As the dust settled on Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton, Mikel Arteta couldn’t hide his disappointment at a woeful second half performance.
Needing a win to keep the pressure on Manchester City, his players struggled to get to grips with the visitors’ physical and tactical nous and fell apart after conceding the opener on 51 minutes.
“Today we have to apologise to our people, especially for the performance that we had in the second half,” was the Spaniard’s immediate reaction.
Having asserted in the build-up to the game that confidence in the camp was high after morale-boosting wins over Chelsea and Newcastle, he accepted the blame for failing to get a tune from his players.
“I am responsible for what happened,” he said.
“My job is to get the best out of every single individual that we have in our hands and if we have to take it in the last four-and-a-half months, I will have to.
“I have tried to do that with the best ability but, obviously, I didn’t do it.”
That Arsenal will end the season in the top two after years of trying to break into the top four represents a huge success for the manager. All the same, the bar has been raised so high by Manchester City in recent seasons that maintaining a consistent challenge is arguably an even bigger task.
Asked if his squad’s performance gives him hope for the future, Arteta said: “In a sense, yes. But with the level that is required to fight for the Premier League the way we want to fight and to be in the Champions League, and fight in the way that we have to fight in the Champions League, it’s a lot to think about.
He’s also aware that greater expectations mean added pressure. “My thinking [about next season] is exactly the same,” he added.
“Obviously, what the team has done over the last 10 months is very different to what anybody expected. That generates a lot of expectations as well.
“It generates enthusiasm, happiness, joy and looking that we have to do that, and that’s something that has to be managed in the right way. And after we have the responsibility to make sure the team performs like that, and I have the maximum responsibility to do that.
“So, I hate the feeling of letting people down when they are really expecting something, and doing that, and that’s the biggest regret I have today. We have to apologise for that.”
Arsenal go again on Saturday evening against Nottingham Forest. Failure to win will see City crowned champions before they play Chelsea on Sunday.
The biggest problem that Arteta needs to confront now is the psychological one. This team badly lacks mental strength and character. When you look at the context of yesterday’s game, Arsenal chasing the title, the performance was totally unacceptable. And we’ve seen this at other times of the season. The transfer business this summer will be crucial. We have a number of peripheral squad players who need to be shown the door; but their replacements must not only have quality but also character. We need big men who will stand up and be counted when the going gets tough. Hopefully,… Read more »
If we lack mental strength, why did we spend 99% of this season at the top of the table…..? What we lack, is quality player squad depth that will enable us to rotate and keep going when injuries set in Our first XI are as good as any other first XI, even City’s (do they have a first XI or a first XXII…?) It’s now up to Edu and Josh to back Arteta and help him add the players we need – Rice, Caicedo, etc plus Balogun. One or two lads may need to be moved on but there is… Read more »
As soon as our players leave the club, they recognize the mental strength issue. I follow former players and have heard Fabregas, Clichy, Sagna even Djourou recognize the problem. Why is it perceived as a shameful issue? I don’t understand. At the end of last season, for top four, we were in the favorable position that we’ve just managed to put City in, we blew it four points ahead, three games to go.
Fabregas joined Barcelona, who had a bigger squad and more resources.
Clichy and Sagna both joined Man City, who had a bigger squad and more resources.
These guys didn’t suddenly undergo hypnosis and turn into ‘winners.’
They were quality players playing in a large squad, not a threadbare one that was subject to falling apart with injuries and suspensions.
Why is it so difficult for some of you to understand the simple facts of team manpower and it’s subsequent performance capabilities…..?
Mykhatarian just played a CL semi
“Fabregas, Clichy, Sagna even Djourou”
Not very up to date accounts though, are they? Were on our third manager since either of those guys played for us.
I want to agree with you mostly. There is just that nagging doubt about mentality when it counts. I’m not complaining, because it has been brilliant if you compare our resources to City.
The thing is, when we arrived at a crunch point, this season looked a lot like the last. When the pressure was on the team crumbled with the 3 draws. I don’t really count this Brighton result, as the title had gone by then and it looked like lack of concentration really.
You don’t stay top of the Premier League for 7 months without mental strength or character.
You could argue the teams under Wenger in the latter years who continuously finished in the champions league places year after year has mental strength to do that but they didn’t really win anything did they? Mental strength in the pressure moments is what you need.
Didn’t really win anything?
We won the FA Cup three times in four years!
And I’d give all four FA cups for a EPL title.
It doesn’t have to be a 1-or-a-0. It sucks not to win this title after holding such a big lead with so little to play, but it’s still a good season. #MixedEmotions.
You can, with your quality until you see the finish line. This team did the same thing for top four last year. What other proof do you need?
Being top of the premier league only matters for one day: the team that is there at the end of the season. I think we’ve made steps in terms of mental toughness, but it’s just steps. We fell away at a critical stage – the pressure ramped up. Injuries? A little. Saliba, hurt, and it was painful how obviously we missed Zinny in this game (love KT, but Zinny is so critical to our quality and success). Overall, it is a positive season. Very positive. But once again, we faded when it mattered most, and we let slip what could… Read more »
Is Gabriel Jesus just a younger Lacazette? Vlahovic in the summer?
He’s way faster, but I get the comparison. We need a different option up top.
No. He has abundantly more stamina, pace, the ability to beat his man. The only comparison is the goal output but he also had a few months out so I’m reserving judgement on him. The overall goal output of the team has improved and that’s the most important thing. I’d much rather have that than one guy who scores a lot while no one else does.
Jesus with Laca’s finishing would be the perfect player.
psychological strength is built upon physical strength, and even more so for professional athletes. when our players were at the peak of their physical powers they showed a never-say-never attitude. The problems started with the sporting lisbon games, both away and at home. we did not have the required squad depth to be competitive in Europa and Premier League and there should have been a heavier rotation for these games if we wanted to have a better chance to remain top of premier league. The injuries to Saliba and tommy in that match did not help; the remaining players were… Read more »
Saliba was injured in Fulham game.
And then played against Sporting at home when he should have been resting up.
Instead, he aggravated the injury further.
Yes, but if he was rested for the Europa he wouldn’t have aggravated it and ended up broken for the rest of the season.
We signed two senior, experienced pros in January and they were as bad as anyone yesterday, it’s not that simple For me it’s physical as well as mental. Saka, White and Xhaka have looked especially flat and sluggish lately, compared to the first 2/3rds of the season. Partey has fallen off the cliff completely If we only see our squad players when they’re cold after being excluded from competitive football for a month, we’ll always complain about lack of quality depth. Arteta needs to rotate more no matter who he has at his disposal next year as it will benefit… Read more »
Lol…for a team that lost 7consecutive games two seasons ago and their 3opening games last season that’s made up of youngsters that have never played at the bernabeu,nou camp etc .. I would say they’re mentality monsters! This could be arguably pep’s greatest team ever after the inclusion of halaand so could be right up there in the argument for best team in the history of the sport, it’s disrespectful to say these young men are anything but warriors….
And that’s why they fell apart and picked up just 3 points from 12 with the title in sight?
Fatgooner do you actually understand anything about top-level sports, especially as it applies to young teams?
When acquaintances earlier in the season were saying to me “Arsenal could win the title, eh?”, my answer every time was “nah, too young”. Also, squad depth has clearly been an issue in trying to compete with City.
Btw “blessing in disguise” to lose Zinchenko as you put it. Wow, genius.
Try some actual thoughtful analysis instead of resorting to knee-jerk narratives and cliches.
Very well put.
So many football fans are just so fickle. Up one second, down the next, it’s just dumb.
Frustrating yesterday, yes. But I understand it and looking forward to strengthening over the summer.
We go again, more experienced, wiser and with any luck, stronger.
Hello, Gunner1971 I’ve been watching top-level sport for almost 50 years, so yeah, I do know a bit about elite sport. I know that at the very highest levels of professional sport MENTALITY MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE. The history of sports is littered with teams and players that had all the talent in the world but lacked the mental strength to get over the line. Greg Norman, Jana Novotná and Newcastle United of 1995/96 are all fine examples. And the winners? Tiger Woods, Novak Djokovic and the Leicester City team of 2015/16. The difference is ALWAYS mental strength. Winners can… Read more »
Dear fatgooner, I don’t think anyone here is saying that mental strength is not important. I’ve been an Arsenal fan for 52 years and been through enough of life to have figured that out by now. The point is that it’s an over-used cliche that you are all too willing to trot out in lieue of serious analysis, accounting for the age of this squad, it’s quick rise to prominence, the relative inexperience of the manager, the lack of squad depth to manage key injuries, the herculean nature of the rival that we were trying to overcome etc etc. I.e.… Read more »
No it isn’t.
A 21-year-old Tiger Woods had no problem winning the 1997 Masters
A 17-year-old Boris Becker had no problem winning Wimbledon in 1985
Sachin Tendulkar was scoring test centuries as a teenager
Pele was winning the World Cup at 17
Age doesn’t matter: winners have a winning mentality at any age. We have too many losers at our club.
You only had to go back half a century to find an actual football precedent. I mean, you could have picked a premier league team, rather than an individual player from an international tournament that took place more than sixty years ago. Why not cherry-pick one of the best players of all time while you’re at it. How old were the other members of that Brazil squad? Was the average age less than that of the current Arsenal squad, or was it more? This isn’t even internally consistent. If you are going to try to reason through tenuous analogy, at… Read more »
Ok, so who are the “losers” you would get rid of and who are the “winners” you would keep?
I get what you are saying – but take a look at the 2015/16 Leicester squad and tell me how many of those players you’d sign because you could bank on their winning mentality? You’ve said we should sign Rice (which I agree with), but the argument that we can only achieve victory with a winning mentality inbuilt suggests that the following players from that Leicester squad had victory inserted into them due to experience rather than reality (which was most teams performed badly gifting opportunity): Kasper Schmiceal, Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Danny Simpson, Ben chilwell, Christian Fuchs, Danny drinkwater,… Read more »
The fact is not one of that squad had an EPL title to their name and most of them narrowly avoided relegation previous season – so how do you quantify this winning mentality you speak of?
This is a really important point. Back in April 2016, those Leicester City players could have said: “We’re only little Leicester City. We’ve got top-four. We’ve had a great season!” But they realised that they had a chance to win title. And they took it. That’s what winners do. They held their nerves and claimed the big prize. Compare that with the pathetic performances we’ve seen from our players both this season and last. Yesterday’s performance was an absolute disgrace, especially when you consider the context: we had to win to stay in the title race. Instead, we didn’t even… Read more »
I think, and just hear me out, the more pertinent difference might be that Leicester only needed 72 points to win the league.
If this Arsenal team had only needed 72 points to win the title they would have bottled it still.
The margins are fine – if memory serves they avoided relegation on the last day of the season – one result – had they got relegated we’d not be having this discussion – and that was one result. Had saliba and tomi not got injured I think the outcome would have been different – again fine margins, which I struggle to put down to mentality, more just fortune. I recall that season with Leicester and it was noted that they were miraculously fortunate and no one got injured – had they lost kante with 15 games to go would they… Read more »
Remind me of which rival won their last 14 games in convincing fashion but were held off by plucky Leicester? The fact is City won this title much more than Arsenal lost it.
Leicester also won the title with the same points we are on now.
City amassed 66 points that season. The closest were us on 71.
Our points total now would be enough to win many titles in the last 20 years.
Our perception of “bottling” is purely down to ordering of the fixtures. Take our results, mix them up, and the season looks much different if we are chasing City, and we manage ti push them to the end.
We were without Saliba, Tommi and then, for the second time this season, Zinchenko.
That’s the central lynchpin of our defence, a valuable squad player who could have provided cover at RB or centre half and the guy whose midfield link up play helped us to the Premiership summit in the first place – although you reckoned his injury was ‘a blessing in disguise.’
Seriously mate, you really don’t have the foggiest.
Dude, do you remember what I said to both yourself and J4hats at the end of last season? It was a crushing blow the end of last season but there was so much to be enthusiastic about in regards to the young squad and how it was developing.. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have expected us to mount a title challenge this season, and yet we have. If we can add a couple of solid signings this summer (rice would be game changing), then in-spite of another crushing end to the season, we should be filled with… Read more »
This “mental strength” criticism is such nonsense. It’s not bottle. It’s not nerve. It’s not leadership or mental strength. It’s money. That’s the difference. City cheated and bought two entire first teams who could win the league. We only have one, because we didn’t cheat. Laporte comes in for them – Holding comes in for us. Mahrez comes in for them – Vieira comes in for us. Foden comes in for them – Smith Rowe with no game time comes in for us. If they had to bring in actual backup players the way we did, they would drop points.… Read more »
DOn’t entirely agree Fats – see my post following the Barney Ronay quote (excellent article the you should certainly read, for some perspective – bit.ly/41wUibG ) One should not – ever – underestimate just how far above themselves this young team (and manager) has played for much of this season. They didn’t just chase City… they scared the shite outa them! Likewise, we couchies cannot possibly know the residual ‘drag’ that such consistent peak performance may well have had on a relatively inexperienced and youthful group. It seems to eventually have caught up with them. Fair enough. That we even,… Read more »
I dont agree with that at all. City absolutely pumping Everton at Goodison Park in the 2pm KO — no matter how psychologically robust the team is, knew they needed a bit of help from somewhere, and there was the general consensus that if they were going to lose a game, then away Everton was most likely where it was going to happen, the fact that it didn’t undeniably sucked the life out of us all before a ball was kicked. You could see from Pep’s celebrations when they scored those two goals in quick succession how important it was… Read more »
A million thumbs up for that
I agree , we have a history of bottling it, this season, the season Eduardo got injured, last season with top 4, 2013-2014 season getting pumped by each one of our top 4 rivals after being top at Christmas and the year Leicester won the title- we need some experienced heads to take us to the next level
Not sure why all the down votes on a very accurate assessment of where we are. Yes, we did so well to exceed expectations–congratulations to everyone at the club (genuinely!). Yet–we did not sustain a title challenge, we did not complete in the domestic cups, and we did not get to the business end in Europe. Those are FACTS. Read what Arteta said–he knows mentality and squad depth need to improve. This is a leader’s mentality–perhaps different than a supporter’s one.
Well said Jamie!
Are you Piers Morgan?
Fats has a point. You can’t watch the Liverpool-west ham-Southampton trio of shame games and NOT say we bottled it! We did! Yesterday I couldn’t give a fck about. Nor the city game, they are a level above Arsenal. But those 3 shame games were a fkn disgrace. That’s how we lost this title.
The Brighton game WAS important. What if City themselves lose to Brighton at the Amex and then only draw against Chelsea or Brentford? We could have still won the title!
But it’s gone now.
I can’t believe that any true Arsenal fan is defending that pathetic performance on Sunday. It was absolutely outrageous that an Arsenal team should put in such a lacklustre performance while still in a title race.
They have disgraced the club.
I don’t think Arsenal fans are denying it was a soft performance against Brighton (at best). What the crux of the argument is about is the winning mentality that you have said we lack. Going back to the Leicester example you raised – as I responded, not one of that squad had ever won a PL title before that season, and most were almost relegated the season before. Yet you say they all had a winning mentality – so are you saying we should sign players who have never won a title as they’re sure to have a winning mentality?… Read more »
Anyone with a common sense and experience in football could see that we were overperforming for the first few months of the season and without depth and a little more seniority the dip in form was always going to come. Man City winning all their games was also somewhat expected as they have world class players in every position, twice. We should be nothing but extremely proud of this young team how it’s dominated matches, played beautiful football, only drew one game against London rivals and brought back points we thought we were going to lose. With enough owner support… Read more »
It has been so good to be competitive, but that midfield needs sorting out. It feeds into a lack of goals from our centre forward, as he carries a lot of work so far from the goal.
I think what we achieved was impressive. City will finish again with nearly 100 points, likely with both the highest premier league goal scorer and assist maker (in a single campaign), on an unbeaten run of 10+ to close it out. I dunno, just seems that we might have punched above our weight a little?
We can only hope Madrid sign Haaland to replace Benzema, but that could be 2 or 3 years away yet.
He has already become an absolute bore.
As far as I’m concerned, none of his goals have been what you would call exciting. Just penalties and plundered smash and grabs.
Comparisons with him and Henry are laughable. Titi’s goals involved skill and taking on many defenders; they had you up and out of your seat.
This current freak of nature is a robot. I’m half expecting someone to two foot him – only for him to explode with smoke and springs popping out and flashing lights going off, like a fucking Dalek.
“Malfunction! Malfunction! City Goal Machine Vision Impaired!”
Quite good Qwally! Lol
The most frustrating thing is that we have performed brillianly. But just like last season, we will get mocked at again instead of praised. Last season, we lost our first 3 games. EVERYONE wrote us off. They laughed at us. Yet, we found ourselves in a top 4 race in the end. Instead of getting praised for how we managed to turn our season around, the focus was on us “bottling” top 4. This season, instead of getting praised for how we have jumped from fifth into a title race, we are going to get mocked again. It’s frustrating! Would… Read more »
All the more reason to write off most of the media IMO. They’re chancers most of them.
Chancers? Hmmm. I prefer Jealous Cunts, but each to their own.
Liverpool never came in for criticism for nearly winning the title, even Tottenham didn’t. I think a lot of people were just desperate for us to beat city and they are all gutted, not just the fans
I’d question whether the primary problem is psychological. The Arsenal squad simply didn’t have the depth to maintain the required level over the whole season. As we got to the business end players levels dropped and Arteta couldn’t rotate. Fans like to pretend players can run forever but most of them can’t. The worry is that this will only become more of a problem next season with champions league football. Arsenal don’t have any oil wells and money will be limited. The champions league will help, extra cash and an attraction to potential recruits. But the squad will still be… Read more »
Spot on.
The issue is physical, not mental.
Exactly, we played an amazing season
Exactly right. We’ve over-achieved with this squad. It’s been an amazing season and one to celebrate. Anyone questioning Arteta needs to give their head a wobble. He will know we need to upgrade the midfield, replace Holding and possibly get a new striker etc.
The future’s bright. Can’t wait for the transfer window and hope we get business done early 🚀
Mikel, you haven’t let us down. You have proved so many pundits and experts wrong and steered us back into the Champions League. Thanks to you, we have a young, exciting, dynamic team, capable of breathtaking football, that ultimately fell short of the title only because of the lack of quality squad depth when injuries began to kick in. We were the only team to genuinely challenge Manchester City for the title. That, second place and the return of Champions League football is progress from last season, no matter what. You can be extremely proud of what you and the… Read more »
All of us agree on this part.
Arteta and this Arsenal team absolutely do not need to apologise for anything. They haven’t let anyone down.
It has been the most exciting season in a long time (2015/16), we’re back in the Champions League, we’ve earned a lot of plaudits and respect this season, and our upward trajectory has been impressive.
If I could see Mikel today, I would just simply say “Thank you”.
I agree. It will be interesting to see if we can develop two teams next season and be able to fight on all fronts by offering players lots of game time, rather than throwing League/ FA Cups
This is the comment that I was going to write. It saddens me that Mikel or the team should feel that they’ve let anyone down, they’ve given us so much joy and just run out of steam fighting off a juggernaut. Yes, a huge “thank you” from me too.
Brighton join Citeh as our main bogey teams. Both have now won 4 out of their last 5 visits to Emirates. Not sure if it’s psychological – scared of Citeh, complacent versus Seagulls. At least we lose Southampton next season who we also have trouble with (but get Burnley back).
Interested to see Summer transfer window.
you are expected to beat a team but repeatedly fail to do so, that’s a bogey team. no-one can say that will apply to Citeh
I know this is a small thing in the grand scheme of things but I’m still absolutely livid with the way Kiwior stayed down after the foul by Ferguson. A centre half is there to put his body on the line to defend the goal. I’d be embarrassed if I defended like that at Sunday league division 5 level. Downvote me all you like, I know he’s been impressive and has a good passing range but that really really stuck in my craw for some reason
Inexperience
Well in his defence it was a foul, he would likley have got it in Italy but he doesnt realise how awful the EPL refs are yet…only City get those calls over here 🙁
Crap – Luiz got into all manner of crap for accidentally shaving a micro-millimeter of an opponents left heel.
That was a CLEAR foul. VAR bottled it… again. The irony is that Kiwior should actually have made more of it, and would have got the deserved f/k.
They fact that he didn’n dramatise can’t be held against him – the lad only had a handful of appearances, ffs… he will gain PL experience, believe me.
His boot slipped off and was hanging off his toes. So I can understand him being caught in two minds. Should he have got up and defended with one barefoot? I don’t think there was enough time anyway, it happened all so quickly.
Another point is that the ref should stop the game when a player loses a boot. Presumably he didn’t notice it.
there’s no requirement to stop the game for losing a boot.
A player whose footwear or shinguard is lost accidentally must replace it as soon as possible and no later than when the ball next goes out of play; if before doing so the player plays the ball and/or scores a goal, the goal is awarded.
There’s no requirement to stop the game when players go down with non head injuries, most of which are faked anyway, but they still do.
I learn something new everyday.
That being said, can it be deemed ‘accidentally’ when it was an opposition player’s foul that caused the boot to slip off.
Accidental is entirely irrelevant here:
That’s it then – it’s the consequence, not the intention that draws the foul. Arsenal lost a defender to an illegal action, at a crucial moment, which directly caused a goal to be scored.
Gazza scored a goal against us at the shit hole in 1988/89 with only one boot on.
And we still beat them, the scum bags. 😊
That contact was right down his Achilles – that is bloody painful (not mention potentially career-limiting). It should have been a foul all day long. This is on the hapless Madley and VAR, not Kiwior.
Or, what is more likely, made out he didn’t notice it.
It’s also inexperience, if you can’t get up in time at least make a meal out of it, roll around so the whole world can see you got clipped ffs.
Pole dancing.
In all honesty, I agree… but surely it’s a foul all the same and VAR should have alerted the ref.
If a player rakes the boot of another player elsewhere on the pitch, why would it not apply. It affected Kiwior in a material way.
I’m not seeing much of a fuss being made about it anywhere, so perhaps I’m delusional.
I do believe Kiwior will be a great player, so here’s hoping.
He made a lot of fair points and admitted blame, fair play. I’ll back the team again come next Saturday. Through the good and the bad, this team deserves my support. Let’s win the next game Mikel.
He’s not let us down at all, what he’s done this season is sensational considering where he started. He’s restored pride to the club, now he needs to be backed big time in the summer.
100%. The biggest testament to progress is this time a year ago people were calling for his head, now we are calling for him to sign on again to fend off the likes of Barca/Madrid/city from taking him off us
Arty, lad, you didn’t let anyone down. Apart from City, you won the league.
City and Pep are from a different dimension. He is the uncrowned God-King-Emperor of Football. You beat the rest, that’s what matters! We are the league winners in my eyes. Comparing anyone to City is a Pipe dream. COYG! Champions baby!
We are IN the third of the five phase build up strategy of the club. Third phase is yet to be completed and two phases yet to begin. And if this team is only halfway in the making, a fully developed team would could match invincible for sure.
We are with you Mikel and Arsenal
This team has actually matched the Invincibles already in terms of points tally. Unfortunately we have to be even better to match City.
Then don’t apply the tactics for an away game for a home game. Yes he’s been superb for 95% of the season and I love him and our glorious Gunners but the pressure has got to him in this final chase and game management and tactics in general have cost us.
So Arsenal lost the title in your mind because of the manager. Nothing to do with squad depth or injuries or age of the squad.
Yes those other things played a part, of course but the major reason is the manager. I repeat, for 95% he was pretty spit on but when the pressure hit he made mistakes.
No. Injuries and lack of squad depth have cost us.
Stop listening to jealous cunts like TalkSport, Gary Neville and Roy Keane – who have been lighting candles and praying for us to fail ALL SEASON.
This ‘mental weakness’ ‘bottled it’ shite is really becoming boring now.
Nothing to feel bad about for this season Micky lad – it has served as a timely reminder of what it is like to be there and thereabouts at the business end of the season.
We as arsenal fans had become apathetic due to being out of contention by Christmas – but you and the squad have provided us with something to believe in again, and this shows every week in the atmosphere in the stadium (which you have rejuvenated).. Can’t wait to see what next season brings
The loss yesterday stings, but in the wider context, I’m not sure we have anything to feel sad about. We secured CL qualification with many games to spare. The title would’ve been icing on the cake, but that’s all.
Enjoy this campaign’s successes, I think next season will be even better.
On a personal note, I’m hoping to be at the stadium early next season, perhaps the only game I’ll ever attend in person, unless I hit the lottery here in the US. I also hope to meet some in the community, which will be just as exciting!
Arsenal was nowhere last season and in the space of three months (last summer’s transfer window) they have progressed so far as to challenge Man City and people label them “failures” for falling short?
Fuck them.
Arsenal have done brilliantly and like last year they will come back stronger and be at the top again.
I just hope that the board do not scrimp in the transfer market, and we can sign the players we need.
Spot on mate, well said.
🍺 👍
I don’t think they will withhold, they’ve proven they’re ready to spend and act early for the right target. We would of had Mudryk or Caecido if the clubs had allowed it. I believe they’ll back Edu and Mikel. Winning is good for their business…and they like money!
It’s like the anticlimax before the denouement.