Ladies and Gentlemen, our season is over; I don’t care if you are optimistic enough to think Norwich can beat Spu*s and we can manage to win against Everton. This is going to be my last article for 2021-22 season and is not a happy one for obvious reasons.
Lets talk about those reasons first, one by one. Let us, for one moment, revisit things and decide what could have been done better.
‘Project Youth’. We all love seeing a hale-ender break into playing XI, and delivering the brilliance of ESR and Saka. I don’t think anyone complained when we brought 6 young players in 150+ million sterling pounds, and not many of us complained when we lost a game because of Tavares. However, it doesn’t sell well when you sold a hot prospect in Willock who was scoring for fun from midfield. We were (and even now) skint of midfielders but we encashed him to buy a CB. When a 19 year William Saliba was not registered for 6 months and Mustafi /Kolasinac were getting game time, it didn’t sell with some of us. We saw the hottest prospect of Premier League at that time, Guendouzi, ostracized and probably will be sold for peanuts because of an altercation with a rival player. I always thought the managerial position comes with a task of ‘managing’ players but both of them were not managed well.
‘Preference to favourites’. Arteta has his favorites, every manager has. But if it’s Willian doing nothing for 37 matches, stealing game time from a young Martinelli who couldn’t do any worse, then you are doing it wrong. If your top scorer of the season in ESR, who is an outright no. 10 and plays better in the middle is moved to the wings to accommodate a mediocre Odegaard, then you are doing it wrong. If you play a CF in Lacazette who can’t score when a player suiting your very own ‘Project Youth’ is made to sit on bench, you are doing it wrong. When Sambi Lokonga had a good run of games but was instantly replaced by Xhaka when the later attained his fitness, we were not happy.
‘Player management’. Guendouzi was sent on loan for standing up for Leno against a Brighton player. William Saliba didn’t get to play in Europa league against pub teams in group stages. Auba was sold to Barcelona and we were the ones who paid (facepalm). Even William claimed he wasn’t really happy at Arsenal. Eddie got regular 9 minutes before Lacazette injury and scored some goals which Lacazette couldn’t. This puts us in a situation where we want to renew him but he is only under contract for 1 more game. We were depleted in midfield but we loaned Lucas Torreira. We let go of 18m from Wolves for Maitland-Niles only to loan him to Roma later. Not only did we not accept Roma’s offer for a mediocre Xhaka, we extended his contract on a better paygrade. There is a German national Keeper who was winning player of the season for us, but can not replace a Ramsdale who is playing some shit games lately; talk about competition eh?
‘Wrong priorities’. Auba was declining and Laca was never an answer, but we managed to use 50 million for Ben White to fix our defensive structure. We didn’t have much option in midfield and our best player in Partey had been injured most of the time but we spent some more money on a Goal Keeper when Leno wouldn’t have done any worse. Tammy Abraham was eager to stay in London and I’m not sure why we dropped that idea when we can’t score for our life. Buying White was a privilege thing, not a necessity when Saliba, Holding and Chambers could have done equally well. Buying a 23 year Sambi sits okay with us when you don’t consider there was a younger player in Guen starting every match and playing better!
WALK THE TALK
We have been hearing Mikel Arteta saying from his first day how big a club like Arsenal is. How we deserve to be playing among the Elites in Champions League and winning every trophy there is, to win. However, after two and half a season and spending couple millions, we are going to finish 5th in a season where every other team bar Liverpool and City are crap. We were 4 points above Spu*s with only 3 games in hand and we have managed to let it go. Surprisingly, this is termed as a progress by non other than Arteta himself. This is what he had to say in the latest press conference when asked about it
on whether fifth place would be progress…
source:Arsenal.com
It is because we have created expectations that this club deserves and where this club has to be, and in the last two months, we haven’t been able to fulfil those expectations but overall, looking back where we were, you have to be clear as well with what we have to do, but very clear that this is not where we want to be, that we want to be in a completely different position, challenging really for the top teams and that that’s the aim and that this is not going to stop here. That is another step that was very necessary because it wasn’t only about where we are in the league table. We have had much deeper issues at the club than the league table, in my opinion. Now they have been resolved. Now they look very, very strong and that we have the real strong foundations now to build what we want to do.
Bullshit. It’s fuckall progress. Football is a result oriented game and we have tanked another season under Mikel.
TRUST THE PROCESS
I don’t trust the process. Fix the process, first.
Wrapping up
With this, I am wrapping up my season. I appreciate you being here and keeping it lively. Apologies for the ads but it covers some of my hosting fees. This is only a start, I strive to make this place better for an Arsenal fan.
Oooh to, oooh to be, oooh to be a Gooner,
Pretty much sums it up.
Thanks for the time and effort etc you put into this those of us who see through the bullshit need somewhere where we can have an open honest conversation about Arsenal.
Fair write-up, mb.
It’ll be almost 4 years at the earliest and hundred of millions of pounds spent for Arteta to get Arsenal back into the CL. Imagine that was any other manager at any other top 6 club talking about the project being right on track.
It’s funny how the clock was magically reset last summer because Arteta recruited so many young players, and his previous 2 attempts at finishing 4th are wiped from the history books.
Generational coach though yeah. He’s made us look more Spursy than Spurs when we were sitting pretty points ahead with games in hand.
Jamie
If they keep moving the goal posts the club will be playing in China – it’s getting to the stage where I think certain individuals who are defending Arteta no matter what must be being paid to push such drivel.
Bullshit. It’s fuckall progress. Football is a result oriented game and we have tanked another season under Mikel.
Ambarish
Congratulations mate. An exemplary summary of life under Arteta and the enduring madness at AFC. I just cannot believe we’re facing at least one more season of his reign of mediocrity.
Here’s a prediction: after tomorrow’s just about dead rubber, the club’s narrative will be changed to polish this turd of a season. Hey, we finished 3 places higher than last year/Wow, we’re back in the EL after only 1 season out/Our squad is really strong : we just need 1 or 2 new young (ie cheap) players/We must keep expectations in check ‘cos of Newcastle etc. etc. Bloaaaagh!
But Ambarish, I’m personally very grateful to you for running this site and for putting up with me! Cheers.
Maybe we should have a virtual get-together to work out how we keep it going over summer.
Sterling post Ambarish.
If only management would read such erudite stuff instead of arse frottage in a dark grove…they might improve
Only error in post we spent a couple of hundred million without improvement and not couple of millions.
Actually 220 million down the drain, so that our Don Corleone could vanquish players he disliked personally, although such equations should never come into play
Why do I have the feeling that the season ticket renewal email will be waiting for me as soon as I get home from the match tomorrow?
The club can’t afford to give people time to think about whether to or not.
Mr. Serge over on Le-Grove posted his season renewal £2,650.00 because of the EL. Man what a premium for shitty footie.
Also kind of wondering what we can do posting over the summer especially during the TW. Having said that the papers are full of Saliba wanting to stay in France and the influence of players he knows is strong and I am more than convinced that he will never play in the Red & White of Arsenal. What a total fuck up.
Mb,
Nice work. Summarises the two huge problems we have. Firstly our management in all it’s roles and responsibilities is not good enough. Secondly ,as I’ve repeatedly suggested ,there is a concerted effort to manipulate the fanbase into accepting the current mediocrity, hence allowing it to stumble on in the guise of slow and steady progress. It is not overly dramatic to say that Arsenal fans are being betrayed by people who are prioritising their own interests over those of the club.
A quick thanks to you Mb for the work you do in providing a place where genuine discussions can take place. It is appreciated.
Killroy
How can that guy have had his ST renewal when if the unlikely was to happen and we made CL the ticket would be more expensive?
He might be looking at what it was a couple of seasons ago but that’s assuming the club won’t have a price increase – now normally you’d say with what’s going on and the current season the club wouldn’t be that stupid…..
That guy Serge is all over the place when it comes to Arteta. I’m surprised his head hasn’t fallen off given the way it swivels from being anti to pro basque bantamweight. At one stage he was so Arteta-out he would boast that he’d be in his seat close to the dug-outs calling for Arteta’s head on a plate. The next thing you know (ie during that decent run in winter), he’s giving Tony and others a load of grief for being unknowing fairweather fans and fellating Pedro for his wisdom. Now everything’s gone tits up again he’s having another existential crisis. But mouthy with it too and thinks nothing of calling others out.
The kind of geezer you don’t want to be sat near in a ground or stood next to in a pub.
I’m almost thinking I can’t be arsed watching tomorrow, and that I’ll imagine myself as a sad fanboy if I do. Not even sure if the entire match is being covered given they’re all being played simultaneously. I’m so tremendously fucked off with Arteta and the other buffoons that I don’t want to suffer with them.
The TV companies will be giving it their absolute all to breathe life into the many what-ifs. ‘we’re only 10 seconds in and as things stand’ etc. etc.
It’s been another dog of a season – certainly no better than the last one in final analysis. To paraphrase Mookie (the Spike Lee character in ‘Do the Right Thing’) – Fuck you Arteta, fuck your fucking process, and fuck Stan Kroenke’. I feel a little cleaner now.
Hoopah
😐 I would have let Arteta get away with that if it was only couple millions. I will correct that, thanks for noticing.
KP
I’m gonna go, sit with my friends on a Sunday evening, away from football. It’s too much to take, that Arteta’s interview calling a 5th place finish as progress has angered me to the core.
I know the outcome, watching in a hope that it don’t happen is going to make it worse.
“Why do I have the feeling that the season ticket renewal email will be waiting for me as soon as I get home from the match tomorrow?”
Or they might wait till they overpay for Jesus and then add another 50£ to the ST
Ambarish
They need to get people renewing ASAP – if they think about it with the current inflationary pressures and then think the football’s crap to watch, the results are shit, other clubs will be much better next season so even small improvements will see us go backwards and the misses is moaning at me.
I’d imagine the trick is to create the illusion of demand, pressurising existing season ticket holders to renew. Like Marc said,the longer the wait,the worse the odds are going to luck. This summer’s transfer window is more stacked against us than this years race for top 4 and we all saw how that went. If I’m in marketing and I’m selling season tickets on the basis of hope offered for the forthcoming season I’d be screaming “sell,sell,sell” immediately.
#to look
Kroenkephobe,
I’d say tomorrow is going to be one of those days where they flick from one match to another so often you’ll end up feeling like you didn’t watch any match at all. You are right about this season,if we remove the emotional joy of the wins we had and just look at our football,we had 30 mins v Spurs where we looked sensational and that was it. Did we even win any other game by more than 1 goal? ( Leeds away was an anomaly for me,they were on one of those runs where everyone was humiliating them yet even against 10 men in the reverse we struggled to a 2-1 win). No analysis ( the honourable Mb aside) seems to think our turgid footballing ‘style” an issue. Since when was football not about entertainment?
Marc
Mr S. posted for renewal £2,250.00 no European football, £2,650.00 with EL and £2,950.00 with CL. He didn’t say if he received it in the mail, but sounded pretty definitive regarding the renewal prices.
For me on Sunday since no Rugby Games are on it will be after a relaxing nature outing extended Peacock’s highlights and Premier league update plus MOTD2 see what the pundits are coming up with.
Almunia
I’d add the first half at home v City (but we all know how that ended).
And there was no joy in the cups either. Bossed by Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao semi-final which undid the validity of earlier successes). Humbled by Notts F in that fucking all white kit.
A shocking, shit stinking season after spunking all that money. Feels like we’re back at the tail end of wenger ism (but it’s worse than that because it appears there’s no end in sight.
I know I’ll be possibly vilified for this but a crushing loss to the Toffees tomorrow (which wouldn’t probably affect our league position anyway) might be a helpful catalyst for some summer pressure to build against Arteta and the other wankers. Sorry if that angers anyone but I think the club’s future wellbeing hinges on getting Arteta out ASAP.
Hi Killroy
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for profound insight from any of the bbc’s so-called pundits on motd.
Here’s one of the most infamous ones talking about his dietary pre-match regime.
https://youtu.be/9uEXRPIJbhQ
I forgot the city game,you’re right there. But that just reminds me. If the argument that the financial advantages of city,chelski,utd over us are to be considered valid then we are accepting that teams with superior financial muscle will defeat their inferiors as per natural order. It has been used for two and a half years now to justify some horrendous collapses on our behalf.
So why then does that natural order not apply when we play the brighton,Burnley,palace’s et al of this world? Using one argument to defend something but then suspending that very same argument when it doesn’t suit is not only illogical but deliberately misleading. The defence of Arteta’s management of this club has descended to levels of farce that equate with the very performances they are designed to defend.
Almunia
The defence of Arteta is similar to the response of cult members. Any half decent result is talked about as amazing and any piss poor result is given a list of excuses.
Over on Le Grove Pedro is either in the pay of the club / Arteta directly or has had a complete mental breakdown. I wonder how many of the pro Arteta posters over there are Pedro posting under other names.
Hi Marc
I wonder how many of the pro Arteta posters over there are Pedro posting under other names.
More than we imagine is my thought. If you think about it, Pedro’s nailed his colours to the mast of a sinking ship and us getting favours (if not actual financial help) from the club and is thus having to think more and more creatively about how to fluff Arteta and the club. He was getting seriously out-numbered and out-flanked by people with more intelligence than him and more insight into the club and its history. So he introduced a two prong strategy: purge and/or threaten to purge critical voices and provide a greater sense of balance by evening out the pros and cons for Arteta on the site.
The following are some (but not all) of the voices that eerily echo their great leader, who occasionally lapse and write in the same style and who also appear, like the great man himself(!) at times that align with a eastern seaboard daily routine.
Raulishuss
Positive Pete
Negative Nigel
Nigel Tuffnut (gawd bless ‘im)
Rambinho
Zacharse (a particularly shouty babyman)
Chrispy
Naija
Honourable mention to AFCF who I think is his own voice but an incredibly stupid, arse licky sheep. Rich blows with the wind and regurgitate turgid bollocks – a book phobic pound shop Bamber Gascoigne and a right-wing extremist.
I think Pedro also has some US based voices that he inhabits which tend to be more sensible (they couldn’t be less so!)
All in all, it adds up to someone who has sold his soul, and has morphed from being an erstwhile fan into an apologist and cheerleader for the regime. A pretty shit thing to do if you genuinely used to love the club.
Anyway, to revert to the nautical metaphor, Pedro is now all at sea clinging to the flotsam and jetsam of his adoration for Arteta (far more than any feelings he may still harbour (geddit?) for Arsenal.
Have a great afternoon mate. At the very least it’ll be an interesting anthropological event in N7 today.
Kroenke
Pedro has turned into Tony Attwood over on Untold – if it wasn’t for the fact that the club is being destroyed it’d be hysterical.
I’d imagine even a lifelong atheist lying on his deathbed probably can’t help but think,even briefly,that if there was a god offering him an afterlife he’d gladly take it. Then he would chastise himself because he has been through this a thousand times in his mind,logic says there is no afterlife. Well that’s what it’s like for an Arsenal fan today. So if you find yourself momentarily imagining Spurs throwing it all away don’t be too harsh on yourself. A drowning man will grab hold of anything.
Marc
If you are going to stadium, will you do me a favor of clicking some pics outside of stadium for next season’s article?
I had some but it’s repeating now 😀
Have a good day everyone, hopefully sun will be out. I couldn’t do it so I am gonna watch one last time this season.
#COYG and #ArtetaOut
Hi Ambarish
Maybe just treat it as a little bit of escapism. I was planning to (studiously) avoid this afternoon because the season has been shattering. But my daughter just asked me if I was going to watch it with her, and she was a bit crestfallen when I said I might miss it. So I’m putting my big boy trousers on as we speak. This season more than most in recent times, the post season can’t come soon enough.
Just to enhance your photo library, I’ll see if I can come up with some suitably arty shots based on some nick-nacks and photos I have. They might offer something different.
Let’s hope the next 2 hours at least give us something to smile about.
Thank you, Kroenkephobe.
“So I’m putting my big boy trousers on as we speak.”
Afterall, we hate the management, not the club; come what it may.
KP and Almunia
I was out playing pool this afternoon Indin time may be after my college days (8 years give or take), and managed to find out a nice place. Unfortunately it’s IPL season here so football was not on the playlist. Thanks to your discussions!
Too (late) – nil. Fucking wasters. God that gets my goat.
Mb,
Pool and pints,my kind of day…….enjoy.
Kroenkephobe,
Putting the kids first,it’s the only way,fair play. My young lad told me he didn’t want to support Arsenal anymore,I’m hoping he’s messing!
Villa just scored. This is the only match in town now……
City will cheat their way to a win.
That Liverpool and City title race is going to the wire. Spu*s made sure of our miseries.
I would hate bin dippers to win. Those bin dippers won’t stop celebrating for next 40 years.
Almunia
Pyrrhus will be getting tumescent with pleasure as he ticks off another win in North London.
Almunia
Quad? Schmod! I expect you’ll be getting your brothers on speed dial. Plus a picture of a crying Liverpool child. Priceless.
Kroenkephobe,
I’m afraid to even look.
Thank God for that. I’ll tell you one thing Gabriel Jesus would be even more underwhelming a signing than DCL. A lightweight striker who would starve on the ‘service’ he’d get here.
City are EPL winners 92 vs 93 points. AVC suddenly collapsed. Gundogan and KdeB were crucial along with Foden