Premier League 2022/23

[dka1]

Agree with all of this, and also need to keep reminding myself that we all said coming into the season that the goal was top 4. Looks pretty good to achieve that at this point, so I don't know what the stress is all about. We are just gonna be stronger next year.

Exactly, I feel we are losing sight of this a little. That's not to say I want us to fail in the title chase, course not.

But composure lads composure, we are far ahead of expectations and there's still all to play for, there's no reason to stress at all.

I'm here sipping akpeteshie (if you know, you know) relaxed as a mofo you get me, shadow boxing Pep in the corner, f*ck him and pressures all on City, they are expected to win it.

Anyway, I'm just repeating myself at this point so I'll see myself out of posting in this thread until the City game, hoping for that sweet sweet W.

 

[Gooner_girl14]

I blame the FA Cup match vs City for our downturn. We made too many changes, seemed happy to lose/get knocked out and lost momentum. We have a very young and inexperienced squad so it’s crucial you develop a winning mentality and culture. I feel we sacrificed the FA Cup too easily and we haven’t won since.
We absolutely cannot lose on Wed.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

It's not FM where young players and your team get better every year. Irrespective of what the goal was this year (top four) we have a golden opportunity this year. The same team can easily drop off next year.

Top four is done. We have to set things straight and beat City. We are going for the title. Second place would be disappointing.

 

[Sniper Mik]

It's not FM where young players and your team get better every year. Irrespective of what the goal was this year (top four) we have a golden opportunity this year. The same team can easily drop off next year.

Top four is done. We have to set things straight and beat City. We are going for the title. Second place would be disappointing.

If you'd told any Arsenal fan on May 15, 2004 that the relegated Leicester City they beat on the day will win a league title before we do again, there would've been calls to have you institutionalized.

 

[albakos]

It's not FM where young players and your team get better every year. Irrespective of what the goal was this year (top four) we have a golden opportunity this year. The same team can easily drop off next year.

Top four is done. We have to set things straight and beat City. We are going for the title. Second place would be disappointing.

I share a similar sentiment. Yes, the initial goal at start of season was Top 4 and that is as good as done imo.

But as situations evolve, so do the expectations. We had an unbelievable half season of getting a whooping 50 points in 19 games, by dropping only 7.

This is a golden opportunity, now we are in a proper title race, we've been top of the league for months and if we don't win it come May it will be a big dissapointment, some may call it failure as well, but I won't go as far.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Previously, and on record, I've said multiple times that I believe that we'd eclipse Liverpool's 3 decades-long wait for a title triumph.

This is one time I'd dearly love to be proven wrong

 

[SA Gunner]

Don’t think it’s fair to categorise those feeling doubts following this weekend as either wannabe ‘Told you so’s’ or being manipulated by a negative media.

I want Arsenal to win this league more than anything. They really made a believer out of me these past few months.

But, the past two performances have allowed some doubts to creep in. We’ve looked short on ideas and sloppy the past 180 mins of football. Miles away from the team that got us to the top of the table.

A short amount of time compared with our months of good work? Yes, but that’s how form often ebbs and flows, up and down. The bad signs are there that we’re heading for a downturn. We’ve a slender lead now after all.

The end of last season plays a big part in these doubts too. Our bad run last season saw us drop silly points to teams we’d have comfortably beat only weeks earlier. These last few performances feel too familiar.

Also, although not directly at yourself, but can we stop with the ‘our target was top 4’ crap? We’ve been top of the league much of the season and would have had a very healthy lead if these results had gone our way. If we crumble and finish 4th, I’ll be far from ****ing happy.

Finish 2nd and I’ll feel we’ve thrown away the opportunity of a lifetime. We might not get this close again for another 5-10 years for all we know.

Yeah it’s natural to be worried about our form, because it’s dropped off for sure.

The question I would ask you is why our form drops off and seemingly doesn’t recover again. But our opposition teams are just going to pick it up and run away?

Outside of actual injuries, what else are you looking at? History? History didn’t stop Liverpool three years ago, nor did it stop City and Chelsea when they won their first league titles in years. Why is it so certain when it comes to Arsenal?

As for not being close to the league for years to come, what makes you so sure about that? Again it’s possible of course, but likely, I’d say no. I say no simply looking at the quality, and trajectory of this team. It would literally have to be broken apart to lose its effectiveness and zero further investment would also need to happen.

I get that you are scared, and the past plays a role in that of course. You scared that the media’s Arsenal will come back and haunt you. It’s natural to feel scared, but I’m saying, don’t be. This team has a special quality to it, and it’s still maturing.

What will derail our season is injuries. Lose key players as we did last season at the crucial time, and it’s trouble for sure. But if we are fit as we are now, and get reinforcements in for the next 17 games, we’ll win the league, and it won’t be close.

You need to understand one thing this year. There is no team in the league who can deliver as consistent a performance as we can, even with us in “poor form”. You think United and City can compete with this Everton and Brentford we’ve seen play recently? Wait and see what happens to them.

This is a team that has you anxious about winning the title, when before the season you probably thought we would never see top 4 again because of Conte pre seasoning and Newcastle. That’s the levels you are dealing with here.

 

[bastun]

2nd half of the season will be a lot harder as teams are paying us huge respect now and park the bus. We played two extremely physical sides who had almost the same game plan. Very low block with no build up from the back. Only long kicks to the forwards. Saliba and Gabriel need to up their game as more and more teams will have the same approach. We also struggle to unlock defences because of jesus absence. Since his injury our left side of the attack is non existant.

 

[Sanchez11]

Need a thread title change imo

 

[A_G]

Need a thread title change imo

 

[dka1]

It's not FM where young players and your team get better every year. Irrespective of what the goal was this year (top four) we have a golden opportunity this year. The same team can easily drop off next year.

Top four is done. We have to set things straight and beat City. We are going for the title. Second place would be disappointing.

Well yes of course, nothing is guaranteed in football but at the same time what can you see from our team?

Well it's all of the signs of a team that can get better, again it's not a guarantee that they will but a lot of signs are there to say that they probably will; tactically good manager, since Raul left we've made astute signings, harmony between Edu and Arteta in terms of club vision.

When Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title in 2018/19, sure it was an opportunity missed but everyone and their dog could see they had more title fights in them. I see similar with us.

The overall point is frankly, if you expect us to win the title and then throw a tantrum if we don't then I find that completely unreasonable; given our resources, expected finish and who we're up against.

Being disappointed as you mentioned is one thing, and that's perfectly reasonable but the season doesn't become a total failure just because we couldn't win the title.

 

[field442]

I think Wednesday is make or break in terms of the title challenge. I think the psychological impact of a defeat coupled with them going above us will be hard to recover from.

On the flip side if we win I think the boost we get from it will see us kick on and be hard to catch. If we beat City i fully expect us to win the next three games after that and open up a 9 point gap which will be difficult for City to claw back.

A draw might favour us slightly going forward but I don't think we'll gain much confidence from it so i worry we'd continue in this slump.

 

[Sanchez11]

fs

 

[DUFFMAN]

Well yes of course, nothing is guaranteed in football but at the same time what can you see from our team?

Well it's all of the signs of a team that can get better, again it's not a guarantee that they will but a lot of signs are there to say that they probably will; tactically good manager, since Raul left we've made astute signings, harmony between Edu and Arteta in terms of club vision.

When Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title in 2018/19, sure it was an opportunity missed but everyone and their dog could see they had more title fights in them. I see similar with us.

The overall point is frankly, if you expect us to win the title and then throw a tantrum if we don't then I find that completely unreasonable; given our resources, expected finish and who we're up against.

Being disappointed as you mentioned is one thing, and that's perfectly reasonable but the season doesn't become a total failure just because we couldn't win the title.

I’m trying to convince myself that if we don’t win the league this season it’s ok as I don’t want this young team to peak too early and they lose their motivation for the next few years

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Well yes of course, nothing is guaranteed in football but at the same time what can you see from our team?

Well it's all of the signs of a team that can get better, again it's not a guarantee that they will but a lot of signs are there to say that they probably will; tactically good manager, since Raul left we've made astute signings, harmony between Edu and Arteta in terms of club vision.

When Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title in 2018/19, sure it was an opportunity missed but everyone and their dog could see they had more title fights in them. I see similar with us.

The overall point is frankly, if you expect us to win the title and then throw a tantrum if we don't then I find that completely unreasonable; given our resources, expected finish and who we're up against.

Being disappointed as you mentioned is one thing, and that's perfectly reasonable but the season doesn't become a total failure just because we couldn't win the title.

I've said the same about our 2007/2008 team. And we never got there. We have to capitalise on the now. Harmony and probability of getting there the next couple of years means **** all.

That being said, a tantrum if we don't win it is too much. But we will look back at this in a few years thinking that this should've been it.

Beat City on Wednesday and have something big to look back on.

 

[dka1]

I've said the same about our 2007/2008 team. And we never got there. We have to capitalise on the now. Harmony and probability of getting there the next couple of years means **** all.

That being said, a tantrum if we don't win it is too much. But we will look back at this in a few years thinking that this should've been it.

Beat City on Wednesday and have something big to look back on.

Yeah for sure I agree with that, it's just that we can try as hard as possible but sometimes it just doesn't happen, I'm just hoping we hold onto perspective if it doesn't.

As for 07/08 meh, the difference for me is the rate at which we picked up points in the 1st half of the season. 50 points in 19 games is nuts and the way we were beating teams into submission isn't something I expected I'd see at Arsenal for a long time.

Also every team has wobbles, every single team (ok maybe not the invincibles lol) so I think it's too early to be worrying. If we go through the next 4 games with no wins, by all means sh!tting pants in unison is warranted.

 

[mpower2540]

I've said the same about our 2007/2008 team. And we never got there. We have to capitalise on the now. Harmony and probability of getting there the next couple of years means **** all.

That being said, a tantrum if we don't win it is too much. But we will look back at this in a few years thinking that this should've been it.

Beat City on Wednesday and have something big to look back on.

The key difference for me is we sold Hleb and Flamini from that team while also letting go of Lassana Diarra in January for some reason, a lot of our top talents ended up leaving during those periods. I just don't see anyone crucial from the current group going atm (touch wood). My concern is not getting our number 1 targets in the summer.

I was not expecting a title charge at all this year and I still feel our inexperience will probably cost us but we're doing bloody well to be where we are. Try and enjoy it, easier said than done but it's just nice to see us look like a proper team again.

As much as people hate Neville he's right about it being a huge amount of pressure to deal with and this group of players succumbing to the pressure of a title charge should not be a reason to go apeshit. Last season we botched it badly and the criticism/frustration was valid imo, this season I'm perfectly happy with champions league being back and it's also obvious we've improved in so many of the areas I was skeptical about.

 

[albakos]

Yeah for sure I agree with that, it's just that we can try as hard as possible but sometimes it just doesn't happen, I'm just hoping we hold onto perspective if it doesn't.

As for 07/08 meh, the difference for me is the rate at which we picked up points in the 1st half of the season. 50 points in 19 games is nuts and the way we were beating teams into submission isn't something I expected I'd see at Arsenal for a long time.

Also every team has wobbles, every single team (ok maybe not the invincibles lol) so I think it's too early to be worrying. If we go through the next 4 games with no wins, by all means sh!tting pants in unison is warranted.

All was going well and then this

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Anyway. We should stop **** our pants collectively and support the team. We are 6 points ahead of City if we win our game in hand and people are ****ting bricks about top four.

City are coming to the Emirates. A nine point gap is about to be made.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

If we win the league it will not be by a wide margin. We will most likely have to claw and crawl over the line! We are not that much better than City or United and with the referees, media, FA against us it will be a back alley fight. We just have to be the dogs with the most fight in us! I trust Arteta and the boys to be those dogs!