Would you Swap?

[Letters]

Would you trade Spurs' season for our?
It's a big nope from me. OK, they landed a trophy. But not all trophies are created equal. It's a second rate trophy for a second rate club. Maybe that's sour grapes but it is also accurate. They won a trophy which Arsenal are too good to compete in - any of the Champions League semi-finalists would have won it easily.
It's like finishing top of the remedial class. Well done and everything, but don't strut around pretending you're top of the school.
Their league season was a car crash. 22 defeats. 38 points in 38 games, they finished as low as it's possible to without actually going down.
So, overall, no thanks. I'm disappointed with 2nd place and the Champions League semi-final, I think we all are. But the fact we're disappointed with that and Spurs fans are doing cartwheels about the Carabao Cup of Europe tells you something about the respective levels of the clubs. Overall we are in a far better position. It's clear where our issues are - we don't have enough firepower. We didn't have anyone get in to double figures in terms of league goals. That's clearly not good enough. Address that in the summer and we'll be up there again next season.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

It's not even worth thinking about in my mind.

You finish 17th and you deserve to be thought of as relegation candidates next season.

[HCZ_Reborn]

No fucking way

Yes they are in the champions league next season but they look hilariously ill equipped to deal with it

They’ve got a coach who is seemingly in denial about how bad things are for them.

I’d have liked to win the Europa League back in 2019, but even if we had it wouldn’t have lasted long in the memory

The amount of games they’ve lost. Humiliated at home yesterday by Brighton…how can you just brush that off?

[Ollie the Optimist]

If Spurs had finished in top four (well 5 now) and qualified for champions league that way and won europa, then yes I think there is an argument to be made about trading seasons.

However they lost 22 games, didn’t make 40 points and only won 11 games. Imagine watching that all season and now trying to claim you’ve had a better season than arsenal.

And lets not forget, no champions league club dropped into europa league this year unlike previous ones so an even weaker version of the trophy than before

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

I am sorry, but you are all in denial.

Yes, no one would want to lose and be laughed at as many times as the Spuds have been this season and obviously if they don't perform miracles this summer, things will only get worse for them.

But there are only two trophies better than the trophy they won and the imaginary second place trophy isn't one of them.

By their extremely low standards, this season has been a success and they've got themselves in the CL, that was their sole target all along, get yourself in the CL so we can pay for this shiny stadium.... they did that and ended up with an actual trophy that is better than anything they've won in a generation. This is a fact that will be remembered in the history books. The only English team that has the right to look down on them is Liverpool, as they won something superior.

By our much improved standards, we royally messed things up on the higher up trophies which were at the most attainable they've been (for us) since the days of the Invincibles. TBH little changes that narrative and most of the sporting world agrees.


Sidenote, I still think Levy will pull a fast one and sack Ange BTW.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

The question is would you swap it, not whether Tottenham consider their season a success.

Imagine if we finished 17th and what the mood would be.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

The question is would you swap it, not whether Tottenham consider their season a success.

Imagine if we finished 17th and what the mood would be.

Why ask the question in the first place, if it's not an attempt to make yourself feel better by trying belittle their achievement?

Let's flip the question, if you were a Spurs fan, an actual Spud, would you really trade coming second and a semi final in the CL for a UEFA cup trophy where you beat Man U to end a trophy drought and qualify for the CL.....seriously would you???!!!

Add that to the fact that the team you despise the most would end up not winning anything this season as usual, especially when it looked in the cards like they were going to take the biggest trophy in club football and make this a truly miserable summer for you?

Let's be realistic , no Spud would trade this season with us either.

We all know what is fuelling this question, let's recognise it for what it is and move on.

[Letters]

I am sorry, but you are all in denial.

People disagreeing with you doesn't make them deluded.

But there are only two trophies better than the trophy they won

Is that true? It's certainly true that not all trophies are of equal value. But it's also true that the prestige of trophies varies over time.
The rise of the CL has devalued the FA Cup, for example. I still love the FA Cup but there's no doubt that FA Cup Final Day is less of a "thing" than it was when I was a kid. As for the Europa League - the issue with it is, again, the rise of the CL. So many sides qualify for the CL now and this season with teams not dropping from there into the Europa League (which I don't think they should anyway), there's no doubt the quality of the teams in that competition is much lower than the CL.
I reckon any of the CL semi-finalists would have easily won it. It's a second rate trophy for second rate teams. You can only compete in the competitions you're in of course but they won a competition we are too good to play in.

By their extremely low standards, this season has been a success

Yes. By their standards. But we have much higher standards and that's why I wouldn't swap. Can you imagine being a season ticket holder this season and seeing your team only winning 6 out of home games? Overall they lost 22 games, I heard it's the most anyone has ever lost and not gone down. They got 38 points which in many seasons would relegate you.

For us this has been a poor season but that in itself tells you that we are at a much higher level than them. We finished 2nd and got the CL semi-final and we are disappointed. Spurs finished 17th and they're doing cartwheels because they won a trophy by beating the Norwegian champions (lol) and then they just about snuck past the worst Utd side in a generation. They can have their moment but there's no way as a whole I'd swap with them. If you would then OK, we agree to disagree.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Why ask the question in the first place, if it's not an attempt to make yourself feel better by trying belittle their achievement?

Let's flip the question, if you were a Spurs fan, an actual Spud, would you really trade coming second and a semi final in the CL for a UEFA cup trophy where you beat Man U to end a trophy drought and qualify for the CL.....seriously would you???!!!

Add that to the fact that the team you despise the most would end up not winning anything this season as usual, especially when it looked in the cards like they were going to take the biggest trophy in club football and make this a truly miserable summer for you?

Let's be realistic , no Spud would trade this season with us either.

We all know what is fuelling this question, let's recognise it for what it is and move on.

Why would you flip it? We're Arsenal fans, it's our perspective that only matters in this scenario.

The actual question doesn't 'belittle' it - although they do that themselves by finishing 17th, it's asking whether you'd trade our season for it.

It's interesting that you won't actually answer it.

Don't project on to me that trophies and only trophies matter - I want them, god knows I wanted us to be professional ahead of the Champions League but I'm not so desperate to junk everything else in favour of it.

For me no I wouldn't swap it in that scenario because I don't know I believe in putting yourselves in positions to achieve great things.

Funnily enough I think we're better placed for that Tottenham - is that outlandish to think?

[Letters]

Let's be realistic , no Spud would trade this season with us either.

Of course. They hadn't won a trophy in 17 years. They'll take anything they can get.
But as we seem to agree, Arsenal and Spurs are clubs at very different levels so have fanbases with very different expectation levels.
They may well regard their season as a success, that doesn't mean I'd regard it as a success if we'd had their season.
We've finished 2nd and people have spent all season moaning. Can you imagine the level of discussion on here had we won 6 home games all season and lost 22 overall?