’re going to?
do you like the football Tets is showing you?
Where’s Arsenal going to?
if you think about it, our season has been largely defined by the amount of matches we won in this fashion against relatively uninterested opponents
KP-let’s face it that song could have been belted from the nosebleeder seats in most seasons since our arrival at the Emirates
Just realised Everton are currently in the bottom three. Hallelujah!
it’s clear that the whole Partey gig is simply a mirror image positional replication of what Zinchenko has done on the left…first the advanced deployment of Xhaka, then the Zinchenkian twist and now this, how dare anyone question the tactical nous of our MIT
KP
Marginally worse than Summer Holiday which Wolves all seem to be on. I wish I’d put a bet on a Xhaka hat trick. That would bring tears to Zinchenko’s eyes in the stand.
Marc
When Xhaka’s 2nd bullet header went in I immediately thought of you 🙂 . 21 goals in over 300 games for us.
Bob
Great day to be there. Enjoy and soak it all in.
TRVL
What’s the bet Xhaka plays 90 minutes and Nelson gets a cameo for Trossard or Jesus?
To all
Junior’s got school and a busy day for me, so I’ll bid my Gooner brothers a great evening as I’m off to bed.
Half time…
As I write, an Everton official will be in Goodison crossing that narrow corridor between the home and away changing rooms with three massive bags containing used 50 quid notes, another full of cocaine and the last one with a wedge of free tickets for Bournemouth players for a massive Bunga Bunga binge in a Liverpool lap dancing club.
as of right now it’s LC going through, which seems fitting, as their the best of a bad lot, but it wouldn’t take much for this script to be flipped…tbh I sort of hope it stays as is
Tony – sweet dreams geezer. It’ll be like all of your Christmases waking up to learn Everton have been relegated.
I can’t get the game in UK. I think I’d have vomited if I’d been able to watch it. Gonna get my prayer mat out to hope things stay as they are.
Tony-I would very much doubt that will be the case and only because he’ll want to give Xhaka a hero’s exit…if that doesn’t occur I’m going to be very concerned about the possibility of his sorry ass staying for another season
Ode needs to really work on his passing touch when he’s moving about with some pace…that’s one thing that Ozil was exceptionally good at
Fuck.
KP-I concur with your sentiments…if only we had plucked him away in January, instead of settling, things could have been vastly different for a couple or 3 teams
quite pleased that Saka scored and got a proper send off for his efforts this season…that said, with his achilles issues, he likely shouldn’t have been playing…just shows how desparate MA was to not have a repeat performance of last week in the final fixture
also elated that Jesus managed to score a goal which required some elite finishing skills, as that header was going nowhere but into the back netting
even happy to see Ode produce a few sublime moments with the ball at his feet
I guess the only negative is why oh why couldn’t these individuals produce any such moments when it mattered most…it’s almost more frustrating when you know those moments are in there
when the fans were serenading Xhaka all I could think about was shut the fuck up with talk about not wanting to see him go
Everton live another year as a chaotic shitstorm of a club. I hope the Bournemouth lads enjoy the cash, coke and cornholes.
for correction purposes I had mistakenly thought the Everton scorer was Onana not Doucoure…my bad…regardless, the fact that this horseshit of a club is staying up sucks fucking shit
Bob-It would be easy to leave this season’s finale feeling rather optimistic about our future possibilities, which is why context matters…all I want is to have my club in the hands of bona fide, tried and true footballing professionals of the highest order, not coin toss propositions or longshot semi-pros, regardless of their perceived work ethics or best intentions…below you will find the case against leaving this complex task in the hands of the progeny of our absentee landlord or those they’ve unjustifiably chosen to navigate such complicated waters…now I would have understood the thought process if we had exhausted all possible “logical” options, as then Arteta could have been percieved as more of a last gasp, potentially savvy, out of the box hire, but that’s clearly not what happened here
I can only assume the overriding lesson learned from the Wenger era was that we would no longer allow one individual to dominate our footballing landscape…in order to facilitate such a change we first needed to restructure our administrative/managerial hierarchy, thereby finally bringing our organizational model into the modern era…unfortunately we overplayed our hand, so instead of bringing in a Dein-type figure then having him hire a coach of his liking, we took a too many cooks in the kitchen approach…this led to a top heavy triumvarite of Raul, Diamond Eye and Gazidis, which on paper had a real big club feel, but in reality was an accident waiting to happen as there appeared to be no clear division of labour…things were such a mess that Gazidis, with his last piece of business for the club, handpicked Emery himself, then before the ink had dried boarded a plane for Madrid
in the wake of Gazidis’s exodus a power struggle ensued behind the scenes, between the used car salesman from Barca and one of the truly great identifiers of talent in the sport…considering that Emery wasn’t given any say in personnel matters, logic seemed to suggest that Diamond Eye was the clear frontrunner, but in typical Arsenal fashion, the weasel who sketchily overpaid for Pepe, a player who in no way fit Unai’s tactical narrative, won the day…of course, it wouldn’t be long before this shady fuck was summarily dismissed…to be frank Unai deserves our utmost respect for achieving what he did considering the conditons surrounding his employment; the toxicity, the long shadow cast by his predecessor, the administrative upheaval and the lack of acquisitonal input…let’s face it, things could have been decidely worse
so on the heels of all this, what course of action did our amateur hour organization take to remedy a seemingly untenable situation…they did what many desperate clubs do, they looked to their past for answers…they had already started this process by hiring Edu, who was totally ill-prepared for such a complex endeavour, gave Freddie an “interim” tag, then started to formulate a list of potential former players who could take the coaching mantle…names like Henry, Vieira, Arteta and even outliers like Adams and Keown were bandied about…it wouldn’t be long before Arteta emerged as the odds-on favourite
publicly it was all about the Pep “osmosis” narrative, even though that wasn’t a historically significant path to greatness, but I would suggest his lack of a viable CV was actually his trump card…all of the other candidates had blemishes on their respective coaching CV’s, so Arteta’s “clean slate” provided them with their rather cheeky back to the future moment…if you don’t think that the Wenger hiring wasn’t forefront in their tiny little brains when they chose this path, you just might be too stupid to live…unfortunately this was not a merit based comparable choice, but a purely optics one, which is why to this very day the “learning” tag still applies
so if you want to talk “improvements”, yes we’re undoubtedly in a better place than we’ve been in some time, but when you’ve set the bar so low it’s easier to overestimate one’s suppposed meteoric rise…at times we’ve looked the part of a contender, whereas, equally as much if not more, we’ve looked like the same old Arsenal who can’t get over the proverbial hump…so what version is the most honest reflection…it’s clear that some more traditional members of the contender class have struggled for extended periods, which certainly has aided our cause, and no one can dispute that the unprecedented backing has helped to paper over some Artetian cracks, so the real question is can our one trick pony of a manager change his spots and then lift an organization, who knows infintely more about how to conduct their business the wrong way(see above) than the right, overcome and take us to the mountaintop…if so, you must likewise believe that out of this pile of shit decisions they somehow got this one right…what are the fucking odds of that in light of all the commonsensical factors working against it…like I’ve said on numerous occasions, our best course of action would be to thank Arteta and Edu for all their efforts then bring in those who are infinitely better suited to properly polish this unfinished project…Cheers
TVRL- I’d be able to take your posts more seriously if your obvious disdain for Arteta didn’t cloud your objectivity so painfully. “One trick pony of a manager’ – if you expressed these comments to the vast majority of the support you would be laughed at. He is not without fault but there is a genuine appreciation of the team he’s overseen.
You talk about your footballing experience and knowledge but then you seem to make light of our improved points total , our coherence and the feel good factor that this season has provided.
We have finished 5th, 6th, 8th, 8th, 5th -we’ve now finished 2nd, 9pts above 3rd place. If and it’s a big if we’d shared the points with City(Queen dying could have been a sliding doors moment postponing the City game at a time when we were in hot shit form) we would have won the league by a point! Take a f*cking moment to consider that.
Would you still be taking such a patronising tone towards Arteta if we’d won the league? I’ve had a few(in celebration for a great season) and then I read your take. Mind boggling. Every single Arsenal fan I’ve met is happy about this season and the trajectory we’re on and then I read how you see it, baffling, seriously!
It was a joyous sunny day. A meaningless fixture, no drama. Wolves were shocking, Ramsdale must have had the easiest game this whole season, we won 5-0. Players and their loved ones spent ages on the pitch, applauding the fans and receiving enthusiastic applause back. A great final game, wishing people a great summer before seeing them again next season. This is what I will dwell upon, goodwill. Shame you couldn’t be there to experience it- I wonder if you’d be so vitriolic and begrudging- I imagine not!
Bob-surely I’m not the first person to have suggested that Arteta has no Plan B, thus the one trick moniker, and I refuse to believe that I’m the only individual who felt that another cock-up was brewing, even with our sizeable lead, so you can reference any “sliding doors” scenario your little heart desires, but there’s nothing I witnessed that could logically lead me to believe that we could have taken all 3 from City, no matter the date, especially with our tacitical novice at the helm
please remember that I did speak to our improvements on the pitch in the last year or two, the difference between you and I is that I chalk this up to the players on the pitch, like Saka, Marts, Saliba, Ode and at times Partey and Jesus, especially early on…if you noticed only a fraction of whom were of his choosing, so just imagine what might have been if he had spent more wisely and had a backup plan or 2 in his managerial toolbox
once again I don’t hold any personal disdain for Arteta, I just want our club to pursue the same high standards as the top clubs in Europe…if this means flipping your managerial script, even on the heels of what appears to be a successful campaign, then so be it, so long as the decisions being made are logically deduced and singularly focused on making us one of the best clubs going
btw how is what I’m suggesting any different than Arteta’s post-march comments; “If we want to be the real deal, we can’t be happy with what we have, and we have to be next season much better”…my only bone of contention is that I don’t think he has what it takes to guide us to the next level, so instead of staying the course and showing patience, once again, I simply suggested that we find those individuals who have a vastly greater chance of achieving such ends
have a good one
Bob
No doubt there has been progress since Wenger left, and this season has given us the hope of a better season ahead because of CL games, ability to attract better players and the outlook is positive.
However, I am thoroughly convinced that Arsenal deserve a better sporting director with better European connections unless Edu’s intentions are to make Arsenal a launching pad for elite Brazilian players, which leaves with leaves me with the question, why is Vini Jr. at Real and not at Arsenal and what about Marquinhos?
Similar I believe that Arteta still takes years to become the elite coach everyone is hoping for if ever. I wanted ETH at Arsenal with Overmars as DofF, well he screwed that up, but ETH turned out to be the manager that I hoped he would be in the EPL.Should Arteta in the coming season make good on the promises of either Title, or a trophy, then I consider that as further improvement and it surely will raise the expectations of AFC supporters.
We will continue this conversation after the summer TW closes and our upcoming season and expectation will be much clearer.
Killroy-I obviously agree with your commentary, as I too wanted the former Ajax duo in North London…I will likewise feel immensely better if we’re able to land a couple readymade gems, preferably earlier in the window…as I spoke about in my response to Bob, I truly believe we need to add players of elite pedigree so as to overcome some of our managerial shortcomings…here’s hoping that both of our transfer wishes are realized because no matter my personal feelings about our current manager I want nothing but the best for our club…Cheers
I think everyone here want The Arsenal to succeed. If hit comes at the hands of Arteta because he had a change of personality, I will wish him well and admit being wrong. At the same time if this will happen the European footballing world will take notice and he may be in demand in La Liga and to be honest I believe that would suit his family better then the UK.
September 1st will be the day of reckoning for AFC & Arteta. Fuck been saying this for going on three years now.