I’ll admit that it was Gunnerblog that inspired me to adopt this feature. It seemed like a good idea to use it for my blog as well, so I thought, what the hell, let’s do it!
Essentially what I’ve done is snapped excerpts from my articles on this blog throughout the expired season and compiled the best bits into a mega-nutshell, in an attempt to recreate the whirlpool of events that was 2014/15. It’s fun to see what I got wrong, what I got right and how my mood pendulumed as the season panned out.
Okay, let’s get on with it.
Arsene’s title challenge is in Cech so far | June 30, 2015 “Cech has solved the nit-picky goalkeeper debate. Squad-wise, we’re good enough to sustain a league challenge. Failing to win this season under guises of injuries or incomplete transfers will prove, beyond any doubt, that Wenger cannot guarantee genuine success.
Not that I’m rooting for him to fail. Indeed, for the first time in a while, I’m allowing myself to fantasize. To fantasize about an Arsenal who, despite Wenger’s tactical incompleteness and his tendency to overplay his key men, have the cojones to pull themselves out of ruts and go toe-to-toe with Chelsea.”
Walcott wages part of modern football | August 1, 2015 “Football was always going toward a direction where £140K forwards are found on the benches. This is why I wouldn’t mind someone like Podolski staying – £100K is not hugely outrageous for a 29 year old 100+ capped German international with power and pedigree. I don’t like it, but such is footballing life. Roll with it.”
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea: Ox in the box makes Mourinho melancholy | August 3, 2015 “I don’t think this was the tearing of a psychological barrier, nor am I confident that we’re winning the Premier League. Indeed, to put a dent on things, I fear matches like these could serve to hide the ugly truths further. It could be lucky, it could be a tad undeserved, and I know it’s unhealthy to think this, but I don’t care. And while there’s always the pessimist side of me rearing its ugly head sometime in the future, I’m just glad it’s not today.”
“Premier League : Top two
I am of the firm belief that any Arsenal cannot win the league under Wenger (anymore). I believe that any good team in the world needs a manager to rival their standards, for them to win trophies that matter, and Wenger has not been that man for a good five years.If we make the climb nothing like it, but since that seems hugely unlikely, even finishing second with this manager is achievement enough for me.
Champions League : Semi-finals
All I want in this competition is for Arsenal to gain some swagger in Europe, because there’s really no point in aiming for 3rd and 4th all these years if we’re not making a mark when we should. Is that too much to ask?
FA Cup : A ticket to Wembley
Not to say the FA Cup is an entirely irrelevant competition but come on, if we hadn’t won the trophy these past two years we wouldn’t be calling it “the most prestigious cup in the world”, amidst other exaggerations. While it’s a nice bonus for the club to achieve it, the FA Cup definitely should not hold the be-all and end-all esteem.
Win a major trophy
If we fail to win the Champions League, it’s imperative for us to win the league. And if we miss out on the Premier League, going all the way among the elite of Europe should be a must. This isn’t unrealistic – it’s what we were supposed to achieve by now.”
Arsenal season preview: Wenger’s incapability to be laid bare? | August 9, 2015 “The high levels of ecstasy will drop to equal outcries of anger when (not if, when) the manager fails to deliver what was expected of him – a Premier League win, or a Champions League challenge. This time it will be impossible to lay the blame at another person’s door.
The pessimism in this post might surprise a lot, but you’d be more surprised at the prophecy of this post if you re-read it in May. This season is not about Arsenal winning the Premier League or the CL – it’s about Wenger failing to achieve that mandate, and finally getting recognized for those failures.”
Arsenal 0-2 West Ham: Car crash opener | August 10, 2015 “Say whatever you will about Wenger and his ability to keep Arsenal among the top when the club had no money (and there are a lot of loopholes in that argument, let me tell you) but the truth is that with this current team and with the Premier League’s current state, it would take a special kind of incompetence to not top the pile come May, or at least fall three points short of the champions. Yet, I can guarantee you this is what we’ll see.”
Wenger is to blame, but not for buying no one | September 4, 2015 “Arsene Wenger is mostly right in not buying anymore (yes, I of all people am saying that). I can understand his appreciation of the midfield, and I can sympathize with him giving Giroud and Coquelin a chance.
Why then, is Wenger to blame? Well, for the simple reason of what is to follow. That, even with the resources and the players and the money and the Infinity Stones at his disposal, he won’t be able to do what is necessary to win what he has to. That, he won’t pay utmost attention to detail unless things go really bad – and by then, it may be too late.”
Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal: Media must be judge, jury and prosecutor for Costa | September 20, 2015 “Public pressure would mean that Costa would get some sort of retroactive fine/ban, but don’t kid yourself that’s any kind of justice. It’s not justice for us, and who are you giving justice to if not to the victim themselves? Even if the result has escaped justice, Diego Costa must get what’s coming to him. Not through FA hearings from where they’re supposed to but won’t, but at least, at the very least, through the media. If the referees won’t prosecute him, the pundits on air must.”
Arsenal 2-3 Olympiacos: Europa League is what we deserve | September 30, 2015 “It’s the laid-back mentality that really irked me. That, even though losing the game would mean catastrophe (as we know now), there was no sense of urgency or gumption in the team. Not for one second is it feasible to go all-out assault from the word go – but then again, even the antithesis is true.
Players are a reflection of their manager. Look at David Moyes – he made a title-winning squad starkly average. Diego Simeone instilled passion and commitment in a moderately gifted Atletico side. Now look at Arsenal. World beaters in Ozil, Sanchez and Cech –reliable lynchpins in Cazorla, Koscielny, Coquelin and Walcott and some promising legs in Bellerin, Chamberlain and Welbeck. The fact that they’re failing at Arsenal and won’t elsewhere is down to the manager and how he sets them, not much else.”
Arsenal 3-0 United: What this team can do | October 5, 2015 “[The win] especially felt all the more sweet considering the humiliation we faced midweek. With the pressure on him and van Gaal licking his lips in anticipation, Wenger straightened up, got the team’s mentality on point and – aided by an absolutely rocking Emirates Stadium – won the game in the first 20 minutes.
But (and there’s always a ‘but’ when it comes to Wenger), it really bugs me how the performance had to come on the back of a poor showing against Olympiacos. A quite remarkable question from the journalist summed up my mood after the result (paraphrasing):
‘Arsene – great result, but why don’t we see this every week?’ ”
Arsenal 2-0 Bayern: Think later, celebrate now | October 22, 2015 “I don’t know about you, but I’m sure proud to be Arsenal today. Despite the pessimism and the “That didn’t mean much” reflections I’m sure to gather later, now’s not the time to look into that. Now’s the time I can go to my friends and say – eyes swelling with pride – that my beloved beat the world’s best. That, the football club I’ve been supporting for as long as I can remember has gained the world’s respect, be it temporary.”
Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Arsenal: Bad omens | October 29, 2015 “I think it’s ‘pain’fully clear that something is fundamentally wrong in this club, on this front. It could be the way the players train, the number of times they are played or with the people examining them. Either way, all of these factors are accountable to Arsene Wenger. He must take the blame, and he must take the lead in solving the conundrum. It’s seven years too late anyway.
And even when they were injured, their replacements didn’t cover themselves in glory. Absolutely none of them performed remotely as good as they can, and the fact that they tanked against a Championship side shows how worrying that is.”
Bayern 5-1 Arsenal: Mauled | November 5, 2015 “We gave up. It’s as simple as that. We didn’t use inconvenient circumstances against us as fuel for motivation, we used it as excuses for failure. When things are going great, this team is an absolute joy to watch. We pass the ball about magnificently, rip the best teams apart and score screamers worthy of the highlight reel. But when things go south, you wonder what will get the team out of their depression. Our propellers won’t spin, and we sure as hell can’t get it started on our own.”
If not Arsene Wenger, who could you possibly blame our injuries on? | December 3, 2015 “Is there a case for blaming our medical staff? It’s possible. However, Shad Forsythe was one of the most sought-after fitness coaches who worked with Germans participating in the back-ends of the Champions League and league challenges in 2014, and made sure they won the World Cup in the same year.
Instead of using data to analyze the opposition and form a game-plan, Wenger simply bungs his best possible XI on the pitch, hoping for the best. When players get injured, reserves from the bench take over and are subsequently overplayed. It doesn’t take a genius to realize how static, stubborn and stagnant an approach that is.”
Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland: League there for the taking | December 6, 2015 “It’s hard to remember a league season where winning it could be so effortless. So much so, that it would hardly feel as deserved as winning it eleven years ago felt. It’s not rocket science anymore. That, by no stretch of the imagination, means that winning the league is pointless, but it certainly means that with our resources and competition, it would be criminal if we fail to.”
Olympiacos 0-3 Arsenal: Gritty Giroud fires Gunners through | December 11, 2015 “Giroud and Alexis Sánchez are always presumed to be polar opposites of an attacking footballer. While Alexis’ personality is characterized by his pace and prolificacy in front of goal, Giroud cuts a more static figure, and one not as versatile.
However, there are a lot of elements which also make Olivier quite similar to Sánchez. The hard work Giroud puts every game tends to go unnoticed because he’s not as fast as Alexis, but that shouldn’t underrate the sentiment. How many times have we given Theo Walcott leeway for not working hard enough? Even if he seems to be running through cement, at least Giroud makes that effort to run.
It’s about time we stop getting on Giroud’s back. Crave all you want for a new striker, but don’t belittle Giroud’s contribution to justify that.”
Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City: If that’s the best England offers, this should be easy | December 22, 2015 “This league is forgiving. Losing to West Bromwich Albion is not as harmful as it would have been two years ago, because other teams in and around us are doing the same. Despite how unpredictable this team is under the spotlight, it’s becoming apparent that other teams are, too. Winning the league would be being the best out of a reasonable bunch, but it would still be being the best.
The win yesterday was excellent, but it also put all eyes on us. We’re the favourites for a league that no one seems capable of winning.”
Southampton 4-0 Arsenal: No excuses | December 28, 2015 “In sheer contrast to the gallant, sensational and somewhat inspiring win against Manchester City last week, this was downright poor. Ridiculously slapstick and unnervingly Arsenal, it was yet another example on why we cannot let our hopes up when it comes to this Premier League challenge. We may win it, we may not – but let’s not assume that our competitors’ poor form hands the league to us. We may be worse.”
Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal: Denied | January 14, 2016 “If we’d have managed to keep the lead, that would have been winning ugly. Winning ugly is not scrapping a 1-0 against Newcastle at home. That’s a symptom of mental frailty rather than of fortitude. Those symptoms manifested themselves again, causing us to fail to defeat a sub-standard side.
Buying Mohamed Elneny is good for depth and all that, but it’s not players who will solve this conundrum. Keeping the team’s psychology intact as the club enters a run of testing fixtures is vital if we want to win the Premier League, and challenge in Europe (don’t laugh). That comes from above.”
Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea: Gunners bomb under pressure of expectation… again | January 26, 2016 “At Arsenal – with a lack of leadership in the players, an uncertain run of form and Arsene Wenger’s track record with player management in tough times – Mertesacker panicked. He lunged for a ball he knew he couldn’t get. It doesn’t matter if Costa dived to enhance that. The intent was clear, the mistake was made, and an asshole like Costa was always going to make the most of that.”
Arsenal 0-0 Southampton: Same old indecisiveness wrecks title credentials | February 3, 2016 “It’s not a classified secret that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenals are unpredictable under the pressure of expectation. Whenever we’re expected to defeat teams like Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton et al, more often than not they culminate in nervy performances.
This league season is an opportunity in itself. Three or four years ago, dropped points at Newcastle or Sunderland could mean calamity, because a Sir Alex Ferguson or a Jose Mourinho would gain points over you, forcing you to play catch-up. Now? We’ve dropped points against West Brom, Norwich, Southampton and Chelsea (yeah, they’re part of this group) and can still feasibly walk the league. Yet, when we should be soaring, we’re rotting in our fourth-placed comfort zone, five points adrift.”
Arsenal 2-1 Leicester: Immense | February 15, 2016 “I’ve always reiterated that while results are infinitely superior to performances, it’s the performance that sets the scaffolding of future results. Unless, of course, you beat the league leaders with a minute to go.
It’s been twelve years since we’ve won the league. Think about that for a moment. And think about how talented our squad is, and how flawed are our competitors. Our record in big games this season has been exemplary. Aside from overturning top teams in the league, we’ve also beaten Bayern Munich and Olympiacos when it has really, really mattered.
And get this – toward the end, we employed a 4-4-2 and beat Leicester City. If that isn’t one of the ironies of the season, I don’t know what is.”
Arsenal 0-2 Barcelona: Boys vs men | February 25, 2016 “To suggest we deserved any kind of result would be inane. Arsenal were second best the whole night and always set up for an ugly, and (to an extent) fluke win. It’s valid for any team facing this Barcelona to set up the way we did, but that doesn’t mean we can in any way compare ourselves to them. There’s absolutely no shame in losing to the best team in the world, but till when are we going to tolerate that? When will we rectify our mistakes and try to emulate Barcelona?”
United 3-2 Arsenal: Disgraceful | February 29, 2016 “It’s unreal how many opportunities we’ve spurned this season. They’re not even particularly hard ones. Defeating a Manchester United with Marcus Rojo, Guillermo Varela, Memphis Depay, Marcus Rashford and Michael Carrick at centre back should be easy for Aston Villa, forget Arsenal. We’re a bottler. Arsenal is the human manifestation of an Oliver Twist who says, “Please sir, may I have some less?”
What would Mesut Ozil think when he sees the rag around him? The German has been carrying our team and we’re mocking him. He wasn’t even supposed to have leadership material. He’s an introvert. Yet, as of this moment the team’s psychology is wrecked enough for him to rise to the top. If everyone reached his level we’d be winning the Champions League. As of now, we can’t even scrape a draw against the worst Manchester United in 20 years.”
Arsenal 1-2 Swansea City: What’s new? | March 3, 2016 “What is new, is that slowly but surely, there has been a realization that Wenger is not good enough for Arsenal. They know what to expect from his Arsenals. Four years ago, if Arsenal were 2-1 down to a team like Swansea with five minutes left on the clock, the stadium would have been rocking with “Come on Arsenal” chants. Yesterday, not one bothered to exercise the same sadomasochism. They knew Arsenal had given up the ghost. They knew there was no point in expecting more.”
FA Cup ‘dream’ is over, and so is Arsene Wenger | March 14, 2016 “Wenger doesn’t deserve to be an Arsenal legend. Sure, you could say that his work in his first decade was nothing sort of magnificent, and I’d entirely agree. But what he has done after that has been criminal. By exaggerating the dearth of monetary resources, pampering average players, criticizing everyone but himself and eating £74.5m salary along the way, he manipulated half the fanbase into thinking he’s some God and selfishly used them to stay longer in the job. A repulsive power-hungry stubborn character like him does not deserve to be given the dignity whilst resigning.
As soon as that is done, the club needs an immediate restructuring on board level. Regardless of the additions and exits we see there, we must make certain the next manager does not have the same autonomy Wenger had. It was absolute power that corrupted him and if we’re not careful, it will be absolute power that corrupts whoever we appoint next.
And finally, we owe a massive apology to the people who saw this coming years ago.”
West Ham 3-3 Arsenal: Super Bottlers FC | April 10, 2016 “When Andy Carroll nodded in the third goal with some help from Gabriel Paulista, I actually shrugged. It was an odd reaction to an otherwise gut-wrenching moment, but a reaction almost every Arsenal fan can relate with.”
Apathy engulfs Arsenal as purgatory awaits | April 25, 2016 “Six or seven years ago, drawing away to Sunderland wouldn’t be treated by as visceral a reaction as yesterday was. But that’s just a representation of where we are right now. Every failure to perform at optimum yet not learn from it over the years has been so predictable, that the backlash to it has increased tenfold every time.
I’m just going to say it – this is the worst time to be an Arsenal fan. I don’t know about you, but the hopelessness of the situation has taken its toll over me. I’ve ceased to feel the very rudiments of what a football fan is supposed to! I don’t really feel joy, sadness, frustration and hope while watching football anymore.”
“The planned protest wasn’t the biggest surprise of the week, and from what I’ve heard it was a failure. Not that I had much faith in it – the divisions among the fans are genuinely irreparable. Even if there is more consensus than ever on the right path for the club, the volatile nature of it has merely escalated.
I’m convinced that even in an imminent post-Wenger Arsenal, regardless of what happens these divisions will not fade, at least for the first five years.”
Arsenal 4-0 Villa: An unexpected, hilarious St. Totteringham’s! | May 16, 2016 “If you don’t find pleasure in watching your hated rivals sink to unimaginable new lows, you’re in danger of not enjoying the sport ever. Tottenham would have laughed at us were the situation reversed, and could you blame them? Banter was the very bedrock of football popularity, and to see it shine in our favour is simply magnificent.
If not celebrating a title victory, yesterday was an excellent surrogate to get the fans together and share something special. This campaign has been trying and testing at the best of times, so to see it sign off on a relative high is great.”
—
Whoo. That’s that, I guess, for this season. Looking that, the joy of the final day was very, very badly needed.
I will be drastically changing my schedule to keep up with the EURO’s (Go France!), so I’m not sure I will have time to give my thoughts on the whole Jamie Vardy thing. Needless to say, I hope time presents itself.
P.S. Also read:
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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