I mean if you thought 8th was just about in line with what to expect from this team, aren't you more negative about it than the guys who think 4th should be the minimum? The club spent 50 million on a CL winning midfielder after just winning the FA Cup and we had the likes of Saka, Auba, Partey, Gabriel and later on ESR starting for us. That's not a team that should miss out on Europe entirely. You can't blame people for not being okay with that. That was the worst Arsenal season in what, 25 years? Good on you if you managed to lower your expectations far enough so you could cope with that better than most, but to be quite frank I don't think it's grounded in realism.
And another thing I've noticed is that it's not just Arteta's critics who are negative about the team, there are plenty of guys on here who weren't and aren't shy to call the players fucking shit, even someone like Bellerin was ridiculed and insulted on a regular basis after playing for the club for nearly a decade. Is calling him all kinds of names really better than doing the same to Arteta? Getting behind the team doesn't just mean getting behind the manager and the perceived long term plan of our billionaire asshole owners, it also means getting behind the players. Going "Oh he's shit; thank god that asshole is gone; we need to replace that shitster before we can achieve anything; etc." is really no better than thinking Arteta is a self-absorbed prick who can't coach an attack to save his life.
As someone who does think Arteta is a smug wanker, but rates our players very highly, seeing those players slagged off pisses me off sometimes. And I get that the opposite is true if you do rate Arteta's ability as a coach. I get that it kills the vibe and that fucking sucks if you want to be excited about your team. I apologise if I've ever killed any of your positive vibes about Arsenal. But this is a forum and people come here to express their feelings about their favourite football team. And if some need a place to vent, this should be the place for it just as much as for anyone who just wants to be giddy about Arsenal's future. You could argue we maybe need a thread dedicated to the venting so anyone who doesn't want to read it can ignore it, but haven't you guys been on this forum and known each other for ages? Why is it so hard to accept that your opinion just differs on the topic of the manager and it's gonna take more than half a season to get everyone back on the same page?
But as I said, I can understand the frustration with coming online and being excited about Arsenal and then being bummed out by a bunch of negative comments about the manager and the direction of the team. I should probably refrain from making snide remarks about Arteta every other post myself. But the guy has absolutely contributed to that kind of climate by banishing a player that I personally love and who has done more for the club than he has at this point. And by introducing a zero tolerance policy for anything he perceives as unprofessional. If that's your approach as a manager, you're going to be a polarising figure among the fanbase.
In closing I just wanna say that having a mud-slinging contest among ourselves is fucking stupid. I kind of joined in now, but I do hope I didn't offend anyone, because truly that's not my intention. I just want to share my thoughts about Arsenal and discuss the club with others, disagreeing with one another is part of that, and a very healthy one I would suggest. But at the end of the day I do think we need to be conscious of the fact that absolutely fucking everyone on here wants to see the Arsenal be on top again. Implying otherwise is ludicrous, even if we may disagree on the state of things.
