RocktheCasbah
94/95 at least we were flying high in Europe and it was the season after we won the Cup winners cup which followed the season after we won the domestic cup double.
This season was more important than ever because we haven’t won a trophy in a while so puts more emphasis on getting over the line. Comprende?
naz
Saka is out till April and white hasn’t played since Nov. They are not serious options right now.
I would honestly play Calafori up front.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 Sorry mate, I refuse to believe that if this forum had existed in 1995 you wouldn't have been blowing absolute gaskets at Arsenal achieving their lowest league position since checks notes 1976 - so nearly 20 years.
Yes, we got a cup final, but we didn't win it.
Our league record:
P42 W 13 D 12 L 17 F 52 A 49
If Arteta posted up a league season like that, you'd be marching up and down outside Highbury House and burning his effigy - and you know what? Most of us would be behind you.
We've lost 2 league games since Villa at home last season - even with everything else blowing up in our face. I think Arteta and the team deserve a bit more credit for their consistency in the face of a ridiculous series of challenges. As Clive said on the AV pod the other day, even just the 4 points we lost at City and home to Brighton would make a massive difference to the vibe now.
RocktheCasbah
I remember that season very well. John Jensen scored his first goal for us in a 3-1 loss to QPR at home.
But you can’t really compare the eras or teams. We were a cup team back then whereas now we are spending £105m on players and actually challenging for leagues.
It’s great that we have only lost 2 league games since April but how many BS games have we drawn. These stats are all good but means fuck in the grand scheme of things if we don’t win fuck all. Trophies are the currency and the only currency now.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 We were a cup team back then whereas now we are spending £105m on players and actually challenging for leagues
and there is my point. Thank you for making it for me. 
RocktheCasbah Your complaint is basically this should have been our year, but it isn't. Boo hoo.
Yeah, that's where I'm at. It's disappointing but we move on. As I've said before, the damage was done much earlier in the season. This is just the nail on the coffin.
We should have a section of the forum devoted to every time Sicario blows a gasket. I get the frustration, I do but the way you post makes supporting Arsenal seem like an entirely miserable endeavour.
Gonna have to play some proper terrorist ball until the end of the season, dirty low blocks and hopefully nick a goal.
Don Pacifico just out of interest, when was the last time you were upset or angry re an Arsenal topic?
I rather wear my heart on my sleeve than be so non-chalant when knowing your season is over.
If we finish this season outside of the top 4 will you also shrug your shoulders?
Sicario2 - Tier 1 probably the EL final against Chelsea. That being said it became very clear how broken the squad (and the club) were, which mitigated for how tough the early Arteta years were. Since then, we've been challenging for the league, which is more than you can say for the roughly a decade prior to Arteta joining. That makes a difference for me.
I guess at the heart of this is that I'm proud of who we are as a team and a club these days (versus my frustration with the second half of the Wenger years). And everyone currently at the club has played a massive part towards that. So even when there are missteps, I don't completely lose faith in the direction of travel. Doesn't mean I don't want more.
Not wanting to sound preachy but there's enough going on in the world to expend your emotional energy on. Something I've personally worked on is trying to react to things that happen in my life proportionately. Consciously or unconsciously, I don't invest as much of myself in the fortunes of the club as I used to. Doesn't mean I don't care, just means it's easier to be disappointed, accept I'm disappointed and move on.
Don Pacifico fine but that means you can’t experience the highest of highs when we do eventually win (something big) 
The fact we were on such an upward trajectory makes this season even more frustrating.
We all looked back at the summer of 2015 when things were going well post back to back FA Cup wins we didn’t sign anyone (bar Cech) and look how that turned out for Wenger. Same year we should have won the title. The current holders (Chelsea) were having a mare and a team you didn’t expect it won in the end. Sound familiar?
History tends to repeat itself. Unfortunately we never learn.
I’m sick and tired of these near misses and glorious failures.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 We all looked back at the summer of 2015 when things were going well post back to back FA Cup wins we didn’t sign anyone (bar Cech) and look how that turned out for Wenger. Same year we should have won the title. The current holders (Chelsea) were having a mare and a team you didn’t expect it won in the end. Sound familiar?
I don't think we can compare 2015 with where we are now. We hadn't seriously challenged for a title for around a decade at that point.
But as you allude to, the same people responsible for disappointing you this season were responsible for raising your expectations in the first place.
History may repeat itself but I don't believe it's a given.
I thought this was interesting. there was something about our pressing that wasn't passing the eye test for me this season which I've mentioned on here before, and it's interesting to see these low numbers compared to the rest of the top 6. I don't have the comparative data from last season to see if there's been a relative drop off from what we were doing last season.
The sprints aren’t surprising. Aligns very well with the constant complaints that we are boring.
What would be interesting would be to overlay that data with average possession time and attack speed versus last season. We are probably holding onto the ball longer and doing less. But also means our opponents can’t do anything with it.
I’ll try find shooting data I saw the other day which was very interesting. If you break a shot into component bits: frequency, quality (xG) and performance (vs xG), we do extremely well on the last two metrics and are the best in the league. It’s frequency where we turn into a mid table team. We’ve over-optimised for quality vs quantity
it's not the way we play that's breaking our players. It's not rotating them.
So we are actually outperformed our xG this season? Suggests our problem isn't finishing goals but creating chances.
JazzG Suggests our problem isn't finishing goals but creating chances.
In Opta's definition - yes. But looking at stats, unless I'm mistaken, it's not defined as a chance unless a player shoots. I don't necessarily agree with that definition , I think you can create very good chances without getting a shot off (although they're harder to define).
Claudius has mentioned that we don't shoot as much as we should, but is this because we don't get into positions to do so or are we too hesitant to shoot? Probably a mix of both.
Looking at the juice Arteta has squeezed from this squad so far I would actually say this is one of the best seasons of all time.
QuincyAbeyie For me we don't create enough, the majority of our creativity comes from Saka. When he is shut out we have struggled to create chances, recent weeks we've found other solutions but that problem still remains imo.
Another thing is we have no power in transition. When we move the ball forward it is slow and measured, compare that to Liverpool who at times have cut through teams with how quick they get the ball forward and get themselves into shooting opportunities. Which kind of ties in with what Claud is saying about us not shooting as much, a lot of the time the opposition are already back and in position meaning shots are harder
3rd season in a row that I believe we have outperformed xG. Like @JazzG said, if we could just create more chances, our attacking output has the potential to skyrocket. And that's saying something since we are still scoring a lot of goals. I really do feel like adding a left winger who creates more than Martinelli would do wonders for the squad. Just someone who can consistently take on their man and cause the defense to collapse (not just beat them to the byline and cross) could really open up a ton of chances and also likely decrease the burden on Saka. The right signings this summer combined with a full preseason with no international tourneys could really be the recipe for something special next year.
