The Arsenal weekend had started with a buzz of excitement and anticipation, as the women’s team prepared for a monumental challenge in the Champions League final against a Barcelona team packed with generational talents, and worthy winners in the last two years. There was more than an element of fairytale about Arsenal’s run to the final – losing their first match in the qualifying round, changing manager after that, and eventually overcoming heavyweights like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Olympique Lyonnais in near cinematic turnarounds in the second legs of the respective rounds – and it had captured the imagination of most Arsenal fans, and not only those who typically follow the women’s team through the years. And there was something uniquely Arsenal about how the interim manager Renée Slegers rapidly established herself for a permanent role, and how the team coalesced together through a combination of abilities and attitudes against all expectations.
Arteta and his injury-ridden, exhausted, running-through-fumes squad nearly mirrored that achievement in their CL campaign. The moment of Thomas Partey’s unusually emotional reaction to the opposition’s typically entitled tantrums in Madrid as the second leg of the quarter final was coming to an end had a cascading set of consequences in the first leg of the semi-final, and the severely depleted forward line failed to overcome the single goal disadvantage against some brilliant goalkeeping and their own lack of sharpness in front of the goal. Fine margins. While that semi-final loss had brought an end to a chance of silverware at the end of the season, it clearly demonstrated the ambition of the team, while helping to identify the gaps that need to be addressed to achieve those ambitious goals that they have worked so hard over the last few years to prepare for.
While the league was lost earlier in the Spring, and next year’s CL qualifications guaranteed in the previous weekend’s home win against Newcastle, coming to the final day of the league campaign there was still something to play for – ensuring a second place against a highly unlikely (but not completely impossible) swing in goal difference, as well as ending the season a high note. There was also a degree of poignancy to the affair for the squad – and for many of us supporters who form a kind of emotional connection to those players who seem to us the perfect ambassadors for this unique club – as this was going to be the farewell match for several popular members of the squad.
By the time the morning of match day came around, the Arsenal universe was in a celebratory mood as the women’s team had pulled off an extraordinary victory in their CL final, with a flawlessly executed game plan that relied on tactical discipline, work-rate, courage to express their qualities and take their chances, and, in the process, winning their second ever Champions League (remaining the only British team to have won the women’s edition). If the men’s team need any extra inspiration next season in those inevitably difficult moments in their campaign, they can do no better than look at their counterparts’ extraordinary (and completely unpredicted) success in this year’s CL.
Final day opposition was Southampton, already relegated – and bottom of the table. Over the years for reasons beyond the reasonable we have had difficult times away at St. Mary’s against this perennial see-saw club. Every match I seem to remember at Southampton was always played in rainy, windy conditions and we conceded goals in manners running the entire spectrum of the ridiculous. I do not have the heart to go back and check the actual results, maybe they are not so bad after all.
The starting eleven reflected a combination of the state of injury-ridden squad, and what one might guess as the gentler aspects of Mikel’s personality as a few members of the starting eleven would not have otherwise started had it not been their swansong in Arsenal colours. I think this was the first time Arsenal started a match with both Saliba and Garbiel absent from the defence in more than a year.
Raya
White – Kiwior – Tierney – Zinchenko
Partey
Nwaneri- Rice
Sterling – Merino – Martinelli
I fully expected Aaron Ramsdale, once a favourite of us all while making stunning stops in Arsenal goal, to have one of those performances in the Southampton goal. He really doesn’t deserve to be relegated. I am sure he doesn’t read these blogs, and even if in the rarest of chance that he does, he should definitely not be paying attention to the unwarranted advice of a fan, but he should really be looking at playing for one of the better teams at a different league, away from the PL at least for a while – with his personality and his abilities he will be a great hit in passionately followed clubs playing high quality football like, say, Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
There was a degree of positional fluidity and rotation, especially on the left side as Zinchenko and Tierney swapped freely and intelligently, Zinchenko gravitating towards the center as he typically does, and Tierney, equally typically, delivering some wonderful crosses from the left. Martinelli headed one of Tierney’s crosses straight at Ramsdale. Merino headed one over the bar. Not much of note happened for a significant part of the first half as Arsenal kept rotating the ball from left to right to left, Southampton sat back on a very low block, but indeed looked threatening enough on counter-attacks, especially through an eye-catchingly spirited performance by Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Martinelli – once again showcasing the qualities that should make him at least a potential option through the middle – broke the offside trap, superbly controlled a lofted pass from Tierney, and ran through straight on goal. His finishing could have been better, but Aaron gets a lot of credit for his smart save.
There were few more crosses, Merino headed wide again, the corner routines looked far less threatening as they have done since Gabriel became unavailable earlier in the Spring. Zinchenko and Nwaneri threatened to shoot a few times without quite managing to do so, Partey had a tame effort go straight to Ramsdale, and Southampton appealed excitedly for a penalty for a potential handball against Rice. Given that it was nowhere nearly a handball, I fully expected VAR to award one against us. I was surprised by the correct decision.
Eventually the goal arrived from an unlikely source. The congratulations that the goalscorer received once again reminded everyone of the esteem in which he is held by his teammates. Tierney made a sharp run to the near post to flick in a neat finish with his right foot from a White cross – his first goal in the Premier League since that wonderful right-footed finish from the edge of the box under the whirling snow away at West Bromwich Albion. He was absolutely delighted. So were his teammates. And so was Mikel Arteta in the stands – serving his one match ban following his third yellow card against Newcastle – sitting next to his boss. Tierney was the of the rocks in the Arsenal squad when Mikel first arrived, and he was a key presence as Arteta established his credentials in his first season by winning the FA Cup. At that time it felt inevitable that one day Tierney would take over the Arsenal captaincy. Injuries had unfortunately never allowed him to establish himself in Arsenal colours, but as Mikel observed in his post-match interview, the doors of the club will always be open to him. Best wishes to him. He is still very young, and if he can stay injury free, he will become one of the most coveted left backs in the world.
Southampton 0 – Arsenal 1 (Tierney 43’)
Southampton looked the more determined and sharper of the two sides as the second half started. They earned a corner from another fast break engineered by the tireless Sulemana. The right-footed delivery from Fernandes was of high quality, and Tierney’s Scottish team-mate Stewart flicked in an excellent header past Raya’s outstretched hands. David is not the tallest of the goalkeepers, and there are and will be times when that minor disadvantage would be felt. It is not a slight on his excellent all round abilities, including his composure on flighted deliveries, his courage and quality with the ball at his feet, and his distribution.
Southampton 1 (Stewart 56’) – Arsenal 1 (Tierney 43’)
It is worth noting that since Gabriel had joined half of the squad in the injury room, not only has our fabled potency from corners dropped precipitously, but our ability to defend corners has also evaporated equally alarmingly. Whatever praise and accolades Jover has been earning earlier in the season, he will definitely need to reestablish himself as worthy of the same. 🙂
While this was definitely Tierney’s final match (at least for this round) of his Arsenal career, the future of Zinchenko in red-and-white is not that clear. The arrival of Calafiori and the extraordinary emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly imply that he is most likely to leave in search of regular first team football. Earlier in the winter there were whispers about a deal with Dortmund. Whatever the future may hold, I enjoyed his time in Arsenal. He was instrumental in bringing the kind of technical consistency and tactical sophistication that Arteta needed to establish as the baseline for his vision, and while his limitations – especially as a full-back, which he is not, learning his trade mostly as a left-sided midfielder where he still plays as the captain of his national team – and injuries meant that he is clearly no longer the right fit for this team, for more reasons than one I will remember his time with us very fondly. His professionalism remained commendable despite all that has happened to his world, and he had worn the shirt with pride and enthusiasm. One of his last contributions was a rasping goalbound effort – after some excellent combination play on our right side – which was deflected off a Southampton defender past the upright.
The game meandering towards another draw, Arteta (or maybe Stuivenberg, deputising on the sidelines) brought about changes. Tierney, Zinchenko, Sterling, Martinelli, Nwaneri all left one after another, with Lewis-Skelly, Trossard, Havertz, Saka, and Ødegaard all coming in. Saka and Martin brought in more sharpness on the right, and Havertz his presence upfront. But it was clearly evident that none of these players is anywhere close to his best, for reasons obvious to anyone with a modicum of reasoning abilities, and I resigned myself to another draw.
In the last minute of normal time, the captain – who in the last couple of weeks seems to have rediscovered the power and skill of his left foot – scored a wonderful winner, with an unstoppable low finish from the edge of the box. The drive dropped precisely in front of the goalkeeper to bounce past the diving Ramsdale.
Southampton 1 (Stewart 56’) – Arsenal 2 (Tierney 43’, Ødegaard 90’)
So, we ended the season in second position in the league for the third consecutive year, though our points tally dropped from the last two seasons. We also made noticeable progress in reestablishing ourselves as a CL presence, including an expectations-defying, commanding victory against the most decorated of European heavyweights. All achieved with much of the spine of the team absent for significant periods of time – Ødegaard, Jesùs, Saka, Havertz, Gabriel.
There will be times in the coming weeks of summer to analyze and discuss this strangest of seasons. Everyone is entitled to their own feelings, thoughts, ideas and opinions. In my memory this will live on as the most remarkable of seasons as it taught me a good deal about life itself, in and outside of football. I am more than ever convinced that the Arsenal football club is very much on the right track, and whereas the record books may not mark this season in gold letters for Arsenal, success in coming years will owe a lot to everything that happened, and the evolution and growth those lessons inspire.
Thank you to all the readers and all the contributors for your generosity, your camaraderie, your spirit, and your love of the game and this most unique of all clubs. Until next season!
Tried to submit this under the previous drinks Dr F’s match report (still to read) beat me to it:
Thank you all! Still recovering from last night’s revelry that spontaneously broke out at the House of Potsticker. First off, thank you to Ned, Bath, Scruz and TTG for their work on the Predictathon, and also to the monks for the fine analytics and charts that made the updates so highly anticipated each week. I never expected to win in the last week, and Dr. F Jr and Dino were tough challengers – congratulations to them also. I’d also like to thank my family and the members of the academy, blah blah blah. The secret to my success? Maybe not knowing as much about footie as others here, and a strict policy of not taking any middle eastern oil money to run massive AI calculations (or for any other purpose). I shan’t reveal all of my strategy (if there was one), but it was just as much about how I wanted the final league table to look as much as how I objectively thought it would look (again, based on scant football knowledge). Thank you thank you!
Cheers. Dr. A very odd season. Frustrating in its results, and apart from a handul of matches (aside from the CL, which was enjoyable in the main), I’d say rather poor in football quality for a number of reasons.
Lots of lessons will have been learnt and we go again next season (I initially wrote ‘next year’, but that would be too late!), hopefully with renewed vigour and sharpness, and a few new faces.
Farewell KT, Zinchenko and a few others, and good luck in your new adventures.
Bravo, Dr F., a typically erudite and elegant match report to bring down the curtain on, as you say, this strangest of seasons.
Potsticker@1: Congratulations on your win in the Predictathon. The lead changed hands eight times on the final day. The three others who could have won it, bt8, Dr F. Jnr and GSD, all took the lead at some point, but you cunningly bided your time before making the decisive move with barely a quarter of an hour of the season left. Timing is everything.
Congratulations to Potsticker on his outstanding Predictathon victory. His victory was achieved by following a strategy much like my own, last season.
The commentariat will no doubt be split as to whether this season’s spectacular falls from grace/returns to their positions of yore by several teams are a long wished-for[*] shake up of the previous order, or a random event. I look forward (with no enthusiasm whatever) to reading their words of wisdom(?!)
Meanwhile, have a great summer everyone; season 2025/26 will be with us soon enough.
[*] In some quarters, notably that of the aforesaid commentariat.
Sorry all for the following but it’s the last time I promise.
I waited to reply as I wanted time to reflect and consider if my words then and now needed reappraising but I feel that they really don’t.
I can definitely appreciate that others are going through bad health situations and that doesn’t make me special because I am too, the thing is most of you seem to have someone else or even each other, there’s a friendship that exists that I will never be able to replicate or be part of.
I suspected that I was a worthy cause at the time of the article dealing with my depression but put that thought to the back of my mind.
Until a flurry of emails came in praising my bravery and the honesty of my story and despite the fact that writing anything can be incredibly hard work for me I resolved to reply to all of them and wished everybody a happy new year and do you know how many replies I got returning said wishes or in fact a reply ever, none and not one person has ever contacted me again unless it was about goonerholics and that has only been TTG
I’ve had a pretty shitty last fifteen years with the last five being among the worst since losing my mum but you dangled something amazing in front of me that gave me a huge and genuine lift for the first time in a decade and then did nothing about it because emailing me for something non goonerholics related never entered anybody’s mind, I’ve had a near nine months downwards spiral that got worse with every new diagnosis and every bloody game that came and went.
Goonerholics went from being my safe and welcoming shelter from the shit of life to a place I dreaded going because I thought I was being mocked, I know better now as to be mocked people actually have to be thinking about you first and that has very clearly not been the case.
I wish no ill will to anybody as life gets busy and it’s hard to keep track of real friends and online friends and my only real regret is that I thought I had crossed that screen barrier to the other side.
It’s been a wonderful end to the season for the ladies and another 2nd place for the guys albeit a slightly disappointing one this time.
I hope for considerably better for both teams next year and I hope you all continue to do well and have better health resolution for the future.
Signing off for the last time as depressedgooner
Dr.F
Thankyou for weaving two match accounts together very elegantly and enjoyably . Two hard fought wins- one that represented the most important club game those ladies will play and the other a pretty insignificant fixture . But we won them both .
Writing the season review it struck me how many eccentric refereeing decisions we had against us and second place in the Premier League with all our injuries was a decent effort. What we did in Europe was superb . We now await Mr.Berta’s efforts to revamp the squad .
Max Dowman scored a brilliant goal for England U17 tonight.
It’s on the BBC website
A thought for the injured in Liverpool. A horrible, inexplicable end to a day of celebration similar to our own day outside the Emirates. We had Katy McCabe, apparently still shit-faced, determined to ‘do a Jack Wilshere’. They had an appalling tragedy. I hope that the injured make full recoveries.
An away win at St Mary’s and an excellent summary by Dr F on the final day – no better way possible to conclude this season other than the obvious – a double of the PL and CL. And had our first team not undergone eight surgeries over the course of the season and been subjected to all kinds of retribution from PGMOL through ‘Arsenal only’ legislation that double was there for the taking. Mikel Arteta has elevated the club (echoes of his style abound in the ladies team leadership) to a magnificent level. An outstanding transfer in the coming window and great things will happen next season.
Huge thanks to all of the excellent GHF writers who’ve delivered some of the very highest quality of diverse insights, opinions, good sense and great humour and to the monks (with a little bit of prompting from Ned) for some of the most detailed Predictathon analysis available on this side of the dark side of the moon. Great job all.
NLFE
Thank you Dr. F for your excellent analysis of the day highlighting its importance to Zinchenko and Tierney, and also for your spot on observations about the strange season that has finally and thankfully concluded. A well earned happy Summer to all ‘holics whether Depressed or otherwise. 👍🏼
DG@5: I won’t pretend to know how hard life must be for you or even how best to respond to your posts. I can only say that the regulars here share Dave Faber’s vision of an open community where decency and a love of our football club prevail. No one would willingly want to make you feel unwelcome, even if we can be awkward in what we say or don’t say. I know this place is just one corner of your life, but we’re here to be with you when you want to talk about Arsenal or football or just to tell us how you are getting on.
BtM@9: some of the most detailed Predictathon analysis available on this side of the dark side of the moon. 🙂
First in a universe of one.
Some time ago I referred to a discussion I had with a friend who spends a lot of time in Spain and watches a lot of Spanish football.
I asked him about Zubimendi as our papers were claiming a deal was agreed but he was sceptical. His actual comment was ‘ of all the Spanish players likely to move abroad he is the least likely. He is quite a reclusive boy proud of his Basque heritage. I don’t think he speaks any English ‘ ( he referenced Reyes who similarly never learnt a word while here ) and he felt that he would ultimately be snapped up by Real or Barca. This was before a Basque manager went to Real.
So I wouldn’t assume Zubimendi is ours yet although from what he said about him as a player he sounded very good . I hope he does come our way to free up Declan but it doesn’t appear as done a deal as some at Arsenal have suggested- and the man who set it up left last week
TTG@14: Chamartín isn’t the only place where Basque managers are to be found.
Yeah, it’d be nice to add Zubimendi as Jorginho is definitely leaving.
And although MA said he wants him to stay I imagine TP5 will go too.
I think TP5 will sign an extension. No guarantees, but Ornstein reckons both the player and club see that as the best option, so that seems likely.
Fabrizio Romano gave Zubimendi to Arsenal a ‘here we go’. That’s as close to a guarantee as you can get until it is official. I’m sure all of the stuff TTG’s friend noted is true, but none of it is new. It is the reason why he hasn’t moved before (notably turning down Liverpool last summer) and why it’s taken a long time to try to sort a deal.
One of the Spanish mouthpiece rags reported that the Arsenal deal could fall apart at ‘one call from Real Madrid’. It sounds like posturing to me. “Look how big and wonderful we are. If he moves to Arsenal it’s only because we decided not to pick up the phone.” Sure.
And I wouldn’t worry about Ayto leaving. Lots of people have been involved in that deal, and Zubi will have been sold on the project, not the interim sporting director. Gunnerblog reckons it would take an administrative disaster for us not to complete the signing, and that doesn’t seem like Berta’s style.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens, but I’d like to see him play for us and I hope we get there.
Cheers Doc for a final (double!) match report of the season. You’ve taken us out in style.
>>>>>>>