We’re having a rotten season in many respects.
After the euphoria of the summer’s FA Cup win most of us probably thought this would be a campaign in which we showed significant improvement in the league and would be knocking on the door of top four.
Instead we flirted with relegation after a dreadful run of games before Christmas and have performed in fits and starts since then. We languish in an embarrassing 10th place at the time of writing.
But we have a Europa League semi final to look forward to and the tantalising possibility of a trophy and a route back to the top table of European football against all the odds.
And things could be worse. We could be Spurs.
Let’s just pause for a moment to enjoy the comedy brilliance that defines the efforts of our N17 neighbours.
They hire the most disruptive and provocative manager the Premier League has ever known because they are desperate to win a trophy and, despite all his faults, he is a proven winner.
Mourinho, for it is he, performs his now familiar arc. First he flatters to deceive (the Spuds sniff the air at the top of the table for a few seconds earlier this season, leading their fans to immediately get carried away with thoughts of an elusive title win amidst much talk of “years ending in a one”); Swift decline follows, with a serious drop off in performances and results; then Mourinho begins criticising his players, talk starts to seep out that he’s ‘lost the dressing room’ and the inevitable parting of the ways follows.
But, being Spurs, this final element is conducted with a whole extra layer of idiocy.
Whatever you think of Mourinho, hate him or hate him, you would – more often than not – back him to win a cup final.
So, having got to the Carabao Cup Final – their first sniff of a trophy for 13 years – what did the Clown Car Club do? They fired him, a week before the appointment at Wembley. Then they lost the Cup Final.
You’d need a heart of stone not to wet yourself laughing.
Bear in mind that since they last got some silverware, we have bagged four FA Cups and four Community Shields, all during a period that most fans look upon as having been one of underachievement!
Anyway, enough about them. It’s just nice to know that we’ll always have them there to provide a bit of schadenfreude however depressing things seem in N5.
Finally a quick word on two of our loanees – Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. They are both making valuable contributions to their new clubs (Newcastle and West Brom respectively). Willock scored Toon’s equaliser against Liverpool at the weekend (his fourth goal since starting his loan spell) and AMN earned a penalty that helped secure the Baggies a draw with Aston Villa.
I think it’s fair to say that both players were generally liked by Arsenal fans, but we weren’t exactly clamouring for them to be automatic starters every week.
Have we underestimated them? Did they not get a consistent enough run of games at Arsenal in their favoured positions? Would they feature in the first team on a regular basis if they were with us now? Should they be brought back at the season’s end, or does their good form on loan give us the chance to sell them for higher fees than they would otherwise have commanded?
What do you think?
RockyLives
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
I would like them both back
‘Allo, Monsieur Rocket,
Ow eez it wiv you?
Good Post — putting a shine on the Spuds and their strange logic. After Friday’s disappointment, that Final, yesterday, (which was turgid by the way) had the result needed to cheer me up.
With the usual ‘warning’, I read that Arsenal had put a £20m fee on both Willock and AMN — which is setting the price for Newcastle and West Brom respectively.
I’m OK with that. Neither is quite right for us, altho they are better than Ceballos, I think.
Nice one, Rocky 😁
Fantastic result yesterday… as depressed as I am with our team, you can always rely on that lot to put a smile on your face!!
Willock loves a goal at Anfield 😉 Glad he and AMN are doing well, hasn’t quite happened for them with us, so I say sell to the highest bidder!
New Post
Ermm, Rocky, is that New Post @ 10:03 really a New Post or are you still recovering from the week-end imbibing? 😁
Thanks Rocky
Love Willock’s attitude. To quote another giant. “neither are quite right for us.” £40m would do. Get BOdegaard.
LBG,
Rocky has two Posts on the go this morning, the latest one will make you Eeek.
Be careful and avoid doing the splits, but you can dingle and dangle betwixt both.
(I’m a bit lonely on the New – New Post, so move your ass and tell me what you think about Rocky’s Eeek?)
Thanks for the post Rock, yes our old mates from Middlesex, fresh from Duluxgate, they never fail to fail do they.
Whatever happened to Chas and Dave?
As for Niles, Willock and probably Nketiah I think the club will be looking to move a couple of them on.
A bigger issue is getting something for Torrieira and moving on Guendouzi…
Yes, why not sell our promising academy graduates for as much as we can, and then spend lots of money bringing in some more lemons.
That is, surely, the Arsenal way whereby we continue to trust the process and flatter “most of us” (quoting the post) into thinking that under Arteta we are going anywhere but in a downwards spiral.
However, the most important thing is to ensure that we give Leno a new contract, giving him £300k a week, thus ensuring that we can retain this rock of our defence.
Oh yes, and we must sign Cellabos to keep him away from the top clubs like Barnet and Scunthorpe who are queuing up for his services.
How else can we secure a player who can manage 2 or 3 completed forward passes in a game,
Oh yes, by the way, how is it possible that a professional football team, with a turnover of hundreds of millions of pounds per annum, can allow their star player to go to Africa without ensuring that he had all of his appropriate inoculations and protection from Malaria?
Surely, it does not take a PHD to work that one out?
I suppose they were just trusting the process.
Sometimes am amazed why people never liked there own players but always prefer other odegard 2 goals, willock 4 goals in a less attacking squad
Personally I find odegard is a waste of money cause we have have ESR etc
Finishing 10th with the let’s of ceballos xhaka etc starting surely we Can’t do any worse with willock AMN