Hello my good football people… kicking off this week with huge commiserations to Arsenal.
Yeah, I’ve been yapping on for a few months now about how unlikely it will be for them to win the league and that’s how it’s turned out.
My old Arsenal mates never got too excited even eight points clear after Christmas. You see, those of us who’ve been through 30, 40, 50 seasons get to learn a thing or two from experience.
These days football conversations have largely been taken over by ‘influencers’ on social media who were but a single sperm in a pair of bollox when i.e. Micky Thomas scored in the dying seconds at Anfield to win the league in ’89.
Admittedly football kind of reset when Roman Abramovich entered the arena and changed the status quo at the top end (something I don’t like, but was inevitable).
But even so, it didn’t start there, rivalries remained the same and nerves, squad depth and experience continued to make all the difference as the business end of the season played out. The biggest point catchup in the Premier League happened in 2018/19.
Citeh overturned a seven-point deficit to win the league title by one point. They won 14 straight games at the end of the season, while Liverpool dropped points in their final games.
The top half is shaping up nicely 📊 pic.twitter.com/43np1T2gPA
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 15, 2023
It’s almost an exact replica this season, just switch the Scousers for the Gooners. Why was I so sure they wouldn’t do it? It was mainly to do with the profile of players that make up the squad.
Not a lot of experience with regards to multi major trophy winners, young and led by a young coach. It’s incredible how important those factors are.
One of the reasons Mikel Arteta would have brought in Jorginho, adding maturity and experience on and off the pitch. The other major factor is tempo. The pace in which a campaign is run. We’ve witnessed it playing out, peaking to early.
Before the 2-2 draw at Anfield (which was the beginning of the choke) they’d just banged 11 goals in three games (against Fulham, Palace and Leeds) they were on fire, playing at 110 percent, confident, energetic, but there’s only so much a human can give on the global stage week-in-week-out, pressure building and you’re like 12 years old, ok their average age is 24 (the youngest in the top flight).
The latest result in a difficult recent run for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal 🔴 pic.twitter.com/QXvprKLNlY
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 15, 2023
It was always gonna buckle. Especially with the might of Pep Guardiola and his legions of world-class, experienced players tightening the vice.
Arsenal’s last seven Premier League games have netted 9 out of 21 points! That’s proper mid-table form.
3̶5̶ 36
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 14, 2023
✨ @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/bigfCpLZx8
Anyway, on the brighter side, Arsenal Fan TV looks more like a help group for anger management and Piers Morgan will hopefully shut the f*** up for a minute. Personally, I had a beautiful Sunday night, sent myself off to sleep thinking about all the mouthy Gooners I’ve ever known and drifting off in their disappointment…Naaah, seriously, they’ve had a great season, entertained us and brought a bit of passion back to the Emirates.
But in their best season in recent memory, they’ve won no more than Chelsea (in their worst season for decades). My take on Liverpool’s sudden decline was about something similar. Jurgen Klopp pushing for every ounce of energy relentlessly until they finally became what they became and did as well as they did.
But, after the success have just not been able to replicate the same kind of energy and motivation. Arsenal haven’t won anything but they’ve been pushed to the extreme. Will the psychology of playing so well and so hard and coming out empty handed break the progress?
I think they’ll bounce back next season, but I believe this was the year they had their chance to win the league and they blew it.
All the talk of City coming unstuck having to play Real Madrid twice in the closing stages of the league has proved to mean niks. Experience and squad vs immaturity and lack of depth.
Bye bye Arsenal, you might own North London, but that’s about as far as it goes.
P.S. United fans, don’t know what you’re laughing about, Manchester is blue and Ole lost less games in a season then Erik Ten Hag!