20 years ago, 1993/4. Pretty much the peak of boring boring Arsenal. As for the players always giving 100%, we were very much a Cup team around then and there were plenty of league games where their minds were clearly elsewhere - in the preceding season we won both domestic cups but were awful in the league, we were only 7 points off the relegation zone that year. 93/94 was better but look at the results:
http://www.statto.com/football/teams...3-1994/results
It was the year of the 4 0-0s in a row (a record Graham equaled while at Spurs!) which was followed by a loss and there's another run of 5 draws in a row.
There are certainly some reasons for moaning but don't look back with rose-tinted glasses at the early 90s side, if you think the football is dire now then you have clearly forgotten just how bad it was in that era. 92/93 was my first year at Uni so, mercifully, I missed a lot of it but I remember parts of the season I was home and the games were just awful. My dad nearly gave up the season tickets that year it was so bad, it was only the end of the season where we won the trophies (again, in horribly boring fashion, they were awful Cup finals) which changed his mind.
Our football isn't the scintillating stuff of the Invincibles, no, but if you're going to compare every Arsenal side to that level then look forward to a lifetime of disappointment. That really was an exceptional side and is unlikely to be equalled.
Surely that would be the sign that we're moving forward?! For years we've been rightly criticized for crumbling under pressure. People cherry pick league results to show that's been true this year but pretty much all games have pressure on them and we've won plenty of games when under pressure this year, no less so than the cup semi-final when, poor as we were, we held our nerve in the shootout. We are a better side this year than last. We need more up front and more depth generally but we are going in the right direction IMO. It's clear the difference Ramsey makes, I don't think we'd have won the title had he stayed fit but we'd have been a lot closer.Even if we win the FA cup, I see nothing this season that has shown that we as a football team are moving forward.
The bid for Suarez and the signing of Ozil last summer showed a new ambition. We might be about to finally end our trophy drought. If we do then I'm not convinced that's a good time to be sacking the manager although I do think we need to start preparing for the change as it's going to happen fairly soon anyway.
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Originally Posted by Letters
