As we head into the final day, what are some of your thoughts on how this season has gone for us? I'm not overjoyed to be sitting in 4th once again at the end of the campaign however if you'd have asked me at the beginning of the season, I would have taken it. It's been a mixed bag, with some very good performances and some terrible ones. I'm not convinced that Wenger has what it takes to win the league given his record in the big games and despite our recent upturn in results, I cannot simply brush the 6-0, 5-1, etc, results under the carpet. We have to do better next season, we need big game players. I'm looking for to the end of the campaign culminating in (hopefully) ending the trophy drought and seeing what players are available in the off season.
I think the disappointment of our away results to the big teams coupled with leading the table for longer than any other team only to fall away from the title race has left a bitter taste in our mouths. But I do think it is worth pointing a few things out. Firstly our defensive stability and consistency against the so called lesser teams has been a big improvement on previous years. Our home form was spectacular, not losing a game at the emirates since the opening day to villa (the only team in the top 4 not to lose to Chelsea at home). We've also accumulated more points in the league than we have in the last 5 years, spent more time leading the league table than we have in years and will finish within sight of the champions for the first time in ages! To top that off we have introduced ozil to the squad and seen big improvements from players like oxo and Ramsey. And we may well finish the season with our first silverware in far too long. If we win the fa cup we are the only team in the prem to win anything this year except city and I can't see that as a bad season. I think overall it's been a good season with a lot of positives and we are clearly moving forwards and improving on recent seasons. We need to deal with our away form to the big teams (which funnily enough always seem to be lunchtime kick offs) but otherwise I think there is a lot we can take from this year. Let's not forget our injury problems this season, which particularly kicked in during our most difficult fixture list.
I think at the start of the season many of us would have been content (not happy or overjoyed) at 4th place with a trophy. The fact that we were ahead for the most of the year, and could have won if we'd strengthened in January has left us feeling disappointed. In reality, this was a very good season, and if we keep the majority of our players and add a few more we can challenge for the whole year next time.
I just hope that next season Liverpool don't do as well. It really isn't their fault, it is just their over-representation in the press/media makes them doing well feel sickening. I'm really fed up with it. If the journalists only realized just how much they put people off Liverpool, perhaps they wouldn't do it.
This season will go down as the 'if only' season. Of course a Cup win would make it successful in some peoples eyes but I strongly believe a top CF signing in January and we would've won the league. We finished 7 points behind City and I really believe a proper CF would have been worth those 7 points. My fear is that next year will see a stronger Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd, as could Tottenham...
Agree pretty much with OP. Taking points of our rivals is the big stumbling block for us at the moment. If we can turn that corner next season, with the aid of some reinforcements, then that will represent real progress.
Decent season, galling to lose in the way we did to our rivals. But if we end the season with a trophy then nobody can argue that it's been an improvement on recent seasons. I still think we need two or three top quality players, we've sorted out our defence but we lacked a clinical striker this season, although Giroud still got 22. If we can add some players like Mandzukic, Bender and Draxler in the summer, then I think we've got a great chance to win the title next season.
Just like anyone else, I couldn't believe my eyes when Arsenal were top of the league for so long but we were always doomed to stumble with our squad as it is, very injury prone and sensitive to attacks of nerves in big games. We did well to come fourth in the end and doing the treble over Spurs and watching Man United implode made it a thoroughly enjoyable season all round regardless.
Agree with what's been said before. But what bothers me is our list of injuries and the length of time it's taking our players to get back. We can all be good at 'what ifs' - but we were missing some key players for long periods of time. What is it with us? Is it the training methods, the medical staff or what? One thing I'd love to see for the coming season is a significant reduction in the time our players spend on the treatment table.
Yep - frightening, although I take it as a sign that Arsenal are improving. The better we get, the less whether you are a pessimist or an optimist matters.
Obviously the big games is where it all went wrong for us. Mertesacker, Koscielney, Sagna and Ramsey were the standout players for us. We obviously need another top forward (the fact we finished almost 40 goals behind City speaks for itself) but we also need to bring in some confident characters into the squad. For me the Boss is too mild/nervous for the big games and instead of getting the team fired up we come out petrified.
I would add Szczesny and Walcott to that list of players also. As for additions, the players I'd love to see come in are Mandzukic, Lars Bender and Draxler. As for Wenger, he is going to have to alter his tactics against the top sides. We need to play more to keep them from scoring and hit them on the break, with players like Walcott, Ramsey, Ozil and Santi we can play the counter attack game well, so we need to employ it against the teams who will try and play against us.
I agree with most of what has been said so far...... Just feel a bit said we will be losing Sagna at the end of the season to Mancity. Cannot blame him, as he will have noted the number of trophies picked up by Nasri and Clichy since their departure. That will be another gaping hole to plug for next season (add to that the striking position), and we will be strengthening Citeh! Overall the season has gone better than I thought, before we got Ozil.
Congratulations on retaining your four place trophy guys PS...before someone jumps down my neck, it's a joke
