Have Arsenal genuinely turned a new leaf or is it a false dawn?

The majority of posters on this board seem to think the team's problems are behind us; that fourth place is guaranteed. I'm not so sure. Let's have a look at the games since the unmentionable loss to Sunderland and see where the optimism has come from:


Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham - Spurs were battering us until that 40th minute implosion. Had the game gone into halftime at 2-0 it would have been mightily hard to come back from that scoreline.

Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal - Liverpool battered us all game, missed a penalty and then we go and score in the last minute to rob the game.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Newcastle - Decent game, looked all-square. We score (again) in the last minute to rob the game. Not what Newcastle deserved.



Given this set of lucky results since going out of the FA Cup, I'm not sure where all the optimism has come from. Can somebody tell me?

 

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If the Spurs game had been 0-2 at half time then we would have won 3-2 instead of 5-2 and as Drogs said on the chelsea new leaf thread, you can only beat the teams that are put before you, which we have done. The fact that they are all top 6 sides says it all really. Can't ask for more than that.

Oh and you missed out the 3-0 drubbing of Milan - what was lucky about that result ?

 

I think we should not get too ahead of ourselves.... There are 30 points still to be won and all to play for. I know we have players returning from injuries, but we have had more than a double dip this season...... 1 game at a time I think.

 

The Milan result means little; anyone can play well when there is nothing to lose and the pressure is off.

And you froze when you needed the fourth, unlike Chelsea

 

The optimism is due to a few reasons.

Firstly we have come from a goal down in our last 4 prem games to win.

We are on a winning run of games.

The teams we have beaten recently are top teams or near the top of the table (Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle, AC Milan).

We are playing well at a time when over the last couple of seasons we have started to fall away.

We are heading into the end of the season a point off third when we where in 17th at one point this season.

We finally look to be investing properly in the squad and expect players to arrive in the summer including Podolski.

We have some fantastic youth prospects in Oxocube, Miyaichi, Campbell.

Overall things are looking much brighter than people had thought at earlier stages of the season. And actully if we finish 3rd and sign a couple of players in the summer (and keep RVP) we will be right back up there in title contention next season.

 

Piskie has been right - that it was too early to be all doom and gloom ( me included).
However I'd suggest that right now we are in a purple patch and probably cannot expect better than top5 or so for next season.
If we lose RVP for whatever reason we'll struggle to make that!
We need to learn lessons, unload where we can, and buy 2 GOOD players - not potentials - I mean already GOOD.

Its easy to over-react when things are going badly - and indeed when its going well.

 

At the start of the season and all through the season i have said Arsenal would 100% be in the top 4. I have not faltered in my faith that AW would once again pull off a top 4 finish. He has more experience of finishing in the top 4 than our competition and knows what is required.

I really don't get why every single year we are the ones predicted to fall from the top 4 and every single year we prove people wrong.

I don't know why you think next season we can only hope for top 5..... You think we will be worse next season?

 

Normally you are in the clear for a top 4 finish by now (as are cfc) and then choke towards the end of the season.

Any reason why you should not have your annual end-of-season choke (or Chelsea bottle it for that matter) and bottle it when the pressure is on?

 

Erm ... because the pressure is on and we've just won our last 5 games.

 

Not really. You had nothing to lose v Milan and were 10 points behind Spuds.

It is when you get close to the finishing line you normally choke.

That's no reason to say Chelsea won't bottle it this season.

 

We have already entered the choke phase of the season. We are doing well and displaying a much more positive mentality then that of previous seasons. That is not to say we will not drop points between now and the end of the season. Of course we will. However, I think Chelsea and Arsenal will both finish top 4 this season IMO. That's just my sense.

 

Forget about losing RVP next season, what happens if we lose him to injury this season? I worry so much about our over reliance on him for goals...... Any injury to him and it's curtains! He has scored 30 odd goals this season, the next highest scorer in the team is Walcott with 8 goals. We simply cannot afford to lose him for any game till the end of the season!

 

I'm not certain Chelsea will. I think Spurs are stronger mentally than in the past and will get one of the spots.

In a battle between us three at the business end of the season we would expect to come out on top though.

We need Drogba and even Torres to score regularly to get a top 4 spot

 

Dude, I can't agree with the part in bold - our worst start for 58 years did not lead to an over reaction !! Its was a correct reaction and very probably kicked the club's butts into doing something about it.

 

I think I said top6 was all we could hope for - but some were insisting we'd face the drop !!
Now that's what I mean by over-reaction.

 

Let us say that RVP picked up an injury in November; the club would be what, 14th, without the matches he has single handedly won. There has been no over reaction to the state of things, just pure over reliance on one man!

 

Which is why we need to not over react and take each game as it comes. Anything could happen to, for and against us and that goes for our closest rivals. One game at a time and three points at a time until it's mathematically impossible for the others to make a difference whatever they do.

The last time we managed this with something at stake was a long time ago. Time to revisit that approach and it will take leadership, purpose on the part of the players and a lot of mental strength when the pressure is on. Our players are supposed to be highly-paid professionals so it's time they showed they are up to the job.

 

my thoughts from a different thread.......


Please don't look at this as a WUM, was having a deep chat with some gooner mates on the weekend about wenger, some loved him some hate, I was thinking how this thread beautifully highlights just how fickle gooner fans have become, Arsene knows, I'm not so sure.
The guy has single handledly turned your expectations from winning championships to being content with finishing above spurs, Oh how the mighty have fallen.Wenger has to go down as one of the GOAT managers, however he inherited a back 4 from one of the greatest defensive managers of all time in GG, and has not addressed the problems since, thus affecting his leg
Turning down opportunities to sign Gary Cahill instead choosing Mertesacker (who some of you proclaimed was miles better than my own Jonny superman Evans) , one thing that surprises me is Wengers lack of loyalty to old pro's, instead taking a scientific approach. By taking a leaf out of fergies book and keep some of your oldies, would reep dividends...you let Sol, Gallas, Lehmann and Pires leave way too early, think of the epxerince they could have passed to the younger players ala Giggs, Scholes, Neville, VDS, Hughes and even sicknote Ferdinand.

So I still feel jurys out as he has been pretty poor the last 7 years, compounded by overlooking the carling cup final , how you lost that was beyond words, it seemed like your players thought they had won a trophy before a ball was kicked, which again is bad man management.

 

To say VP has won us games single handedly is wildly inaccurate, VP is a great finisher and a great player but he is a service player, he has been provided with some great service from both wings and Song this season, so he hasn't won them single handedly.