Expectations - 2023/2024 Season: Page 12 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Expectations - 2023/2024 Season

Coombs

QuincyAbeyie this is it. Corruption is rarely about shady handoffs of paper bags in parking lots. It's often explainable, and doesn't necessarily break rules. This is in no small part because the bodies that make the rules are populated by the corrupt.

Knowingly protecting and rewarding incompetence is corrupt. Shielding yourself and your peers from accountability is corrupt.

There is no such thing as being accountable to yourself - this is the logic of ego-capitalism. No accountability can exist unless it is to someone else. If you are in a position of authority, then the only accountability worth a damn is to those you have authority over. The respect and trust of players, managers, and fans is all that referees should be interested in. Not the FA, not the pundits, and not their peers in PGMOL. The best way to make their bosses look good is to work for that trust and respect, unless their bosses aren't really their bosses and they are also corrupt. And therein lies the rub.

awooga83

QuincyAbeyie

Bias certainly exists in any human decision and inevitably plays into everything that humans do. So I'm not denying that that doesn't operate but it operates against all teams and players it's an unavoidable part of humans interaction with the world.

Your point about where refs are from is not necessarily evidenced that's a generalisation in itself, it may be a factor in some instances subliminally but you can't say it's true for all and equally would mean any team outside Manchester must be subject to the same bias or corruption.

Poor referee culture about backing your mates at home games rather then make the decision that's tougher also may well be happening but it's just a bad culture and again will not solely operate against Arsenal and the inference was it's home team bias which has probably been a thing forever.

There are undoubtedly things wrong with refereeing standards today I am not trying to argue against that. But my point is they aren't just affecting Arsenal so I don't think a claim that Arsenal won't win the league because of corruption however you define it stands up.

Coombs

awooga83 it doesn't affect all clubs equally. This is a fallacy. They're not flipping coins on decisions, they are erring one way or another based on the clubs in question and the narrative of each weekend. And even if they were flipping a coin, it'd be wrong and unfair, because only infinite coin flips even out in the end.

Look how many injustices are committed against teams across the league by these muppets. It isn't Arsenal in particular, it's across the board. That doesn't somehow make it fair. In fact, it makes it all much worse for everyone, because the football isn't allowed to speak for itself - you're at the mercy of a pack of cunts. Sucks the joy out of the whole league.

awooga83

That's fair that it won't necessarily even out in one run but the main point I was getting at was that corruption or whatever you define it as won't be the thing that stops us winning the league because it isn't just driven against us. If we fall short it'll be on us as a team and I believe it will be that our attack lets us down.

Burnwinter

The VAR system's corrupt because it's broken, and broken because it's corrupt. The system re-doubles the majority of contentious decisions.

The only time it is ever good is when it corrects a bad decision, but more than twice as often it re-doubles a bad decision or creates it in the first place.

Personal ties between the referees outweigh football in the decision-making, and no one of importance is held to account for any of it. It corrodes the standard of decision-making on the field, even for decisions that are never reviewed.

They should get rid of VARs for everything except offsides and line decisions, and recruit talented schoolkids or similar to administer the system—get in some e-sports types who know nothing about football, but everything about judging a bit of geometry on a monitor. Let the on field ref carry the can for handballs and penalty area roughhousing.

Burnwinter

Been a lot of talk about the dignity and respect of the refs lately, but dignity and respect only comes from the work, it doesn't come from the referee's outfit, the sound of the whistle, the official titles, or how fans, players, technical staff or club presidents behave towards referees.

Make the job meaningful again and the dignity—such as it ever was, given the refs with dignity have always relied on their relativity to the refs that are useless, bigoted c**ts—will return.

goon

Feel like there’s been a bit of a hangover this season, but I’m only now started to get excited about not only being top but being in the CL last 16.

I think we are sort of beyond ‘min expectations’ now. The hope is to win whatever we’re competing in and I for one am going to enjoy the ride rather than tense up like many have been this season.

QuincyAbeyie

goon The hope is to win whatever we’re competing in and I for one am going to enjoy the ride rather than tense up like many have been this season.

I find it bizarre that there's a choice and that it's one you stick with at all times. Surely you'll enjoy it when it's enjoyable to watch and be tense when it's not? I don't think anyone here will enjoy every minute of the season or no minutes of the season.

goon

QuincyAbeyie

The secret is embracing and learning to enjoy it when it’s tense.

daredevil

QuincyAbeyie

It is a choice. You choose your response.

Burnwinter

From the bookies, we are:

5/2 to win the league, 4/6 for top two, 1/14 for top four
9/1 to win the Champions League, 11/4 to be finalists, 6/5 to be semi-finalists, and 10/11 to beat Porto.

Not up to the maths this eve, but it looks to me we're about 50–50 to reach my modest objectives for the season (either top two or better and a CL quarter-final, or top three and a CL semi-final or better), which sounds realistic.

flobaba

I want us to evolve further before I begin to feel confident we will win the league. Feel like we don't yet have that consistent ruthless streak, that cold blooded attitude that means that we absolutely will punish any and all teams that dare to make a mistake against us. It's a hall mark that has defined the nature of most of the teams who have won the league in recent years.

We need to learn how to translate our dominance into goals and knock the stuffing out of teams early. Similar to what we did against Lens in the champions League.

I think we will get there, but will we get there this season? A quality addition in January who can be a finishing specialist would help a lot.

Burnwinter

flobaba I want us to evolve further before I begin to feel confident we will win the league.

Fully agree. It's becoming an engrossing season, but we're a long way and a double handful of landmark victories away from a major trophy.

Stuff like this relatively fascinating analysis of our multi-stage controlball press against Brighton offers hope. We're now one of the best prepared and coordinated XIs in world football.

Coombs

flobaba We need to learn how to translate our dominance into goals

This. We need to make scoring goals a much more important part of how we play. I get that it's an evolution and a process, but we can't let this group rest easy until they make it their mission to score, regardless of game state.

I think we need an addition who will level up everyone's scoring game. Some real competition.

goon

The pressing against Brighton, one of the hardest teams to press, was top class.

You can't ever really be confident of winning the league though, not unless you get a complete collapse from City.

Clrnc

goon De Zerbi said the same. Granted they are really poor this year but I was so confident we will win after the first 20 minutes

awooga83

Yep agree, Brighton was one of our best all round performances at were comfortably better then then and yet struggled to translate that into the score or should have been.. If that's what it's like when we are pretty much on it it makes many of the other games more risky then they should be because when we drop off that level it'll be harder because of how poor we are at creating and taking chances.

Many of our forwards are too wasteful we get some momentum and the ball back but slow everything down and pass too much.

lorddulaarsenal

I think we might just be better than City now.

The inferiority complex has certainly gone and we can now match or better them physically.

RocktheCasbah

lorddulaarsenal obviously, it would be unwise to write City off, given their traditionally "universe boss" second halves of seasons & they have De Bruyne to come back, buuuuuut sometimes you peak and you don't realise it at the time.

I keep thinking about our Invincibles and how, we never realised it at the time, but it was the end of something rather than the start. The same may well be true of City's treble winners. Actually, if you look who left in the summer, it probably is true. Not saying they won't win the league, I believe they are still favourites, but last season was the end of an era for them imo.

KingslandBarge

One club is definitely on the up, the other may be also be dealing with hangover and transition between an old and new midfield guard. All of which is why I am pretty sure they will do a madness in the summer, and we have to prioritise winning now, capitalising on this season.

daredevil

KingslandBarge

We're also dealing with a transition of the midfield guard from old to new, yet our own fans have been far less forgiving of us, despite us doing far better than other teams going through the same transition.

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