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cubeadvance

By cubeadvance
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Guest

Guest

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Really happy for you guys, cool team. Hope it leads to more, if not savour the moment.

Now, if you can help stop Southampton being gutted let's talk!

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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

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That nike kit linked on HB ( http://www.hypebeast.com/2014/5/arsenal-and-nike-celebrate-20-years-of-partnership )anyone fancy scoping one out for a brother?

They're selling limited prints of them at some place called Nike Phenomenal House at the Sorting Office, WC1 1BA but no idea on price. If anyone goes for one, could you gimme a shout as I'd be in for one if it's not too rich. Cheers

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The Fox

The Fox

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I'm on paternity leave atm and it's a bit boring because babies just sleep all day, so I've written a sort of season review. I don't have a blog or whatever so even though it's a bit self-indulgent, I'll post it up here for y'all.

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The Fox

The Fox

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So another season has come and gone; a season that, despite troubled beginnings, promised so much for so long. Some of that promise faded away in all too familiar fashion, but some of it - finally - came to fruition.

Even more so than usual, this has been a campaign of highs and lows, lurching to extremes. The sour mood after the opening day defeat at home to Villa, exacerbated by a frustratingly incompetent transfer window, was not something I hope to experience again. But what we'd all forgotten while venting our spleens after that game was that, irrespective of a lack of signings, the players we already had ended the previous season in superb form, and showed they had the makings of a good team. And after that game, which proved to be no more than a blip aided by some ludicrously incompetent officiating, they embarked on quite a run.

The mood was further buoyed by the arrival of Ozil on deadline day, and I made the long trek to Sunderland to see him get two assists on his debut (and it would have been four were it not for Walcott's errant finishing). We were top of the league as winter came around, but were still cautious, knowing that results in the big games against Man City and Chelsea would give us a better indication of how good this team was. Sadly, we were found wanting. There were mitigating factors, sure - the game at the Etihad came barely 48 hours after a loss away to Napoli - but the fact was we were all over the shop in midfield and defence, and our blushes were only partially spared by the incompetence of City's own defending. After that came a nervy game with Chelsea, when both teams seemed happy to play out the 0-0.

Despite only taking one point from those matches, we were still top at the end of 2013. But then, as has so often been the case, the injuries took their toll and the wheels started to come off. Arguably the league's standout performer before Christmas, Aaron Ramsey limped off against West Ham on Boxing Day with a thigh strain. Initially diagnosed with an absence of around three weeks, he would not be seen again for over three months. With Walcott already out for the season, a further injury to Mesut Ozil meant the team was robbed of its three most dangerous attacking players, and the impact on our play was all too apparent.

In their absence, a sobering defeat at Anfield was horrendous to watch, but the nadir of the season had to be Wenger's 1000th game in charge, away to Chelsea. Despite all that was at stake, we put in a performance somehow even more inept and naive than at Liverpool, and came away with another deserved thrashing, our title challenge in tatters.

Ramsey and Ozil returned from injury not long after, and fourth place was secured, but by then it was too late. While the consistency of Wenger's Champions LEague qualification record is absolutely something worthy of praise, it's impossible to wonder what might have been if we'd had more luck and better injury management. Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain both joined Diaby on the sidelines with cruciate ligament injuries, which is a horrendous spot of bad fortune, but there really should be some serious questions asked internally about how Ramsey's apparently standard muscle injury ended up keeping him out for a third of the season. This is hardly the first time we've seen this sort of thing happen, and it's always going to be hard to compete when we are suffering 2 or 3 times as many injuries as our competitors. It's something we need to resolve as matter of urgency, because it can't be simply down to bad luck. Wenger has changed the medical team a couple of times in recent years but the problems keep occurring, so perhaps he needs to examine his own training methods and those of his coaches.

Similarly, the nature of the defeats in the big games away from home points to some fundamental flaws in our tactical approach to those matches, as well as the psychology of the side. Shorn of our most potent attacking weapons through injury, it would surely have been prudent to take a 'safety first' approach to the games at Anfield and Stamford Bridge. After all, we had shown numerous times before that we were capable of being a solid defensive side that even top opposition can struggle to break down. I don't think anyone saw any shame in the way we approached Dortmund away, for instance, soaking up all they had to offer before nicking it on the counter, so one wonders why we didn't take a similarly pragmatic approach to the domestic equivalents. Hopefully Wenger and the players learned some lessons from these defeats, because they were completely embarrassing and have, to an extent, soured the entire league season.

Thankfully though, the league season wasn't all we had to play for. We'd managed to get into the FA Cup final, giving us a taste of a first trophy for a while (I can't remember exactly how long though -- if only people mentioned it more often). In typical Arsenal fashion, not one second of it was comfortable viewing. I'd been in the Tollington before the game and was a tad worse for wear by the time I wandered down to the Emirates for the screening, along with 20,000 other Gooners who'd been unable to get tickets for Wembley. I won't go into too much detail about the game itself, other than that I'm still trying to work out which was my favourite bottled penalty decision from Lee Probert. When Ramsey scored the winner with a deft flick of his boot, sneaking the ball into the tiniest of spaces at MacGregor's near post, well needless to say everyone lost their shit. There was even a pitch invasion at the final whistle, leading to the big screens getting turned off and me having to watch the trophy presentation on my phone. Afterwards came a long, heavy night in Islington, followed by the bleary-eyed parade the following morning in glorious sunshine. What a weekend.

On a personal level, I am unbelievably happy for Arsene Wenger. He's someone I have a vast amount of respect and affection for, and it's been hard to see him recently, clearly struggling under the pressure. The anguish on his face against Wigan when we were 1-0 down with 15 minutes to go was horrible to see. What a relief this must be, after all the flak he's taken in recent times (some of it perfectly fair, but a lot of it unjustified).

It now looks like the manager is going to sign on for 3 more years, rather than 2 as initially expected. Fingers crossed we can have a better summer transfer window than last year, and augment the squad with some quality players in order to sustain a better challenge next season. If we can do that, perhaps we can look back on 2013/14 in years to come as a turning point in the club's fortunes, rather than as somewhat of a missed opportunity.


Goal of the Season

1. Jack Wilshere vs Norwich
2. Tomas Rosicky vs Sunderland
3. Aaron Ramsey vs Norwich (A)

Honourable mentions to Ramsey vs Norwich (H), and Ramsey vs Liverpool.

Favourite goal of the season though is obviously Ramsey vs Hull, followed by Rosicky vs Tottenham.


Player of the Season

1. Aaron Ramsey
2. Wojciech Szczesny
3. Laurent Koscielny

Honourable mentions to Per and Sagna.


Hopes going forward

1. Put a finger on why we suffer so many more injuries than our competitors (and it's a fact that we do, and it can't solely be down to bad luck)
2. Look at what went wrong in our approach to the big PL away matches, and learn lessons from those heavy defeats. Stamford Bridge was an absurd Groundhog Day of Anfield, and we should not be putting ourselves in that position again.
3. Augment the squad with a new 'First XI' calibre forward and defensive midfielder, as well as a replacement for Sagna. We may also need squad players in goal and at centre back.

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Rev

Rev

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So, slightly odd transfer rumour, Milner.

What do we think? I'm really not sure a central midfielder is on the wants list at all, so I'd be happy to see us miss out on that one. He'd probably be useful, but not required.

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Steve007

Steve007

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I don't have the time right now to write a lengthy review, but ultimately it was a disappointing season that ended on a massive fucking high with the FA Cup win. I'm still walking around grinning like a moron!


Fourth place is not good enough for a club like ours so I hope the squad is bolstered to cope with another tough gruelling Premier League campaign and hopefully we have the depth and strength to have a decent run in the Champions League (assuming we get through the qualifying round). A defence of the FA Cup is also in order as we should always aim to defend our trophy.


Player of the season? I agree with The Fox with Aaron Ramsey in first place. Followed by Koscielny and then BFG in third. I also have to mention Szczesny as one of the most improved players. I hope he continues to improve and signing a decent replacement for Fabianski will keep him on his toes and ensure he doesn't become complacent.

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toythatkills

toythatkills

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I don't have the time right now to write a length review, but ultimately it was a disappointing season that ended on a massive fucking high with the FA Cup win. I'm still walking around grinning like a moron!

It's disappointing because of the way it panned out, but I think at the start of the season (especially after the Villa game) a lot of people would have very, very happily taken fourth place and the FA Cup.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Speroni is out of contract I think, we could do worse than him as a backup keeper.

Casillas is leaving Madrid too I think but he'll want huge money and probably a guaranteed No1 slot, so I can't see that happening.

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Dude Ranch

Dude Ranch

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So, slightly odd transfer rumour, Milner.

What do we think?

I always thought he would be an OK fit to replace the industry of Parlour and Ljungberg down the right but he's a bit one dimensional, hasn't ever improved and despite being a Mr Reliable type I think he'd cripple our game a bit. I do sometimes think we could do with a couple of strong and steady players like him but it's not really Wenger's style.
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