Champions League, Europa League & Europa Vauxhall Conference League 25/26

[windermereROYAL]

Do you think "hate on this scale" is completely without context?

As for the fans, spend a bit of time in social media and you'll see and yes, they are far worse than pretty much every other fanbase. The perpetual sanctimony, superiority and victimhood. It's the AFTV influence. It's also a reflection of Arteta's character.

As far as I know they`ve never been the cause of a European ban for all English clubs.half a million fans on the street today, and you`re painting them all with the same brush because of a few internet knobheads.

I mean i absolutely HATE talksport but only arsenal fans can think that was not a penalty last night

https://youtube.com/shorts/8fXEVfrllBI? ... kWKswfMDXA

It was a penalty 100%, but I will never consider Talksport a credible radio station, we had Jason Cundy and Gabby Agbonlahor wearing PSG shirts during a game that involved an English side against a french side.
Gabby was quoted as saying that football won (which it probably did) but then added that Arsenal stunk out the champions league (while not losing a game) and the PL campaign.

[Silver Fox]

It's so funny to me that in a year Arsenal won their first title since they moved stadiums their fans are still finding so much to be upset about

[From Despair To Where?]

This is the sort of shit social media is awash with

https://www.facebook.com/groups/5410814 ... 841965691/

Apparently Arteta out managed Enrique by not losing 5-0 and it's the ref's fault they lost.

[Beaulux]

As far as I know they`ve never been the cause of a European ban for all English clubs.half a million fans on the street today, and you`re painting them all with the same brush because of a few internet knobheads.

I mean i absolutely HATE talksport but only arsenal fans can think that was not a penalty last night

https://youtube.com/shorts/8fXEVfrllBI? ... kWKswfMDXA

It was a penalty 100%, but I will never consider Talksport a credible radio station, we had Jason Cundy and Gabby Agbonlahor wearing PSG shirts during a game that involved an English side against a french side.
Gabby was quoted as saying that football won (which it probably did) but then added that Arsenal stunk out the champions league (while not losing a game) and the PL campaign.

The top English sides are not very exciting at the moment, Arsenal are no worse than Man City, for example.

I’d rather watch Bournemouth, Villa or Brentford.

[WestYorksRoyal]

The days of peak City v Liverpool do feel some way off, but I think Arsenal will reach a higher peak. Nerves create cagey, defensive football, and they have been nervous over the run in. But with the PL title behind them (which is still a massive achievement), that should give them the confidence to throw the shackles off a bit more.

[genome]

I had wondered if there was kind of a ceiling in how good a footballer/football team can actually get, and the top sides have been hitting that ceiling for a few years, so it's enabled your Bournemouths and your Brightons and your Brentfords to catch up and be a lot more competitive. And that's why Spurs found themselves in trouble because they lost momentum and stopped improving

[From Despair To Where?]

I've just seen an interesting new camera angle for Eze's penalty

[South Coast Royal]

The days of peak City v Liverpool do feel some way off, but I think Arsenal will reach a higher peak. Nerves create cagey, defensive football, and they have been nervous over the run in. But with the PL title behind them (which is still a massive achievement), that should give them the confidence to throw the shackles off a bit more.

In the aftermath of the game every Arsenal player and fan has consoled themselves that they got very close and of course nowadays everybody has to be positive rather than realistic.

Because of the way Arsenal have played for a lot of last season and particularly in that final it has been old style Italian football but nobody knows if this manager and/or his players can play differently and be successful.
They really do have a lot of defenders so I don't see them changing their approach very much-we are told it is all about winning and they have won one trophy and come close in another.

City ran them close until the final week but , as you say, they and Liverpool are going through a period of change and, as this topic is about European competitions, I don't see either of them getting very close to Barcelona, PSG or Bayern Munich next season where those clubs generally look fairly settled.

This Arsenal side is no super team, they haven't won our league with 100 points and they haven't won the Champions League but they do look stable enough to be around the top ,both here and in Europe, for the next season or so but don't expect more expansive and entertaining (?) football (unless you like long throws, corners and free-kicks).

[Royal Rother]

This Arsenal side is no super team, they haven't won our league with 100 points and they haven't won the Champions League but they do look stable enough to be around the top ,both here and in Europe, for the next season or so but don't expect more expansive and entertaining (?) football (unless you like long throws, corners and free-kicks).

That's the shame of it.

The unattractive football Arsenal have served up has, to all intents and purposes, worked.

That squad is capable of so much more.

I will be hoping Chelsea and Liverpool under exciting (maybe) new management and Man Utd can usurp Arsenal next season playing an attacking brand of football and consign their safety first shite to the dustbin for a while.

Time limits for restarts of all forms will help a bit if they come in, but, as I've said before, after 50+ years of "following" Arsenal, I've not enjoyed watching them this season on any more than a handful of occasions, and took zero joy from them winning the PL.

[WestYorksRoyal]

This Arsenal side is no super team, they haven't won our league with 100 points and they haven't won the Champions League but they do look stable enough to be around the top ,both here and in Europe, for the next season or so but don't expect more expansive and entertaining (?) football (unless you like long throws, corners and free-kicks).

That's the shame of it.

The unattractive football Arsenal have served up has, to all intents and purposes, worked.

That squad is capable of so much more.

I will be hoping Chelsea and Liverpool under exciting (maybe) new management and Man Utd can usurp Arsenal next season playing an attacking brand of football and consign their safety first shite to the dustbin for a while.

Time limits for restarts of all forms will help a bit if they come in, but, as I've said before, after 50+ years of "following" Arsenal, I've not enjoyed watching them this season on any more than a handful of occasions, and took zero joy from them winning the PL.

I do think too many managers default to thinking that being "hard to beat", good at set pieces etc., is how to get over the line.

If you look at Guardiola's first season with City, they finished 4th and had people questioning whether his style and principles would work in England. He doubled down and won the league with 100 points with some of the best football this country has ever seen. For Klopp at Liverpool, Alisson and Van Dijk were the final pieces of the puzzle, but he never deviated from his attacking principles which built an awesome team.

Arsenal have a lot of attacking talent but after being pipped by City a few times have intentionally applied the handbrake. You can't argue with it as they have won the PL, but ultimately a top class attacking team should be able to overcome an "immovable object". I'm a firm believer that to be the best of the best, your currency needs to be goals.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

[Winston Biscuit]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

related - Man Utd won it with just 75 points in the mid 90's, but they were also 7 points clear of 2nd place! that seems mental. I might ask AI to do me a graph on that

[Winston Biscuit]

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[Stranded]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

related - Man Utd won it with just 75 points in the mid 90's, but they were also 7 points clear of 2nd place! that seems mental. I might ask AI to do me a graph on that

2nd, 3rd and 4th all finished on 68pts that season. At the other end only 8pts seperated 19th placed Boro from 9th placed Leicester - and that was only because Boro had 3pts deducted. Without that Coventry would have gone down with 41pts and the gap between 9th and 18th would have only been 6pts.

It shows you how the total needed to win has shifted as United's 75pts was essentially 2pts per game, which was always the expected benchmark.

[Sanguine]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

related - Man Utd won it with just 75 points in the mid 90's, but they were also 7 points clear of 2nd place! that seems mental. I might ask AI to do me a graph on that

2nd, 3rd and 4th all finished on 68pts that season. At the other end only 8pts seperated 19th placed Boro from 9th placed Leicester - and that was only because Boro had 3pts deducted. Without that Coventry would have gone down with 41pts and the gap between 9th and 18th would have only been 6pts.

It shows you how the total needed to win has shifted as United's 75pts was essentially 2pts per game, which was always the expected benchmark.

Table of two halves - 9 points between Wimbledon in 8th (56) and Leicester in 9th (47) was more than the gap between Leicester and Middlesbrough in 19th (39).

[windermereROYAL]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

Oh that old chestnut, was it the same last term when Liverpool won it on 84? but because it`s Arsenal it`s the poorest quality in 10 years.

2010/11 Man U 80pts, 2015/16 Leicester city 81pts, last season Liverpool 84pts.
there`s been three on 86 pts too, but that doesn`t fit the narrative.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

Oh that old chestnut, was it the same last term when Liverpool won it on 84? but because it`s Arsenal it`s the poorest quality in 10 years.

2010/11 Man U 80pts, 2015/16 Leicester city 81pts, last season Liverpool 84pts.
there`s been three on 86 pts too, but that doesn`t fit the narrative.

Last year was poor too. But Liverpool properly took their foot off the gas once they'd won the title. Arsenal were the best team this season but they started getting the jitters and allowed Man City back into a title race that they shouldn't have been anywhere near. I hope having got the monkey off their back that they play a bit more expansively next season. It was turgid at times this season.
Just felt to me that the overall quality of the Premier League had slipped this year. Sunderland had a great season but it didn't seem to me like everyone took points off each other because the overall standard was raised. More that the tope teams dropped a bit. But we have just had a period where one or two teams have been brilliant.

[South Coast Royal]

Arsenal won the title this year due to everyone else dropping from their previous standards. Their points total would only have won the league twice in the previous 20 years, its been the poorest quality season since Leicester won.

Oh that old chestnut, was it the same last term when Liverpool won it on 84? but because it`s Arsenal it`s the poorest quality in 10 years.

2010/11 Man U 80pts, 2015/16 Leicester city 81pts, last season Liverpool 84pts.
there`s been three on 86 pts too, but that doesn`t fit the narrative.

Last year was poor too. But Liverpool properly took their foot off the gas once they'd won the title. Arsenal were the best team this season but they started getting the jitters and allowed Man City back into a title race that they shouldn't have been anywhere near. I hope having got the monkey off their back that they play a bit more expansively next season. It was turgid at times this season.
Just felt to me that the overall quality of the Premier League had slipped this year. Sunderland had a great season but it didn't seem to me like everyone took points off each other because the overall standard was raised. More that the tope teams dropped a bit. But we have just had a period where one or two teams have been brilliant.

Very much this.
Arsenal fans once again clamouring for recognition having scraped home this time when, as 6ft said, nearly all the others were just not up to the mark confirmed by all the early exits from the Champions League.

If Arsenal win it again next season then perhaps we can talk about them being one of the better sides in the fairly short period of history of top level football now called the Premier League.

In past football seasons, despite club animosities, the football played by City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Leicester has been respected by fans of other clubs but this time I detect boredom and not envy as being the general feeling of other fans towards this Arsenal side.

As for Europe we will see how our top clubs get on next season and I have a feeling that Arsenal fans will discover that this was the season when they had the best chance of winning the Champs League as English and top European clubs regroup and PSG just carry on as normal.
The idea that this Arsenal side is the start of something special I do believe is a bit fanciful.

[windermereROYAL]

Last four seasons.
Arsenal 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 332pts
City 1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 329pts
Liverpool 5th, 3rd, 1st, 5th, 293 pts.

Consistency wins you titles not one hit wonders.

[South Coast Royal]

Last four seasons.
Arsenal 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 332pts
City 1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 329pts
Liverpool 5th, 3rd, 1st, 5th, 293 pts.

Consistency wins you titles not one hit wonders.

Not sure about your plural-it's just the one............and horrible to watch.