21/22 Season Review

[dka1]

Bro we didn't play Valencia this season

 

[Deleted member 102404]

Player of The Season: Saka
Young Player of The Season: Saka
Goal of The Season: Saka goal vs Watford
Signing of The Season: White
Most Improved: Nketiah
Biggest Disappointment (player): Pepé
Lowest Point of The Season: Sp**s away
Best Team Performance: Villa at home
Best Individual Performance: ESR vs Villa at home
Favourite Moment: Beating Chelsea 4-2

 

[boonthegoon]

Player of The Season: Saka
Young Player of The Season: Saka
Goal of The Season: Martinelli vs Watford
Signing of The Season: Ben White (not considering his price - just among the performances of the new signings)
Most Improved: ESR - just for his finishing, wasn't so good last season
Biggest Disappointment (player): Aubameyang
Lowest Point of The Season: Loss to Sp**s and Newcastle
Best Team Performance: City at home till the penalty (yeah not 90 min but still)
Best Individual Performance: Ramsdale vs Leicester away
Favourite Moment: Wolves comeback win

 

[boonthegoon]

Player of The Season: Saka

Young Player of The Season: Saka

Goal of The Season: Xhaka's against United

Signing of The Season: Ødegaard

Most Improved: Xhaka (think he needs some credit, had a quality year)

Lowest Point of The Season: The way we ****ed up the Sp**s away game, or how we treated Auba.

Best Team Performance: City at home.

Best Individual Performance: Partey v City (crazy we lost this match!)

Favourite Moment: Laca v Wolves, amazing.

Where is Biggest Disappointment (player)?

 

[krackpot]

Player of The Season: Xhaka (I hate him, but he was ever-present, like Covid)
Young Player of The Season: Saka (Saved Teta's arse.)
Goal of The Season: Xhaka v/s Utd. (I believed, really believed). Laca exclusively scores crackers too.
Signing of The Season: Ramsdale
Most Improved: Nketiah, Saka, Martinelli
Biggest Disappointment (player): Tierney, ESR, Ødegaard (Never around when you need them)
Lowest Point of The Season: January transfer window.
Best Team Performance: Leeds and Sp**s.
Best Individual Performance: Nketiah v/s Chelski
Favourite Moment: Not Arsenal related, but Liv v/s Wolves. I almost feel sorry for the Liverpool supporters.

 

[Macho]

Spoiler: Arsenal 2021-22 season review: Top-class Tomiyasu, erratic form and the beauty of team goals

By Art de Roché
22m ago

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Another exhausting season at Arsenal is complete. They fell just short of the Champions League places — a huge shame for everyone at the club — but European football is still returning to Emirates Stadium next season.
Before that happens, it’s time to take stock of the highs and lows of 2021-22.

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Best moment of the year?
This has to be the 95th-minute winner against Wolves at Emirates Stadium in February.
It was the only game Arsenal won after conceding first. Even at 1-0 down in the second half, the energy in the ground willed the players on as there was very much something on the line to play for. Belief was there throughout and Alexandre Lacazette’s shot being turned in by Jose Sa, and the celebrations that followed, were the culmination of that.

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Worst moment of the year?
Again, this sticks out like a sore thumb. After dragging themselves back into the top-four race, heading to Tottenham with a four-point advantage was a gift. Getting the approach wrong and allowing Son Heung-min to be so influential was a major error. Although the penalty decision was debatable, everything that followed was nauseating and signalled the beginning of the end for Arsenal’s Champions League hopes.
https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2022/05/13021707/SON-HEUNG-MIN-Sp**s-scaled-e1652422671552.jpg

(Photo: Getty Images)

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Biggest surprise of the year?
Here comes Takehiro Tomiyasu’s big mention. Signing on deadline day as a relative unknown, it is doubtful the majority of Arsenal fans knew what to expect from the Japan international.
It’s fair to say Tomiyasu was a hit from his very first game against Norwich City. Incredibly reliable at right-back, he grew into an invaluable part of Arsenal’s foundation in possession and defence. His ability to play off both feet is crucial and his patience and decision-making when defending brought a calm rarely seen in the back line. Injuries held him back in the second half of the year, but should he recover well in the summer, picking up where he left off would be a major positive next season.

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Funniest moment?
The first instinct was to go with Aaron Ramsdale poking fun at Rob Holding’s hair after the 2-1 win at West Ham, but that may be a bit touchy, so let’s go with something more innocent. Similarly, it comes after a win, when players and coaches show a bit more personality. Arsenal had just beaten Aston Villa 1-0, with Nicolas Jover way out of his technical area barking instructions at the players defending a free kick in the final seconds.
I was already working on a piece around their defensive record from corners, so it presented the opportunity to ask Mikel Arteta about them, which led to this little moment (after some decent answers to the initial questions):

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Goal of the year?
This depends on what type of goal you like seeing most. Some like long-range efforts but I’m a sucker for intricate passing moves. In last year’s season review, The Athletic chose Bukayo Saka’s goal at West Bromwich Albion for that reason. This time around, I’m choosing Emile Smith Rowe’s goal at Chelsea.

From the peril involved in escaping Chelsea’s press with the Granit Xhaka nutmeg to Ødegaard receiving in the right-sided half-space to feed Saka (a common theme), it started so well. Then Saka froze his opposite number and returned the ball to Ødegaard, who set up Smith Rowe to guide it through Reece James’ legs into the far corner. A work of art.

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Game of the year?
This is difficult. Some may be tempted to go for whichever game was highest-scoring, but some that come to mind are the 3-2 win over Watford, the 4-2 win over Chelsea and both Wolves wins. However, I cannot look past the 3-1 win over Sp**s in September. That feels like the game where everything clicked to act as the springboard for the season as a whole. Having options for this category is nice, though, and I’m sure you guys will have other picks.

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Quote of the year?
It appears the most honest assessments tend to come when things are not going well. Given the nature of the end of the season, it is important to acknowledge the frustration of missing out on top four as justified. While most would not have expected Arsenal to qualify for the Champions League at the start of the season, it was in their hands with three games to go.
As a result, Xhaka’s words post-Newcastle United feel right to include before heading into another big season of high-pressure moments: “It doesn’t matter the age. You can be 30, you can 35, you can be 10, you can be 18. If you’re not ready for that, if you’re nervous, stay on the bench, stay at home, don’t come here. We need people to have the balls — I’m sorry to say this — to come here to play because we know this game is one of the most important games for us.”

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Piece I most enjoyed writing
I can’t pick one, so I’ve given you guys three.
Kicking off pre-season with a long read on Emile Smith Rowe was very fun as I felt I was able to get a lot of decent insight into his journey and playing style — the fact it came a week before his new contract and number change also helped. Second, I’ve loved chatting to Kevin Betsy when covering the under-23s this season. My one-to-one interview with him in October was probably one of the best football discussions I’ve had… the only shame was that not everything could fit into the piece. Last, I love players who receive the ball on the half-turn/back foot, so exploring that technique and why it’s so useful was another highlight.

 

[Macho]

and last bit :

Player of the year?
I’ve got my own opinions, but there will actually be something more in-depth around this in the coming days so hang tight.

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Which GIF sums up your season?

Arsenal only drew three games this season. In a sense, this is good as draws killed them last season, but losing 13 this term hamstrung them. When Arsenal had their foundations they cut teams apart but when they did not, they were the ones being sliced open. These moments often came in streaks. Those losing runs need to stop and Arsenal need to be less… erratic next season.

 

[jones]

When Arsenal had their foundations they cut teams apart

When the **** did that happen? Even during our good runs we didn't cut ****, we've won three games with more than two goals difference all season, those three being Soton Leeds and Norwich.

 

[Riou]

Changing my goal of the season to this...



...brilliant move and finish.

Where is Biggest Disappointment (player)?

Feel pretty much every player has been decent, tbh...they have all given their best.

Guess you could say Auba or Pepe, but you could put both down to other factors out of the players control.

 

[A_G]

and last bit :

Art De Roche went through the motions with those categories tbh, mine were better. The GIF one was good tho, should’ve thought of that myself.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Player of The Season: Bukayo Saka
Young Player of The Season: Bukayo Saka
Goal of The Season: Martinelli vs Watford
Signing of The Season: Aaron Ramsdale
Most Improved: Gabriel Magalhaes
Biggest Disappointment (player): Alexandre Lacazette
Lowest Point of The Season: Three losses against Southampton, Palace and Brighton.
Best Team Performance: 2-4 away against Chelsea
Best Individual Performance: Saka vs Man City at home
Favourite Moment: Beating Spuds 3-1 at home

 

[sakalacaxhaka]

Player of The Season: Bukayo Saka
Young Player of The Season: Bukayo Saka
Goal of The Season: Martinelli vs Watford
Signing of The Season: Martin Ødegaard
Most Improved: Gabriel Magalhaes
Biggest Disappointment (player): Aubameyang & Pepe
Lowest Point of The Season: Away to Sp**s
Best Team Performance: away to Wolves or Chelsea
Best Individual Performance: Saka vs Man City at home
Favourite Moment: Beating Spuds 3-1 at home

 

[Macho]

Wanted the dust to settle properly before answering this. @A__G my thumbs down in the opening post wasn't at you but to the whole team.

Player of The Season: Tried my best to be contrarian here, but has to be Saka.
Young Player of The Season: I ain't hailing these choir boys.
Goal of The Season: Xhaka Man U, Laca Southampton
Signing of The Season: For me, Ben White Mr Consistent. Ødegaard and Ramsdale had drastic highs and lows. Tomi injured.
Most Improved: Martinelli. Honorable mention to Nketiah, his all round game has come along nicely.
Biggest Disappointment (player): Pepe's demise killed me, was very hard to take.
Lowest Point of The Season: Aubagate. Seeing the fans and media turn on him broke my heart. Arteta remaining after the international break when we lost back to back games was joint low for me.
Best Team Performance: Hated all of them.
Best Individual Performance: Pepe Wolves.
Favourite Moment: When the Jan transfer window shut, Auba to Barca was made official and all the Arteta shills were sweating profusely.

 

[jones]

Player of The Season: Saka
Young Player of The Season: Saka
Goal of The Season: Auba vs Sp**s (mostly because Riou pasted it couple posts ago, can barely remember anything decent off this season)
Signing of The Season: Tomiyasu even if he was injured, Ramsdale inconsistent and White **** for the fee
Most Improved: Nketiah
Biggest Disappointment (player): not disappointed by any player in particular, in this work environment, the complete lack of coaching etc they've almost been commendable
Lowest Point of The Season: Arteta extension
Best Team Performance: probably City at home, embarrassingly enough
Best Individual Performance: Pepe vs Wolves at home
Favourite Moment: everything before Arteta's extension

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Player of The Season: Saka
Young Player of The Season: Saka
Goal of The Season: Auba vs Sp**s (mostly because Riou pasted it couple posts ago, can barely remember anything decent off this season)
Signing of The Season: Tomiyasu even if he was injured, Ramsdale inconsistent and White **** for the fee
Most Improved: Nketiah
Biggest Disappointment (player): not disappointed by any player in particular, in this work environment, the complete lack of coaching etc they've almost been commendable
Lowest Point of The Season: Arteta extension
Best Team Performance: probably City at home, embarrassingly enough
Best Individual Performance: Pepe vs Wolves at home
Favourite Moment: everything before Arteta's extension

Auba's performance in general in that game was absolutely unbelievable, his touches, link up play and work rate were phenomenal. If Jesus or whoever comes in and puts in a performance half as good as that A-M will be creaming themselves.

 

[SA Gunner]

Player of The Season: Saka
Young Player of The Season: Saka
Goal of The Season: Laca vs Southampton. My personal fav was Eddie’s first vs Chelsea. Really had me punching the air that one. Beautiful moment for Eddie, and the boys.
Signing of The Season: Tomiyasu, top top player
Most Improved: Eddie
Biggest Disappointment (player): Lacazette, really wanted him to get more confidence and goals.
Lowest Point of The Season: Newcastle away
Best Team Performance: City home, the good parts. That was a sign of things to come.
Best Individual Performance: Pepe Wolves at home cameo.
Favourite Moment: Win against Wolves at home in the dying moments. The boys really showed they are playing for one another there. Great to see.

 

[Riou]

Auba's performance in general in that game was absolutely unbelievable, his touches, link up play and work rate were phenomenal.

That was Auba's best ever game for us, even better than the final v Chelsea in 2020.

Played like Henry v Sp**s, was bullying them at times.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

That was Auba's best ever game for us, even better than the final v Chelsea in 2020.

Played like Henry v Sp**s, was bullying them at times.

I'd put Valencia away as the best tbh.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Young Player of The Season: I ain't hailing these choir boys.

Amen to that.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

I'd put Valencia away as the best tbh.

He and Laca was phenomenal that game. I was so proud of them. Felt like the old Arsenal days where we’d go away in Europe and win. The win against Napoli away was fantastic too.