All or Nothing

[HCZ_Reborn]

When I read that I rushed off to the couch. Toss up between holding nose and bolting shitty drink or holding nose and reading words of wisdom from self proclaimed realist. I'm sure whatever you said delights you though, so it didn't go to total waste.

Realism as you know is like success only relative

Well that’s a shared experience the knowledge that what we both have in common is that no one else here apart from us is going to read our essay long posts

[Niall_Quinn]

Realism as you know is like success only relative

Well that’s a shared experience the knowledge that what we both have in common is that no one else here apart from us is going to read our essay long posts

All right, fair enough.

[mandela8]

What, 3 years at a supposedly big club, a free hand, allegedly decent players already in place, and more money than the yanks ever gave Wenger or Dick?

Yeah, I forgot about the attractive (euphemism for competent if you ask me) football. Definitely add that to the list. It's something I've given up hoping for tbh. Certainly Arteta isn't capable of providing it, that much is painfully obvious.

Do you know, I'm having second thoughts about Wenger. Yes, he was fucked beyond all recognition by the time he was booted. But, for all his flaws, he had a lot of respect for the game as it should be played and that actually cost him against the horrible, cynical, cowardly bastards that call themselves coaches these days. Yes, Wenger was a man out of his time, but his time was better and the abject shite that managers like Arteta serve up today. They might beat Wenger in the league table but they'll never beat him in terms of providing what we all used to understand as football. Entertainment. Passion. Tribe. Our players used to fight in the tunnel, not kneel on the pitch and mince around in pink. Everything was blood red. Deadly as sharks we were, and just as vicious. Not this dead, gutted fish flopping around with fireworks exploding behind it and pampered fucks demanding a 10% share in the club just to turn up.

It was sad that Wenger eventually accepted 4th place as a trophy. That was his downfall. But it's criminal for the club and any fans dumb enough to buy into it to repeat that bullshit and then sell it as success.

Anyway, I don't watch it. So ignore me.

Fuck me, man.

What a miserable cunt you are. Fuckin chill, man. You only get one life and you seem to be wasting it being a grumpy old cunt. Smile, ffs.

Anyway, top 4 is beyond any fuckin doubt success. That's a pretty sad reality, but reality is what it is. It's an absolutely mandatory step on getting back to a level where they can close the gap and compete with clubs who are finishing seasons with 90 points then going out and buying the two hottest young strikers in the world for total costs in the hundreds of millions.

Arsenal need CL fitba. Then expectations can be adjusted from there.

[mandela8]

That said, I do think Arteta should've been sacked after last season or even the season before. Last season his own stubbornness cost Arsenal the CL position.

Now, he may ultimately do that this season but that's not vindication, imo. He's still responsible for delaying that progression by at least one year.

He's very lucky to still be in a job.

[Letters]

That said, I do think Arteta should've been sacked after last season or even the season before. Last season his own stubbornness cost Arsenal the CL position.

Now, he may ultimately do that this season but that's not vindication, imo. He's still responsible for delaying that progression by at least one year.

He's very lucky to still be in a job.

I think I'd agree with that. At the start of last season if you'd told me that with 3 games to go we'd have Top 4 in our hands then I'd have taken that. But we fucked it.
Not at WHL, we did so in January when we weakened the squad and Arteta took a gamble that the guys who were left would see it through. They nearly did, but...
Arguably a sackable offence. But...changing manager isn't something to do lightly, it can set you back. There has been clear progress under Arteta, I think it's reasonable to say it's not been as fast as it should.
If that continues this year then all well and good. Top 4 is an important step to the top. It shouldn't be, the whole concept of a "Top 4" is nonsense, but with the rise of the CL it's the reality we are now living in.

[Niall_Quinn]

Fuck me, man.

What a miserable cunt you are. Fuckin chill, man. You only get one life and you seem to be wasting it being a grumpy old cunt. Smile, ffs.

Anyway, top 4 is beyond any fuckin doubt success. That's a pretty sad reality, but reality is what it is. It's an absolutely mandatory step on getting back to a level where they can close the gap and compete with clubs who are finishing seasons with 90 points then going out and buying the two hottest young strikers in the world for total costs in the hundreds of millions.

Arsenal need CL fitba. Then expectations can be adjusted from there.

When I've tasted the real thing I don't like being served shit and told it's the new and improved version. Set a lower standard and you'll likely achieve it. Call that achievement a success and we can all congratulate each other. Until we face Bayern I suppose. Then we go round again.

[mandela8]

When I've tasted the real thing I don't like being served shit and told it's the new and improved version. Set a lower standard and you'll likely achieve it. Call that achievement a success and we can all congratulate each other. Until we face Bayern I suppose. Then we go round again.

But you're long enough in the tooth to know fitba is pretty cyclica, matel. As arsenal fans we're pretty lucky to cycle somewhere near the top end. You can't always feast at the very top table. It's just not how it works...outside of the financially doped clubs now, I guess.

[Letters]

When I've tasted the real thing I don't like being served shit and told it's the new and improved version. Set a lower standard and you'll likely achieve it. Call that achievement a success and we can all congratulate each other. Until we face Bayern I suppose. Then we go round again.

Where's your bar though? I mean, I was privileged to have a season ticket during the Wenger glory years. It was mostly amazing.
At the time I always knew in the back of my mind "It won't always be like this". There's no way any team can sustain that level forever, and of course the money men muscling in have completely changed the landscape.
A lot of the last 15 years have been pretty mediocre, and football in general has gone to shit. But right now I see us moving in the right direction. The only sensible thing to measure us against is last season.
If you compare every season to that Wenger side 2002-4 then prepare for a lifetime of disappointment, it will rarely if ever get that good again.

[Niall_Quinn]

But you're long enough in the tooth to know fitba is pretty cyclica, matel. As arsenal fans we're pretty lucky to cycle somewhere near the top end. You can't always feast at the very top table. It's just not how it works...outside of the financially doped clubs now, I guess.

Of course. Sometimes down but always striving to be up. More Leicester and less Barcelona. This club has turned into a procession of mercenaries who arrive with great fanfare, give us a season if we're lucky and then relax into mediocrity. That's not solely the fault of the club as the balance has shifted so hopelessly to players who, in the main, aren't fit to lace the boots of the genuine articles that went before. Money, money, money - then we can maybe talk football of we can be bothered. We're a long way from the local lads who always dreamed of wearing the shirt for the privilege alone. Now we have tossers who need a new contract 15 minutes after signing the last one because some doped up outfit is in with a big money offer. And how does it usually work out for the fools who take the cash? How much for the likes of Song or Koscielny? How did that work out for them?

I'd rather be 12th and watch a bunch of academy kids growing up at the club together than 4th as a gateway to guaranteed humiliation in a competition we have no right being in (along with most of the other participants). What's the difference between stating we can't realistically compete for the domestic title but then saying 4th is essential for CL footie, a competition we stand no chance in? It can only be about the cash right? Apart from maybe a few away nights for the fans if they can't stump the exorbitant fees. And what would we use the cash for? Another round or mercs and their wage demands?

I'd like to see us go back to the basics with a team that actually wants to be here. I don't know if that's even possible in the modern game. Can you find 11 good kids who are in it for the football rather than the cash? Maybe it's a pipe dream, but if that's all it is then you know why I'm such a miserable cunt. Because I miss the game I used to live for.

[mandela8]

Of course. Sometimes down but always striving to be up. More Leicester and less Barcelona. This club has turned into a procession of mercenaries who arrive with great fanfare, give us a season if we're lucky and then relax into mediocrity. That's not solely the fault of the club as the balance has shifted so hopelessly to players who, in the main, aren't fit to lace the boots of the genuine articles that went before. Money, money, money - then we can maybe talk football of we can be bothered. We're a long way from the local lads who always dreamed of wearing the shirt for the privilege alone. Now we have tossers who need a new contract 15 minutes after signing the last one because some doped up outfit is in with a big money offer. And how does it usually work out for the fools who take the cash? How much for the likes of Song or Koscielny? How did that work out for them?

I'd rather be 12th and watch a bunch of academy kids growing up at the club together than 4th as a gateway to guaranteed humiliation in a competition we have no right being in (along with most of the other participants). What's the difference between stating we can't realistically compete for the domestic title but then saying 4th is essential for CL footie, a competition we stand no chance in? It can only be about the cash right? Apart from maybe a few away nights for the fans if they can't stump the exorbitant fees. And what would we use the cash for? Another round or mercs and their wage demands?

I'd like to see us go back to the basics with a team that actually wants to be here. I don't know if that's even possible in the modern game. Can you find 11 good kids who are in it for the football rather than the cash? Maybe it's a pipe dream, but if that's all it is then you know why I'm such a miserable cunt. Because I miss the game I used to live for.

I think that's pretty fair, for the most part. For most of the last 10 or so years with players like Ozil, Auba, William, Luiz, etc etc never really feeling like 'Arsenal' players and the team kinda losing that somewhat nebulous but pretty real arsenal identity. But, for all Arteta's faults he's definitely trying to get back to that with a mixture of academy players and younger players who can grow with the club. For the first time in a long time it's, at the very least, looking like the club are moving back towards a more recognizable Arsenal.