{"id":10956,"date":"2025-03-20T11:24:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10956"},"modified":"2025-03-25T17:45:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:45:47","slug":"some-holics-review-the-season-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10956","title":{"rendered":"Some Holics Review the Season \u2026 so far!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The latest Interlull has given us an opportunity to invite a number of those who post occasionally in the \u2018Drinks\u2019 to give their views on aspects of the season so far. We are lucky in having a degree of geographical diversity among Holics who post in the blog and a range of life experiences. This gives us a broad and very valuable range of views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked a number of these Holics for their thoughts and we are most grateful for their comments and ideas. Our correspondents were Depressed Gooner, BtM, Noosa Gooner, Sancho Panza and Ollie so their views span a range of different situations and vantage points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What do you think of the season from an Arsenal perspective ?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie<\/strong>: Mostly a frustrating season. Difficult to argue that mistakes weren\u2019t made, namely and obviously, the absence of a top central striker signing. There were a couple of moments of illusions (in particular the City match or PSV recently, and to some extent the faintly ridiculous idea that Merino was THE  solution having scored a late brace after coming in against Leicester), but once Jes\u00f9s and then Havertz picked up injuries, there was realistically very little chance of winning the league, Liverpool blip\/collapse or not. Not that other aspects of our game (i.e. actual good chance creation) had been all that amazing for the rest of the season so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our share of bad luck? Certainly, between the injuries and the repeated one\/off refereeing decisions (do they count as \u2018luck\u2019 though?), but there were possibly too many ingredients missing already. You could argue that City being so shit was some unexpected luck coming our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, you could also say that Liverpool have had a lot of good fortune keeping everyone fit all the time in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FA Cup exit was a big disappointment, without much of  a mitigating factor, given United played a fair chunk of the game with ten men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Champions League, however unrealistic, still offers a glimmer of hope, where we can play more serenely. Who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM: <\/strong>Prior to the start of the season, I was super confident that we would win the title this year. City\u2019s ageing midfield and Liverpool\u2019s reliance on the fitness of an ancient Egyptian relic contrasted favourably with our strengthened and youthful squad. What I didn\u2019t anticipate were early injuries to our new acquisitions; a substantial period of play without our captain and most creative midfielder; surgery to our prolific assister Ben White; 4\/5 never seen before \u2013 never to be seen again red cards and a head clash penalty award that falls into the same never, never category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These setbacks were followed quickly by injuries to four attacking starters for Brazil\u2019s, Germany\u2019s and England\u2019s national teams that left our attacking destroyer holed below the waterline. That Arsenal are second in the PL and into the last 16 of the CL despite these attack rending injuries and refereeing anomalies is a quite remarkable accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City faded as anticipated, but Liverpool enjoyed extreme good fortune on the fitness front and, some would say (and I wouldn\u2019t disagree with them) more favourable PGMOL treatment than Arsenal received and furthermore they enjoyed an astonishing Havertz goal cancellation on their visit to Emirates stadium enabling them to take away a point that their performance didn\u2019t deserve. They\u2019ve played quite well, but had our first team not been so badly depleted by injury, the race for league leadership would still be well underway and a nail biter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I seem to be one of the few who don\u2019t think the last two transfer windows were disasters. I would have loved Benjamin Sesko or Isak to have joined our squad, but I still think we had a starting pool of players good enough to win the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I do think that Bukayo Saka was overplayed. There were some matches when it was difficult to believe that he was still on the field, never mind had started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner: <\/strong>We\u2019ve been unlucky with \u2018only for us\u2019 red cards and a team load of injuries but we’ve also played poorly for far longer than any of us expected and never recovered our swagger of the last two years leading to some hard to watch games and regrettably dropped points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza:<\/strong> The table doesn’t lie. We have spent the majority of the season in 2nd place, whereas last season, we were first until we got pipped right at the end. We’ve scored fewer goals, won fewer games, and drawn more. I think we have been less entertaining and struggled to break down teams that set themselves up to defend and play on the break. In short, I think we have regressed due to players losing form, injuries to key players, and poor decision-making by officials. We also had poor summer recruitment, although I’m less bothered by the January window. Yes, we have had loads of bad luck, but we have made mistakes on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner: <\/strong>I don’t believe it’s an either\/or answer but rather a combination of things including both mistakes and bad luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don’t really need hindsight to know that it was a mistake to leave our squad this season without an additional striker. It was said before the summer transfer window closed and despite a number of names and options being canvassed, a striker obviously did not eventuate. Perhaps letting Nketiah leave before a new signing was made was therefore also a mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were our sequence of concurrent injuries simply bad luck or were mistakes made in the management of playing workloads, rotation and\/or training schedules? Some injuries are unavoidable but the number of hamstring injuries may suggest something else other than bad luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all this, as noted in recent drinks, the fact that we are still second to an outstanding season from the bin-dippers and in the quarter finals of Big Ears should be celebrated, albeit with a tinge of “what-if” disappointment after the last couple of seasons have raised expectations even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you happy with Mikel Arteta as manager ?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner: <\/strong>Absolutely. I loved MA as an Everton player and always wanted him to join Arsenal where I thought he was a wonderful player and captain. To my mind his sojourn at City was always an apprenticeship for Arsenal manager and I was disappointed when he was overlooked for Emery. What he has achieved here has been well canvassed and I do not doubt that more silverware will follow with the right support from the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza:<\/strong> I like Arteta a lot, but I do wonder about his inexperience sometimes. He seems quite inflexible, and we are not often shocked by his selections and substitutions. We have a weaker squad this season, which is inexplicable, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM:<\/strong> Delighted. His leadership, consistency of messaging, tactical nous and ability to motivate are all best in class. He inherited a broken nightmare from Unai Emery and has patiently and methodically improved his inheritance toward a beautiful dream that everyone associated with the Arsenal can and will be proud to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question for me is not does \u201cArteta Out\u201d have any validity (it doesn\u2019t); rather, in four years, will keeping \u201cArteta In\u201d be a challenge Arsenal can manage successfully when hard to resist golden carrots are dangled before him from several of Europe\u2019s top clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner:<\/strong> Not really, I’m not convinced that his arrogance allows him to realise the mistakes he makes as they keep getting repeated with seemingly no learning from them at all, also we still don’t seem to have a Plan B for when teams just block defend against us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie:<\/strong> Yes, he can be frustrating at times, but I am generally very happy with him as our manager. Next season, provided we get the \u2018right\u2019 signings, may be a huge one for him though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the priorities for our new Sporting Director when he begins his role? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner:<\/strong> I am uncertain of the job spec\u2019 for this role but would hope that it includes the following priorities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extending contracts for those key players that we wish to keep for the long-term, prioritising those with two or less years left on existing contracts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with MA to identify short and long-term targets to improve\/solidify the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t be a discounter! Make sure we pay and receive fair and appropriate fees for our transfer dealings. No fire sales please!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie:<\/strong> Centre forward quite clearly and obviously, possibly or probably a winger depending on outgoing transfers? An extra creative player of sorts anyway, although Nwaneri could take on some of those duties rather than just be Saka cover on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming Partey will depart and Jorginho will also leave or at least doesn\u2019t have the legs to play much, a midfielder or two (Zubimendi obviously mooted). There\u2019s a lot to consider depending where Mikel sees the likes of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly playing as they may not be currently playing in their favoured or best position. The central striker\/finisher is the only clear absolute priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner: <\/strong>Striker, striker, striker at least that way we’ll have cover when they get sent off or injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM: <\/strong>1) Ensure long term retention of Saliba, Saka, \u00d8degaard and Gabriel;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Sign Martin Zubimendi to secure our midfield post Jorginho and Partey;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Sign a potent, disruptive striker \u2013 Benjamin Sesko would be my choice;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Sign a left sided winger (Nico Williams or Semenyo) to replace Trossard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza:<\/strong>  I would love some creativity in the team more than anything, even more than a striker. There are loads of goals in this team if only we could find that spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you could make changes to the refereeing regime in the UK what would they be (if any?) <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM:<\/strong> The 3Cs come to mind. Competent, Consistent and not Corrupt. Almost unbelievably, PGMOL scores extremely lowly on the first two of these and is getting dangerously close to the ragged edge on the third with some of the antics it appears to approve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced inherent regional bias should be mitigated by the inclusion of the world\u2019s best referees in PL games to achieve best-in-class standards. This will require increased expenditure on salaries (to counter peanuts and monkeys syndrome). Increasing competence and consistency using improved skills development techniques and independent critical, constructive, post-match appraisals \u2013 with results available for public scrutiny, would pay dividends by raising standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner:<\/strong> Just be bloody consistent and stop picking on Arsenal as test cases – scratch that! Get rid of all of them and their corruption and start with a true team of professionals and not pally pals!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza:<\/strong> Referees from all over Europe would really improve things. Not changing the rules halfway through a season would also help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie: <\/strong>Don\u2019t get me started!\u2026..PGMOL out! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner:<\/strong> Unlike many observers, I do not think that corruption or other conspiracy theories are prevalent in refereeing ranks. My observation is really that the standards of refereeing are just not very good. In my opinion, as both a former player and referee (purely amateur), the laws of the game are easy to learn but understanding the spirit and application of them is another matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the red card decisions against us this year have been ridiculous, but I believe as a result of poor judgement and poor man management of the game rather than anything sinister – referees showing a lack of control of the game, some of whom have never even played the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisational change is obviously required to ensure better oversight, better national representation, better training etc. but above all is a need for more transparency and openness from the refereeing bodies. Allowing referees and their masters to explain their decisions after matches if needed, admit where mistakes may have been made, discuss why controversial decisions were made and be more a part of the game rather than a self-governing law unto themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you happy with the club ownership? If you could do so, what message would you pass to them? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner: <\/strong>Given the anxiety surrounding the early days of the current ownership I am reasonably happy with the way that things have gradually developed and the level of representation in the running of the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My one message for the owners would be to respect the history, support the manager and the supporters and continue to invest with an eye to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie: <\/strong>I think these sort of considerations are a bit beyond me, to be honest. I am glad we swerved Usmanov, but after that, the owners now (not just ours) are just big capitalists, and when you see how the ticketing (and online shopping, I had a little brush with that very recently) is handled, we may not just have become \u2018customers not fans\u2019, but also not very considered customers, just cash cows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner:<\/strong> Very happy with the owners now that they are backing the team to try and win something – hopefully soon. Keep backing us and you will be rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza: <\/strong>Spend some fuckin’ money! Actually, I think they’re alright as billionaires go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM:<\/strong> Very happy. Pleased to see that the Kroenkes appear interested and willing to facilitate funding without being overly involved in squad tinkering. Delighted to see that they don\u2019t use the Arsenal as an income stream. If I had one message for the owners it would  be to look at investment in a European associate \u2018feeder\u2019 team which  appears to be a necessary next step in Arsenal\u2019s move toward best in world performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A much higher level of focus and results on commercial\/sponsorship income is essential to elevate Arsenal into the top 5 in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Should stadium modifications be a priority?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie:<\/strong> Not particularly. More capacity would be welcome to accommodate more fans, but given the system and the outlook, it becomes only about money either way, and I\u2019ll be curious to see what happens when we have another non-competitive period (I was going to write non-successful, but trophies haven\u2019t been too forthcoming either since the COVID FA Cup). Also, unless swiftly done in the summer, any change might mean lowering the capacity temporarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for safe-standing areas, from what the club had said at some point when communicating over the subject for a survey, oddly I think it meant a small reduction too? Not to mention that a big part of the North Bank and Clock End lower tiers are already de facto safe-standing areas so I don\u2019t see much point in any alteration when it comes to that particular topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a side-point, I have seriously been considering stopping match attendance over the last two seasons (mostly due to the ballot system and huge reduction in the number of tickets available to Silver members), but somehow so far, reasonable success at getting tickets, and the social side (possibly combined with a little Eurostar addiction to keep my frequent traveller status) has kept me going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depressed Gooner:<\/strong> Nope, priority needs to be performance led first with success on the pitch leading to increased profitability with stadium reinvigoration to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sancho Panza:<\/strong> The stadium is going to look really tired in the not too distant future if it doesn’t already. I’m not really on top of any proposed modifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BtM:<\/strong> Increased seating (+10k) would result in increased matchday revenue of the order of \u00a315M pa and might increase home support \u201cnoise\u201d. I suspect London planners may block any such increase on the basis that local infrastructure is barely adequate for current capacity. Not a big deal for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noosa Gooner:<\/strong> I’ve never been to the stadium so wouldn’t know what modifications are required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I would say is that continued building of the club\u2019s playing strengths should always come first and that a huge waiting list for season tickets suggests that other issues like stadium modifications are still some way down the list of overall priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May I reiterate my thanks for these prompt and extremely valuable responses. Going back to the days of the Goonerholic site one of the key features of this precious space was the balance and sense of proportion that was exhibited in most of the views expressed. As most teams have experienced, Arsenal went through a fractious period in the later Wenger and brief Emery years but, on Goonerholic\u2019s Drinks, we have always been able to interact with civility and with an ultimate focus on the interests of the club. These insights carry on this tradition and indicate that even in a relatively disappointing season (in that many of us hoped to win the title) there is much to celebrate in what we have at Arsenal. We face a potentially exciting end to the season that could, at the time of writing, still end in a remarkable way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest Interlull has given us an opportunity to invite a number of those who post occasionally in the \u2018Drinks\u2019 to give their views on aspects of the season so far. We are lucky in having a degree of geographical diversity among Holics who post in the blog and a range of life experiences. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,28,13,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10956"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10973,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10956\/revisions\/10973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}