[Vote Here] Has This Season Been A Success Or Failure For Arsenal?

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As we bask in the glory of our first major trophy in 9 seasons, I think it’s time to evaluate and see whether this season was a success or a failure.

Before the transfer window ended, things looked pretty gloomy. Jose Mourinho had joined Chelsea, Manchester City had spent big money, Tottenham Hotspur had lost Gareth Bale to Real Madrid but had spent around £100 million on reinforcements and Manchester United were still the champions from the season before (and still had the same squad that went on to win the league by a massive 11 points), added to that they had strengthened with Marouane Fellaini, a player we were reportedly after.

We had just lost to Aston Villa at home in the first game of the season, and missed out on any big signings. We had brought in Yaya Sanogo and Mathieu Flamini, both free transfers. We missed out on Luis Suarez (stayed at Liverpool), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Stevan Jovetic (Manchester City), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) and host of other big names we were linked with all summer.

So it’s hard to establish what our expectations were at the start of the season. At the start of the summer everyone was optimistic that we would use the massive “war chest” at Arsene’s disposal and at that point I think most of us thought that this might be our year and we could finally win something, and at least compete for the Premier League. But after the Aston Villa game we wondered if Arsenal could finish in the Top Four and some of us even wanted Arsene Wenger to leave.

The Mesut Ozil signing lifted spirits and his arrival alone inspired Arsenal to top the Premier League for 128 days, the most any team was at the Premier League summit. Obviously, you only need to be top for one day (that last day) but there are positives and negatives to this season.

The positives are that we were so good for so much of the season, and the table doesn’t lie. Ozil and Ramsey in particular were the catalyst for all the good things we did for the first part of the season which saw us lead the Premier League table for most of the season. We were playing great football, had the belief and at times we were unstoppable.

The negatives however where that after managing to get ourselves in such a fantastic position we didn’t capitalise on our advantage. It was glaringly obvious that we needed another striker (possibly even two) to share the burden or replace Giroud, depending on your viewpoint, and we didn’t strengthen in January. There’s no doubt that Arsenal could have won the league if we had added a world class striker to help us kick on going into the second half of the season. Of course it’s easier said than done to find another striker but that’s what Arsene Wenger and his highly paid staff are at the club to do.

Another negative was the performances in the big games. We simply disappeared and had embarrassing matches against Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City all away from home. When you consider we finished 7 points off Manchester City at the end of the season, it’s not hard to realise that draws in those games and a top striker could have made the difference.

Everyone is saying that if Liverpool were ever going to win the league it would have been this season, as they don’t have the resources to improve next season and might lose their top players, but you could also say the same for Arsenal. They had such a good base to work with this season so it almost feels criminal that we didn’t maximise our potential and take that extra step and win the league.

Chelsea are only missing a striker and they’re certain to get one this summer, Manchester City will strengthen despite the transfer issues and Manchester United have recruited Luis Van Gaal who is one of Europe’s top top managers – and he will reportedly have around £150 million at his disposal. Tottenham will no doubt add to their squad (and will appoint someone who isn’t worse that Tim Sherwood), Everton are a bit of an unknown quantity and so are Liverpool, although the red side of Merseyside might come back stronger next season.

So it does feel like an opportunity missed.

Obviously, the FA Cup success was fantastic and I like every other Arsenal fan is still over the moon. It’s the least Arsene Wenger deserves, the players deserve it and most importantly the fans deserve it. And to be quite frank it’s just amazing to win a major trophy!

We say this every summer but you do feel that this is a massive summer for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. After winning the FA Cup, it’s imperative that we kick on and build on this success.

So was this season successful or a failure? Vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments section:

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What Can You Say About That? Emotional Isn’t The Word!

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We all knew how massive yesterday’s FA Cup final was in the history of Arsenal Football Club.

Ever since the move to The Emirates, we’ve been restricted financially and over the last 8 seasons have had to sell our best players. World class talents such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Ashley Cole and Samir Nasri have all left and won trophies elsewhere – and very good players such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure and Alex Song have all departed and had mixed success at their new clubs but have still managed to add medals to their personal collection.

So this was a defining moment in Arsenal’s history. Winning the FA Cup would in a small way justify Arsene Wenger’s approach and ethos which has seen us trophy-less for the last 8 seasons, but seen us consistently “win” the other trophy which is 4th place in the Premier League.

We managed to successfully book our place in next years Champions League (providing we successfully negotiate a qualifier) so it was all on yesterday’s final. And in true Arsenal fashion, we could not have made things harder for ourselves.

Arsenal were clearly nervous in the first few minutes and obviously decided that on such a massive occasion as yesterday, the best approach would be to feel their way into the game and let our overall quality shine through over the 90 minutes. Unfortunately, Hull City had other ideas and they came out of the block flying. A combination of their determination and our lacklustre start, Hull City found themselves 2-0 up inside the first 8 minutes.

The millions of Arsenal fans watching couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Not even in their worst nightmares could they have imagined something like this. Some could probably have seen us concede the first goal, but not to be 2-0 down within 10 minutes of kick off.

The only real consolation was that Hull City scored their goals early and with a lead like that, against opposition like Arsenal they got deeper and deeper, happy to get us on the break or score from set-pieces. And don’t take that as any kind of criticism – for me Hull City almost executed the perfect game plan yesterday and they deserve a huge amount of credit, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for them yesterday. In the end there can only be one winner but Hull City couldn’t have pushed us any further.

With the goals coming early we had 80 minutes to get our act together, but at 2-0 Hull City had a headed chance cleared off the line by Kieran Gibbs who stopped a Alex Bruce header from going into the top corner. If that goes in, it’s thank you and goodnight.

We rode our luck and on 17 minutes Arsenal scored. Santi Cazorla stepped up after being fouled (I don’t care what you say, it was a clear foul) and rifled in a stunning freekick into the top corner. You could say McGregor should have saved it but take nothing away from Santi’s strike – to score at that time does not even describe the magnitude of the importance. If that doesn’t go in and we go in at half time 2 goals down, who knows how the day might have ended.

We fashioned a few chances and in the second half it was much of the same. For me, there were 2 blatant penalties which weren’t awarded and 1 other incident where I’ve definitely seen penalties given. At 2-1 down, you just thought that the curse was never going to be broken but on 71 minutes we found the break through and it was Laurent Koscielny that almost broke his leg.

From an Arsenal corner, the ball bounced to Koscielny who did well to swivel round and clip the ball in between the goalkeepers legs and into the net. During the goal however, McGregor flew out and caught Koscielny in a bad challenge. It looked like the defenders leg took the weight of the goalkeeper as he jumped into him but fortunately The Boss was okay enough to continue after some treatment.

Then at 2-2 you’re at that strange place where you don’t know whether to stick or twist. If you attack too much you might get caught on the break but you can also nick the game and win the cup. Kieran Gibbs had a glorious chance to score in the final moments and Olivier Giroud hit the bar in extra time (I think, it’s all still a bit of a blur!).

9 times out of 10 (don’t quote me on the accuracy of that statistic) when it goes into extra time you usually expect both teams to consolidate and the game generally goes to penalties. But Arsenal didn’t want that and kept pressing for the winning goal – and it came on 109 minutes.

The ball was played into Yaya Sanogo from Jack Wilshere and the ball bounced into the path of Olivier Giroud, who skilfully back heeled the ball into the path of Rambo. There is no-one else on the pitch you would rather the ball fall to into that position and Arsenal’s player of the season by some way managed to cutely finish into the bottom corner with his right foot.

At that stage, every Arsenal fan watching went into raptures and that was the moment Arsenal made history. The first major trophy in 9 years was finally coming to The Emirates and I cannot describe how happy I am. To me, the FA Cup victory represents so much more than a major trophy. It represents the future and hopefully buries those barren years that we’ve all had to endure over the last few seasons.

You could tell the players were over the moon, and Arsene Wenger just looked relieve more than anything. Maybe perhaps the FA Cup win means he can stay at Arsenal now?

Hopefully this means we can kick on and win more trophies over the next few seasons. Of course, Arsenal fans more than other football supporters know that you can’t take anything for granted in this game but today is about enjoying the absolute hell out of this and having a wonderful summer.

I definitely have a happier outlook now Arsenal have won the FA Cup and I’m sure that goes for all Arsenal fans across the world. I’ll still be enjoying this going into next season! Arsenal Football Club, FA Cup Winners 2014. It has a nice ring to it!

I can’t really describe how emotional I am right now. The first trophy for 9 seasons. It has been a long time coming and I don’t care if people think I’m over celebrating this!

Enjoy it, savour it and #COYG!

My Bittersweet FA Cup Final Day

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As Arsenal embark on looking to break the 9 year trophy hoodoo and as Arsene looks to bring in the first major trophy since moving to The Emirates, today is a bittersweet day for me.

We all know how massive today is, and while Arsenal are major favourites we still have the shock that was Wigan beating Manchester City to win last seasons FA Cup fresh in our minds.

Make no doubt about it, Arsenal will need to be on top of their game to bring home the cup tonight.

But while usually I’d be checking all the latest news and build up and obviously watching the match itself, I have to go to a wedding today…

Which means missing the whole thing entirely!

I’m not looking for sympathy, but being an Arsenal fan for over 27 years now I realise that today is a significant day in Arsenal’s history, a day much bigger than potentially winning a major trophy. If Arsenal can overcome Hull City, then it would represent something of a new era. After 8 seasons without a trophy, today could be the catalyst for bigger and greater things.

Of course, if Hull City pull off a shock then it could still be a significant day in our history, but for different reasons.

Obviously I’m clutching at straws here, but if you’re watching the game and fancy updating me on the latest scores and incidents during the match, then you can tweet me here:

Arsenal 4 Life Twitter

Bet this is the first time an Arsenal blog has asked for match updates isn’t it!

Anyway, I hope every Arsenal fan who is watching the game has a fantastic day and we all get what we want from the final.

All the best and COYG!

Was Woy Wight To Leave Out Gibbs?

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The England squad was announced today and overall, the reception to it has been positive from fans and experts alike. The Manchester United duo of Carrick and Cleverley have been rightly left out, as well as the Toronto-bound Jermaine Defoe.

For Southampton, it’s a triumph as they have 3 players going in Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.

Now I don’t profess to know a huge amount of Luke Shaw, and I’ve only seen him play a handful of games this season. But from what I’ve heard and read, he is supposed to be the next big thing (when it comes to left backs anyway) and Manchester United have been after him all season.

And however well he’s done this season (and congratulations to the lad by the way) I can’t see how he’s a better choice that Kieran Gibbs in that position. You already have Leighton Baines as Ashley Cole’s successor but for me, Gibbs is next in line.

Gibbs has played at the top level, for a top team, for the last 3 seasons. He has Champions League experience (surely an important trait for an International player) and has competed at the top of the Premier League. And possibly more importantly, if Arsenal do lift the FA Cup next weekend he will have experience of winning a major trophy in a major knockout competition.

You all know how I feel when Nacho Monreal is playing for us and that’s partly down to how poor defensively the Spaniard is, but also down to the fact Kieran Gibbs is fantastic defensively. He has fantastic pace, can deliver a good cross and is more than willing to support attacks.

With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere making the squad, it would have made sense to take Kieran and if you’re talking about the number of appearances the young English lads have made this season – you could even argue that Gibbs is more worthy of a place on the plane than The Ox and Jack.

Who Will Be Arsenal’s Next Manager?

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With Arsenal having secured 4th place and Champions League football for yet another season, Arsene confirmed that he would be signing a new deal which will seem him here for the next few seasons.

Over the last few months, there has been speculation to whether Arsene would stay but Arsenal fans have to wonder no more.

Arsene has had his critics this season, but if we end the campaign with Champions League football and the FA Cup, it will be regarded as a success amongst most Arsenal fans.

The fact we lead the Premier League for the most number of weeks than any other team (including the cash rich sides such as Manchester City and Chelsea) is a feat in itself, and remember we have had terrible injuries to key players such as Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil for big parts of the season. You just wonder how we would have done if we had Ramsey and Theo in particular.

We can end the season on 79 points, which is only 7 less than the number of points Manchester City and Liverpool can possibly achieve come the end of the season.

Many fans (including myself) have called for change but the facts speak for themselves.

The two regrets from this season are the injuries to big players, but also the performances against the big sides. Mathematically, we’d still be well in the race (if not leading it) if we managed to get draws against Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United away this season. If we played a tight game instead of playing extremely naive football, we’d be in there.

But who will (eventually) succeed Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager? Obviously it won’t be this season or next, but who will be the man to take over the reigns after Arsene?

It’s a difficult question to answer as we don’t know when Arsene is thinking of retiring or moving on, but it is a question we will have to ask ourselves sooner or later.