{"id":11343,"date":"2025-06-06T06:52:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T05:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11343"},"modified":"2025-06-12T21:01:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:01:44","slug":"the-season-that-was-meant-to-be-much-better-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11343","title":{"rendered":"The Season that was Meant to be Much Better, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2195257234\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:64.47812% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2195257234?et=ZtfXjVaETzBmJyqUug0qgA&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=bpyhWtYWgkQ4IcRA5n-ZSC6NfjaZSiAsva8dsuJ1m8Q=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"383\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The year commenced with a tricky away game against Brentford. Sky still clearly regarded their screening of Brentford\u2019s return to the top flight in August 2019 as a major coup and an occasion to be relived despite the fact that Arsenal\u2018s 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 \u2018Arsenal don\u2019t like it up &#8217;em\u2018 theme. Except this Arsenal side don\u2019t 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\u2019s superiority manifested itself very clearly and a quickfire brace of goals from Merino and Martinelli saw Arsenal ease to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We then travelled to an even more testing venue &#8211; the Amex Stadium &#8211;&nbsp;to play Brighton. Brighton had benefited from a very flawed refereeing decision in our first game with them and they did so again&nbsp;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 \u2018 eccentric\u2019&nbsp; refereeing decisions in favour of Brighton had robbed us of four points. The fates seemed to be conspiring against us with another \u2018only us\u2019 decision. Certainly it was hard to think of another side who had been penalised so heavily,&nbsp;for such trivial incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newcastle\u2019s 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&nbsp; 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s 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&nbsp;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&nbsp;us, saving an \u00d8degaard penalty and playing superbly throughout the game and&nbsp;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.&nbsp; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp; 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,&nbsp;who scored within the first twenty minutes of his debut. But he was also a player that controversy seemed to follow around!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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,&nbsp; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The transfer window was in full swing but this was&nbsp;a relative term . Few clubs seemed committed to extensive trading and this made the acquisition of a striker extremely problematical .&nbsp; A \u00a340 million bid for Ollie Watkins&nbsp; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp;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 \u00a3375K a week. Thank goodness Chelsea were paying the lion\u2019s share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u00d8degaard 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp; had been in the doldrums for seventy years! Sky could barely contain their delight at this turn of events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp; turned our thoughts towards Europe to salvage&nbsp;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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&#8217;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?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp; 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&nbsp; place in the England team, temporarily vacated by Saka!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s brave recovery from 1-0 down to draw at the City ground a few weeks before &#8211;&nbsp;\u2018the sort of performance champions give\u2018. Arsenal meanwhile having strangled the life out of one of the toughest teams&nbsp; in the country were pilloried as inadequate.&nbsp; We would obviously have expected and wanted a better result but given all of the circumstances it was a&nbsp; well earned point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we travelled to Old Trafford in early March we had just put PSV to the sword in Eindhoven. We didn\u2019t 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 &#8211; 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\u2019d had a decent striker. Who knew?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s visit in mid-March&nbsp;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 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We paid our last visit to Goodison Park on the following Saturday. Everton\u2019s 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\u2019s late season renaissance this was another result that wasn\u2019t a complete disaster but it would have almost certainly been a win without a grotesque refereeing intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal\u2019s 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&nbsp; had other fish to fry but we were haemorrhaging points often from winning positions &#8211; a habit that was becoming distressingly common and which undoubtedly owed a lot to the absences of key players like Gabriel, Timber and White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our next game against the Cherries&nbsp;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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u00d8degaard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Newcastle game brought the curtain down on another season in N5 and after a first half where Raya\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The campaign&nbsp;ended with&nbsp;the deadest of dead rubbers against already relegated Southampton. Arteta\u2019s team selection was more benign than usual with Sterling and Tierney starting, and Kieran&nbsp;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 \u00d8degaard hit a fine left-footed drive&nbsp;in the last minute to send us three points clear of C130y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019t there last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s review is a truly triumphant one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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,&nbsp;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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images 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\u2019s surprise, including Predictathon participants, Nottingham Forest occupied third position. We had work to do to catch Liverpool who had [&hellip;]<\/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\/11343"}],"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=11343"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11347,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343\/revisions\/11347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}