It’s not all doom and gloom. ‘Cautious Optimism’ is what my teacher used to call it when we wrote codes in C++ on a vi editor – chances of it to fail were various, you could easily miss out a semicolon and things won’t work, the error descriptions weren’t ‘descriptive’ enough and you would have to start from line 1 to debug and fix the problem. Mikel is trying to do it on a football ground with 25 players from last 3 seasons and he is still to run it, successfully.
It was called a ‘Good Job’ when we finished 2nd for the first time in 2022-23 season. We lost the games in 36th and 37th week, against Brighton at Home 0-3, and Forest Away 1-0 and we lost the title by just 5 points. It wasn’t a bad result for the club and the fans, in a sense that we finished 2nd after a very long time, the players had the better days ahead and we had built a solid defensive unit. After the defeats, we picked ourselves up, and started from scratch in the next season.
2023-24, we finished 2nd again against Man City who were in tremendous form in the second half of the season. They had 91 points, we had 89 by the end of it. This time, we did well towards the end winning 6 out of last 6 games, beating Chelsea and Spurs on the way. Aston Villa did beat us which allowed City to go in front and they never dropped a point after that. Arteta & Co. were beaten by Pep and his players in a title run. We did well, very well and learnt from some of our earlier mistakes. Mikel bolstered the back up options in an attempt to keep the injury factor away. Alright, lets go again, boys.
2024-25, we finished 2nd again but it hurt this time. Almost everyone struggled but Liverpool, because of an extra ordinary season from Mo Salah, won the title with 84 points. We finished our season with 74 points, not good enough considering our points tally had dropped massively, we had improved in every area of the field, we had better back up players and almost everything else was in a better shape around the club that earlier seasons.
So far, this season, we have been doing good, again. We are sitting at the top after 21 games with a 6 points difference to our rivals – Man City, amidst injuries to many players. Martinelli was out for few games, Gabriel / Saiba partnership wasn’t available for few games, RB was a problem, Madueke picked up an injury, Saka was out after ages and Havertz / Jesus has made it for the selection only now. We have also managed to beat Unai Emery so, yeah.
There has been some concerns apart from the injuries. We spent some money in the CF department which hasn’t paid well, but it has been the system more than the player in my opinion. If Arteta things Havertz and Jesus will better suit his style, they are available now and he can do what he wishes. Bukayo has some drop in form, and it hasn’t costed us still but we surely need the best player in his best form if we are going to compete at all levels and win something of importance.
Premier League – sitting up top with 6 points lead and 17 games to go. It’s achievable and let us just agree that not winning from here should be called a bottle job.
Champions League – we haven’t dropped a point in Champions League so far and we have beaten Atletico and Bayern in the process. We were beaten by PSG in Semi Finals last season, and they went on to win the title, so it wasn’t a all-sad affair. We can do better than that, this season. We can go all the way.
Carabao Cup – We are playing Chelsea in a 2-legged semi finals. Chelsea has sacked Maresca and we can take advantage of that. It’s not easy considering we will face one of the Man City and Newcastle if we manage to beat Chelsea but again, it’s achievable. We have beaten all three and we know how to do that.
FA Cup – FA Cup third round got us some very unexpected but sweet results. Forest lost to Wrexham in a penalty shooutout, Newcastle somehow managed to win against Bournemouth after a 3-3 result in regular time, Tottenham lost to Aston Villa (lol) and Brighton beat Man Utd. We beat Portsmouth 4-1 after going down in 3rd minute which was expected. We are going to play Wigan Athletic in 4th round. We will have a 5th round, quarter finals, semis and finals – so it’s a long road and we have just got started.
Yeah, we are doing well. I am Cautiously Optimistic.
Could it have been better?
Certainly.
Are we struggling in some departments?
Yes – because some of those games in PL were won by set pieces and our open play goals had dried up.
Can we make it to the end?
I hope so, considering we have 3 seasons of falling short and we have practically 2 playing XI that can finish the season in the top half of the table.
See you in the comment section.
Oh dear …7 points clear , the depression over LIR is deepening with every week that goes by.
Arsenal dominating the strongest and toughest league in the world, Arsenal dominating the champions league with a 100% win rate , one foot in the league cup final and wigan next up in the fa cup… .what a time to support The Arsenal…..isn’t it ?
strongest and toughest league in the world – but not at the moment. If it was I expect we would be in the top 6 but not top of the pile. We are fortunate that the others are crap at the moment and Art – El B isnt the biggest cunt on the planet. That accolade is well and truly in the hands of the orange one. Why is Trump orange? One of his former republican presidents was none other than Richard Nixon who hails from Orange County. Take a listen to a 73’s version of the Mothers – Zappa at his finest. His take on Nixon – ‘Son of Orange County’ is brilliant. I saw them perform at a BBC studio – not sure it was ever broadcast.
Norg
As dislikeable as Trump is I’m pretty sure Putin or Xi (as a couple of examples) qualify as being bigger cunts than Trump.
As for toughest league in the world? Not when Liverpool, City, Chelsea, ManU etc are all having somewhere between bad seasons and total meltdowns. A team or two having an off season is one thing almost half the league (when you add in other teams) is something else altogether.
AF—you’ve made several points that I simply must highlight, as they’re spot on:
(1) MA’s constant deployment of blunt instrument types over those with some flair speaks volumes about what’s really going on here…this multi-phased project is no longer about raising the footballing bar, if it ever really was, as all our selfish fuck of a manager cares about is getting the silverware monkey off his back, even if it requires us to actually regress, from a tactical perspective
it’s clear that MA doesn’t have the tactical acumen to challenge for things while deploying an attractive brand of football…if we were a serious club we would simply recognize this fact, thank him for his services and go get someone who has the ability to take us over the top…let’s face it, if the footballing world wasn’t so watered down/devoid of alphas, MA’s bully-ball pedestrian tactics would never win jackshit…so MA’s slurptards can continue to spew their tired.nonsense about the PL being the strongest League in the world all they want, but context matters and no one has ever bragged about winning gold at the turd Olympics
(2) village idiot comment—need I say more
(3) Real Madrid’s sacking of Alonso—now I’m not a proponent of the whole revolving door managerial gig, except when it happens at standard bearer clubs…so whereas I might typically applaud a Real or a Barca for having a quick hook, the same sentiment doesn’t necessarily apply when it involves a middling club or even a club like Chelsea, where a meddling owner is at the helm and/or expectations are unrealistic…that said, if we really want to be a perennial contender for the highest honours we need to finally start acting like one…so far we’ve raised the bar from an investment standpoint, but we’re still quite a ways off when it comes to the actual footballing side of things(recruitment, deployment of players, tactical diversity etc…)
on a side note, I was reading an article regarding the difficulties facing Slot and I felt that the author’s comments could and should apply here:
“Slot’s challenge is not merely tactical. It is emotional and cultural. Supporters see a side that often dominates possession yet lacks incision, urgency, and edge when games tighten. The draw with Burnley, rather than a one off, felt emblematic of a wider issue, authority without ruthlessness”
and this was being directed towards someone who won a title in their first season, some 8 months ago, and is currently sitting in 4th place…just imagine what that same author would say about our cock-up blunt instrument King…Cheers
El B manages the team in the style of his play – boring. TRVL, AF – you are both right – when there is an opportunity to introduce flair he continues with blunt players. Eze and Nwaneri both have the ability to unlock defences but are rarely given the opportunity to show their skills.
Marc – agree about Putin but Xi is the clever one. He will use the latest Trump episode to screw Donald – only a cunt of the highest order fucks his allies.
Norg
I have no idea what Trump is playing at – why Starmer got involved as well is beyond me.
Better to stay out of it in public and do any talking behind the scenes. With all the shit going on in the world and the threat of China invading Taiwan the last thing we need is Europe and the US getting into a spat or trade war.
Yes Marc, the toughest league in the world , the 6 English sides playing in the champions league are in the top 13 in the champions league table.
They include
6 England
2 Italy
2 Spain
2 Germany
1 France
So it is difficult to argue against the Premier league being streets ahead of the rest of europe(and the world) in depth and quality. ..
Meanwhile twidling his thumbs on 150K GBP per week is Zinchenko – who on earth renewed his contract.
NORG
The sheer amount of money Arteta has pissed up the wall on either contract renewals (Auba being the worst example) or destroying the value of players is criminal.
looks like Ethan is on his way to Marseille…appears as if there’s no option to buy, thank fucking god, and he should get significant minutes as his style of play should fit quite nicely with DeZerbi’s preferred tactical approach…hopefully this will work in our favour over the long haul, just not pleased that MA hasn’t found a way to properly incorporate our most offensively skilled players/best finishers into the mix…par for the blunt instrument course
Are OM and Ligue 1 the right places for Nwan for the next 4-5 months? Hypothetically, would he learn more if he were getting championship or PL game time say at Coventry, Middlesbrough or Bournemouth, Leeds? I know these clubs weren’t necessarily interested but I can’t help thinking that it he had to move then these types of club would be better for him.
I’d much rather he stayed of course but for a kid and precious asset like Nwan, OM and Ligue 1 don’t collectively sound like the best bet…
I see that the moronic cunt is up to his old tricks.
Allowing young exciting talent, that people want to watch leave while keeping the piles of cack like Merino and Havertz
Fuck me if he had Jamal , he would have had him out at loan at Barnet and some washed up cunt from Spain or Chelsea as a replacement.
I fucking hope Carricks rips the cunt to pieces Saturday playing proper attacking football.
Because its 2026 and there should be no fucking excuses with what this cunt has been given to spend.
I just noticed Bodo/Glimt guys are making fun of Pep. Good, totally deserved for killing the soul of the game with his possession based, infinite passes and spreading it through his disciples.
KP
The only positive for Ethan would be that, De Zerbi will make something good out of him if he gets some game time.
OM will have to pay a good fees for him, but the fees will reduce when Ethan gets minutes.. so it might actually work for us and the kid.
Marc
Trump is sharing whatsapp screenshots on truth social these days. Starmer is smarter than Macron to not being made a fool in public.
Ambarish
Trump completely humiliated Starmer this morning and an awful lot of people over here agree with what Trump said (without having to agree with everything Trump says or does).
Starmer’s approval ratings are terrible – TalkTV / Talk Radio keep running the joke – although I’m not sure its untrue – that Maduro had better approval ratings than Starmer before the commando raid.
Apt song for the evening – Look at the Fool – Tim Buckley. He was pretty mixed up before he overdosed something like the Fool who has thrown his Teddy out of his pram.
Back to Football – Ethan will do well at OM – one of my favourite grounds. My friend Laurent’s wife works at OM. She is Ukrainian and was the owner of Monaco’s PA until Putin walked into Ukraine. Their Son is a 14 and football mad. In her position she is looking after the interests of younger players and loanees. Young Will loved his time at OM and I expect Ethan will as well. I could well know Ethans thoughts after his loan spell.
City’s defeat today puts their top 8 place in serious jeopardy.
We should let inter beat us as they will go above city and even barca in 15th place would go above them if they win.
City were all over the place today, 3-1 could easily have been 5 or 6 but for donnarumma and poor finishing.
Not sure why Arteta has started the likes of Zubimendi, Timber, saka and saliba as we have as good as already finished top
Arteta seems to have gone from never rotating unless absolutely forced to to almost changing too much too often.
Wicksy
I didn’t watch the City match but they don’t just have bad form they are all over the place. If they were conceding goals and getting results with a lot of goals scored for / against it would be one thing but they’re shit at the back and look poor going forward.
Has Pep’s time at City run its course?