Saka’s Flexibility must make Gareth Southgate take notice for the Euros
There has been a huge amount of revisionist hindsight amongst the Arsenal fanbase this week after Bukayo Saka’s stunning performance at left back against Newcastle. Suddenly, everybody had always wanted the young England International played there in Kieran Tierney’s injury absence and had Arteta played him there the previous Thursday, Arsenal might still be in […]
An All-English Champions League Final highlights Arsenal’s Decline
It’s fair to say that the 2020-21 season has been one of the worst in Arsenal’s modern history. Not only are the Gunners out of the Europa League, but three of their biggest rivals will line up in European finals at the end of the campaign. Aside from Manchester United, who play Unai Emery’s Villarreal […]
Little Lucky Wins Back – One-nil to The Tenacious Arsenal as Arteta Gets it Right
Little Lucky Winks Back POSITIVES, NEEDS AND HOPES Amongst the wash of badness that Arsenal have been this season, Arsenal have also been unlucky. Perhaps all teams are as unlucky as us? I don’t pay close enough attention to all of them to know. I can say however, that I can’t remember a season being […]
Arteta – Back Him or Boot Him?
Clumsy, at best.When Mikel Arteta faced the press before the Chelsea game, some of his quotes left me appalled: in a very Mourinho-esque way, he did throw some of his players under the bus, questioning their attitude and overall qualities.It doesn’t bode well.It won’t sit well with the players.I never liked managers who publicly blame […]
The Big Question – Is Arteta learning from his mistakes or will he?
Undoubtedly, Mikel Arteta has made mistakes this season, but is his most costly not utilising the versatility of Bukayo Saka during Kieran Tierney’s absence? When the Spaniard first arrived at the club, it was a familiar sight seeing Saka maraud up and down the left-hand side of Arsenal’s attack, often overlapping his winger to get […]
Apathy, Arrogance, Naivety have caused Arsenal’s Demise – It’s the time to ‘Act not Talk!’
The saying goes, “It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better.” Towards the end of Wenger’s reign, the majority of Arsenal fans weren’t naïve to the fact that things may have to ‘get worse’ before the glory days returned, but there was a general belief that they would return […]
A little glimpse, but not enough – Arsenal’s future, and Arteta’s role in it…
A little glimpse, but not enough POSITIVES,NEEDS and HOPES There was so much about yesterday that could’ve been better. Happier. Perhaps, hopeful. I was trying to feel more excited but couldn’t fake it. All 3 goals were ordinarily seat jumpers but my son and I only managed a token fist pump. Perhaps like you, I […]
Has Arteta let the players down or have the players let Arteta down!
This was my column for Sun Football yesterday. The Morning after the woeful night before I knew I would be asked to articulate my views on Arsenal’s situation and that of the manager after last night’s limp exit from Europe’s secondary competition. Not a task to relish. Having already selected a weakened team in defence […]
The Controller and His Joystick – Undecided on Arteta as Arsenal’s Season Goes Down The Plug
The Controller and his joystick POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES It was the 70th minute yesterday. For the first time this season, I’d lost hope. Actually, that’s not true. There have been others. I felt without hope because I knew everything that Arsenal were going to do next. Nothing came as a surprise. More importantly, Unai […]
A Fan’s Firsthand View of Arsenal’s 70/71 Historic Double – The Finale
The season was reaching its climax with Arsenal on 61 points from 39 matches and Leeds on 60 points from 40 games. The stakes were sky high as Arsenal travelled to Yorkshire to meet their title rivals knowing that a victory at Elland Road would win us the title for the first time since 1953. […]