{"id":11309,"date":"2025-05-28T10:38:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11309"},"modified":"2025-06-06T06:53:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T05:53:43","slug":"season-review-the-season-that-was-meant-to-be-much-better-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11309","title":{"rendered":"Season Review: The Season That Was Meant to be Much Better, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We often bemoan the fact that hope is a frustrating  commodity for football fans.  Certainly the abundance of hope among Arsenal fans at the start of the 24\/25 season was as high as it had been for twenty years. Two second place finishes in the previous two seasons had fuelled optimism that the title was within reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this review of the season just gone I have dIvided my musings into three sections. Our domestic programme before and after Christmas and our journey into Europe which I have looked at separately. Hopefully, you will avoid a degree of indigestion by this division of what seemed in retrospect a very eventful and long season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\u2019s close season had been unremarkable. Several of our players went a very long way in the Euros and we signed two players who had shown up prominently in the competition – Riccardo Calafiori, a left-sided defender from Bologna who had shone for Italy, and Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad who had come off the Spain bench to notch the goal that knocked Germany out of the tournament and played as a sub in the tournament final. As the window drew to a close we acquired two loan signings, Neto the Bournemouth back-up goalkeeper and excitingly (well, it seemed exciting at the time!), Raheem Sterling joined from Chelsea in a deal which saw them effectively pay him to play for us! It looked a strong squad but there was a huge striker-shaped hole upfront that we thought the continued development of Havertz and the addition of Sterling might help us to paper over. Havertz had finished the season so strongly and was so durable that many supporters felt he would be able to be the focal point of the attack for the season and it seemed that this was Arteta\u2019s view too. In retrospect that seems a fundamental error.  Certainly Benjamin Sesko of RB Leipzig appeared destined to join only for him to reconsider the move because he didn\u2019t want to spend time understudying Havertz. The usual suspects were linked Osimhen, David and Watkins prominent among them, but no purchase was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later it emerged that Edu was to leave his post as Sporting Director to join the network of clubs owned by Marinakis, the Forest owner and reflecting retrospectively on what proved to be an inadequate summer of team building there has been speculation that Edu\u2019s attention had been diverted from his Arsenal role by the very big new job he was about to acquire. Certainly, suggestions that he wanted Arsenal to develop a multi-club model with a  particular focus on South America started to circulate. Whatever the circumstances, Edu had presided over a very important period in the club\u2019s history and helped to build a much stronger squad. Edu\u2019s duties were assumed by Jason Ayto, his assistant, until Andrea Berta, formerly Sporting Director at Atletico Madrid moved into the Edu role in April. It has just been announced that Ayto, whom Arsenal hoped to keep has decided to leave. It would appear that the Berta appointment has thwarted his career aspirations at Arsenal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berta was an interesting choice. He is a close associate of Jorge Mendes the super agent. Arsenal had become increasingly  data driven in their search for players. Since Sanllehi departed under a cloud following the P\u00e9p\u00e9 deal the sense was that data trumped \u2018 connections\u2019 in deciding who to sign. Arsenal were the sixth highest spender on agents fees in the previous season, at a tad under \u00a323 million, well behind the likes of Newcastle, the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea who topped the table with a spend almost double ours. It will be interesting to see what the \u2018Berta effect\u2019 has on our agent spend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\u2019s season began on a hot Saturday in August at home to Wolves. Havertz opened the scoring with a header in the first half and Saka finished crisply  in the second half to secure an uneventful 2-0 win. Both of our new signings had acquired injuries before the match and Merino missed several games through a shoulder injury sustained in his first training session. It was an eery omen for the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first away trip was a demanding one at Villa. A couple of Watkins misses spared us when he seemed certain to score but the main reason he didn\u2019t were a couple of extraordinary saves by Raya who was becoming an increasingly impressive last line of defence . Trossard put us ahead midway through the second half and the travelling Gooners were quick to point out an Emi Martinez error which allowed Thomas Partey to extend our lead. A 2-0 win was a very good start to our away fixtures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the themes of the season was to appear for the first time in our home game with Brighton, Havertz gave us a first half lead but shortly after halftime with Arsenal pressing for a second goal, the referee, Chris Kavanagh, took the extraordinary decision to send off Declan Rice for flicking the ball a few inches after being kicked by Veltman of Brighton. It was a second yellow after he had kicked the ball away in the first half. Joao Pedro of Brighton had committed exactly the same offence with no punishment, significant because he later acquired a yellow card and then secured an equaliser for Brighton ten minutes after Rice\u2019s dismissal. The game was fundamentally altered by the decision and subsequent justifications by PGMOL for Kavanagh\u2019s decision were profoundly unimpressive. It was hard not to develop a victim mentality when we received what Depressed Gooner described as \u2018only us\u2019 decisions from referees. We had plenty of those to come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant that Rice missed the North London Derby which came up next and his absence was compounded by a long-term injury to \u00d8degaard who had seriously injured his ankle playing for Norway. The extent of his injury was not appreciated at the time but, after his return from a prolonged absence, the Norwegian captain was a shadow of his former self for most of the season and undoubtedly the injury had a lingering effect on his efficiency all season. The absences did not affect  the Arsenal performance in the Derby though.  We held Tottenham comfortably and Gabriel struck from a corner midway through the second half. Forever in our shadow, the Totts started to turn against their Australian manager as we recorded our third win away at the Toilet Bowl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last leg of three seriously challenging away days in a week  was at the Emptihad. The game was billed as pivotal to the title. Rodri injured himself early on (seriously) and an early Haaland goal augured badly. We then saw why Calafiori was signed as he scored an exceptional equaliser with a great curling shot. Arsenal started to take control of the game and Gabriel produced another majestic header to put us ahead just before the interval. There was still time for Trossard to earn a second yellow card from Michael Oliver, our refereeing Nemesis, for kicking the ball as the whistle blew for a free kick award. It meant the second half was a Mancunian version of the Alamo but we defended superbly only conceding in the last minute of injury time when Stones touched the ball home. The charmless Haaland abused the eighteen year old Lewis-Skelly, bounced the ball on Gabriel\u2019s head and entreated Arteta to \u2018stay humble\u2019, a phrase that came back to bite him later in the season. Our performance was an extraordinary example of defensive resilience but a win would have emphasised more keenly the threat that Arsenal now posed to C130y. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our next game was against a side from a similar area but several rungs lower in the pyramid. We faced Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup. It was the sort of game where Neto  seemed a natural alternative to Raya\u2026but we had signed a back-up keeper who was already cup-tied in this competition! Maybe a sign that Edu didn\u2019t have his mind on the job or just as the papers had portrayed the signing – a stop-gap after a last minute change of heart by Espanyol who seemed all set to sell us Spain\u2019s Olympic keeper Joan Garcia! In the Carabao Cup 16 year-old Jack Porter made his debut, Ethan Nwaneri scored his first goals for the first team and Raheem Sterling scored his only goal for the club – a tap-in from a few inches which completed a 5-1 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then continued a run of winnable home games by taking on Leicester City. The Foxes had started the season quite positively but we sailed into a comfortable 2-0 lead through Martinelli and Trossard. After the break Justin struck twice, one a worldie , to equalise and we had to rely on two injury time goals – an own goal provoked by Trossard and a late Havertz effort, to secure the points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned to league action against stragglers Southampton and remarkably found ourselves a goal down just after half time when Archer finished a sinuous run with a cool finish. Havertz soon equalised and Martinelli fired us ahead ten minutes later. A Saka goal three minutes from time clinched another victory that was more \u2018hard won\u2019 than should have been the case against a club already grappling with relegation. It was hard not to feel a degree of sympathy for Aaron Ramsdale in the Southampton goal as he returned to the scene of former glories . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal were still unbeaten despite the best efforts of the PGMOL, but that situation changed at the Vitality Stadium largely because of a controversial VAR reversal. William Saliba was sent off after initially escaping with a yellow card for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Rob Jones, the referee, was persuaded to go to the monitor after originally deeming a yellow was sufficient punishment for Saliba\u2019s foul on Evanilson, forty yards from goal. It changed the rhythm and mentality of the game even though by this time Arsenal had considerable experience of playing with ten men! Early in the second half  Bournemouth worked a clever set piece routine at a corner for Christie to score and Kiwior conceded a late penalty which Kluivert converted. It was a disappointing and frustrating evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the few Holic gatherings of the season preceded the game with Liverpool in November, a game that was being billed (with some reason) as a potential title decider. The match began sensationally with a brilliant Saka strike but Arsenal were undone by a Liverpool corner routine that allowed Van Dijk to equalise . A bullet header from Merino (his first for the club) restored  Arsenal\u2019s lead but Salah equalised for the second time in the last quarter of the match. The game ended controversially when Anthony Taylor prematurely ended an Arsenal attack to penalise a Havertz challenge that  when scrutinised was legal and which resulted ultimately in a scrambled goal for Gabriel Jes\u00f9s. Given the significance of the game a number of Arsenal fans began to believe there was a PGMOL conspiracy constructed to deny Arsenal the title. That feeling was destined  to grow stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress continued in the  Carabao Cup when we coasted to a 3-0 win at Preston. The highlights were a rare goal from Gabriel Jes\u00f9s who was suffering a scoring drought and a superb effort from 17 year old Ethan Nwaneri, so young that under current youth protection rules he had to change away from the team. It was a very impressive performance in which we controlled possession for almost all the game and Tommy Setford, making his debut in goal, was rarely troubled . We had advanced to the last eight of the competition having ducked a round because we were in Europe and then we eased past Bolton and Preston. It wasn\u2019t difficult to sympathise with those who felt the League Cup was ranked low on our aspirational ladder although the Arteta sceptics implored him to seek silverware by whatever route he could. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were entering a challenging group of fixtures away from home which included the Inter away game which I will discuss in the review of our European exploits. We travelled to St. James\u2019s Park for a lunchtime fixture with Newcastle and ran into the very impressive Alexander Isak who scored the only goal of the game with a superb early header. We gave a flat performance and found it difficult to make progress against a stiff Newcastle rearguard. This was the first of our meetings with them and highlighted how tough an opponent they had become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our next away trip was to the Bus Stop where results in recent years had been very encouraging. Chelsea had spent an inordinate amount of money on a huge squad most of whom they had secured on  very long contracts. In a tight, tense London derby, Martinelli put us ahead early in the second half but Neto, one of the huge flotilla of wingers they have at their disposal, equalised with about a quarter of an hour to go. A point each was a fair result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned to N5 to face a Nottingham Forest side who had been one of the surprise packets of the season but we beat them comfortably. Saka gave us an early lead, Partey doubled it in the second half and Nwaneri scored his first league goal soon after coming on as substitute. It was a Charlie Patino moment where he scored almost with his first touch but one hopes his story develops more positively than Patino\u2019s did from an Arsenal perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our next away game in the League saw us travel to West Ham just after we had put Sporting Lisbon to the sword. The previous season we had won 6-0 at the London Stadium, emptying the stadium in the process. This time we were 4-0 up in the first half after Gabriel gave us the lead, Trossard doubled it and then \u00d8degaard scored from a penalty and Havertz finished unerringly when clean through. I mistakenly went to make a celebratory pot of tea only to return to find the score 4-2 after a West Ham scoring burst that took everyone by surprise as both their full backs scored. We were then awarded a second penalty which Saka dispatched and went to the interval 5-2 ahead emptying the ground again in the process. Despite wild imaginings of what the final score might be it finished at 5-2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were moving rapidly into the pre-Christmas period and faced a midweek test against Manchester United and their new manager, Ruben Amorim. We sealed victory in the second half with two set piece goals from Jurrien Timber, his first for the club and William Saliba with an inadvertent deflection off his nether regions. In the second half we exercised almost complete control in what was an impressive performance . Our set piece efficiency was becoming legendary but detractors claimed that Arsenal relied too much on their set piece expertise at the expense of more creative open play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then travelled to Fulham, once an easy place to visit as an away fan, but now one of the most expensive tickets in the League. We had been derailed there last season and we feared the worst when Jimenez outpaced Kiwior, who was deputising for the injured Gabriel, to slot home after we had dominated possession for the first twenty minutes. Saliba restored parity early in the second half with a goal from a corner allowed after an excruciating wait. Despite territorial dominance it looked like the points would be shared until Saka popped up to head home in injury time. This time the result of another excruciatingly long  VAR enquiry was to disallow the goal because of a Martinelli offside and we had to be content with a share of the points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everton were up next at Ashburton Grove in a very busy December and were able to neutralise us as an attacking force almost completely. This was grist to the mill for those who refused to discuss Arsenal without demanding that we sign a striker immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had reached the quarter final stage of the Carabao Cup and found ourselves down to Palace within the first minute as Mateta scored. Gabriel Jes\u00f9s was picked upfront having endured a very long lean spell in front of goal but on this night the dam broke and his second half hat- trick illustrated how fickle football can be and how talented our Brazilian is. Eddie Nketiah, once of this parish scored an excellent header after coming on as substitute. It finished 3-2 and we were into the semi- finals where Newcastle lay in wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then played Palace again on the Saturday before Christmas, this time at Selhurst Park. Jes\u00f9s having ended his goal drought scored twice in the first half (Sarr equalised the first goal) and Havertz put us 3-1 up at the interval. Goals by Martinelli and Rice enabled us to earn a 5-1 victory which looks increasingly impressive given Palace\u2019s recent exploits. Alarmingly, Saka went down injured in the first half and was subsequently found to have a serious hamstring injury that required surgery and a lay-off of over four months. This was a profound blow to our prospects and reduced our creativity and goal threat enormously. There was intense speculation about how we would cope in his absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last fixture of the year on the Friday after Christmas saw us labour to an untroubled but far from fluent 1-0 win against Ipswich at home. Havertz scored midway through the first half and  the victory left us in second place in the league at the turn  of the year but several points behind Liverpool who were setting a frightening pace at the top of the league. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brutal and remorseless grind of fixtures appeared to have taken a toll on our stretched squad. In the first half of the season we had seen several key players injured: \u00d8degaard,  Gabriel, White and Saka had suffered serious injuries. Little did we suspect that the news on the injury front was to become even worse very quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as the year ended we could reflect on a season that saw us challenging for the title but which hadn\u2019t been plain sailing as regular, serious injuries and what seemed unduly harsh and discriminatory refereeing decisions had cost us vital points. Whereas in past seasons we saw Manchester City as our main rivals, they had struggled through the first half of the season and lost their best player for the whole of the campaign. Liverpool were emerging as the most serious domestic threat to our aspirations. Could we find the sort of consistency and momentum that we had shown in early 2024 when the new year began? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We often bemoan the fact that hope is a frustrating  commodity for football fans.  Certainly the abundance of hope among Arsenal fans at the start of the 24\/25 season was as high as it had been for twenty years. Two second place finishes in the previous two seasons had fuelled optimism that the title was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11309"}],"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=11309"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11348,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11309\/revisions\/11348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}