Hard to say now as there is nothing left to play for - but there was data to suggest it I don't care anymore to be honest. I hope they get relegated.
Well yeah, obviously, I'd rather they be good in a tournament that means something, but that's not exactly realistic right now. The ESL was a ********ing abomination. Supporting any team in it would have been like supporting the Harlem Globetrotters.
Well then we're just going to have to put up with you another year then! While you wait and hope for relegations.
Absolutely, before Boxing Day they had 4 wins, 2 draws, and 8 losses, since Boxing Day they are 9-5-5. Is it enough to keep Arsenal fans happy, obviously not, but they are a better team now because on Boxing Day, Arteta was forced into playing a handful of young players and they have contributed ever since. For me, the young players are enough reason to watch. I neither expect or particularly want to see any mega transfers this summer, I’d like to see them bring in young, relatively cheap talent that has a chance to grow with Saka, Smith-Rowe, Martinelli, Tierney, and Saliba. As long as they keep them together, they are the core of Arsenal’s future. Will they be good enough to challenge for a title, I don’t know, but it’s a storyline I’m willing to follow.
I mean, if you think that being in the SL means a better product as far as an Arsenal fan is concerned, I just fundamentally disagree. Like is getting smashed by Madrid et al several times a year and finishing last in a Super League really better than this? I don't think so Being in a SL doesn't magically make this team functional. As we saw with the Pepe deal this club can and will spend money but they're still dogshit at doing it properly. So giving Josh Kroenke more money is not going to fix this. But yeah I agree, there's really no point in being an Arsenal fan at this juncture. Cowardly, incompetent, naive, simpering sentimentalists at every level of the club. We are more and more the Knicks every year
Honestly, if this team dropped the pretenses, said, "right, we're doing a rebuild around the youth, we're gonna be shit for a few years but we're thinking long-term" I would be more compelled to follow the club. It's the aimless direction of this club that is one of the more frustrating parts: they've been spending big money on "the last piece to take us to the next step" for the past five to ten years, and each year, that "next step" is actually several steps below the last step lol. Somebody has to admit that we're shit and not in any shape to compete for European qualification in the next two to three years--that recognition would go a long way to fixing the major leadership problems at this abomination of an organization.
He's the equivalent of the turkey buzzard hanging out near the interstate. Unfortunately, for us there's been a lot of carrion lately.
I look at it like this. We are about to enter a period in which most of our top competitors will be able to attract better talent than we can. We most likely will not get into the CL any time soon, and getting into Europa is far from a guarantee. They also can pay more than we can for these better players. We have bad contracts that need to be worked and probably will struggle to keep our good players from being poached over the next few years. That’s just the reality of where we are and what’s to come. We have a long rebuild. Money won’t fix the issue by itself, but it will solve some of the problems. This type of money isn't coming from Stan, and Stan isn’t going anywhere. The ESL was a bit of a cheat code. We get a guaranteed annual windfall of cash, and our prestige as a club is restored. We might get trounced at first, but it will fast-forward this rebuilding process and will add to the allure of wearing the badge. The alternative is being a mid-table team with no money to truly improve. Again, the ESL a bit of a cheat-like shortcut, but this idea that the current set-up is fair is BS. Money always has been king. The rich clubs always had an advantage and won. Then a billionaire took over Chelsea and bought the league. Then Liverpool, ManU and Man City all were taken over by billionaires, and they inflated everything and made the league unfair. Then FFP turned out to be shit. There always has been a cheat code, and we got shafted by it. Now, the ESL would not make up for the incompetence we have seen from the execs, but that’s not going away, and it could soften the blow. At the end of the day, I am not sure the ESL really would have been the right move, but it’s not as clear cut as the masses are making it. I think group-think has taken over. For my personal interests, I would much rather watch midweek games against some of the best teams and players in the world than watch Arsenal play some obscure teams from eastern Europe or not having a game at all. And the idea that “playing for the last European spot” or for the coveted “4th place trophy” is meaningful is laughable to me, and doing that with a “shitty team” seems like torture, but to each his own.
You only are counting league games. I agree with most of the rest, but I think keeping the young team together may be more difficult than you are stating.
People acting like Arsenal in the SL would instantly start making smart player purchases and selling the dead wood, and would be competitive. We would be buying whoever Kia has on the books and we would get 2 wins in the ESL. Would have been embarrassing.
; Group stage of the Europa League was a joke and in no way a reflection of where Arsenal were at before Boxing Day. Since Boxing Day Arsenal have advanced through the first three knockout stages and were 1-1 in the FA Cup.
They went 1 and 1 with Olympiacos and tied a team from the Czech Republic... Arsenal has had one good month, January, since Boxing Day. Remove that month, and I am not even sure that they have won more games than they have lost. It definitely is close.
for me, it's been . . . mix. the offensive incompetency was frustrating but has since been improved with the introduction of the smith-rowe, addition of odegaard, reduction of willian playtime, and less aubameyang+lacazette combination. that is the positive. unfortunately, we started out solid defensively and it feels much more porous of late. and, at least for me, it doesn't feel like it relates to the offensive improvement. it feels like it just . . . . fell apart. for no particularly good reason.
As far as Arsenal in ESL, I think everyone agrees that, as it was constituted, we’d be the primary beneficiaries of all the clubs involved. But I still think we’d squander that advantage ultimately, because our club ownership and management are shit at this. And for sure, there’s a lot of groupthink here. Like I said before, the original sin of this shitshow was ESL not bringing a media/streaming partner onboard from the outset. Having every sector of the media tee off on them gave permission for everyone else to bring out the pitchforks and get the punters whipped up into a lather. To me this is the clearest incident of malpractice in this whole sordid affair. That isn’t to say, though, that I don’t think this would have been definitively worse than the status quo, as terrible as it currently is.
Since January they are 7-6-2 with wins over Tottenham and Leicester and a Wolves game that turned on a questionable pk and card. In addition they showed character they lacked earlier in the year to battle back for a 3-3 draw with West Ham and the 2-1 win at Tottenham.
based on arteta's comment in a previous situation - where willian cut back from the left and tierney smashed home a goal - he believes that willian (and his style of play) is more suited to breaking down a defense that is sitting back and defending than someone who relies more on speed to get behind the defense. i get the logic but i don't know that i wholly agree.
that's always been his schtick. at least for as long as i have been on this board. you will mainly see him post after a loss or someone makes a catastrophic mistake in a win so he can shit on either the team or that player. because that's how you know his sage-ness. because he knew it all along.
We are now at the point where even if Arsenal take the full 15 points from the remaining 5 matches, that's only 61. Currently, the top 6 in the table are on pace for at least 64 points, sp*rs and Everton are on pace for 61. Whatever slim hopes there were for top 6 are now gone. The results in the final 5 matches don't matter. Every squad selection from here out should be with an eye towards maximizing the chances in the Europa League by keeping players healthy and with an eye towards next season. If Mat Ryan is a potential permanent signing, let him play. Let's see if Reiss Nelson remembers how to kick a ball. See where Balogun is at in his development. Give kids like Azeez or Lopez a runout. There's no reason for Willian to play a minute (now watch him play the full 90 the next 5 matches).
I've lived in Hamburg for 15 years to enjoy the downward spiral of HSV to its inevitable relegation. There was a feeling that it needed to happen, because every year they clung on to mediocrity allowed them to avoid confronting the state of the club. I feel there are quite a few parallels to Arsenal (as there were to Liverpool). A club convinced of its own "big status", wasting money on has beens, riddled with corruption and talentless insiders, a procession of managers and new starts, each worse than the last. I mean maybe Arsenal is too big to fail, but one hopes this mediocre season might teach the owners something. Like for starters get rid of the absurd Josh who is wildly out of his depth.
Meaning what? No more watching full matches, just highlights & stats? Switching allegiances fluidly when your current club is on a bad run?