Arsenal were lucky AF not to be 3-0 down in the first leg. PSG had the much clearer chances in the Emirates.
He has done his usual in saying they were the better side and the best team is now out of the CL. He claims that one of Luis Enrique’s bench said as much to him after the game. Luis Enrique has laughed that off that.
There is a very Rodgers like quality to Arteta that really comes into focus when they’re not doing well
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At this point , it’s more of convincing himself as far as Arteta is concerned.
A wise man once said: “Why argue with an Arsenal fan, when you can just wait…”
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Arsenal were the best team in the CL this season according to lego head. Why do they keep crying for signings then?
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Maybe Arteta will use him as a new CF. Don’t underestimate his genius.
Or a backup left back?
They may have a new one. Its Arteta’s yearly routine.
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It occurred to me that Arsenal in this era is really very similar to the Liverpool of the mid-2000s under Rafa. Very different personalities, different constraints, and of course they don’t have a crown jewel like 2005. But this season for them was a lot like many of those - solid league campaign to secure top 4, not really much threat of winning it though, shifted focus to a promising CL campaign, and being left with not much to show for it. Not much different at all from 07/08.
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This season there is a conventional wisdom that built on what their needs in the summer were, that Arsenal just needed a better striker. This idea that a team can only improve by adding more goals from a new striker is one of the biggest over simplifications in football. This was especially true for Arsenal for whom their false 9 was a big part of why they were so difficult to play against. When a team is set up like that there are big trade offs you have to make to bring in a more orthodox forward and so even if you ear mark someone as good as a 2008 version Torres last season’s Arsenal team would not automatically be better for just adding that quality of forward. I think Arteta’s acceptance of that is likely whey they didnt spend money.
Interestingly though, with the way their approach has evolved this season they are a lot less dynamic, and a lot of this had already happened even before Havertz got injured. With this new way they play maybe they are able to just pop in a penalty box goal scorer and not have much of a trade off in losing all around contributions of their false 9. It seems like a fork in the road for Arteta now in deciding which direction he wants to go in and it will be interesting to see how he approaches it this summer.
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Mikel Arteta latest Arsenal claim is frankly ridiculous and Liverpool response will say everything
Difference being that in 2007-08 we actually did spend some time on the top of the league.
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Arteta has much more financial support than Benítez. If David Villa and Silva joined us, I think the story could be very different. Meanwhile, Arteta has already spent £850m, and their best football was two years ago.
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David Silva was 1.70m. Way too short.
Pounds or Euro? That was cheap either way even back then.
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M stands for Metres, as you well know.
Yes, that it was I meant by different constraints. But I was thinking in terms of the supporter experience, of feeling like the side was close, just not seeing the pathway.
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