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Do We Need to be More Humble?

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by white_gunner, Dec 17, 2019.

  1. white_gunner

    white_gunner Well-Known Member

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    As a fanbase, do we need to be better about accepting that we are now a midtable - top 6 club?

    With Arteta poised to be our next manager and the negativity surrounding said appointment, do we need to do a better job at realizing maybe we can't really get anyone better at the moment?

    I remember when Wenger was getting Top 4 after Top 4, we were all sick of it and the fact that we weren't challenging. Nowadays, a top 4 finish seems miles away.

    Part of Leicester's success (and really Liverpool's as well) is due to the fact their fans never really got on the players backs. They have a unity at their respective clubs that we just dont have, and havent really had for a long, long time.

    I am of the opinion that fans have the right to an opinion, and emotion is human, so trying to control it is futile. But at the same time, I also can't deny that the toxicity constantly surrounding Arsenal isn't helping anything.

    Maybe it's time we accept where we are and stop constantly being angry we arn't challenging at the top? Thoughts?
     
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  2. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    We are where we are. And we have to accept that we are not a top 4 club at the moment. We've got a period of rebuilding ahead of us and it might not all happen immediately or go in a straight line. There are going to be ups and downs over the next few years and as fans I think we need to accept that and do our best as supporters to get behind the players and manager.
     
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  3. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    Part of the problem I think is the eye-watering ticket prices. If fans are going to pay through their noses for season tickets, then naturally, their expectations will be higher. Premium prices for a premium product.

    If this is the level we are going to be competing at, then the club simply need to reduce ticket prices. Because we were meant to be a European giant competing with the best teams in the world - that was the whole purpose of the stadium move and the high cost of the tickets - but right now, we are as far away as we've ever been.

    The club may tell us in a roundabout way to tamper our expectations. Which is fine, so long as prices take a hit too. It's not a one-way street.
     
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  4. omogooner

    omogooner Well-Known Member

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    I don't think it is the fans getting on the player's back that is problem. I am pretty certain there is a going to be some huge drop in revenue, not just on ticket sales, but also on Arsenal goods. I for one would not go and watch the Arsenal even if you paid me! As for buying anything from the Arsenal shop, not going to happen! We have an owner, who seems to have held the club to ransom, we could all see the decline, how long have we cried out for defenders and dms? Don't you worry, my expectations are already revised, and it is downwards. I bet you they were hoping Freddie would work, as that represents the cheapest option, now it is not working, Arteta is being touted. What realistically can we expect, possibly stave off relegation and midtable obscurity if we survive this season..I really feel sorry for the fans who go to games, I really do!
     
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  5. white_gunner

    white_gunner Well-Known Member

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    Theres a small part of me that thinks its not that the players arent playing for our manager(s) - its that the players arnt playing for us.

    I think this has to do with the fact that we boo them at the end of every half of football.

    Not sure what the solution is - as I said emotions are human - you cant hide how you truly feel, but the flipside of that is the players are human too; they also have emotions and if the fans are constantly unhappy with them - why would they want to play for us?

    yes, I know £££££ - but even the biggest professionals can become demotivated if the environment doesn't allow them to thrive.

    again - just thoughts, not sure what is right and wrong.
     
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  6. omogooner

    omogooner Well-Known Member

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    It is vicious circle I know. The atmosphere is charged, you have players looking like they cannot be bothered, or too good to put in a shift. I bet if they went back to basic and put in a shift and still come up short, I am pretty certain fans would get off their backs.. I would rather have 11 youngsters like Martinelli, hungry and determined than 11 Ozils, who I suspect feel like he is too good and doing Arsenal a favour and only their because no one is willing to pay his ludicrous wages. You really cannot blame the paying fans.. They are the heroes, not keyboard warriors like me, in the warmth of my house can switch channels when it gets too much!
     
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  7. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    We are similar to Tottenhams fanbase in many ways. Doom and gloom when things are going wrong - overconfident when things are going well.
     
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  8. omogooner

    omogooner Well-Known Member

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    I think it is a bit insulting to compare our fanbase to Tottenham's! We might be doom and gloom when things are going wrong, and I mean disastrously wrong.. Even at the height of our ascendancy, we were never over confident. Spurs, what have they won in their life, what have they won to be confident about? Whereas, Arsenal fans, in the main, do not have the same sense of entitlement that our friends down the road have!
     
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  9. ToledoTrumpton

    ToledoTrumpton Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps more humble with our opinions. You would think that our fans were accomplished European managers with their strength of feeling and certainty.
     
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  10. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    Thats football generally - everyone is an expert.

    It's even worse with boxing and combat sports.
     
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  11. PleaseNotPoll

    PleaseNotPoll Well-Known Member
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    No, you're not.
     
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  12. Big Ern

    Big Ern Lord, Master, Guru & Emperor

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    You're still not humble enough.
     
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  13. AndyI

    AndyI Well-Known Member

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    There is an article on the BBC today about the last decade in the PL.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50685505

    If you look at the overall table there isn't much between Pool, Spurs and Arsenal.

    But if that table was for the last 5 years i'm pretty sure Arsenal would be 6th.
     
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  14. Citizen Kane.

    Citizen Kane. Well-Known Member

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    I was having an interesting chat with a gooner colleague the other day about our two clubs' respective stadium moves. He made a fascinating point which I will probably misrepresent, but it went along the lines of: In hindsight, Arsenal's move to the Emirates in 2006 was the worst possible time to make the move. Aside from the global financial crash a year later which affected everyone, the move was sandwiched in between two events that changed the course of PL history forever: Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea in 2003, and the Abu Dhabi takeover of City in 2008. Land purchases, plans, agreements, contracts and even construction were already well under way by the time anyone had an inkling of the direction the new, souped-up PL was hurtling towards. And by the time your stadium debts were sufficiently paid off to allow for spending on par with the new sharks (ironically looking at your transfer history this probably wasn't until you signed Ozil for huge money in 2013), it was too late. Far too late. United had kept pace with the new sharks through their financial strength, magnetism and sheer iron-will of Ferguson. You were simply left behind, unable to match the best anymore.

    In the time since your finances took a turn for the better, Spurs and Liverpool got very lucky with their managerial appointments, bringing in two figures who far exceeded expectation and indeed relative spending power. You meanwhile were decaying badly in the last years of Wenger, thereby falling further behind even more teams.

    It'll be intriguing to look back 10 years from now at the impact our stadium had on the club. We went from genuinely challenging for the title in 16/17 to mid-table mediocrity this season, all because of a lack of investment in the squad. And in the meantime, City and Pool pulled even further ahead while the likes of Leicester and Wolves made some equally as clever managerial appointments as we and Pool did 5 years ago, and now threaten to usurp us just as we usurped you.
     
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  15. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    Was'nt because of a lack of investment in the squad at all.

    From 2015 we started spending more on the squad again. The previous decade Wenger had done well on a VERY restricted transfer budget.
    Wenger simply got worse over the years and Emery just wasnt good enough.
     
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  16. white_gunner

    white_gunner Well-Known Member

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    Summer 2016 killed us. Almost £100m spent on Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi, and Lucas Perez.
     
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  17. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    Thank goodness for that ;)
     
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