I do think this coming season will be Mikel's last if we fail to win anything. That said, we have to understand that winning something is not the norm - it's probably less than 50/50 for us next year. It's difficult to win anything and you need a bit of luck unless you are a truly dominant team in the league (as City have been for fraudulent reasons). In terms of the league - we will know pretty early whether we have a chance. Those first 6 games are a real challenge.
I think for most fans and .. this goes back to the Wenger days .... being close and just needing those one or two players to make the difference seems to be a broken record stuck on loop. In Wenger's latter years we cried out for some decent defenders and goal keeper. We never got one. In. these Arteta years its a decent striker - no offence to Havertz but I still want better. We never seem capable of having a strong keeper - Defence - Midfield and Attack, there is always an important piece missing. And you are right, Arteta's records in the cups WITH HIS OWN TEAMS is shockingly poor.
Do you mean shocking in terms of not winning ? I look at his actual record and I see loads of semi finals and quarter finals. That's not shocking at all.
This is what I mean about small margins. It’s true we’ve not won anything, but we are very much challenging Hopefully these additions will be the ingredients we need to turn almosts into actual trophies
There's been a bit of a mix - we have had some shockingly bad results getting knocked out where we simply didn't turn up. Newcastle last year in the semi finals is a good example - good run (so not terrible overall) but those games were pretty unacceptable. Newcastle wanted it more than we did and that was pretty obvious. I think the players - and manager - might be prioritising the league and champions league. To me that doesn't work - the intensity has to be there every game because bad cup results can impact form, which can be hard to get back.
No, I meant shocking as in unacceptable. 2020/21 - Europa League SF, FA Cup 4th round (Southampton), League Cup QF. 2021/22 - FA Cup 3rd round (Forest), League Cup SF. 2022/23 - Europa League Last 16, FA Cup 4th round, League Cup 3rd round (Brighton) 2023/24 - Champions League QF, FA Cup 3rd round, League Cup 4th round (West Ham) 2024/25 - Champions League SF, FA Cup 3rd round, League Cup SF. Thats 14 cup competitions and we reached the SF 4 times. FFS, we have not been further than the 4th round in the FA Cup ! Obviously a QF and SF in our only 2 CL campaigns is very good, you have to be getting SF at least in the Europa League though, only managed it once. Emery got to the EL final.
I think it's the FA Cup that is the let down - we have a massive tradition of success in the competition.
I know we've progressed into the latter stages of the CL the last couple years, but as a club, considering our size and status, it is pretty shocking that we don't have a single CL to our name. Our European record is pretty embarrassing as a whole. No European trophy since 1994 either.
Saka would still score goals on the left. Look at Rodrygo played on the wrong side but still getting 12-15 goals a Season. Like I said the problem isn't Arteta.
Yes agree - European record in general has not been good. Wengers teams particularly underperformed in Europe. Should have done much better.
