2018/19 is the worst run-in since 2010/11

41 comments

1. F*@# Cesc!

   That assist to Messi. I had a Barca supporting friend insisting he did that on purpose.

   I never believed that and still don’t. But I want to.

   Why?

   Cos f*@# Cesc Fabregas Soler who claims to love us all.

   1. “F*@# Cesc?”

      Not unless you’re attracted to him, Shard. Otherwise, weird comment. I know that you didn’t start following the club yesterday.

      He played against the same opponents with a broken leg (inflicted by Carles Puyol).

      The continued hating on Cesc is ridiculous. And the claim that he blew up project youth is just OTT. Cesc was the fan’s choice for captain after Gallas’ lack of leadership, and he led by outstanding example, a team with a less that stellar cast of players. He wanted to play with Messi and other guys he grew up with, and not Denilson. What a fool 🙄

      Fabregas and Vieira were the best all round midfielder of the Wenger era, and arguably in Arsenal’s history. Tim’s made plain many, many times that he loathes Fabregas — especially given the manner of his departure. And that’s ok. But some gooners, like me, think that his contribution to the club far, far outweighs that.

      Apart from that, this post confirmed my suspicion that this was our worst run-in in living memory. I was half-right. I should have said jointly.

      1. The “broken leg” thing is so overplayed. He broke his leg taking the penalty, hobbled around for a minute, then went off and sat on the sideline. He didn’t “play with a broken leg”. Let’s stop this nonsense.

      2. I will take Ramsey over Cesc all day every day.

         1. I’ll take both, thank you.

            Your dislike of Cesc is apprioaching irrational. It’s like if his last season is all that matters.

            1. Metaphors always fall apart under enough scrutiny, but if your marriage fails because she decides she wants to be with someone else and then leaves to be with that person… seems fair the one being left might not look back as fondly on the high points of the relationship the way they once did.

               This is only a metaphor, though, none of us were married to Cesc, however his forcing his way out on the cheap certainly caused huge problems to a team built around him. The way someone leaves anything always massively colors how they are viewed going forward, which I think reasonable.

         2. OMG, no. That’s ridiculous.

      3. Yes I’m aware of Cesc’s fantastic ability and what he showed at Arsenal. For me though, the manner in which he left defines his relationship with us.

         He also left at a time when there really wasn’t room for him at Barcelona. He willingly allowed himself to become a tool for Barca politics. From being close to the best midfielder in the world, he became merely very good, then good and then ok. If nothing else it was a shame for the sport.

         PS. Obligatory shout out to his excellent PR team.

         1. I have some sympathy, I think he saw his window close and him missing out on maybe the greatest club team while he was playing to even qualify for the top 4. On top therre was our atrocious handling of the various injuries and our how we repeatedly botched the rehabilitation process with too thn squads, players being thrown in too soon and so on.

         2. Cesc showed single-mindedness in leaving Barcelona for Arsenal, and he showed single-mindedness in going back. Neither club liked it, and the worse that you can say about it, in my view, was that his ambition overrode the need to avoid leaving noses out of joint.

            Moreover, he left to play with a once-in-a-generation collection of players whom he’d grown up with, and who were coming of age footballistically. Those were two completely rational decisions, with both you and Tim would both have taken, in the fortunate event that you were in his shoes. It made perfect sense, from a growth and career point of view, as as much as I don’t like how he left, I did not begrudge him that move.

            As for your contention that the departure eclipses everything, I’ll settle for saying that you can’t do a balance sheet to save your life 🙂

            1. It’s a story, not a balance sheet. But even there, his very public insistence on going only to Barcelona cost us. Though we did make the best of it with Bellerin.

               Note, I didn’t say his departure. I said the manner of it. I’m convinced there was worse behaviour than is generally attributed to him.

            2. Oh, it’s a balance sheet, all right. Perspective and a sense of proportion ALWAYS matters. That’s why it’s a balance sheet.

               It’s hard to find in football debates, but it matters.

      4. I think we can both admire for what he did for Arsenal and the way he played, and think that leaving Arsenal like this was a massive dick move. He wanted to play with Messi? Well, good for him, he got to. Though I wonder how much he enjoyed it…

2. We should have signed him again. He would have been a Cazorla replacement easily and we could have won 2015/16.

3. I think it’s a good thing to see that the spine of the team left after Wenger’s departure are sh**ty.

   No excuses but this is the worst squad in the top 10 club’s in the EPL. Their closeness to the top 4 is as a result of 2015/16 like implosions in other top 6 teams.

   Let’s tell it as it is.

4. I don’t hate Fabregas. He did what was best for his career in his opinion.

   I think the pattern of good players leaving is what needs to be questioned. Why did the best players leave Wenger’s patriarchal care?

   Because they wanted to win and it didn’t look like he was a winner to them. F. A cups came later and they could be considered “paper over cracks” because Wenger was in a decline.

5. They were screening Arsene’s final match on local tv….man – the football seems light years away from today’s dross. I loved Cesc once but I’ll give him nothing but indifference since he left…we made him and he abandoned us. I think its perfectly rational to hold that against him

6. “His transfer blew up Arsene Wenger’s post-invincibles project youth.”

   That implies it wasn’t already degrading before 2011. Post 2008-2009, the peak, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor, Toure left on transfers without adequate replacements. Vermaelen, Diaby, Rosicky & Eduardo’s had umpteen injuries. Manuel Almunia was goalie. Eboue a regular? Silvestre as a CB in serious rotation?

   Cesc CARRIED our team for years. Maybe he left poorly. I won’t argue that it forced us to sell at a discount to Barca, but wasn’t that just typical of us? We’ve been selling poorly for ages now outside of robbing City for Adebayor.

   Nah, bro. Cesc was the man and I shall always remember him shushing Tony Pulis and the Stoke crowd, it brings tears of pride to my eyes.

   1. 👏🏽

      “Cesc CARRIED our team for years.”

      Repeat 10 times.

   2. I agree, he made us my better.

      It was unfortunate that his idol was managing one of the greatest club team ever, with a bunch of players that Cesc grew-up with.

      I actually think, Pep probably let Cesc know it was the last year that it was Cesc’s last chance to play for him in Barca colours, which got him of the fence.

      Anyway, we have all moved on, although we have not quite filled that Cesc/Cazorla hole!

7. Spain won La Coupe Mondial because of Cesc. He came off the bench in the 2nd half to release Iniesta for the only goal of the match. Much to van Persie’s disappoinment which always makes me happy.

8. Depressing form guide makes it official: we suck. We suck way more than we ever did under Wenger. What’s mystifying is the absolute and total end-of season capitulation. This sad lot couldn’t fight their way out of the proverbial wet paper bag.

9. As much as I’m disappointed by our collapse, I don’t think it would’ve made much difference to finish third. Be honest – let’s say we beat drew with Palace and beat Brighton. would that make this a successful season? We all agree the team is in shambles. Finishing third would only further justify more of the same next year. I can just see KSE now, “We can have an atrociously imbalanced team, a tinkering coach, chaotic management and still get CL. Great! No changes need.”
   The only remotely possible chance they change is when it hurts the bottom line – and missing out on CL again will make them feel the pinch. Not that I expect any big changes this summer – CL or not – but a dismal 19-20 campaign that leaves us outside the CL for a 4th year and sees further dropoff in attendance and merchandise sales might bring some urgency for an overhaul. Winter is here. Stan is the Night King. There is no Arya to save us.

10. Speaking of run-ins, Klopp has managed a textbook run-in for Liverpool, but a probable 97 points may not be enough to win the title.

    That’s nuts.

    The bar is out of sight for us.

11. Liverpool. Good grief.

    A penny for the thoughts of Ousmane Dembele.

12. I’m actually jealous of Liverpool, and this is a new emotion for me as a football supporter.

13. Lol @ Claude and the continuous defending of Cesc. Or have you forgotten his celebrations when he scored against us for Chelsea?

    You’ve brought into the PR nonsense perpetuated by Cesc so that he’s loved by all sides. The least he could’ve done was not been so open about his desire to move so Arsenal could’ve gotten a better deal and used it to fund replacements.

    Even Aguero had the decency to do so for his old club when he left La Liga. But not golden boy Cesc for whom his own ambitions were second to the club.

    He may be a skillful footballer, but he’s a snake.

    1. Bombay Gooner knows.

    2. You would’ve had to be in on those conversations he and Wenger had to make that ( snake) assumption.
       If he were the only marquee Arsenal player to have left in such a way I would probably give it some credence, but how long is the list of players who left under similar circumstances ?
       Cesc, RVP, Nasri, Sanchez ( close enough), Ozil ( a different outcome but mismanagement none the less)
       It’s almost as if Arsene misunderstood the meaning of I’m definitely leaving for I might be staying in most of these cases.
       I’m with Claude on this one.

       1. Tom, Im not going to reduce Cesc’s immense contribution to Arsenal FC solely to his departure.

          In forcing his way out of Arsenal, Cesc was ruthless with the club. In prising Cesc away from Barcelona, he and Arsenal moved ruthlessly. I love Arsenal FC and its football, and Fabregas was the most accomplished youngster I’ve seen on our red and white, and one of the best footballers of the Wenger era. Man, I can’t describe what it was like to see, for the first time, a 17 year old kid who could see the whole field of play, and was two beats ahead of everyone else. It’s not often a young player make s you sit up and say, “damn.” Fabregas did.

          Cesc brought us great joy (see what I did there? 🙂 ) He was far and away the standout player among a cast of mostly ordinary players.

          59 goals and 92 assists in 306 apps. One of only four players to score 50+ goals & provide 100+ assists in the history of the premier league. Between 06-07 and 10-11 no one in Europe’s top 5 leagues managed more assists than he did, 60. It’s why I can’t abide Bombay’s ignorant comment.

          What we can’t and don’t count in that stat was how absolutely central he was to our play. Cesc and a fit Thomas Rosicky on the field together was pre music.

          This black and whiting is the thing I dislike most about football debates on the web, and hot takes from folks who don’t know what they don’t know.

          1. You make a good point about Cesc’s single-mindedness which made it possible for Arsenal to snag him from Barcelona in the first place. It hurts when it works against yourself, but we might have never gotten him to play for us if it wasn’t for it. So it’s all well and good to pretend that that was absolutely fine, but to Barcelona that was a dforeign moneybag club coming in and snatching away their talents with bags of money, let’s not kid ourselves.

    3. What a childish post, Bombay Gooner.

       Bredrin, am I allowed to have a different opinion on Cesc or what? Im a gooner supporting Arsenal for 23 year years, and I used to cover sports professionally. I absolutely don’t need to be patronised by you.

       I’m gullible to Cesc’s PR? Im going to wager that I saw him play — in the flesh — more than you have. If you ever have. These are my impressions of the player, and I hope you would grant me the ability to make analytical evaluations of players without being a dupe for PR.

       This post is what happens when narrative refuses to meet nuance. That is fancy way of telling you to go make yourself happy 🙂

14. $250 m Barca sent Liverpool way for Suarez and Coutinho to fund their rebuilding process.
    I wonder if any Pool fans hold any animosity towards those two now or call Suarez a snake.
    When Henry asked “ what are they smoking at Arsenal? “ , we got upset but it turned out he couldn’t have been more right.

    1. You know Spurs are going through too, right? Feck, they may ven win the thing and finish ahead of us.

       1. If they get past this Ajax side the law of averages would favor them since they lost twice to Pool already this season.

          City failed to beat them four out of four and three out of four wasn’t enough, if only on goal difference.

          Klopp might not say it at loud but he’ll be rooting for Ajax.

15. I have zero feeling for Liverpoo as Tim called them once but that was just f$#king brilliant.Now that they’ve expended themselves in that monumental comeback, they will be ripe for the picking.

16. Cesc overtook Henry as my footballing idol / hero; someone I aspired to be while I was growing up. However like many had commented, the breakup was less than palatable. His Spanish roots and longing got the better of him, and I must say that he really did spark the uprooting / exodus of our subsequent breakout stars. I’m not sure which of the breakups I’m most sore about, but among the Na$ri, Adebayor, RVP exits, his probably stinks the most because we – the fans literally grew up with this 16yr old kid with the queer/fancy mullet mane, cheering him on as the brave David character as we took on the Goliaths in the EPL and UCL.

    On pondering, perhaps only our flying dutch boy’s departure to the Devils hurt as bad because it symbolised how awful we were at so many levels.

17. Cesc was a magic man.
    Often brilliant and always giving the expectation that we had an ace up our sleeve.
    Brady’s true heir and my favourite midfielder.
    Hats off to Liverpool last night – the 4th goal was sensational.

18. what must it feel like to be a liverpool fan today? will arsenal fans ever experience a moment like that?

19. Wonderful for Liverpool, and I’m admiring what they’ve done this season.

    But that was an almighty choke from Barcelona. At 2-0, panic stations. The coach is a dead man walking.

20. Re: Wenger/Rice – Big Weng’s reaction was to RVP blazing over, not gibbs’ tackle.

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