Rival watch

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The PL relegation trap door is now set at 37 pts.

Everton have been kind enough to let the
Spanners leave the game early.
 
Only just got in, nice 12+ hour shift.

Just saw the result with Forest and Goons, naturally happy they lost but especially happy for Steve Cooper, said for a year or two now I’m a big fan of his as a manager and a bloke. Well happy he’s proven himself at the top level and secured Forest in the league, if he keeps them up/ does better next season then I think he could be on the radar of a few clubs.
 
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The fact this Arsenal side won't eclipse the points tally of your 2016/17 team, after having 50 points from 20 games, is an absolute embarrassment.

People who are saying "it doesn't matter because City are too good" are sorely mistaken. We blew it when the pressure was on for top-4 last season and we blew it when the pressure was on to secure the title this season. There is a running theme here. It is going to cost us next season if we don't get a grip.

We'd performed so well for 90% of the season and then did what we became renowned for doing under Wenger. Maybe it's part of our DNA or maybe we're just not good enough, but it doesn't bode well for the future.

Arteta deserves his plaudits for this year, but when you look at his time overall, aside from the COVID FA Cup in 2020, he's built a team renowned for early eliminations from cups, incapable of handling pressure and bottling it at key moments.
 
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BrunelGunner said:
The fact this Arsenal side won't eclipse the points tally of your 2016/17 team, after having 50 points from 20 games, is an absolute embarrassment.

People who are saying "it doesn't matter because City are too good" are sorely mistaken. We blew it when the pressure was on for top-4 last season and we blew it when the pressure was on to secure the title this season. There is a running theme here. It is going to cost us next season if we don't get a grip.

We'd performed so well for 90% of the season and then did what we became renowned for doing under Wenger. Maybe it's part of our DNA or maybe we're just not good enough, but it doesn't bode well for the future.

Arteta deserves his plaudits for this year, but when you look at his time overall, aside from the COVID FA Cup in 2020, he's built a team renowned for early eliminations from cups, incapable of handling pressure and bottling it at key moments.
Click to expand...

the final 8 games or so is the business end of the season for any team. We’re seeing the same at the opposite end of the table with the likes of forest who are picking up points to get out of the relegation scrap.
I guess the hardest thing for Arsenal fans is that over the last couple of seasons in particular, there’s been a cluster of poor results that have happened when it really mattered. If those results were spread out over the first 30 games instead, the expectation levels would be less, as would the pressure.

if any Arsenal fan was told they’d get between 81-84 points this season, they’d have been delighted. It’s still been a very good season.

But unfortunately, with the “definitions” that have been set by fans bantering one another, your season is a bottle job by default. Can’t be one rule for 1 club, and not for another.

could be worse, Brunel. Could be spurs right now.
 
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Roo said:
the final 8 games or so is the business end of the season for any team. We’re seeing the same at the opposite end of the table with the likes of forest who are picking up points to get out of the relegation scrap.
I guess the hardest thing for Arsenal fans is that over the last couple of seasons in particular, there’s been a cluster of poor results that have happened when it really mattered. If those results were spread out over the first 30 games instead, the expectation levels would be less, as would the pressure.

if any Arsenal fan was told they’d get between 81-84 points this season, they’d have been delighted. It’s still been a very good season.

But unfortunately, with the “definitions” that have been set by fans bantering one another, your season is a bottle job by default. Can’t be one rule for 1 club, and not for another.

could be worse, Brunel. Could be spurs right now.
Click to expand...

Don’t get me wrong, at the beginning of the season, if you’d told me we’d get anything above 80 points, I’d have snapped your hand off, especially after consecutive 8th and a 5th placed finish previous to that.

However, we found ourselves in a unique position with 8 games to go. And as good as City are and have been (and who knows, maybe they would have won it anyway with this insane winning streak they’ve been on), the title was in our grasp.
4 of the last 5 teams in PL history to have been leading the table for the most amount of days and not won the league? Arsenal.

We should have been getting 90 points this season. At that point, I can say we’ve done as well as we can and if City surpass that, then not much we can do. But the fact we won’t get anywhere near that tally is a sign of capitulation.

If we are in a title race next season, when it gets to crunch time, City (and any other potential competitors we are up against) will be reinforcing to their team that Arsenal will wilt when the pressure is on and that we can’t keep our nerve. That is the message which will be relayed because that’s how we are perceived.

Maybe when the dust settles, I’ll reflect on this as a good season, but right now? It just feels like a waste of time.
 
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BrunelGunner said:
Don’t get me wrong, at the beginning of the season, if you’d told me we’d get anything above 80 points, I’d have snapped your hand off, especially after consecutive 8th and a 5th placed finish previous to that.

However, we found ourselves in a unique position with 8 games to go. And as good as City are and have been (and who knows, maybe they would have won it anyway with this insane winning streak they’ve been on), the title was in our grasp.
4 of the last 5 teams in PL history to have been leading the table for the most amount of days and not won the league? Arsenal.

We should have been getting 90 points this season. At that point, I can say we’ve done as well as we can and if City surpass that, then not much we can do. But the fact we won’t get anywhere near that tally is a sign of capitulation.

If we are in a title race next season, when it gets to crunch time, City (and any other potential competitors we are up against) will be reinforcing to their team that Arsenal will wilt when the pressure is on and that we can’t keep our nerve. That is the message which will be relayed because that’s how we are perceived.

Maybe when the dust settles, I’ll reflect on this as a good season, but right now? It just feels like a waste of time.
Click to expand...

We have been shocking in our last 8 games.
Gave Liverpool a 3 goal headstart in 20 minutes and gifted them a winner.
Gave Newcastle a 5 goal headstart in 25 minutes.
Let 10 man Everton dominate and equalise throwing away 2 points.
Took the lead and lost yesterday at home. Took the lead against Bournemouth at home and lost.
Very very lucky to beat Brighton.
In total we got 7 points in this run.
Everyone accepts we are appalling.

In the same 8 match period Arsenal have lost to relegation threatened forest, drew with relegated Southampton, threw away a 2 goal lead against relegation threatened West ham and threw away another 2 goal lead.
Arsenal have only got 2 points more than us in this run.

That's a damning stat imho
 
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remembercolinlee said:
We have been shocking in our last 8 games.
Gave Liverpool a 3 goal headstart in 20 minutes and gifted them a winner.
Gave Newcastle a 5 goal headstart in 25 minutes.
Let 10 man Everton dominate and equalise throwing away 2 points.
Took the lead and lost yesterday at home. Took the lead against Bournemouth at home and lost.
Very very lucky to beat Brighton.
In total we got 7 points in this run.
Everyone accepts we are appalling.

In the same 8 match period Arsenal have lost to relegation threatened forest, drew with relegated Southampton, threw away a 2 goal lead against relegation threatened West ham and threw away another 2 goal lead.
Arsenal have only got 2 points more than us in this run.

That's a damning stat imho
Click to expand...

This is what annoys me the most - all the hard work we've done this season has felt like it was for nothing. City can potentially finish TEN points ahead of us. That should never have been the case when you're 8 points clear at the top with 8 games to go.

I could've accepted City winning the league if we'd taken them to the wire and made them sweat for it. But the fact they've won it with 3 games to spare? That's really, really poor from Arsenal.

For all the talk of new signings (which we definitely need), we need to see an evolution in coaching and management also. Otherwise we will suffer the same fate next season.
 
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BrunelGunner said:
This is what annoys me the most - all the hard work we've done this season has felt like it was for nothing. City can potentially finish TEN points ahead of us. That should never have been the case when you're 8 points clear at the top with 8 games to go.

I could've accepted City winning the league if we'd taken them to the wire and made them sweat for it. But the fact they've won it with 3 games to spare? That's really, really poor from Arsenal.

For all the talk of new signings (which we definitely need), we need to see an evolution in coaching and management also. Otherwise we will suffer the same fate next season.
Click to expand...
You are reading too much into the order of the results. If you simulated a team getting 80 points then I suspect they will have a bad run like this a lot of the time. It's quite plausible that your young team is a bit fazed by having something within their grasp and tenses up but I don't think the data is ever going to prove that.
 
BrunelGunner said:
The fact this Arsenal side won't eclipse the points tally of your 2016/17 team, after having 50 points from 20 games, is an absolute embarrassment.
Click to expand...

I pondered mentioning this, but thought it as
smearing dogsh*t on the salt already in the wound;.

Being unable to handle the pressure is an issue,
but your opponents since April had a lot at stake
in your games (relegation, PL top 4 etc) .
 
remembercolinlee said:
We have been shocking in our last 8 games.
Gave Liverpool a 3 goal headstart in 20 minutes and gifted them a winner.
Gave Newcastle a 5 goal headstart in 25 minutes.
Let 10 man Everton dominate and equalise throwing away 2 points.
Took the lead and lost yesterday at home. Took the lead against Bournemouth at home and lost.
Very very lucky to beat Brighton.
In total we got 7 points in this run.
Everyone accepts we are appalling.

In the same 8 match period Arsenal have lost to relegation threatened forest, drew with relegated Southampton, threw away a 2 goal lead against relegation threatened West ham and threw away another 2 goal lead.
Arsenal have only got 2 points more than us in this run.

That's a damning stat imho
Click to expand...
Suffice to say my plastic bottle sister won't be inviting me for lunch anytime soon...
 
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