April is the cruellest month: Page 12 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

April is the cruellest month

IBL

Cruel she remains

Clrnc

awooga83 Add 2 points dropped at home to 20th place Southampton.

I absolutely hate it when we keep on having to remember the draw at St Andrew 2008, the late goals in Paris, the OT collapse in 2016 etc etc. And now we are likely to add to it with absolutely stupidest points dropped

Big Willie

2 draws to 20th placed Sputhampton, a loss to then 20th place Everton. Not looking good. But we've come back a few times this season. We need to do it again. Just a shame we've dropped points in 2 of our must win games in this run that would have given us breathing room for some of the tougher games coming up. No room for errors now. Need to win the last 6 games.

goon

Big Willie

Well said. Remember last year when we lost to Palace, Brighton and Southampton and we all thought it was done but then beat Chelsea and West Ham away and United at home?

It probably won’t happen, but the ride isn’t done yet. Let’s see what Wednesday brings. But we just need to stay in it. Don’t gift it to them.

Daz

I may have to rethink my definition of choking

Clrnc

Daz If we lose the title this season, it certainly has got nothing to do with things like "squad isn't strong enough", "City is too rich" etc.

We threw it away ourselves, to bottom teams that even 2nd teams should be beating.

This is not a Liverpool tried their best, 97 points couldnt win the title too situation. We just didn't maximise our chances and can blame nobody.

Burnwinter

Well, April certainly fucking sucks, doesn't it? ~~Chaucer~~ Eliot had it right.

Coombs

Clrnc doesn't dropping points mean that the squad isn't strong enough? It sure sounds like you're blaming somebody.

QuincyAbeyie

I think he's saying there's a difference between coming up short because you aren't good enough and whatever the hell we're currently doing.

It's not primarily a squad issue that's causing us to not beat Southampton with 10/11 first choice starters available.

Coombs

QuincyAbeyie so what's the primary issue, then? Arteta? I think it's pretty obviously the squad.

Burnwinter

Coombs so what's the primary issue

If a person has no legs, is the primary issue that their left leg is missing or their right leg?

QuincyAbeyie

Coombs I don't know. I think these players have shown throughout the season that they're clearly capable of better than this. Most thought they'd win against West Ham and Southampton, we were currently favorites, and that was when taking the current squad into consideration.

Clrnc

Coombs I am not criticising Arteta per se, but it was obvious Southampton was better prepared than us yesterday. Also, the subs and choices of starter leaves a lot to be desired past 3 matches. Not only were we slow but often it was the wrong choice.

It cannot be that we miss 1 player from the starting lineup and people start saying because without him we can't pass out and we can't win at home against Southampton, or that we can't win from a 2 goal lead.

Coombs

Burnwinter depends which one they kick the ball with better.

Coombs

Clrnc football doesn't work that way, though. It doesn't really matter if they can beat Southampton, it's about making sure they actually do.

We clearly need more legitimate depth in this squad to sustain the level that saw this team (+ Saliba) winning games so consistently. Part of that will be improvement over time, but a lot of it will be better options in the squad to rotate underperforming players (whatever the reason).

Claudius

Hard to fight a Arteta over starters. He left out Trossard for our star striker who had just scored 3 goals?

It’s all about crap we are doing in defense, and there’s not much for the gaffer to do there with 2 stars out. These guys just need to show some cojones.

goon

Arteta is partially responsible for sure but who cares? Saka should have scored a penalty against West Ham but he didn’t, doesn’t change the fact that he’s largely been brilliant for us and the same goes for Arteta.

It’s easier to build a strong squad than simply expect everyone already here, including the manager, to be flawless.

I don’t really get the blame culture, the desire to hold someone responsible for just falling short of an extraordinary achievement (which could still happen btw).

Claudius

goon dude, we got Champions League qualification and St Totts with six rounds to play after failing on both last season.

Coombs

goon this.

Burnwinter

goon I don’t really get the blame culture, the desire to hold someone responsible for just falling short of an extraordinary achievement (which could still happen btw).

We need both accountability at the current moment, when we've been a shambles from Arteta on down for three weeks straight, and the capacity to celebrate our achievements over the season.

You can't just let periods like this slide with an "Oh well, we did really well didn't we". We're looking at the margin to victory here.

goon

Burnwinter You can't just let periods like this slide with an "Oh well, we did really well didn't we". We're looking at the margin to victory here.

Can just imagine Josh walking in there at the end of the season and saying ‘well done exceeding all expectations guys but y’all really fucked up didnt ya?’ That’ll push them forward next season I’m sure.

You guys feel free to hold Arteta and the players accountable, I’m just not sure what that means exactly.

Personally I’d just ask Arteta what he needs to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

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