Arsenal Thread | 2025/26

bridgeno1 said:
Question for the City fans who have been to recent games at the Etihad. Do you feel a nervousness in the stadium in recent weeks?

It's hard to tell when watching on TV but I sensed in the Barcodes game the players were nervous and there was a period in the 2nd half when the crowd sensed this and started a rendition of Blue Moon. But what is the vibe like in the stadium?
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I don’t really think so. It’s impossible to keep recreating the same feelings or feeling them as strongly.

2012 was terribly nerve wrecking esp QPR, Newcastle away (chasing champs lge) and against United, title rivals and having to win to overtake them on Goal difference with 2 matches left.

2019 winning 18? on the bounce to overtake liverpool and winning it by a point with Liverpool only losing one match, to us, which was probably the best ever Prem match of all time, for standards of team.

2023, lesser so but still nerve wrecking knowing we were so close to the treble.

This year pales into significance, to those years, as we’re over achieving in my mind (transition year) and after the last couple of years we’re more than content with our lot.
 
supercity88 said:
Yeah, there's a reason the Arsenal fan on here has asked about it. There's clearly a nervousness at Arsenal about it. Naturally, not winning it for so long and falling just short so often will become a mental hurdle.

This might be their best year, but last year was the one in my opinion. 84pts the dippers got, Arsenal had got 89pts the season before and 84pts the season before that but only managed 74 last campaign.
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No nerves now. We’ve seen off the GPC and various anointed successors, got 100 points, seen off Klopp-ball (a genuine threat to our supremacy at their best, but ultimately they were Harald Schmid to City’s Edwin Moses), won 2 kinds of Treble, been Undisputed Champions of Europe, won 4 in a row, and none of that has made a dint in the media’s belief that the Natural Order of Things is somehow upset by seeing Lickle City top of the shop, year in, year out. And - I hope - it’s not made City fans who’ve seen all of that, and seen the decades of up-and-down stuff before it, feel in any way entitled to any trophy or title they haven’t earned by being better than the rest.

We’re levels off the team that came back from 2 down to beat Villa and win the league 4 years ago, let alone the Champions League winners the following year, and light years off what we saw before Lockdown when nobody could get the ball off us for about 2 years. But much, much better than last year. If I were an Arsenal fan I’d be feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of not winning this year. Especially given where they’ve been compared to the chasing pack. They’d need to win their last 11 games in the bounce even to beat what they got to come second to us 2 years ago. And they ain’t doing that.
 
Pezzer2 said:
They really are despicable. They are not learning, their emotions are all over the place . They drop points and they lose their heads and they win they celebrate like they’ve won the Champs League final. At least under Pep we take a game at a time and try to remain calm and composed .
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Not sure we were calm after the Newcastle game.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:


Seems Arsenal were too quick to play Trossard. He’s obviously still feeling the effects of concussion, given his balance issues here.
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Fucking hell that's awful. Keep saying it but refs are fucked as the cheating is off the charts
 
supercity88 said:
It's the same apprehension any home fans get when they're a goal to the good but under pressure. It's certainly nothing more than that. I'd say we're probably one of the best set of fans in the country for keeping our heads when the pressure is high. Possibly because we've been through it time and time again and have seen City get results from positions of despair quite frequently. The 99 playoff final was a lesson in not writing City off! QPR another. Brighton away, although we weren't behind for long. Villa 2-0 down knowing we probably needed to win.

The fans respond to it and boost the team. I don't think there's the same nervousness you'd get at the Emirates where losing the title is most certainly weighing on every Arsenal fan's mind.
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I have never felt as bad at a football match as I did on 13/5/12. Gillingham 99 and Villa 22 don’t even run it close.

I felt sick to my stomach, as I know everyone inside Etihad did.

I had my 2 1/2 year-old grandson on my lap, and I could tell that the atmosphere in the ground was transmitting itself to him. It was impossible to keep smiling to try to cheer him up.

He obviously can’t remember being there, but he is enormously proud that he was.
 
On the subject of nervousness at City we have to make the point that it is our fans who have the experience! Pep has made the point that fewer than half the team has won the PL with City and on Saturday there were only 4 regulars from the last title winners who kicked off against Newcastle. But in the crowd there were many veterans of some real nailbiters on the last day of recent seasons. Our fans have seen it all before and the real tension of 2012 and QPR has gradually died away - not to be replaced by ice cool calm but by encouragement and noise. So the issue is, which team can hold its nerve and take most points in the run in? Neither team looked nervy at the weekend but as the end of the season gets closer …..who will blink first?
 
Vienna_70 said:
I have never felt as bad at a football match as I did on 13/5/12. Gillingham 99 and Villa 22 don’t even run it close.

I felt sick to my stomach, as I know everyone inside Etihad did.

I had my 2 1/2 year-old grandson on my lap, and I could tell that the atmosphere in the ground was transmitting itself to him. It was impossible to keep smiling to try to cheer him up.

He obviously can’t remember being there, but he is enormously proud that he was.
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Yeah 2012 was the worst and probably won't be beaten, I certainly hope not anyway! I think we all had our minds wandering to the absolute hell we were about to suffer, throwing it away to the rags. The constant jokes from the fucker at work, the press and papers absolutely destroying us and, in that moment, after one trophy in 35 years and no league title for 44 it felt like it was going to be our only chance and end in the worst possible way.

Turned out alright though!
 
bridgeno1 said:
Question for the City fans who have been to recent games at the Etihad. Do you feel a nervousness in the stadium in recent weeks?

It's hard to tell when watching on TV but I sensed in the Barcodes game the players were nervous and there was a period in the 2nd half when the crowd sensed this and started a rendition of Blue Moon. But what is the vibe like in the stadium?
Click to expand...
Genuinely no. Atmosphere was buzzing on Saturday, nothing more than the feeling of trying to see out any game. Celebrations after the game were bigger than a routine game. The fact of the matter is most of us got everything we ever wanted in Istanbul, everything that follows is a nice bonus. But the fanbase knows how to manage a run-in now. I don't mean that in a headfucky way, we've just seen everything - won games with the last kick, lost games with the last kick, come from behind, won and lost derby finals, won and lost CL finals. I think I've made my peace with the fact that one day we will lose a close run league, just hope it's not this year. But I feel like a 400m runner coming round the bend just looking forward to enjoying the spring.
 
Must be infuriating for them knowing that if they did their job they would have had this league signed off yet instead have invited us right back into this race
 
I expect them to beat Chelsea tomorrow so anything else will be a bonus. With Chelsea you just don't know what version is going to show up. On their day they can do it, let's hope tomorrow is such s day. Arsenal losing tomorrow and at Brighton while we beat Forest world be a dream scenario. We'd be a point ahead with a game in hand.
 
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