When 2025 began we were six points behind Liverpool, who had a game in hand. C130y, who we had expected to be our major competition, were eight points behind us. To everyone’s surprise, including Predictathon participants, Nottingham Forest occupied third position. We had work to do to catch Liverpool who had lost only once. We had only suffered two league defeats but a number of draws had seen points trickle away.
The year commenced with a tricky away game against Brentford. Sky still clearly regarded their screening of Brentford’s return to the top flight in August 2019 as a major coup and an occasion to be relived despite the fact that Arsenal‘s only defeat at the hands of Brentford was in that Covid-affected and dubiously refereed match, and Arsenal had won their last three games at the Community Stadium without conceding a goal. When the dangerous Mbuemo struck in the first ten minutes to put Brentford ahead they started to roll out the familiar ‘Arsenal don’t like it up ’em‘ theme. Except this Arsenal side don’t mind a bit of physicality at all and soon equalised through Gabriel Jesus who was becoming a regular scorer after his goal drought ended. In the second half Arsenal’s superiority manifested itself very clearly and a quickfire brace of goals from Merino and Martinelli saw Arsenal ease to victory.
We then travelled to an even more testing venue – the Amex Stadium – to play Brighton. Brighton had benefited from a very flawed refereeing decision in our first game with them and they did so again this time. Anthony Taylor a referee who likes to be the centre of attention decided that an innocuous challenge from Saliba on Joao Pedro, where he clearly played the ball, was an illegal headbutt and therefore a penalty. Watching it Arsenal fans were incredulous. To add insult to injury Joao Pedro converted the spot kick to equalise an early goal by Ethan Nwaneri, who was subsequently taken off with a leg injury leaving us even more strapped for creative wing resources. The two ‘ eccentric’ refereeing decisions in favour of Brighton had robbed us of four points. The fates seemed to be conspiring against us with another ‘only us’ decision. Certainly it was hard to think of another side who had been penalised so heavily, for such trivial incidents.
Newcastle’s visit to us for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final was a depressing evening because it underlined the main fallibility in our side, and we witnessed possibly the best individual performance against us during the season. Alexander Isak tore us apart upfront, scoring in the first half and setting up Anthony Gordon for another early in the second half. We created a number of great chances, several of which we missed with Havertz being particularly culpable, Burn and Botman playing out of their skins, and Dubravka proving unbeatable. As a matter of interest, so slanted did I consider the narrative to be in the Sky commentary that I wrote to the Head of Sky Sport to register my disapproval. I treasure his reply, which no doubt a secretary had run off from their store of regularly aired excuses and which said nothing of any consequence. A two goal deficit was theoretically recoverable when the teams were to meet again in a month’s time but there was a confidence and aura about this Newcastle side that suggested they would be a very tough nut to crack in the second leg.
We segued from League Cup to FA Cup , a competition that we had wildly underperformed in since Arteta led us to victory in his first season. While I am extremely sympathetic to Arsenal’s campaign to eradicate knife crime, I find the white kit they wear for FA Cup matches seems to produce anaemic performances in keeping with the theme of the campaign. We faced a home game against the erratic Manchester United who we had beaten easily a month earlier. United were a much tougher nut to crack despite Bayindir (their reserve keeper) playing in place of Onana. Having looked highly suspect in previous games he predictably was brilliant against us, saving an Ødegaard penalty and playing superbly throughout the game and in the ultimate penalty shootout. Fernandes had struck a superb opener which Gabriel equalised shortly after Dallo had been sent off . We could not score again and Havertz missed the fateful penalty in the shootout to seal our FA Cup exit. In a few days we had suffered two serious setbacks in two competitions both at home. More significantly Gabriel Jesus was carried off with what later proved to be an ACL injury ruling him out for the season. This increased the pressure on the club to find more striking resources.
Next up was the North London Derby at home. We dominated play almost completely but went a goal down when Son hit a speculative volley that appeared to be deflected past Raya. Thankfully we hit back quickly with Gabriel heading home from a superb Rice corner and then Trossard drove home on the break to put us ahead. We controlled a nervy second half and secured victory to ensure bragging rights in North London for the foreseeable future and Lewis Skelly increased his popularity with Gooners everywhere by winding up irate Tottenham fans as he was substituted. The emergence of Lewis Skelly, a midfielder converted into a highly effective left back, had been astonishing and this was to be one of the stories of the season as within a few weeks he was a full England international, who scored within the first twenty minutes of his debut. But he was also a player that controversy seemed to follow around!
Our run of home games continued with a game against Aston Villa who had damaged our championship challenge so grievously last season. We set about rectifying this damage racing into a 2-0 lead through Martinelli and Havertz. Sadly our vaunted defence failed us on this occasion. Two players with whom we have been heavily linked in the past, Tielemans and Watkins, equalised taking advantage of very un-Arsenal-like defending. A Merino deflected effort seemed to have clinched the points for us but VAR intervened as it so often does for us and we had to settle for a point.
The transfer window was in full swing but this was a relative term . Few clubs seemed committed to extensive trading and this made the acquisition of a striker extremely problematical . A £40 million bid for Ollie Watkins was rebuffed by Villa while we also considered whether to advance the potential purchase of Benjamin Sesko albeit paying a heavy premium in the process . One reassurance was the durability of Kai Havertz who was used unremittingly by Arteta through this period. But could Havertz continue to play through the rest of the season without respite? We were soon to find out.
The absence of an experienced Sporting Director hit us hard despite the hard work of Jason Ayto who acted in an interim capacity and has by all accounts secured the signature of Zubimendi from Sociedad for next season. We were incomplete as a unit in attack given the absence of Gabriel Jesus and the almost complete inability of Sterling to make an impact. The two loan transfers which blocked us from doing other loan business were not impressive. To be fair to Neto he only had one game but most Gooners were very glad about that after his performance in Girona. Sterling was frankly awful notwithstanding his goalscoring CV and experience. It would be hard to imagine a much weaker contribution from an experienced player who was drawing a total salary of £375K a week. Thank goodness Chelsea were paying the lion’s share.
Our next game was one of our most controversial. We travelled to take on an improving Woves side at Molineux and to our astonishment found ourselves down to ten men early in the second half when Lewis- Skelly was given a straight red card for a cynical trip SEVENTY yards from the Arsenal goal. The referee Michael Oliver has plenty of previous with Arsenal, including sending off Martinelli for two offences within seconds at Molineux a few years before. It was a ridiculous decision which was subsequently overturned but it left us with ten men away from home. Wolves were reduced to ten men shortly afterwards themselves and then Calafiori produced another sublime goal from left-back to secure the points. Conspiracy theories abounded about Oliver who had sent Trossard off at the Etihad and it was a very unsatisfactory episode, although MLS seemed to shrug off the controversy without any problem.
Our next league game was the reverse fixture with C130y who had been stuttering over the previous few months and were on the fringes of the title race. It was possibly the most joyous league game of the season. An early Ødegaard goal was cancelled out by a Haaland header ten minutes into the second half and we feared that this might turn the game . From the restart a deflected Partey shot gave us the lead again and the last twenty minutes saw us rip their hesitant and desperately slow rearguard to shreds. MLS scored his first Arsenal goal and then mimicked Haaland who was entreated throughout the match by Arsenal fans to be humble but in very impolite terms! Havertz who was suffering from a lack of confidence in front of goal characterised by an astonishing early miss converted coolly after a Martinelli breakaway and then a long and complex passing sequence saw Rice find Nwaneri on the right and he finished with a sublime (and rapidly becoming trademark) curling shot. It was hugely enjoyable to destroy C130y in this way and underlined the quality that existed in this Arsenal side at its best.
Unfortunately we were not at our best in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi- final where Isak (especially), Murphy, and Gordon tore us apart and Newcastle recorded another 2-0 victory. Their re-emergence as a power was slightly tarnished for me by the release of a wave of supporter arrogance that was fairly rich coming from a club that had been in the doldrums for seventy years! Sky could barely contain their delight at this turn of events.
Arsenal jetted off to Dubai to lick their wounds and to refresh and revive themselves as they did so successfully there last season. Then we received the catastrophic news that Havertz would miss the rest of the season with a serious hamstring injury acquired in training out there. This effectively ended any realistic chance we had of hunting down Liverpool, even if they faltered and so we turned our thoughts towards Europe to salvage any glory from the season. We had been given a painful lesson in squad management and the need and ability to rotate the squad and our forward recruitment had been woefully inadequate in the summer. Now it came home to roost.
The Havertz news broke before the window closed. Our main effort to sign a striker was the Watkins initiative but Villa having sold Duran were understandably reluctant to sell. It was suggested we looked at advancing a sale of Sesko, signing Alvaro Morata or Vlahovic and I suspect we looked at the viability of a loan deal for Marcus Rashford. In the end we kept our powder dry. It was probably the sensible thing to do but it creates pressure on our work in the summer window. Every team in the world knows we need a striker although we appear to be shopping for players who have an agreed transfer value in their contract (a la Partey when we signed him). That’s an easier negotiation but it does require you to pay all the money in one lump which has PSR implications. A few seasons before when we needed to upgrade Lacazette and tried hard to sign Vlahovic who opted to go to Juventus, we also decided not to follow any of the other options available in the striker department that window. One of them was Alexander Isak of Real Sociedad. I wonder what happened to him?!
Our temporary solution to the Havertz injury was to switch Merino upfront. He made his first appearance at Leicester as a substitute with about twenty five minutes to go. The score was 0-0 and we had looked toothless with Sterling giving a performance that was distressingly bad. By the end of the game Merino had scored twice including a powerful header to break the deadlock. He dedicated the goals to his wife who he had forgotten to buy a Valentine present for! Had Arteta stumbled on a solution to our goalscoring problems by accident rather than design? One positive feature of the game was an excellent performance by Nwaneri who was being considered as a possible contender for the place in the England team, temporarily vacated by Saka!
Our title aspirations were hanging by a thread but that thread snapped when West Ham arrived at the Emirates and came away with a smash and grab 1-0 victory. It was reminiscent of last season when they also won at our place and our limitations as an attacking force were writ large . To rub salt in the wound Lewis-Skelly was sent off for a professional foul early in the second half. It was a reasonable decision on a bitterly disappointing day and only our third defeat in the league.
We then had to travel to Nottingham to play third-placed Forest, who up to that point were having a wonderful season. They are a very dangerous counter-attacking side and Chris Wood their striker scored consistently all season. One wonders what he might have achieved in the red shirt of Arsenal. The game was frustrating because we totally dominated possession but the nearest we came to scoring was when Calafiori produced an excellent turn and right foot shot that bounced against the post and away. We created little beyond that but controlled Forest easily in all their transitions and were much the stronger side. The reaction to our 0-0 draw was frankly ridiculous. One suspects Sky were despairing because there was no title race by the end of February but the reaction to our performance was 180 degrees away from Liverpool’s brave recovery from 1-0 down to draw at the City ground a few weeks before – ‘the sort of performance champions give‘. Arsenal meanwhile having strangled the life out of one of the toughest teams in the country were pilloried as inadequate. We would obviously have expected and wanted a better result but given all of the circumstances it was a well earned point.
When we travelled to Old Trafford in early March we had just put PSV to the sword in Eindhoven. We didn’t put a very bland United team to the sword in Manchester but we were very comfortably outplaying them until they got a free kick just before the interval which Fernandes bent into the top corner past Raya – quite unsaveable. Afterwards every Arsenal fan I spoke to said that as Fernandes stepped up to take the kick they knew he would score. I certainly did! It summed up this really frustrating season perfectly. Arsenal managed to equalise in the second half through a fierce Rice drive. The narrative was set though. Arsenal drop further points in their forlorn chase of Liverpool. They had dropped four points in two away games that they won last season and would have almost certainly won this season if they’d had a decent striker. Who knew?
Arsenal were comfortably ahead of their rivals for a Champions League place but still needed to accumulate enough points to avoid an unseemly scramble at the end of the season. Chelsea’s visit in mid-March was an example of a six point local derby but in reality it was a fairly flat atmosphere. Arsenal dominated early on, took a lead from a set piece through their new Spanish scoring sensation, Merino, and while Chelsea had huge periods of possession they created virtually nothing and rarely looked like scoring . If Arsenal had invested mega millions in a striker who,produced the goal return that Merino was achieving in the League and in Europe most Gooners would have been delighted . Some of us began to think the problem of failing to score in the volumes we had the season before might lie with the combination of an absent Saka and an Odegaard who was a pale shadow of the player who had played so brilliantly in previous seasons .
We welcomed another West London rival in our next game when Fulham visited us. They had started to prove a difficult nut to crack in recent seasons, possibly because they now employed so many ex-Gunners, extra motivated to do well against us. Hot shot Merino put us ahead midway through the first half and midway through the second we welcomed back Bukayo Saka. A few moments later he celebrated by heading home a chip from Martinelli. A late, deflected Muniz goal produced a final 2-1 scoreline that rather flattered Fulham but the big news was not even the return of Saka but what looked like a serious injury to Gabriel. A few days later it was announced that his season was over just before the visit of Real Madrid, Mbappe and all! Could our luck get any worse?
We paid our last visit to Goodison Park on the following Saturday. Everton’s form had improved markedly under Moyes. We began positively and Trossard scored neatly on a transition after an assist from the prolific Raheem Sterling. We were leading comfortably when early in the second half referee Darren England decided to become the latest PGMOL referee to visit an injustice against young Lewis- Skelly, deeming that a slip with minimal contact had been enough to poleaxe the Everton forward. Ndiaye despatched the penalty and we recorded yet another draw. Given Everton’s late season renaissance this was another result that wasn’t a complete disaster but it would have almost certainly been a win without a grotesque refereeing intervention.
Arsenal’s focus was increasingly on Europe but a happy Emirates welcomed an obdurate Brentford in our next game. We rotated heavily given the game fell between the two legs of the Madrid tie. A second half break orchestrated by Rice and finished by Partey saw us take a deserved lead. A late well-taken Wissa goal gave Brentford a share of the points. We had other fish to fry but we were haemorrhaging points often from winning positions – a habit that was becoming distressingly common and which undoubtedly owed a lot to the absences of key players like Gabriel, Timber and White.
We paid our first visit to Portman Road for many years on Easter Sunday. It was a very dominant performance against a side thst had endured a tough campaign after their surprise promotion last year. Trossard gave us an early lead which was doubled after a slick move, by Martinelli, before the interval. Ipswich had their left-back Davis sent off in the first half and were in damage limitation mode thereafter. Trossard increased the damage midway through the second half and Nwaneri got a slightly scruffy goal with three minutes to go. A 4-0 victory was a welcome return to the goal standard in the league.
Cup semi-finalists Crystal Palace visited us a few days before their Wembley date with Villa. A very fine early header by Kiwior was cancelled out by an Eze volley before Trossard restored our lead. A late rather odd Mateta goal, a chip from thirty yards that went in off the bar earned Palace an equaliser and saw us drop two more points.
Our next game against the Cherries was sandwiched in between two semi- final matches in the Champions League and saw Arteta understandably rotate again. Declan Rice was becoming a more regular scorer and he finished intelligently midway through the first half to give us the lead. Hjuisen, now on his way to the Bernabeu headed an equaliser and Bournemouth snatched a scrambled and undeserved winner when the ball hit Evanilson on his hip or his elbow ( depending on your point of view) and was forced home. It was another set piece defended extremely badly by us and showed our reliance on Gabriel rather than Nicholas Jover.
There was just a slight concern that Champions League qualification was not assured with three games to go with two being against the champions at Anfield and Newcastle visiting the Emirates. Arsenal started appallingly at Anfield conceding two goals in just over a minute around the twentieth minute through Gakpo and Diaz. Most Arsenal fans would probably have signed for a respectable defeat at that stage but the team are made of sterner stuff. Martinelli headed home just after half-time and Merino equalised with a diving header after Allison had tipped Ødegaard’s shot onto the bar. That was an important and meaningful point especially as Merino was dismissed with fifteen minutes left after being played into trouble by Raya who was combining spectacular goalkeeping with increasingly erratic distribution.
The Newcastle game brought the curtain down on another season in N5 and after a first half where Raya’s brilliance saved us on several occasions and almost cost us with very strange distribution choices, Rice thumped home a fierce drive ten minutes into the second half to secure the points. The absence of Isak and Joelinton helped our cause and we welcomed back Kai Havertz for a late cameo. It was good to get some measure of revenge on Newcastle who we had not scored against before this season. Arteta was clearly frustrated in his address to the supporters but the mood was generally positive although this season was far from perfect.
The campaign ended with the deadest of dead rubbers against already relegated Southampton. Arteta’s team selection was more benign than usual with Sterling and Tierney starting, and Kieran celebrated his last appearance for Arsenal with a neatly taken goal with his right foot just before halftime. Our weakness on defending set pieces reared its head again when Stewart headed in a corner just after half time. Despite bringing on the cavalry it looked like yet another draw would ensue when Ødegaard hit a fine left-footed drive in the last minute to send us three points clear of C130y.
Football seasons merge into one another especially when you have lived through many. This season has had its highlights although ours were more often found in Europe than in the League. I suspect many of us believed with a degree of conviction that we would be champions this season. It was not to be partly because of a stream of significant injuries to significant players, partly because the refereeing gods appeared to have it seriously in for us but it has to be said that we were not good enough this season, we missed the opportunity to strengthen the squad and find a regular goalscorer in the summer and there has been a diffidence about our play that wasn’t there last season.
But second place in a league of this quality and intensity is still a notable achievement and we hope that this summer we take the steps we need to ensure that next year’s review is a truly triumphant one.
On the playing side I would give player of the year to Declan Rice who is consistency itself and has an onfield maturity that is immensely impressive. He just shades it from the admirable Gabriel. Saka, Saliba, Raya, and Partey had good seasons but the revelation of the season was Lewis-Skelly, who came on in leaps and bounds and exudes a pride in playing for Arsenal which is tangible. We look towards the transfer window knowing that with the right additions we can upgrade a silver medal to gold next season…
TTG you are our recorder of record, as your Father’s Times once was.
This is a great shame. Jay was very much the coming thing once.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6402004/2025/06/06/jay-emmanuel-thomas-arsenal-prison/
And some good news. Big Gabi signs a new contract.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6405134/2025/06/06/gabriel-new-contract-arsenal-analysis/
Superb, TTG – a brilliantly crafted, pacy and enjoyable read.
It did leave me wondering how we ever managed to finish second. So, so many injuries, appalling refereeing decisions and dropped points. Hopefully a season never to be repeated. A fully fit squad and some balanced officiating would surely have delivered us the title. Oh well … this time next year, Rodders ……
A splendid read, TTG. Either your recall is faultless or your research is immaculate, but impressive either way. Similarly, making a 4,000-word piece such a light read.
A second-place finish despite everything and PGMOL was no mean feat.
Aww shucks. We’ll have to makeup a new song!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/06/tottenham-sack-ange-postecoglou-as-manager-despite-europa-league-glory
They must have got through 50 managers since Bruce Rioch left.
Thanks TTG, another excellent piece and a conclusion that is entirely fair. Yes, lots of injuries and appalling refereeing by the corrupt PGMoL but we were also the authors of our own misfortune. We ended up with the meanest defence but we also gave away too many sloppy goals at bad times. There was something missing, diffidence perhaps as you say but anyway I felt we lacked the desperation to win at times that has characterized the best Arsenal sides of the past. Lots of positives too though and it is great that we are now in any serious conversation about next season’s winners of any competition we enter.
On the other hand I must disagree with your PoTY choice of Sir Declan Rice, although he is surely a more worthy recipient of a knighthood than the half-witted spice boy.
I thought Declan had a very mixed first half of the season though he was fantastic again from about February onwards. To be fair it is hard to find anyone who was consistently good all season as so many were out for an extended period like Bukayo, Kai and Gabi.
I admired Merino’s efforts as a makeshift CF, Raya’s occasional brilliance and MLS’s astonishing confidence and I also thought Timber was our most consistent defender.
@1, 2, and 5. thanks C100 for those three links.
A very mixed emotional bag
Sterling and Jorginho having moved on, it seems we are rumored to be hitting our aging Chav signing targets with Kepa as back-up. I hope he is more Jorginho than Raheem.
Enjoyable morning read in bed with my coffee.
This has to be the weirdest season ever. Liverpool were the stand out consistent team but even they didn’t look fantastic. I doubt they would have won the league had we or shitty been anywhere near previous years form. We did just enough to make second but in reality that was thanks to so much inconsistency around us. Arteta tried to play a more controlled game but in reality it backfired with all the key injuries and dubious decisions. Our overall team game in defence and attack was never really there. It’s also noticeable that referees were less bothered about penalising us to the same degree in the latter half of the season. I wonder why? Last season I would have given us 8 or 9 but this season it can be no more than 6. Summer recruitment really let us down and in effect wrecked our league chances. Merino up front got us over the line and I think his stint up front will massively boost his overall game. We need those new players but we also need a different attacking approach in those games against the low blockers. Wipe out the defensive sloppiness and we’ll be there or thereabouts.
Saka still working his way back to full fitness. Tuchel being sensible.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ceqgdzdnlqvo
Nice second part of the season review, TTG. It captured the ebb (there wasn’t much flow, outside of the CL) very nicely indeed.
Good to see common sense prevail regarding our players in these internationals. No doubt Rice and MOS will be played to destruction in any case.
Odegaard played (the full 90) well in the Norway vs Italy match last night. The Italian manager is getting slaughtered in the press. At least Calafiori was nowhere to be seen.
C100, CER – absolutely. No-one doubts Saka’s place in the team and it’s refreshing to see someone taking a sensible approach to his long term fitness. He’s still in the relatively early throws of his comeback from surgery.
SP@11: You make some good points. Liverpool had the good fortune that both their games against City were when City were in runs when they were losing games.
I don’t think Arteta’s tactical approach to dealing with low blocks is wrong, but it isn’t implemented effectively. The shortcomings were compounded by the injuries, which particularly exposed the lack of a striker signing last summer.
The team did the possession and patience, and midfield and wide overloads parts of breaking a low block, but they were too one-paced in their play, didn’t do the switching of the ball from side to side rapidly enough, weren’t as effective with set pieces as the previous season (especially after Big Gabby was injured), and didn’t pass or dribble through tight spaces with consistency (exhibit A: Sterling on dribbling, MØ8’s injury and dip in form on passing, plus Saka and White’s extended injury abscences). When we did create chances, we didn’t finish them ruthlessly enough. The most effective way to break a low block is to score first and early to force a change in tactics by the opposition.
And you are spot on about the uncharacteristic sloppiness of some of our defending. There were far too many moments of that which cost goals.
As if to counter the cynicism of CER at 13, both Rice and MLS start on the bench.
England XI: Pickford, James, Konsa, Burn, Jones, Henderson, Bellingham, Rogers, Palmer, Madueke, Kane.
Subs: Walker, Rice, Colwill, Gibbs-White, Gordon, Henderson, Toney, Eze, Alexander-Arnold, Lewis-Skelly, Trafford, Chalobah.
Your eyes do not deceive you, that is Jordan Henderson at DM.
Thank you TTG for two meticulously remembered and insightfully analyzed pieces. Read them both but never seem to find the time nowadays to put together the kind of contribution such blog entries deserve.
Also, many thanks to NBN for coordinating and managing the predicathon especially with such detailed updates every match week. Faustus Jnr. congratulates Potsticker and GSD for finishing ahead of him by overturning his lead at the top just at the final weekend. I wouldn’t have been that generous. 😂
Not much to add to TTG’s pieces. All the things that beyond the control of Arsenal — referees and injuries — I don’t feel too inclined to discuss about, especially given that there’s not much Arsenal can do. Maybe with the injuries there are some possibilities of better managing the best players when they are fully fit, but given how competitive the league is that’s a difficult balance to achieve.
My main takeaway from this season is that we could have won the CL. By that I don’t mean to suggest we should have or we fell short, which we didn’t. But we really could have despite the injuries. We played well enough in those two semis, and my primary regret is that Partey earned what was a very uncharacteristic yellow at Bernabeu for a bit of tantrum towards the end. Thomas playing in the deeper role and Rice in his left sided eight against PSG at home I think would have given us a much higher chance to win that game, Donaruma heroics notwithstanding. Anyway, such very small margins decide football at that level and I am convinced that next year we will go similarly into the later stages of the competition, and maybe the small margins will work in our favor.
My second takeaway (and one that I accept may not be that important to all) from this season is that to be at our best in the attacking sense, we need to find a way to allow Martin to stay up at the attacking third much more. Evidently he was suffering from some issues with his feet even after returning from injury that limited his range of passing and shooting, and only towards the very end we started to see him back close to his typical level. But I think he is tasked with — or takes on — too much of a defensive workload, especially in offering himself as an extra outlet for passing out from the back. Doing that now and then as a variation is fine, but maybe he does that a little too often which makes his participation at the other end just a bit delayed. And then when the opponent has possession in their defensive third, he often leads the press. He is an unique player in the sense that his technical excellence and forward vision is complemented by an extraordinary defensive ethics and workrate, but maybe that comes a bit at the expense of the genius with the ball on his feet, looking forward, making defense splitting passes and unleashing unstoppable left footed shots more often.
Looking forward to the next season. We are as good a team as any in Europe, and we will get better. I am convinced we are seeing unforgettable Arsenal history in making.
I’m guessing Tuchel’s thinking is that playing Henderson as a single pivot DM lets him select two 8/10s, in which case, there is no starting role for Rice. That selection will probably work fine against weaker sides when England has the ball for most of the time; one of the full-backs can always invert to make the single pivot a double when needed. Against stronger sides that have an attacking threat down both wings and can compete in midfield? Not so sure. Tuchel will then need one of those two 8/10s to be a 6/8. Bellingham can play there, but he is better as a 8/10, just as I think Rice is a better 8 than a 6.
In a way I admire Tuchel for picking
Henderson and to hell with what anyone
else thinks. On the other hand I also
think it will all end in tears.
Well my suggestion @8 that Sir Declan wasn’t player of the season was roundly ignored by 52% of the voters it seems. Congrats to him, Saka was second and Raya third. Saka was of course outstanding first half of the season, he and Raya bailed us out a few times.
I suppose 52% of voters couldn’t be wrong could they?
Romano reckons we are close to signing Kepa Arrizabalaga to meet our quota of superannuated 30-somethings from the Bus Stop. The reported fee would be €6.5 million, a snip compared to the €80 million Chelsea paid for a highly talented keeper who struggles with consistency. I assume he would be a back-up for Raya, with Arteta hoping the competition will get Raya to cut out the occasional sloppy mistake that crept into his game last season, rather than a rerun of Raya v Ramsdale.
It wouldn’t be the summer without me missing about the prices we get for our players . We entered into a deal to sell Tavares to Lazio and they’ve just paid us a little over £7m to take him off our hands . They also paid a loan fee last season but it now transpires they’ve turned down an offer of €30 m from Saudi Arabia as inadequate . Another example of lazy selling for under par prices
Let’s hope our new Sporting Director exacts better prices on outwards sales
Moaning not Missing
TTG@23: There was reportedly a sell-on fee (some reports say 25%, others 40%) included in the loan-with-option-to-buy deal for Tavares that Lazio has triggered.
Ned ,
Even if it was 40% ( which I very much doubt ) that’s only about £8m . We must maximise our profits from sales rather than dump players on the market. Some of our rivals have been much better at extracting maximum value . We sold Mavropanos for buttons and the sell- on fee didn’t compensate us adequately .He was a full international able to start in the Premier League and we sold him for about £2.5 from memory . He was
sold back to West Ham by the team that bought him for £2.5m for about ten times that figure.
Let’s hope Berta is a tougher negotiator.
I do agree we can improve our selling but not in the case of Nuno I think.
As I understood it the fee for Tavares was fixed before the loan started at Lazio and Nuno suddenly became the early season assist king of Serie A. The fee was automatically triggered based upon appearances over the loan period. Considering we paid a little over 7m to buy him from Benfica and he had gone on decidedly mixed loan spells at Marseille and Forest it was a reasonable piece of business to get our money back plus a sell on percentage. If we had insisted on a higher fee, say 20m for example, then the loan would not have gone ahead and we would have had another left back on our books running down his contract and being let go for nothing. In summary, we took a punt when we bought him, it didn’t work out and so we loaned him out three times, third time worked a charm and in the end it is win-win-win for us, Lazio and Nuno.
Late to the party due to the distractions of Venezia and have finally read TTG’s superb magnum opus which deserves all the praise above and more. A truly brilliant review of the season that summarises our frustrations. However I must protest that Jurrien Timber deserves a mention in dispatches and is for me the player that runs Big Habby closest for MotS. Praying for Sesko here.
I am also all in for Sesko. We missed the boat on Viktor G when he left Coventry.
Many thanks TTG for another splendid seasons review. You have covered all the salient points – the good, the bad and the ugly- with much verve. It was a wonderful read.
if they’d sold nuno for €30m (£25m) we would have totaled between £14.5m and £18m for a player for which we paid less than £10m. i’d say decent business.
Matt explains the Nuno situation well . I still cling to the general hope we will not give players away for derisory sums . Selling assets below market value isn’t a bright strategy with PSR in force . We await the regime of Berta with interest
I take Bath’s excellent point on Timber . I was guilty of the sin of omission. He had an excellent season
One might think that the law of averages would guarantee a more favorable series of refereeing decisions for Arsenal next season. Ditto fewer injuries. At least if one were not naive.
Glad to see we have reached consensus on the Tavares sale. OM@27 captures well the jeopardy involved in moving on any player. TTG’s broad point remains reasonable: we tend to lean towards selling fringe players at below market value, although that is often a fuzzier number than we appreciate, especially when it comes to sales involving a loan.
One interesting entry on this list
What’s the source of that list? It is shorter than the club’s official released players list, which had Partey, although shortly to be out of contract, as still under discussions about an extension/renewal.
I believe it’s from the Premier League Ned.
It is indeed, C100, but comes with this disclaimer;
Please note, players who will be signified as a “free transfer” or “released” will have their contracts expire on 30 June 2025 but could still remain at that club if a new contract is entered into, so this list should not be seen as definitive for players leaving their club.
Jorge Luiz Frello Filho I take to be Marquinhos. So good they named him once.
I think Thomas is still negotiating with us . Most of us would like to see him stay at the club for the next couple of years I imagine. He had a very decent season . One thing that is slightly concerning is that several of those lads on free transfers were regularly on the bench for the first team towards the end of the season. They never got on the pitch which suggests our squad is too small . But I think we all knew that.
TTG @40.
“Most of us would like to see him stay at the club for the next couple of years I imagine”
Please don’t include me in that.
Is that on football or moral grounds ?
CER@39: Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, now with Flamengo, is Jorginho. Marquinhos, who has just been sold to Cruzeiro for a reported €3 million, is Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar.
TTG @42, both plus medical.
I’m 50-50 on Partey. He had a good season, but was that an Indian summer? He is 31 with a mixed injury record. I doubt his legs have a full season left in them. That said, he is probably still good for 25-30 games if he stays fit, would replace the experience lost with Jorghino’s departure and be a cushion for Zubimendi or whomever to settle into the team. The club would have to give him at least a new two-year contract so he would have some resale value next summer. Another consideration is that he earns £200,000 a week, which may reduce our headroom under PSR rules. I suspect we shall be butting up against those if we are to land the elite additions we need.
I thought Partey was good 2nd half but had a very iffy first half of the season
and looked off the pace. Of course finding a replacement is easier said than
done, which has no doubt figured into the clubs thinking.
Personally, I think we should just let him leave.
I think it’s notable that almost the only name not sung by the away fans is that of Partey. In the Gooner sphere there is much objection to giving him a new contract. I think Ned and Matt articulate the footballing reasons very well.
The early summer’s transfer window has closed with our business being:
Outgoings:
KT3 leaving on a free for Celtic
Jorghino leaving on a free for Flamengo
Marquinhos sold to Cruzeiro for a reported €3 million
Nuno Tavares sold to Lazio for a reported €5 million plus a sell-on clause
Neto and Sterling returning whence they came (to no one’s chagrin)
a bunch of yoofs who have aged out of the U-21s released
Incomings:
er…?
i am good with partey as a backup to zubi. he might not be, but as others have said his legs probably don’t have even a full prem season left in them. while i wouldn’t sing his name because of the pending charges, i also accept he is innocent until proven guilty, one way or another…unless he bought his way out of it, and that can be proven…
how’s that for a half-ton assist?
It’s a very fine assist scruz!
Well in for the half-ton, OM. And a bedazzling assist, Scruz.
I too don’t like the idea of the “Court of Public Opinion”. It’s only a hop and a skip from that to cancellation and then burning witches. If there isn’t evidence then suspicion does not convict.
You don’t mean to say 😱😱
You leave the country for a few years and they stop burning witches!
Mitcham Common will never be the same again
OM@53: Can’t turn your back for a minute…
The choir who follow Arsenal have no idea about the legal niceties of the Partey case. I agree with CER on this. Rumour and innuendo are no substitute for proof . Arsenal are apparently looking to negotiate a further contract with Partey . Have the club’s moral standards dropped or after what will be strong legal scrutiny do they believe there is no case to answer ? Remember the ending of his contract would be a very convenient time to extricate Arsenal from a potentially embarrassing and very expensive situation . Arsenal have examined the facts and are attempting to extend .
These type of cases are messy, protracted and full of claim and counter- claim. That our fan base are turning against one of our most consistent players last season when no charges have been brought disappoints me .
I have just received the early booking offer for next summer’s World Cup. Tickets to see four group stage matches (excluding host nations’ games) start at $5,300; four games at a single stadium (the minimum that every stadium will host; MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host eight, including the final) start at $8,275 per person. We don’t even know who has qualified yet, let alone who will be playing where. The people’s game, eh?
Fill your boots Ned !
I don’t see the fan base have turned against Partey. They seem
to be in general withholding judgment on the matter.
Of course I am not at the matches so may be wrong…….
I am also not sure what scrutiny the club can actually carry out
other than talking with Partey himself. It would seem unwise to
do anything else while the matter rests with the CPS (is it still
called that?) I believe. All the club can safely do is approach the matter
on a footballing basis and make a decision without prejudice.
Contracts can then be cancelled or not if and when the facts become clear.
Personally, as I said before I wouldn’t extend as I don’t agree Partey was that
consistent last season and is too injury prone but then it seems MA thinks differently
and wants to extend.
I’ll be round with my begging bowl, TTG.
Ned @60, I think I’m out that night. Either out or washing my hair…
Matt @59 – the club will, in all likelihood, have direct contact with Partey’s legal advisers, if indeed they haven’t actually provided them, I’d have thought. On this basis I imagine they have a very good idea of the facts as far as known and will have made a judgement accordingly.
CER@61
You may be right of course but I hope not.
We should stick to judging players on a football
basis and that’s it. Any other basis for our
decisions may come back and bite us hard.
Alumnus news:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c8e6zg3zpzdo
CER@61: 🙂
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