And you also saw that 89 GG team play and win possibly the single most high pressure game in the league's history on 26 May 1989. But the two teams are not comparable. That 89 team got lazy and cocky against Wimbledon and Derby, it wasn't pressure that nearly caved them in, it was arrogance.Stuart L (2) wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 9:06 pmI also saw a GG team lose at home to Derby, then draw with Wimbledon ( both at home ) to look like they had bottled big time their chance of the league title - to turn it around the following week at Anfield.DB10GOONER wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 8:01 pmTrue. But the assumption was we would start to step up in those matches but without then dropping points against the lesser teams.Stuart L (2) wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:39 pmThat was what most on here stated marked out progress - being competitive In the big matches that count.rodders999 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:18 pmWe took 4 points from 6 from both city and Liverpool this season, a massive improvement on seasons past - it’s well wide of the mark to cal us flat track bullies.
This season we have stepped up in those, sadly away v Fulham and home v West Ham will be our down fall
(in addition to home and away defeats to Villa)
Like last season, stupid points thrown away are going to cost us dearly. baring a very unlikely City capitulation
It seems we can lift our game in spurts. We can go on great runs of form. But top teams and certainly champions do more than that, they also dig deep and grind out the results when it matters, when the pressure is on. Not having a pop at you here Stuart, I know you know this as you are old school, you've seen the old GG teams show real character.
For me that ability to dig deep and grind out results comes initially from the manager. He picks the players with character and then he works on making them even stronger. I don't think Arteta has that in him. I think he can maybe make them better technical footballers, but he seems to dislike really strong personalities and has an inability to teach players what it takes to be winners. I don't think he can instill that winners mentality.
As reigning Champions I was also at Wrexham to witness us losing to a team that had finished in 92 place in the footballing pyramid.
Oh and Wenkers glorious double team of 98, needed penalties to get past Port Vale in the cup !
We do appear at times, to have that old Achilles heel of playing good football without taking our chances.
Yesterday was disappointing different from my perspective in that other than Trossards guilt edge chance that I still can’t believe stayed outVilla created far more than we did, scored 2, hit the post twice and generally out run and outfought us in the second half.
We lost so many 50/50’s and Villa were able to pick the ball up in the final third and turn and run at us as Rice had been pushed forward and no protection was there.
Villa are a good side, but we let them outplay us, we were flat, looked leggy, while they were missing 2/3 first choice players in particular in midfield but that was where they won the game remarkably.
I think maybe we focus far too much on the technical side of the game, the detailed patterns of play , that look great when they come off, but only come off every now and then.
Villa played out from the back and despite our press, they looked reasonably composed and comfortable doing so, while we often got the ball to Saka coming into our half, with his back to where he wants to go, a man tight up his backside, resulting in a Villa turnover.
Not once in that second half did I feel we were going to score.
Really disappointing, really flat, particularly given the scouse result.
But the difference is that they could raise their game and respond to real pressure, extreme pressure. Go to anfield and win by two clear goals? No one bar George believed we could do it. And that man and those players did it. They stepped up like men when it mattered most.
This current lot fold at the merest whiff of pressure. Two seasons running, after a superb run each time they have bottled it exactly when it mattered most, when the pressure was really on.
Yes, they play some superb football when there is no pressure and Arteta and the players get deserved credit for a brilliant run of wins, but ultimately for me that's what the likes of tottnumb and wet sham and Newcastle do every other season. That's what the also rans do. A club the size of the Arsenal with our pedigree, our glorious history, and our wealth, should not be also rans every season.
I'm not saying we should win the league every season but no title in 20 years? People blame most of that rightly on Wenger, but let's not forget at the end of this season the guts of 5 of those years were under Arteta, and he spent over £700million not winning the league to boot!
And now with Arteta's limited in game management skills and known blind spots I can't see us winning it while he is manager. He's done well to get us to where we are but he is not equipped or experienced enough to take us up a notch and win major trophies.
I'm not happy saying that, but I believe it from my experience of playing and watching football for over 40 years. Somethings are just obvious to me. I'd also love to be wrong as I liked and rated Arteta as a player for us and would love to see him succeed and of course I aways want Arsenal to win no matter who the manager is. I don't get caught up in slavish cult of personality blinkered views where the manager or any player can do no wrong because they are at Arsenal. If they can't deliver I want them gone.
That cock starts we lose by at least a couple.
