Posted by …And breathe
I’ve planned to do a review of Arsenal’s season for a while now. However, the season was so tiring I figured I needed some time to step away. Is it too late to do a review now? Has everything that’s needed to be said already been said in the hundreds of thousands of content relating to Arsenal on the World Wide Web?
I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
Sod it. I’m going to do it. I have to get it off my chest one day. May as well be here rather than paying hundreds to a therapist. There’s lots on my mind so I’ll try my best to break it down into sections.
The good times
When things were good this season – they were bloody good. The first half of the season we were magnificent. As great as things were going, I didn’t really believe Arsenal would win the league. Even with the 5-point gap between us and Man City going into the World Cup. But it was a nice way to spend Christmas!
I thought things would start to go against us after the World Cup, especially losing Jesus on the way, but we picked up where we left off – dismantling the Spuds along the way too. Then came Man Utd – and I have to say that’s been my favourite game of the season with the late deserved goal. And so dreams of a title win began. Even so, dreams were all they were for me. I was conscious of the run in, and a difficult group of games to come – including City twice.
But what fun we had before the run in. I was nervous about Villa – mainly because I have a Villa-supporting uncle with a big mouth – but what a way to win that. For all of Emi Martinez’s time wasting in goal, I have to give him credit for scoring a great header to give us the lead. And when he went walkabouts trying to score at the other end – it gave Martinelli one of the easiest goals he’ll score in his career.
Surely, we couldn’t top that in terms of a last-minute explosion of energy? And then Bournemouth came to visit. For whatever reason, Arsenal decided to give them a 2 goal lead. Possibly 3 if it wasn’t for a great save by Ramsdale. We get back into it to make it 2-2 but it looks like we’ve run out of time. On came Nelson, scoring a goal that to this day I watch continuously on a loop.
Magic. Pure adrenaline. Even writing about those moments gives me goosebumps. Man, I love this team.
The bad times
Urgh… Do I really need to write about this? Fine. The good comes with the bad and all that crap.
Ok, as I mentioned earlier – I was dreaming of the title. But I was always cautious of the games we had coming up. I was worried about Liverpool. And I guess in hindsight I was right to feel that way. That game at Anfield was probably the game I’ve shouted at the most in the last 15 years. Being 2-0 up it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But it is Anfield and anything can happen. I don’t really buy the whole “Xhaka woke up the Anfield crowd” crap. It just happened to be Liverpool scored shortly after that. But given the way the rest of the game went – including Ramsdale making crucial saves again – I’d say 2-2 was a fair result.
What happened next against West Ham and Southampton was less forgivable. And it was that West Ham game where I personally felt the title dream was over. Even with our points advantage, City were winning every game they played. It was unrealistic Arsenal winning every remaining game, but realistic that City could have done that. I said before the City game at the Emirates that in order for Arsenal to win the league we would have to at least take as many points from them as they did from us. And whilst that game at the Emirates was closer than the scoreline shows, there was a huge difference at the Etihad. City were going to win the league.
What was losing the title down to? Losing Saliba? Nerves? Complacency? Fatigue? No strength in depth? Most likely a bit of all of the above. But we still showed signs of a fight in us when we probably had our best away performance of the season at Newcastle. With a couple of losses, we handed the title to City so they were able to take a break, but we finished the season in style with a good win against Wolves. Was that because the pressure was off? Who’s to say?
I do wish we took City to the last game of the season, and I’m gutted we didn’t. However, in the cold light of day I think City would have won the league regardless. If we beat Brighton and Forest, City would have won all their remaining games because they’re the equivalent to a team on steroids.
All we can do is be proud of the lads for pushing City close to the end.
Fans of other clubs
You know what annoyed me more than Arsenal not winning the league? Fans of other clubs giving it large. Villa fans suggesting their form in the second half of the season made them better than Arsenal. Man Utd fans suggesting they had a more successful season because they won a cardboard cup. Talk of bottling it from pretty much every fan of every other club. I mean, focus on your own damn clubs – let Arsenal fans worry about our club. I’m trying to keep this family friendly but there’s a lot of words I could easily use to describe those fans.
Yes, Arsenal didn’t win the league. Yes, we were ahead for most of the season and it didn’t go our way. But from week one fans of other clubs – I’ll call them FOOCs – were waiting for Arsenal to fail. You know what though? We didn’t fail – we went toe to toe with the best team in the world. Would everyone have gone on about City “bottling it” if we had won the league? What with their unlimited resources and cheating? We didn’t scrape to finish 2nd – we easily finished above everyone else. No one else was close. And hey – if it wasn’t for Arsenal, City would have walked the league and made it boring. You FOOCs should be thanking Arsenal. Pricks.
Villa fans – let’s see you produce what you did over the course of an entire season before you start talking about being the 2nd best team in England. And Man Utd fans that think you’ve had a more successful season than Arsenal – by your logic West Ham were the second most successful team in England. Really? A team that was in a relegation battle most of the season? I would take Arsenal’s season any day of the week compared to Utd’s.
Yes, I’m biting – but I just wanted to get that off my chest. Bunch of FOOCs.
Stadium atmosphere
Right. Time to calm down. I can’t write a season review without mentioning what I believe is one of the biggest success stories of Arteta’s managerial reign – the connection with the fans. I’ve been lucky enough to have attended 3 men’s matches at the Emirates this season, and 1 women’s match.
The men’s matches against Crystal Palace and Chelsea were both a lot of fun. It had been a while since I last went to a game, but the whole place seems completely different. Hearing North London Forever sang by fans before the game honestly captures the essence of who we are as a club now, and it doesn’t stop there. I was gutted to not have seen Saliba play live as I would love to have sung the Saliba chant. There’s always next season (assuming his contract signing goes to plan). The Ashburton Army seem to have livened up the fan base too – they’re at it throughout the game, I don’t think I saw them sit still at all during the course of the games. I would say when I sat at Club Level for the Palace game the fan base around me were a bit more static – maybe it’s the demographic of those fans – but I recall being one of few that was singing. Chelsea though – wow – being amongst fans in full voice was amazing. Granted I was a little on the tipsy side for that game though.
The women’s match I attended was the final against Wolfsburg in a sold out stadium. Despite losing, the fans were great once again. I took the OddDaughter, but despite the atmosphere being a bit more family friendly it was still a little on the loud side for a 3 year old! She enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s great to see the women’s game getting more coverage, and filling the Emirates Stadium – though I do wonder if the Arsenal Women’s team themselves need to get used to playing in front of 60,000 fans.
Unfortunately, the last game I attended wasn’t great – the 3-0 loss to Brighton. There were a few reasons for this being a crap experience outside of the result. Firstly, I got there early enough to watch the Everton-City game, believing City would drop some points. That didn’t happen and for me that was when I lost pretty much all hope of a miracle happening. Whether the Arsenal players felt the same way I don’t know, because they didn’t turn up on the day either. Then there was the seat I was sitting in – only 4 rows from the pitch – it sounded like great seats but I had the sun in my eyes through most of the game so was squinting through the match and I didn’t really get to see any of the goals from where I was sitting. Not that I’d want to see Brighton’s goals. Lastly, as I was sitting close to the pitch, it seemed the fans around me were of the mindset they could be heard more by the players/referee. What this meant was when these fans sitting behind me were hurling abuse at the referee, I could literally feel their spit on the back of my head. Not a feeling I’d want to feel again any time soon.
The team
I’ve been lucky enough (or old enough) to see Arsenal twice as double winners, as Champions league finalists, and as Invincibles. Perhaps it’s recency bias but this iteration of Arsenal is my favourite. Maybe I was spoilt back in the early 00s where there was just this expectation that Arsenal are great and should be winning something every season. But this current team have proven time and time again that they can be the best – and at such a young age.
It’s almost impossible for me to mention my favourite player. Throughout the season it’s changed so often – be it Odegaard as our captain, Saka as our star boy, Ramsdale with his safe hands, Xhaka with his redemption story… they’ve just been a very likeable team.
Even fringe players that have been unfairly blamed for our drop in form played a part. Holding may not be part of the squad next season but he sure as hell won me over with the best hair-job I’ve ever seen.
Odegaard probably edges it as player of the season, but all the players deserve to hold their heads up high for the effort they put in. Especially in a season where the World Cup took an extra toll on what would already have been a physically taxing season.
A word on Man City
Yes, they’re the best team in the world right now. They have the best coach in football. They have a striker who seems more machine than human. So, there’s no shame in finishing second to them. However, don’t take away from the allegations they have against them. Proven guilty and they will be exposed as cheats. What I don’t understand is how can the Premier League be making these allegations against Man City one moment and then posting congratulations to City winning the league across all social media channels the next?
Is it a coincidence that the allegations were made when City weren’t playing well and allowed for a siege mentality to form amongst City, resulting in their winning streak? Perhaps I’m reading into it too much. What I will say is their chase made the latter part of the season very exhausting.
What’s worse – I now have a new found sympathy for Liverpool fans for what they’ve had to endure over the last few years having had to be up against this City behemoth. Urgh… I need a shower.
What next?
As I write this, we’re close to the signing of Declan Rice. This would be a huge signing for us, and shows Arsenal as an attractive place to be again after a bit of a mediocre era. I see Rice playing more in Partey’s position in the long run – though, perhaps he would start by playing in Xhaka’s position. I see Caicedo play more in Xhaka’s position if we actually land him, but I’m still not sure if we’d get both Rice and Caicedo in one transfer window. Happy to be proved wrong though! If Smith-Rowe can return to form, I reckon he’d be a good replacement for Xhaka but I feel there’s something happening there which isn’t quite right in Arteta’s eyes. Time will tell.
Aside from that I would prefer to go for a “plan B” striker ahead of a right winger so we can change things up if we’re chasing a game. We have Jesus that can slot in on the right if needed, and whilst I still think he should be our primary striker I just would like to see something different when needed.
I’d be tempted to sell one of or even both Eddie and Balogun if we get decent money for them. I know Balogun has been great in France, but when you look at how Lacazette has been banging in goals for fun it shows the difference between the Premier League and Ligue 1.
At the back I think a left-back/right-back back up would be wise after how last season petered out due to losing key defenders. We were unfortunate to lose Tomi and Saliba in one game, and you can never predict these things, all we can do is try and protect ourselves going forward.
Trying to be realistic (some may argue pessimistic) I think we’ll finish 3rd next season but not really be challenging for the title like we have the season gone past. Liverpool will be stronger and I think will be City’s main challengers, whilst we’ll be fighting for 3rd place with Man Utd. Not that I think we’ll be a weaker team than last season – just that we’ll have Champions League football to contend with again which may prove to be a bit difficult. Regarding the Champions League – I think we’ll get to the knock out stages but will probably just miss out on reaching the quarter finals. Maybe we’ll win the FA cup/Cardboard cup? It may not seem like progress but I think stability is important next season – to remain in the Champions League and build on that.
And that’s all for my predictions.
Verdict
Wow – this has turned into a much larger blog post than I anticipated – and there’s still so much more I would/could have talked about. Maybe next season I’ll do regular post-game blog posts so I don’t need to save it all for the end of the season. Final verdict for the 22/23 season is it’s been my favourite since the Invincibles. It may not have resulted in the top prize – but the amazing journey and memories will stick with me for a long long time. COYG!