Mikel Arteta pushed back on suggestions that Arsenal should have been more active in the January transfer window even though his thin squad looks set to come up short in its quest for Champions League football.
A 2-0 defeat to Newcastle means a top four finish is now out of the Gunners’ hands heading into the final game of the season and with rivals Sp*rs facing relegated Norwich, few expect our neighbours to slip up.
While Arsenal can take credit for maintaining a challenge for so long, especially given the low expectations at the start of the season, it’s clear that last night’s insipid performance hit the manager hard.
Not only did his players look tired, but they were also bereft of ideas on the ball, positionally questionable and lost far too many battles all over the pitch. Would mid-season squad reinforcements have helped? Would any of the players allowed to leave have made a difference? Is it a wholly pointless exercise to indulge in this level of whataboutery?
“We have done what we can, and with what we were allowed to do, what we could do and the resources we had from the start of the season,” Arteta replied when asked if he had any regrets about not doing more in the transfer window.
“The team that we were able to build is what we were able to build and it’s the team that has taken us all the way here.”
It’s clear that Arteta is proud of the efforts of his players and stressed that if anyone is to blame for the late-season collapse, it’s him.
“No, I am the maximum responsible (person) all the time,” he said.
“If somebody has created an expectation this year that no one in this room probably would talk about at the start of this season, it’s those players that are there. I will always defend them. But tonight that’s a really, really difficult thing to do.”
While it feels like a line has already been drawn under this season, Arteta somehow needs to get his players up for the season finale against Everton on Sunday. Just in case of a miracle.
“Now we have to swallow everything, digest it and tomorrow is another day,” he said.
“We will still have five days to prepare that match. We know what we have to do. There’s not a lot of words I think that are needed after the performance tonight.
He added: “We need to win and we need a defeat from Sp*rs, and we know that in football, that’s always possible, and if anything happens, you have to be there in order to do that.
“Today, you have to put your head down, swallow all the disappointment that we all feel, hopefully, and tomorrow start again.”
Just bring on next Monday already, when the whole damn business is over.
My nervous system is a dead horse that the refs, VAR, the media – and now our tired exhausted crop of highly talented youngsters have flogged to a numb indifference.
Like the heavens and the earth, God made football. But he also made Close Seasons and Cricket for a very good reason.
Be a sport! It’s work in progress…at least we all clearly see the lapses in quality and personnel…Apart from partey our central midfielders aren’t press resistant.. Odegaard doesn’t also do well without space..I thought Smith Rowe may have done better or at least won more fouls as he protects the ball better….We desperately need a centre forward as an outlet that will take pressure off…We used to have Oliver giroud…we need his ilk that’s prolific…not sure Gabriel Jesus ticks that box…we need decent back up on the flanks…saka and co can’t always deliver….5new Faces at least…whether it’s returning players,newly promoted… Read more »
We’ll probably be looking for a second goalie as well since Leno is likely to be off.
Matt Turner and Karl Hein will probably provide enough cover, with Okonkwo as well.
I totally 💯 agree, just strengthen the back door.
That’s what she said…
I’m not dismissing the efforts of the team or the manager – far from it. I just can’t take any more of THIS season. 2021/22. We had a lovely yellow away kit and qualified for the Europa. Our youngsters also gained another season’s worth of growth in a mixed bag of joy and (rather too much) pain. And we all know what’s required in the summer. There’s very little else to be said. Those of you thinking a miracle could be on the cards think again. Forget ‘Plucky Norwich’, Spurs and Conte have got the refs VAR and Gary The… Read more »
It is deceased. It is an ‘ex’ season.
Yet, we have some Euro footie to flex the Omari’s and Patino’s in… we have the core of a decent spine in the team… we have a renewed bond between players and fans (albeit sorely tested in the past 10 days!)…
Spend some smart money in the window and we go again – this time with results!
‘We used to have Giroud…’ And we could have had him back in Jan – for a measly 1 million quid!!!
Or Tammy A for 32m?
Both who’ve been banging ’em in for fun in, yes, Italy – but even a quarter of those two’s combined 35+ goals (since Jan!!) would’ve come in very handy.
And then….
Bruno was almost through the door before Edu backtracked?
And Arthur… and Renato Sanches… And Aouar…
Wish we had Giroud back… We lack height and strength combination in front line. With all our crosses he would have put some in! Also good under pressure… Experienced player. I was sad to see Laca come on, and Pepe. We needed more strength in midfield to enable the front line to get balls and not be too at risk for counter attack. But anyhow, just gotta move on. Hope Spurs get an even bigger stomach bug for their last game… Cruel, but hey, they get paid way too much. Hope they sh*t themselves, literally. Hot sp*rs of sh*t all… Read more »
I don’t know, he wasn’t doing much for Chelsea in his last year or so there. And Serie A just really suits old slow strikers – fecking Luca Toni, who makes Giroud look as mobile and graceful as Thierry Henry, was top scorer at 38 or something ridiculous But I think he would have been better than nothing. If you can’t get hold of one starting quality striker, make sure to have at least 2 squad quality strikers with different strengths. That way you can pick the one in form and suitable to the opposition. Our mistake was just praying… Read more »
That would be the Yves Bissouma that struggles for game time at Aston Villa?
Tapps is right tbf, Bissouma hasn’t played for Villa once all season. Do we really need more unavailability???
You have been transformed by these precocious young Gunners this season. Agree with your sentiment, we all need a rest from this up and down season. We have Europe next year, the manager and Edu need to build a proper squad that has goal threat and depth in all positions. Time will tell on the Kroenke’s ambitions and Mikel’s ability to learn quickly.
It’s a good team. Should have added a loan striker in January but that’s hindsight. We are where we are now. Yesterday was pitiful but rather than torture myself I’ll focus on my wish not to have to see anything like that again by Arsenal bringing in the missing pieces in the summer window.
Onwards, upwards, forwards and COYG!
P.S. Fuck Spuds!
Yeah, fuck spuds, and shit, and citeh, and pool as well. Considering 3 lost in a row at the beginning, 3 last month and 2 this week, I accept 5th place. Come on you Gunners……..
I’m not sure it is hindsight really. I don’t think anyone was looking at January and not thinking we needed to replace Auba, even if it was with something temporary for 6 months. The same point can be made regarding midfield – it was painfully obvious we needed to bring in someone to cover for Partey and Elneny at Afcon, instead we bizarrely let AMN leave without the Artur deal happening, and dropped points in that period. That’s the bit of hindsight that hurts most looking at the table now.
AMN wanted to leave. We were finally getting all our uncommitted or players who do not fit the style of play out. The kind who can destroy the “team”. AMN handled it professionally as did Arteta. Our players and those across the world appreciated that. Get over it. Also….every player we have now will have grown and will understand why we need challengers and depth at their position. COYG
That comment about resources doesn’t really ring true if we were clearly chasing Vlahovic in January. The (big) gamble was letting people leave an already thin squad with no replacements coming in. It didn’t work out in the end.
I guess he was trying to say, there was no money set aside for a stop-gap / temporary reinforcement in january
I don’t know, I mean the plan was obviously to try to sign Vlahovic. They shouldn’t have let aubameyang leave until a replacement as an alternative to Vlahovic, was brought in. Anyway, we are where we are (5th fuckety 5th)
We were definitely chasing him, and was willing to spend big on a first team player, and not temp measure or loan. but we got played out by Juve and his agent. Many reports that we had agreed a deal with the club and offered a contract to him. Vlahovic himself was more inclined to Juve but they did not bid. I felt that the agent sold our contract offer to Juve and they felt they could match, making a last min bid. And we had no time to react to get another young player who will go straight into… Read more »
S***s managed to strengthen pretty well in January and saved their season as a result. To see we couldn’t have done the same is laughable
I don’t think Spurs “saved their season” because of what they did in January. They “saved their season” because, when it mattered, they had two consistent goal scorers to help them across the line, along, of course, with additional help from match officials.
The moral of this story is…goal scorers matter. And they make the difference.
Agree but it can’t have hurt them adding Kulusevski to the team. He may be a dirty Spud now but what a beast player he’s been for them.
I regret not getting him. I feel we had an upper hand at Shit to get him, but….
this was all shady dealings with juve, otherwise they’d never get either of the two.
that being said, it’s a pity – Kulusevski is a big talent and it’s a shame he decided to be a spud.
and Bentacur too, if we had get him, he could have played in place of Partey. Good age, experienced will help us alot.
“Goal scorers” – I don’t think so.
Aubameyang avarages almost 1 goal/game in Barcelona (11 altogether).
and we scored 43% less in the season than the top4.
Auba + Laca + Nketiah scored 12 COMBINED in the PL!
I hope I will be wrong, but I think it’s much more down to our playing-style…
Mistakes were made which is to be expected given the age and experience of the squad and manager. Expectations for the season started low but grew as the team performed, they gave it a good go but fizzled out toward the end, and as we know In the end it wasn’t quite enough to seal top 4. We could argue about the officials decisions which have been absolute trash, but in crucial games, we were not decisive enough and dropped too many points, had we perhaps recruited another CF in January it could have been a different story, but we… Read more »
I like your input, unlike some people dwelling in the past which helps no one. Let’s move forward and try to fix the loose ends.
Yes, except now we’re shopping for second tier strikers instead.
Make no mistake this is a disaster.
Good comments. At +9, we did not score enough for top four. We’d have been embarrassed in Champions’ League and probably dumped into Europa League after the group stage anyway. It hurts to finish behind Spuds (probably), but fifth is progress. An avoidable mistake was made when we let AMN go to Roma. He is capable of performing better than either of our backup outside backs, as he proved in the last FA Cup winning run. We have a genuine superstar in Saka, a talented attacking midfielder in Odegaard, and goal scoring threats in Martinelli and ESR (Nketieh is probably… Read more »
Agree with everything you put here, a point on Lokonga though. I don’t feel like he’s had a fair run in the team, in that when we’ve played him, he’s normally be left to anchor the midfield alone with players like ESR and Odegaard playing further forward. I don’t recall him getting the opportunity to play alongside the likes of Xhaka or Partey, something which Elneny did get when he came back into the team. I feel with Lokonga theres a player in there, given the right coaching and players around him, he could flourish. We’ll see 🙂
Every single metric of note is worse under Arteta than it was under Emery. We are worse off in attack, worse off in defence (the stats don’t lie), and have no backbone whatsoever in tough away games.
When we realise Arteta has been the most stupid (and expensive) hire in the last few decades, we’ll be fighting for the top 10
What metrics are you looking at? I know we’re all pissed off and hurting but really?
Goals scored, points total are all worse. Goals conceded fewer by about 4 after spending 150m playing conservative ball. Satisfied?
Why bother watching or analysing football when you can instead pick out a few choice metrics.
cab you offer some metrics to counter quite legit comment or you just hope beeing snide and sarcastic is argument enough?
those metrics stated by Javoroncov are not randomelly picked but the essence of measuring performance in this game.
If it were the essence of measuring performance in this game you wouldn’t need to watch a single minute of it. Clearly it’s not enough to just look at numbers as there are aspects to the game that aren’t easily quantified. Looking at the points total for example is near-enough pointless. What matters is league position. The league is different every year and so are the points totals. The difference in goals scored can almost be entirely put down to one player. We gambled on not replacing him and it didn’t pay off, as just about everyone has pointed out.… Read more »
Yeah so according to Mr Beef goals scored and points total are unimportant…
Here’s something I cherry picked for you, if it makes you feel better supporting The naked emperor Arteta: we are top 4 in the number of shots…
They’re important insofar as more goals scored tends to win you more games which in turn gets you more points which tends to earn you a higher league position – but it’s the higher league position that’s ultimately important.
I do regret typing out a massive longwinded schpiel on this stuff though. Also sorry again for being snarky, it was uncalled for. I guess I’ve got sand in my vagina when it comes to all things Arsenal.
In 23 years of supporting Arsenal, I’ve never seen a worse stretch of performances than the last month or two under Emery. Had he been left in place, the metrics that you and others insist upon dredging up (to what end, I have no idea) would undoubtedly have gotten worse for Emery. Had won one of nine immediately prior to his departure, and the trajectory was only going one way. The lack of backbone in tough away games you reference was a lack of backbone across the board at that point. If you want to take a shot at Arteta’s… Read more »
The real problem seems to be that Arsenal continually sign injury prone 1st team players. After suffering years of promise and disappointment with the likes of Wilshere, Diary, Ramsey and most of RVP’s time here, we now have Partey, Tierney and most disappointingly Tomiyasu.
These are not just squad players, but the 3 of the best players at the club. It is hard to get good players in their position while they are at the club, but we can’t rely on them.
Diaby and Ramsey only became injury prone after they had been brutalised by thug opponents.
And the poor Eduardo too. What a brilliant player he was.
It is not a criticism of the individual players, but a thin squad cannot rely on these players and that needs to be recognised this summer. As Party comes up to 30 and we have some kind of European football, it can only get harder to keep fit.
Totally agree, either you have to move those players on or have like for like replacements of equal quality. Imagine if key players Van Dijk, Salah, and Robertson missed large chunks of the season through injury, where would Liverpool be?
There were rumours, and if Real Madrid came in for Tierney at 35m or more I’d take it and find someone more robust.
Moving them on would be a good idea if you are certain the ones coming in won’t be injury prone as well.
Even if you think of checking their history before signing, remember Partey and Tomiyasu had excellent injury records in their clubs. Partey, for instance, was near ever-present in AM. Tomiyasu, too, played more than 30 league games for Bologna last season.
My point is: every signing is a gamble on the injury front.
Imagine if key players like Salah and Mane were gone for a month for the ACN. They’d lose every match. Oh.
In case you’re not being sarcastic, they’d be 20 points worse off. That’s exactly what happened last season, they kept those key injured players, and here we are. Partey hardly missed a game his entire time at Atletico, and Tomiyasu has missed about as many this season than he did in his previous three combined. These aren’t examples of signing “injury prone” players.
I don’t follow Liverpool so don’t know much about the injury history of their players and how many points they dropped. My point is that these players have been injury prone here and we are too dependent on them. Could it be the physical nature of the Premier League compared to where they were before? If we want to keep them this must be factored in, if we don’t make sure we have quality cover for Partey for example then we will suffer again when/if je gets injured. With Europe we will have plenty of games, not another thin injury… Read more »
Tierney is about the only valid case there. But by your logic we’d have either sold or spent heavily for backups to Gabriel and Gabi by now, as both were out for extended periods last season. The broader point about having quality depth is quite valid, and along with getting a striker it seems to be the next step in team building – hence the general clearing of the decks and the lack of panic buys in January. Either way, I would argue that the lack of depth needed to be addressed regardless of injury records, and has contributed to… Read more »
The performance of the players, the manager, the team was a disgrace… no passion, no plan, no energy, no intensity … all these in the most important game of the season.. simply we bottled it out … gutless .. my only congratulations to the travelling fans..
He has done really well with a young and talented group but, not wishing to be controversial, would Viera as a manager have fallen out with his most high profile players? Patrick was an ultimate high profile player and wouldn’t have been jealous of the ability of Ozil or Auba. Duck, and I’m looking forward to the cricket season.
I know Özil and Auba, but who is Duck?
He’s always out for zero
What I usually started the cricket season with.
Looks like the players are at fault and the insufficient resources provided by the owner. Fortunately Arteta is clear.
Why is Arteta clear ? He should take the blame too. He is supposed to prepare the team and make the right calls
Read the story, he took the blame.
Thanks God, the Almighty Lord and the Forces above who give us Arteta. Without him there is no coach who can take us to the dizzying heights of 8th and 5th…
In retrospect, January was a complete shitshow. While Spurs replenished with Bentancur and Kulesveski, someone we were linked with for a long time, we let loads of players go without replacement. Most notable was Aubameyang but potentially as important was Chambers, given our issues in defence. It’s especially galling that we’re talking about squad strength now when we didn’t have to play European football all season!
Was the January carboot sale just a cost-cutting exercise? If so, in the end it was entirely self-defeating.
Yep. It would appear the owners are more involved in decision making. The Saul debacle created more systems of control for the owners, Tim Lewis etc and they are intent on reducing the wage bill and starting over. They will be happy as long as they see progress, hence the extended contract for Mikel. The owners timeline for improvement appears to not be the same as the supporters. We just need to keep progressing each year. By the time we have the quality to compete at the top, Mikel will have made a lot of mistakes and we should see… Read more »
Here’s Edu’s Jan record: in pole position for Guimaraes… pulled out Tammy A declared his love for Arse and was available less than half what we paid for Pepe… Edu ignored him. Giroud could have been snapped up for a token 1m – with his proven dozen or more goals per season, even just as back-up. Edu/Mik said no. Arthur – became a sideshow in the futile shit-show for Vlahovic, who repeated said he would NOT come to Arsenal… yet we continued to waste time and energy flogging that ‘non-deal’. Renato Sanches made himself available – Edu nixed it. And… Read more »
Arteta was pretty clear in his comments, the club placed constraints on what he could and couldn’t do in the transfer window and he had to assemble the team within that plan. The Jan plan was obviously get rid of non performers on high salaries and roll the dice and see what we can get with the youngsters. It wasn’t Arteta’s plan, he has already indicated that each window in precious and you have to do everything you can to improve the squad. The club didn’t do that but you can’t blame the lack of incoming players on Arteta. This… Read more »
Fully behind Arteta. Its the owners now that have to bring their A game to the table. Give the man the funding and secure his signings early. Do that, and watch this Arsenal take the next step of the evolution next season. I am pretty darn sure Arteta knows exactly who are the players he wants. Add to this impressive Arsenal team and top four is ours next season. It might need another 150 to 200 million spending spree, but its required if the owners want the financial benefits of CL football. Now I just hope we can finish the… Read more »
Thanks. I agree. Arteta has made big mistakes, but he’s learning. (WTF was he doing in the Tottenham game, for instance? Conte could hardly believe his luck that we were sending Holding out there to mark Son in midfield.) He protects his players, and they believe in him. The ones who wouldn’t do what was required were shown the door, or will be soon. You build a championship squad from the back, and that’s what Arteta concentrated on first. He got lucky with our academy lads and we overperformed this season, partly due to Arteta;s instilling them with belief (as… Read more »
200m not enough for you?
Not for the amount of surgery required on the squad and not if you want to challenge for CL in the age of free spending billionaire owners.
Well apparently the answer is no, it wasn’t good enough.
Pretty much agree – although Mik still has a LOT to learn… some baffling selections and tactical misses this season, some knee-jerk reactions that cost us.
But on the whole – I beleive in him 100%
Translation: It’s the players’ fault.
Excuse excuse excuse
He literally said he was responsible and he would always defend his players. STFU.
We lost top-four in January. The simple fact was that we needed a couple of strikers who could get us about 15 to 20 goals by the end of the season between them. We could have and should have made a couple of smart loan deals. Instead, we had Eddie and Laca and they weren’t good enough. Nine games ago we were in a commanding position, favourites to finish at least fourth. We then managed to lose FIVE of those games – against the might of Palace, Brighton, Southampton, Spuds and Newcastle. That’s why I feel so sick this morning.… Read more »
You’re not wrong
No question those players would have helped short term, but the club chose a longer term view.
We could have splashed 80m on the next pepe, but the decision was made to save the money to invest this summer. We won’t know if that was the right option until this time next year
I suppose the “long-term view” meant blowing a golden chance to finish top four. You didn’t read my post: I said we should have made LOAN deals for strikers.
Or just a million on Giroud… for half a season, why the fuck wouldn’t ya???
He snatches just a few goals – vs Brighton, Saints, Toon, Palace, etc… and we’re home free.
ONE MILLION quid? For France’s all-time record striker after TH??? C’mon!!
HFB for a paltry million squid… no-one, but NO-ONE can tell me he wouldn’t have snatched 4-8 goals for us, especially against Brighton, Palace, Saints, Newcashy.
After his celebration after Europa league win thanking Arsenal while he kissed the cup, do you really think the club would bring him back? SMH
Anyone know a bad lasagne chef in Norwich?
Any eatery there is bound to be gruesome. It’s Norwich for fucks sake.
Delia Smith-Rowe.
The sad thing is that we had Spuds by the nuts just a month ago.
We should have gone into that game at Spuds and played it smart. Five at the back and nine men behind the ball would have got us the draw. But Arteta went for it and got beat.
Shame
True. Knowing that they struggle against deep blocks, it was baffling we didn’t mount up one.
In fairness I don’t think we had the players to play a back 5, white clearly wasn’t fit enough. Potentially could have shoehorned Tomi in the back five and play Tavares and Cedric as wing backs or force saka to but if we did that and lost people would complain he overthought it
That was the biggest managerial mistake by Arteta this season. Like I mentioned somewhere, an experience coach (except Wenger…lol) would never make that mistake. I believe Arteta will learn from it.
Yup. Knowing Holdings speed is no where near Son’s, he should’ve been instructed to stay the fuck back and anticipate ala BFG style.
So what exactly were you guys upto during the January transfer window? You bottled it. Don’t tell me you thought we had a team that was good enough to knick fourth. The squad has been paper thin filled with inexperience.
Not someone who would pick out names but that bloke Guimaraes looks proper and looks to be a name to stay in the Premier League.
Looking at it from that perspective I wonder if this season’s aim was a return to the EL and they decided the squad size was adequate to achieve that. It just so happened that the team overachieved, for a while, and from there came the belief that we could and should finish higher. Things looked really good but then it came crashing down.
I believe in this team though. Strengthen in the right places and I reckon we’ll be back in the CL the following season.
You could well be right. EL is a better stepping stone in the development of this team. In the CL we’d be up against the best teams in Europe right from the start with a good chance of not getting out of the group stages. A deep run into the knockout stages of the EL would be better, may even win the whole thing!
That’d be the Bruno who we were in pole position to land, until Edu did an about turn.
And this bollocks about Vlahovic being the only game in town… a million for Giroud or 32m for Tammy A suddenly looks like extremely smart business!
Looking at the positives: 1. We have EL and an option to make CL after next season. I think we can build a team that can win the trophy. 2. We have a great crop if young players that have amassed massive experience and will get better and better. 3. The extra games will certainly give the squad great opportunity to be match sharp. 3. The team definitely have to strengthen. We will be stronger with new signings, and better able to handle the business end of next season. My Verdict: There is clear progress from last season. With a… Read more »
In a way I’m glad the season is (nearly) over and excited about the coming transfer window. Let’s hope it’s a good one! I want some nice juicy strikers added to our already quite juicy young team.
Sure … except for the part where you drove away our only goal scorer, who has scored 14 goals since February.
Clearly him not producing was the fault of the player, not the system.
But I guess it was needed to produce the wonderful mentality we saw on display in these games.
We didn’t loose the cl spot on Thursday or yesterday. No we lost it at Crystal Palace, at Brighton, at Southampton. That’s it, we had no reason to loose games like that
While you are generally right, I could only agree with that completely, if the opponent yesterday would have been City or Chelsea away for example. Then I would say that one can not reasonably expect to win and should have collected the points elsewhere. I think it can be expected that a top6 team somehow wins against a lower half team, especially if the opponent has nothing to play for anymore. What also astounded me was the outcome after Arteta went “all-in” and basically abandoned the defense for the sake of what seemed to be 4 real attackers and 4… Read more »
A reality check for Arsenal fans. Before this season Arteta, Edu & Kroenke told us we were changing the way the club was going forward. This year Europe was not expected next year Europa, following season Champions League. Season after challenging for League. The fact is Arteta has overachieved. The problem with Football is it gives you hope & then kicks you in the crutch. Champions League was too early for us. We need another year for the youngsters to mature together. We Also need Tierney & Partey to stay fit. Young Tavares is a liability we cannot afford. Unfortunately… Read more »
Here comes the excuses.
Trying to be positive, Europa league next season means there should be opportunities for the likes of Azeez, Patino, Balogun, Hutchinson, Swanson…
The next generation from Hale End is coming along nicely and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two make the step up to the first team squad
Yeah, that’s a good call. 👍
😅 Liverpool brought in Sadio Mane from Southampton, they brought in Jota from Southampton. In between we brought in Cedric from Southampton.
Jota joined them from Wolverhampton, but I still get your point. 😉
I think Jota signed from wolves, but the point is valid. How Cedric got a 4 year deal from us based on his Southampton form is anyone’s guess (maybe because of his agent, Kia Jorchobian) He’s not even Europa league level
Yep… and people agree with the decision not to take HFB back for 1 million. In the context of 72m for Pepe (the money side) and the 4 years for Cedric (the risk/time side)… in what world was 1m for an ex-Gooner who’s now just 2 goals off TH’s all-time France record, NOT a great deal???
The most frustrating part about all of this is that it really comes down to the squad we have right now at the run in with so much at stake. We have three center backs and had to put out two hobbled ones. We had to rely on Eleneny to start the final 8 matches after Partey went out for the long term (again), left back and right back were disasters waiting to happen when Tierney and Tomiyasu were out, our main options off of the bench to spur the attack after Smith-Rowe (who clearly has not been 100% fit… Read more »
Okay, lots of truth there, but remember the wins that were gutted out, like the two that killed Wolves’ chances for Europe. I like the mentality around the club.
There’s no one to blame but Arteta for the team that was built. He’s the one who forced our only reliable scorer out and let players leave permanently or on loan without strengthening. We said it would be on Arteta’s head if streamlining the squad didn’t out. Clearly it didn’t. It’s going to be a lot harder to get in a position where top 4 is a possibility next season without significant strengthening, especially with Europa League commitments.
Bottomline is, saliba has proven good enough for us with his perf this season. This means we would have played more saliba cb white rb than white cb cedric rb. We let auba go for free. Even if he scored less, surely his performance wpuld have been better than laca. We only needed to win 1 more game from the 3 mid/bottom teams,lost in a row, and the last 2 games. Just 1 win out of these 5 supposed winnables, and Arteta screwed up. Now the qyality of oue signings will change cos we dont have CL. Will the cost… Read more »
I don’t get it.
Before the Tottenham game we only needed a win to claim champions league
And now we are two points behind..
I’m confused
But maybe European cup run is just what we need
the refs nicked this from us. incompetence or conspiracy, the facts remain the same (the former is usually the prerequisite for the latter, however). one rule for us and another for spurs. let them hate us. victory will be so much sweeter when it comes.
Let’s wait for Sunday before we crucify our players. I have the scores as:
Arsenal 2-Everton 1; Norwich City 2 – Spurs 1
We are UEFA bound!!!
Let’s wait for Sunday before we crucify our players. I have coming Sunday’s scores as:
Arsenal 2-Everton 1; Norwich 2 – Spurs 1.
We are UCL bound!!!
The Spurs goal is a penalty, gift wrapped by the ref, right….?
Whilst Norwich’s two goals are a mirage in Death Valley.
Just spend 100 million on Declan Rice. Buy a backup right back. And a striker who can score 15 prem goals a season. That’s all!
You might have something there 🤔
Absolute bollocks from Arteta it’s on him no one else
High risk and low rewards for Arteta. Always had a thin squad, purged in further and made no replacements. He let go of Auba and the goals run out. Arteta is not the one to bring back the glory days. He has done his best but its not enough. I fear he has hit his ceiling. Time to move on.