Man United and Arsenal had a joie de vivre and intense rivalry that has not been equaled. Blackburn was a rags to riches story. Chelsea at least, were great villains. Liverpool were electric. Leicester was a fairy tale.
Even City’s Aguero moment when reflected upon wasn’t a big deal; at home against a struggling 10 man QPR was hardly Anfield 89.
Pepe Guardiola is clearly a great thinker in footballing terms, an innovator to be sure, but he’s ultimately the architect of sterility. His end product is that of a cold winning machine rather than a team clothed in endeavour. It’s the intangible that his product struggles with; the glory, and that ultimately defines sporting achievement.
I always say the best team wins the league and that’s fair enough but context is important. Rightly or wrongly Guardiola’s achievements will always be shrouded as every club he has managed has had the most money and the best players which could be looked upon as an advantageous base for his ideas
If Man City win the treble or go a season unbeaten the reality is that those achievements will be met with a shrug of the shoulders at best outside of the Etihad.
Greatness transcends, systematic victory doesn’t.
- Manchester City have not gone a season unbeaten...yet
- Manchester City have not done the treble...yet
- Manchester City have not won the Champions League...yet
There’s the real possibility that they could replicate those achievements in the near future and in doing so you have to analyse the credo of Manchester City
- Guardiola - let’s get the worlds best manager because money is no object
- Mahrez- let’s by Leicester’s best player because money is no object
- Grealish-let’s buy Villa’s best player because money is no object
- Haaland-let’s buy Europe’s best striker because money is no object
- Let’s assemble 22 top class players because money is no object
- That’s the City way.
As regards the boringly obvious criticism and rubbing of hands following Arsenal's unsuccesful title bid
"Oh,Arsenal could only draw with Southampton"-Man City list to Southampton; albeit in a cup competition
"Oh,Arsenal could only draw at Anfield" -Man City lost at Anfield
It's also worth pointing out that Arsenal were robbed of victory against Brentford by (self confessed) VAR incompetence-Man City lost to Brentford.
Be that as it may, Man City beat Arsenal home & away so if they go on to win the league there’s no argument.
When looking beyond the obvious fact that Manchester City are a cross between the Terminator and Richie Rich there are a number of factors that contributed to Arsenal's second place finish
- Key Injury combinations
- Dips in form
- Inexperience of squad
- Inexperience of manager
- The pressure of competing with a machine
The Premier League is unforgiving and in the context of trying to compete with ManCity a team has to basically be close to perfect week in, week out. Only one club in the last six years has finished above ManCity; that’s the landscape and that’s the challenge facing us and every club next season.
Here’s another question: why did no other team mount anything approaching a challenge to Manchester City this season?
Ultimately Man City have changed the landscape and, so far, Liverpool have been the only ones to successfully knock them off their perch; and that didn’t come easy.As for those with the loudest voices following the 0-3 defeat against a very good Brighton team, they come from our London neighbours
Tottenham lost twice to us this season are currently 28 points below and are struggling for a Europa League Spot and have had 3 managers in a season
Chelsea lost twice to us, are Currently 38 points below with no European football and three managers in a season
You’d think they’d be too ashamed to pipe up! But here's the reality
After a 5th place finish last season this season Arsenal have taken
- 6 points off Tottenham
- 6 points off Chelsea
- 4 points off Liverpool
- 3 points off Man Utd
- Been unbeaten in all the London Derbies
- Secured Champions League Qualification in April
Finished above 18 clubs. All with the second youngest squad in the league and a manager in his third ever season
All this in the context of trying to compete with a club with a £1.2billion squad, a scoring machine that cost a cumulative £324m to secure, who have won 5 out of the last 6 League titles. You've got to be in the 90 pts range to compete.
So if anyone is critical of what we’ve achieved this season, they need to have a word with themselves.
Emotion & mentality i think can be the difference and when you can have a group of players who align with those things at the right time it can transcend ability.
We didn’t manage those factors this time around. As much as I’m usually a ‘glass half empty’ person when it comes to the Arsenal I genuinely feel that, after the dust has settled I can rationalise this season and see a positive future for the club. A lot of that is based on, what I see as an expected development and progress of players like Saka, Martinelli, Ramsey, Saliba, Ødegaard, White, Ramsey, Gabriel and a couple of good acquisitions to add to the recent purchases of Trossard, Kiwior and Jorghino.
However, every club in the league who have serious aspiration; Liverpool, Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea will also be looking to enter the mix.I think the lesson from this season is that it doesn’t matter how good you are, when you’re competing with the financially doped (allegedly) Manchester City machine there is absolutely categorically no room for errors. You can’t draw games that you are in control of. You can’t lose games against lower opposition. You basically have to be perfect!
So as we head towards the end of this rollercoaster season, I ask myself "has it been a good season for Arsenal?" Based on expectations at the start of the season that answer has to be a 'Yes'. In terms of how the season progressed as did our expectations, well, it's still a 'yes'. We have no entered that rarefied atmosphere that only Manchester City and Liverpool have been in; competing for the title in the current landscape. I have always said that I want to see Arsenal competing, and now we are.
It would be nice to end this season with two victories to enjoy before we break for the summer and reflect. Let's see what next season brings
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so I said...