Is this season a success or a failure?

Is this season a success or a failure?

Here are three quotes to chew on…

Mikel Arteta, “”You cannot do what we did in the scored half. If the team is capable of doing that when it comes to the biggest stage there are a lot of things we have to think about and analyze.”

Piers Morgan, “You can’t call a season where Arsenal win zero trophies “massively successful.” It was massively promising, and then massively disappointing.”

Martin Odegaard, “We’ve done a lot of good things thins season, but at the moment it’s just disappointing the way we ended. Especially the three games before the Chelsea game, and then this game today (Brighton).

All three are very accurate quotes, and completely open for a lot of debate in the weeks ahead.

The weaknesses within our squad began to surface in April. Yes, Mikel Arteta needs more depth, more versatility and more belief, both in his players and from his players, to finish the job.

The end of the season is a massive disappointment, yet the lads have done some amazing things, including being the league leaders for the majority of the season.

Even though we failed make a lot of progress in the two domestic cups, and in the Europa League, the club’s Premier League run was very impressive, right up to the beginning of the last international break. When matches commenced following that break the wheels slowly began falling off. Except for wins over Chelsea and Newcastle United, the team slipped up on matches they should have won going away.

The second half Sunday was a complete “sh*t show.” There really isn’t anyway around that. It’s as if the two teams swapped kits at halftime. Brighton and Hove dominated the final 45 minutes and totally embarrassed the Gunners in  front of the home crowd. The defeat to Brighton nd Hove basically handed Pep Guardiola another Premier League trophy. The race to the finish line has now become a joke with City probably winning the league by at least 7 points.

It’s obvious Arteta needs more elite footballers to include in his rotation. With the Champions League added to next season’s fixture list, those matches will be tougher, more competitive, and a lot more important to win. You don’t walk through the Champi0ns League group stage.

Going back to this season, the Gunners had a very strong starting XI until injuries and the long season took its toll.

Thomas Partey has lost his edge, Bukayo Saka looks tired, plus the back line desparately misses Williams Saliba. Aaron Ramsdale is still making great saves, but is also beginning to make mistakes he didn’t make earlier in the season.

It’s goes without saying, Arteta needs to rotate his squad a lot more. Does he rotate and give his current bench more playing time next season, does he simply bring in a few better players to fill key positions, or does he do both? I think he needs to do both.

Would Declan Rice, Mason Mount or another top midfielder strengthen the spine of the club? Should Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka, Emile Smith Rowe and Jorginho find new clubs next season? Do we need another top-class striker? Can Matt Turner push Aaron Ramsdale to earn more playing time? Who comes in to strengthen the defense, and what does the club do about all those guys we sent on loan this season like Folarin Balogun, Albert Lokonga and Ainsley Maitland-Niles?

The bottom line is this right now, Arteta needs to get his team to produce two strong, final performances v Nottingham Forest and Wolves. Not only does the squad need to go into the summer break with belief and confidence, but so do we, Gooner Nation!

Up the Arsenal!

Gunner1953