Arsenal Thread | 2025/26

I have been watching a lot of non-league stuff for the past few years, and I've enjoyed it so much more than the pro stuff that I probably won't ever bother going to a Prem game again. It saddens me to say it, but the extortionate cost of the ticket and the travel to and fro is a luxury I can ill-afford now that I'm in my twilight years.
Twenty-odd years ago, it was great fun. Meeting up with mates, watching the game, and a few beers afterwards - what's not to like? Nowadays, the atmosphere in most grounds is flat; the football itself is not as good as it once was, and the whole experience always leaves me saying to myself: "Is this it? Is this what football has come to?"

The most depressing thing is that it won't get any better in the foreseeable future. The fun has gone out of the whole matchday experience, maybe down to VAR or the application of it, but whatever the cause is, I fear it's terminal.

It's like when I used to go and see a big 'name' band somewhere: you pay through the nose to stand about half a mile away from the stage, being jostled and trampled underfoot by the crowd, a pint costs about three times as much as it would in your local pub, and a lot of the time the band are playing to a backing track!
Nowadays, I go and watch a young, up-and-coming band slogging their guts out for little more than petrol money in some back street pub somewhere. They are there because they want to be there; they are not going through the motions, they are giving it their all, and their obvious enjoyment is infectious. It might be because I see myself in them 40 years ago, but whatever it is it's great fun, and I get pleasure from doing it.
This must be copy-paste from RedCafe, football is so easy to be hated once you stop being a serious winner.

I had a young Chelsea lad in my office complaining to me how we destroyed the league by all this money.

If by some miracle Ars slip again and lose the CL and this mediocre City team wins treble, every single soul on this board won't be able to wait until next season kicks in.
 
As much as the diving around isn't something I like to see, it's what a lot of European teams do. Credit to Arsenal for getting the job done, the ref let them play that way and they showed a lot of nous to get the win. You can only beat what is in front of you ultimately, and for all those expecting them to get battered they haven't lost yet in Europe and many thought the same when we played Chelsea.

In an ideal bitter world they win nothing. Failing that they choke in the league and only win the CL.

But if they win both, they deserve the plaudits regardless of the style of their football. It's a results business and whilst we blew away Real and Bayern when we won it the game against Inter was miles off our usual level but I didn't give a shit once the final whistle blew.
 
Look, credit to them. They are on the last leg of a great achievement - but they are not there yet. They spent big to win stuff, like 90% of teams. We wouldn't have accepted the tactics (even back in the day), but you do what you have to do to win. It's a tad ironic that Athletico's new owners are thinking of dumping Simeone because they want to play attractive football and they got put out by a team that was better at it.

Assuming they don't cock up the PL this season. then his job will be to win it again next season, and again and again.

Slot can tell them that even spending another 450m probably won't be enough.
 
I hope Arsenal don’t win the Champions League. I actually hope Bayern get through and beat Arsenal because I would like Kane and Kompany to win.

As for the Premier League I think Arsenal’s next match vs West Ham will be critical for them. West Ham are fighting for their lives, are playing at home, and Arsenal may be distracted after their big but hard fought win yesterday. Well, I can hope.
 
As for the Premier League I think Arsenal’s next match vs West Ham will be critical for them. West Ham are fighting for their lives, are playing at home, and Arsenal may be distracted after their big but hard fought win yesterday. Well, I can hope.
Prediction: West Ham down to 10 men by half-time, via dubious straight red or 2x soft yellows.
 
As for the Premier League I think Arsenal’s next match vs West Ham will be critical for them. West Ham are fighting for their lives, are playing at home, and Arsenal may be distracted after their big but hard fought win yesterday. Well, I can hope.

But they have the two best players ever to grace the game in Saka and Rice ………..
 
I hope Arsenal don’t win the Champions League. I actually hope Bayern get through and beat Arsenal because I would like Kane and Kompany to win.

As for the Premier League I think Arsenal’s next match vs West Ham will be critical for them. West Ham are fighting for their lives, are playing at home, and Arsenal may be distracted after their big but hard fought win yesterday. Well, I can hope.
Don't care about Kane, Vinny yes.
 
Did anyone hear that idiot Arsenal fan saying that if they win the Champions League they should get a golden trophy as they would be the best team ever to win it. Talk about deluded.

New format 2 extra games and will be the first team to do it if they win it! Problem with it is they’ll be a lot of teams who will do it in the future!
 
Congrats to Arsenal for reaching the first UCL final in 20 years despite having the easiest road to final since the rebrand in 92' but sadly for them, they are losing it to one of these two beasts.
 
Yep they’ve had the luckiest draw ever! The win against Bayern was at home and pressure wise is very low

They've had it very easy on paper. Even their league phase draw was kind. Bayern at home and Inter away. But they won all of them, which put them in the position to have a more favourable route to the final. That's the way the competition is now intended to work. It didn't happen for the dippers last year because a lot of the anticipated top 8 found themselves in the playoffs and they ended up with a rejuvenated PSG side instead.

To go an win it they'll have to beat an okay Bayern side or an incredibly good PSG side.

We lost to a Chelsea team we should have comfortably beaten in the final and also lost to Spurs and Lyon in games we should have won.
 
No envy just contempt from me. I liked Wenger’s team. Arteta’s team are the biggest cheats we have seen in this country. They are anti-football.
What I find so galling about the situation with them is that its obvious cheating which the media and pundits either just ignore it or call it 'clever'. Tables reversed a City would be getting absolutely vilified from all angles and the PiMOL would be all over us. It absolutely stinks how corrupt the whole thing is.
 
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We beat both Madrid and Munich went unbeaten but nobody was talking about a golden trophy for City.

Yeah the problem is one or two people come out with this rubbish on fancam it will get a lot of traction! Then we all think majority of fans are saying this wanting this! The is social media world now where 1 person says something and it’s like the whole fanbase are saying it!
 
This must be copy-paste from RedCafe, football is so easy to be hated once you stop being a serious winner.
Eh? I'm no plastic. Believe me, whatever else I am, I'm not a Johnny-come-lately bandwagon jumper. I've had to give up gigging, the only thing I've ever done since leaving school, because of a serious spinal injury. I just cannot travel too far nowadays because of it. I've been forced to retire from the session work I've been doing for the past 30-40 years as well, and I may well spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
I wanted to retire from live music and just do the studio stuff so that I could follow City a bit more, but I've fucked that one up!
I'm not whinging, I've enjoyed my life, and I've enjoyed being on the rollercoaster that is being a City fan, but time and tide and all that.
But there is no getting away from the fact that watching a Premier League game these days is a pretty expensive affair - it's only marginally cheaper watching a Championship game.

I'm like all football fans, I'd go 2-3 times a week if I had a bottomless pit of readies, but living in the real world, it's beyond me.
 
Yeah the problem is one or two people come out with this rubbish on fancam it will get a lot of traction! Then we all think majority of fans are saying this wanting this! The is social media world now where 1 person says something and it’s like the whole fanbase are saying it!

Arsenal are the influencer team the team that you wear the kit to get a good instgram photo or tiktok, they have good fans that don't say the rubbish that comes out , but the clowns on social media give them a worse image more than any other team, Gyokeres music video when they signed him, The if Arteta wins he will dominate for years, The Arsenal tactical accounts etc

All to get clicks and engagement, I dont like troopz but he put it best all these influences and Celebrities have come out of everywhere since Arsenal have been doing better. Putting ridiculous statements out , rage baiting content, I didn't mind Arsenal or their fans but this constant content , click baiting , engagement farming, its starting to effect alot of the fans that follow these accounts and they are becoming unbearable.
 

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