Arsenal Thread - 2022/23

[svennis pennis]

Absolutely

Winning 2 games in your last 8 is bottling it

No doubt a big part of that is having us breathing down their necks, but they started dropping points to teams they shouldn't.

Even our fans don't like saying Arsenal bottled it, like it means we only won because of it. But its not like that. them bottling it shows the difference between our mentality and theirs. We're a better team than them and that's not just technically on the pitch, it's handling the pressure too. Them bottling games they needed to win just highlights what winners we are when it comes down to getting over the line.

I always liken us to an elite boxer. Many of them lose early rounds, doesn't matter because the opponent is working flat to be a front runner in the fight early on, but the elite boxer is relaxed and the opponent is becoming mentally drained, which makes them physically drained too. Then they usually start coming apart and the elite fighter takes over.

To quote an elite fighter: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

 

[bluenova]

I know two gooners and they are both sound lads. The older one always thought that City would catch them, the younger one abit more sure the gooners would win.

I wasnt bothered about the gooners to be honest but that changed on the Brighton game. I couldnt believe how their fans behaved, leaving before the final in their tens of thousands.
This was a young team that had thought hard all season, played some good football. Had given their fans hope and some great memories.
How did the gooners thank their team by fucking off early once they knew they would finish second.
What an embarrassment, so entitled, pathetic. When the players needed the support of the fans the fans turned their backs.

I think arsenal might struggle to ger over this disappointment.

The one thing that made me feel confident that City would catch them was the players behaviour. They always seem to be on the edge playing with to much emotion. I knew that would knacker them.

City didn't catch them - they fell over. We could have walked past them, given them a lift back to their feet, patted them on the back, and still had a leisurely stroll to the finish line.

The saddest bit is that their collapse has played into the hands of the City unstoppable narrative - It's only about 6 weeks since they were favourites with the bookies, and they could have had a pretty major wobble, and still taken this to another last day finish.

 

[TonyM]

On the one hand, the way they played earlier in the season makes you think Arsenal have a ton of promise for future seasons. They played great football and thoroughly deserved their points tally.

On the other hand though, this collapse from them has been rather pathetic. Every single game they've dropped points in at this late stage has had embarrassing elements for them. It's one thing to slip up and not win the league, but to lose out in the fashion they have done does make you wonder what the hell went wrong for them. Whatever it is might just linger and hold them back for a long time.

If I was an Arsenal fan if be hoping that they stick with the original plan.
22/23 - finish in the top 4 - complete
23/24 - consolidate top 4 position - in progress (youd hope that they are going to address any gaps this summer)
24/25 - challenge for the title and win a cup
25/26 - win the title.

Imo if they set an expectation to win the title next season they are doomed to failure and Arteta will be gone.

Success usually comes from long term planning and losing is as important as winning.

 

[Crooked_rain]

I would rather bottle the league than never have been in a position to win it in the first place. If it were anyone else than a Pep team 7 years into a cycle, we would have won it. If this were Mancini's of Pellegrini's Man City I think we wouldn't have felt the pressure and would have ended up winning by 5-8 points.

I just think the whole team needs a break. Lucky there are no tournaments this summer as I think our players can do without football for a while. We wont regress, we finished 2nd this season because of the effort and time into Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel and built the team around them. These are quality players who if anyone wanted to buy would need to offer up a shit load.

We do need to spend though. Rice is in the pipeline and given his preference to stay in London, there is a clear pathway to his signature. Xhaka is going, Holding, Lokonga, and Tavares will join him. Nketiah, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Balogun could all be sold to clear the deck and raise cash for new incomings.

No need to reinvent the wheel or throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have clear quality in our squad with player slike Saka, Martinelli, Slaiba and Odegaard all in a development stage, we just need to supplement them with additional quality.

Yeah, at the end of the day you exceeded your expectations from the start of the season. That doesn't really mean objectives can't change throughout the season and Arsenal certainly had a hell of a chance to mount a serious challenge. From where you were, we shouldn't have been winning it with 3 games to spare.

I've heard some Arsenal fans saying they want Arteta out. That's stupidity in my opinion, and I'm sure the club wouldn't dream of it. The good thing for you is that it's pretty evident where you need to strengthen, no overhaul is needed. As long as your club is willing to put their hands in their pockets and strengthen in those areas, you should be alright.

 

[The perfect fumble]

If you're looking for a laugh, look no further....

 

[bennyboy]

I would rather bottle the league than never have been in a position to win it in the first place. If it were anyone else than a Pep team 7 years into a cycle, we would have won it. If this were Mancini's of Pellegrini's Man City I think we wouldn't have felt the pressure and would have ended up winning by 5-8 points.

I just think the whole team needs a break. Lucky there are no tournaments this summer as I think our players can do without football for a while. We wont regress, we finished 2nd this season because of the effort and time into Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel and built the team around them. These are quality players who if anyone wanted to buy would need to offer up a shit load.

We do need to spend though. Rice is in the pipeline and given his preference to stay in London, there is a clear pathway to his signature. Xhaka is going, Holding, Lokonga, and Tavares will join him. Nketiah, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Balogun could all be sold to clear the deck and raise cash for new incomings.

No need to reinvent the wheel or throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have clear quality in our squad with player slike Saka, Martinelli, Slaiba and Odegaard all in a development stage, we just need to supplement them with additional quality.

Mancini's side caught up with a far better team than Arsenal to win the league.
Funny enough 8 points behind as well.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Love that every post or comment about sympathetic pundits is like "bottling is so unfair and emotive. What happened is at a crunch point in the season a group of inexperienced players struggled with the pyschological challenges of elite sporting success and this translated on to average and even poor performances on the pitch that further sewed seeds of doubt. To give that exact phenomenon a pithier name is just tribal opposition fans, so unfair".

Fucking bottlers.

 

[East Level 2]

Tony adams made a right prick of himself after the game last night. Kept asking Michael Dawson what it was like to play at the bottom of the league. Fair play to Dawson he just laughed it off.

That bent nosed twat has serious mental issues. He needs putting to sleep.

Add in Keown and Merson and you wonder if Terry Henry (and possible Ian Wright) are the only former Arsenal players turned pundits with a brain.

 

[East Level 2]

To bottle or not to bottle; that is the question.
I'm going with bottle, given Arsenal's lead not so long ago coupled with us winning it with three games to play.
Or perhaps our brilliance (and nobody can deny we've been brilliant) pissed on the chips and they settled for second a few weeks back.
Not that arsed really. Think a trip to the Etihad is in order.

 

[schfc6]

Congratulated you guys before, thought I'd come and do so now it's official.

Best team won the league at the end of the day, and when that happens you can have little complaints.

We just need to regroup, be a bit ruthless with sales and have a good summer in the market.

You'd think if you were in charge of Arsenal's planning, this seasons aim would be top 4, next season consolidate and the season after would be to challenge, and the fans would have been happy with that.

However this season obviously raised hopes and expectations, so there's disappointment there, and probably raised expectations for next season, so should we expect to challenge next year, our first year of dealing with Champions League and Premier League?

It's a difficult 1 to call to be honest.

Good on you mate.

I personally don’t believe you bottled it so to speak. Lost your nerve maybe, suffered at the wrong time.
If you have bottled it, I don’t understand why United & Liverpool haven’t?
No one is saying Liverpool’s arsed dropped after they choked last season..

After the scandalous derby result the raggies were 3 points behind us if I’m not mistaken. They’re nearly 20 points behind us now..