Match Reaction vs Mongs

[Letters]

With regards the "No-one seriously expected a title challenge" line, I ask why?

Because in the last 2 years we've barely scraped 4th.

Regardless of where you think we should be as a club (and I don't disagree we should be challenging), we were where we were last summer and after two years hanging on to the top 4 by a thread it wasn't realistic to expect a title challenge this year. So far we're exceeding most people's pre-season expectations.

Wenger is maddening at times but from the criticism he gets on here you'd think he doesn't know what the hell he's doing. He's clearly still a very good manager.
We've not been leap-frogged because of a massive collapse, Chelsea have won 10 and drawn 3 of their last 13 league games. City won 11 out of 12 and drew the other before a couple of poor results recently. Pretty much any side is going to struggle to match that.

So far we've done well. A collapse is looking worryingly likely but let's see where we are in May.

[Özim]

Because in the last 2 years we've barely scraped 4th.

Regardless of where you think we should be as a club (and I don't disagree we should be challenging), we were where we were last summer and after two years hanging on to the top 4 by a thread it wasn't realistic to expect a title challenge this year. So far we're exceeding most people's pre-season expectations.

Wenger is maddening at times but from the criticism he gets on here you'd think he doesn't know what the hell he's doing. He's clearly still a very good manager.
We've not been leap-frogged because of a massive collapse, Chelsea have won 10 and drawn 3 of their last 13 league games. City won 11 out of 12 and drew the other before a couple of poor results recently. Pretty much any side is going to struggle to match that.

So far we've done well. A collapse is looking worryingly likely but let's see where we are in May.

I can accept that and agree with it, but effectively are expectations have been lowered by some poor management decisions, my argument which you seem to agree with is that they shouldn't really have been lowered.

Noone is saying Wenger doesn't know what he's doing, people are questioning his decision making at key points of the season and his lack of a killer instinct at crunch times, again I agree those sides have shown great form, but that was always going to be the case given their managers and their squad, we built up a hefty lead by December and in the end and this inability to perform against the top sides basically led us to losing it.

We've been towards the top of the table numerous times in the last few years, ultimately though the problem that has existed has been this inability to make the most of opportunities to win when the pressure is on and trophies are on the line, it's a mental frailty that at this point doesn't look to have gone and I'd argue that this would ultimately be the most obvious sign of improvement or lack of it.

[AFC Leveller]

Im able to see things from both sides's point of view. Ozim makes some good points and so do the likes of Letters and Quinn but ultimately our shortcomings on the pitch are down to the players, bad management, bad tactics and in certain games a mental block.