Lay it all (your name/rep) out there -- we winning the PL this year?

Sicario2

I actually think losing the two cups will make the celebrations of winning the league even sweeter/bigger

Btw if we flop this season that’s me done with Arsenal for good (and even if we win the league I may quit at the top).

Tam

Yes, but I reckon it’ll be much closer than it need, and should, have been.

Not that the history books will care much about that.

Claudius

Round 36

invisibleman18

Maybe I'm too negative and traumatised by the last few seasons and putting too much weight on the cup defeats. But I think we're going to feel even more pressure to win something now the cups are gone and can foresee goals being a big struggle to come by in each game. I expect Man City to win all their remaining games and am terrified we're going to crumble. It's like when you want something so much and it feels so close but still just too far away. Desperately hope to be wrong but I don't think the team has it in them to get over the line now.

TambourineMan

We've been here too many times before, and the scars of 02/03, 07/08, 22/23, and 23/24 are still so fresh in my mind. I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s going to happen again. The idea of actually getting across the line still feels surreal but the thought of the opposite occurring feels so real I can almost taste it. It would be huge if we could finally break that sense of inevitable failure that’s surrounded this club for the past 20 years or so by actually getting it done for once - but I can't see it happening.

Bernard Woolley

I don't see it happening either. Obviously, it would be amazing beyond belief for it to finally happen, but I don't see it.

awooga83

I think if I was looking at a team being in our position I would feel that the team top will see it out. The main issue would be because it's us and we've got too much of a history with throwing things away when it can look hard to. We may find a way to get past that but looking at how we've been playing I'm not convinced we've got past those demons looking at a lot of the way we've been playing and goals not looking easy to come by. That is a recipe for every match to have a lot of pressure and nervousness around.

Panda

We better fucking win it from here.

Burnwinter

Panda We better fucking win it from here.

This is the camp I'm in. And given the two exceptionally ignominious cup exits, I hope others share my view that if we don't win, the club has to call time on Arteta. For us to throw the title away from here would indicate there's a decisive deficiency in his approach.

SimplyThePest

I dunno, fellas. Despite our league position, for me, we don't look 'compelling' and haven't for some time. We're exhausted and injury-riddled.

At this moment, I feel we'll be close but ultimately pipped at the post again by Man City.

Sicario2

I would never go to war with any of you guys.

Time to step up and claim this title.

SimplyThePest

Sicario2 Lol... We can't control what nervous Mik and associates do.

Ultimately, it's opinions, arseholes and people being proven right or wrong in about a month and a half.

Lukazan

Sicario2 I wouldn’t fackin’ go to war with you either, mate. Everything would be ticking along nicely, and then you’d get us all killed by going off-script to settle a score from some war 200-odd years ago. Or you’d insist on some wildly unlikely plan just because it’s the anniversary of it miraculously working back in WW2.

And that’s before you’d inevitably have a full-on meltdown the moment you found out the opposition were taking the piss out of us in the WhatsApp group.

Sicario2

SimplyThePest some of those comments represent match going fans - we need to feed the positive energy. We are in an unbelievable position. This is not 07/08 or even 2023/2024. We are 9 points clear in April ffs.

Question to those negative guys, did you feel this way after the Everton game or have the two cup exists influenced you?

HomeSteak

Sicario2 we are not really 9 points but yes we will do it.
Lets get past this stupid CL game first and see what we do at the weekend

Just saw this online, I wonder why is it so bad?

Big Willie

Sicario2 Question to those negative guys, did you feel this way after the Everton game or have the two cup exists influenced you?

Can't speak for others but why wouldn't those two cup defeats influence their feelings. One is a loss to the team we are up against for the League, the other in the FA Cup to lower league opposition.

Weren't you banging on about how the League Cup final is crucual to winning the league and that beating City in it would be a psychological blow to them? Now that we've lost it you don't think it is anymore?

The FA Cup loss is even worse, after coming from a couple weeks back, and losing to a team in the Championship.

I reckon we'll win it, it'll be close but we should have enough to get over the line. But can you blame people who are not confident?

invisibleman18

Sicario2 Question to those negative guys, did you feel this way after the Everton game or have the two cup exists influenced you?

Fair question. I've always hoped but don't know if I've ever 100% believed we would do it, but my confidence in the team finding a way to get over the line has definitely evaporated after the 2 cups. You were saying how crucial the league cup final was in terms of the league weren't you? I just want to get to the Bournemouth game now and hopefully get back on track. Obviously we're in an amazing position and should do it from here but we have a history of repeatedly falling short.

SimplyThePest

Sicario2 had my doubts since the mincy effort away vs. Liverpool but especially since the two draws vs. Liverpool and Forest and bedwetting vs. Man Utd in January.

Qwiss

HomeSteak because April is when you have the harder cup games and more fixture congestion of important matches. I don't think that stat holds up if you just look at just the league games.

QuincyAbeyie yeah I was in favour of rotation but at the same time I do think our rotated team should be beating a Championship side, even a decent one. I think its more of a squad building issue than a selection one though. That said the FA cup exit was disappointing but I don't think these things have that much weight in whether we win the league or not.

Sicario2

Big Willie that was before city dropped 4 points and we won all our games post wolves.

Carabo cup no one gives a shit about in the grand scheme of things and Fa cup we clearly prioritised the other other main competitions. You saw the players in training yesterday with that pen thing - did they look down in the dumps?

These two cup defeats will have no bearing on us winning the title. Getting knocked out of the Fa cup will actually help us as we have less games.

RocktheCasbah

Big Willie The FA Cup loss is even worse, after coming from a couple weeks back, and losing to a team in the Championship.

I've refrained from commenting post Southampton as I didn't see the game, but I don't think us losing to Southampton with a heavily rotated side has any bearing at all on the first team's prospects of winning the league title. There are so many people on this forum who have criticised Arteta's unwillingness to rotate his squad over an extended period of time, and it is one of the criticisms that even I would say is a fair one. But he did it on Saturday, he did what most of you here would have wanted him to do and clearly prioritised Sporting Lisbon - and what's the reaction here when it goes wrong?

Like I said, I didn't see the game, I'm sure I would have been pissed off if I had, but surely we can all agree that the important game this week is the one tonight?

Sicario2

SimplyThePest lol we are not going to win every game. How did you feel when Ciry kept dropping points in Jan or v Forest at home or West Ham away? Naturally we will remember our dropped points more than theirs as we feel it more but it’s nonsense to think they are flawless.

I think we can beat City at City as well.

SimplyThePest

Sicario2 I felt that as apparently the best team in the league, we'd blown a good opportunity to build a bigger lead given City's poor form at the time.

invisibleman18

RocktheCasbah surely we can all agree that the important game this week is the one tonight?

It's the one coming up on Saturday for me tbh.

est

RocktheCasbah but I don't think us losing to Southampton with a heavily rotated side has any bearing at all on the first team's prospects of winning the league title

A lot of the players that played against Southampton are going to play in the PL in the run-in because of our injury problems.

It's not just about the loss. Freak results can happen, especially in the cup competitions. It's more about how uninspired we've looked recently. We look physically and mentally shot. We don't even have the set-pieces or good defending left. Even the first choice players who played against Southampton looked so bad.

I really hope we can put together an inspiring performance against Sporting, that will spark some confidence and positivity going into the League games. It's very difficult to see from where it should come though.

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah he did what most of you here would have wanted him to do and clearly prioritised Sporting Lisbon - and what's the reaction here when it goes wrong?

I don't think wanting to rotate means that no matter how the rotated team performs there should be no criticism. It's not like we have to accept that we'll lose the second a team is rotated. We just have to accept that the average performance of a rotated team is worse than the average performance of a full team.

Tam

RocktheCasbah I've refrained from commenting post Southampton as I didn't see the game, but I don't think us losing to Southampton with a heavily rotated side has any bearing at all on the first team's prospects of winning the league title. There are so many people on this forum who have criticised Arteta's unwillingness to rotate his squad over an extended period of time, and it is one of the criticisms that even I would say is a fair one. But he did it on Saturday, he did what most of you here would have wanted him to do and clearly prioritised Sporting Lisbon - and what's the reaction here when it goes wrong?

That only holds true for me if you're expectation is that it is acceptable for a mid-table Championship team to beat us.

It wasn't a team of kids we put out. It was Arteta's own players, playing his own game, and we came up second best against a team from a league below. The fault isn't on the rotation.

Big Willie

RocktheCasbah I didn't see the game, but I don't think us losing to Southampton with a heavily rotated side has any bearing at all on the first team's prospects of winning the league title. There are so many people on this forum who have criticised Arteta's unwillingness to rotate his squad over an extended period of time, and it is one of the criticisms that even I would say is a fair one. But he did it on Saturday, he did what most of you here would have wanted him to do and clearly prioritised Sporting Lisbon - and what's the reaction here when it goes wrong?

Not sure if you're speaking in general or directly to me but as you replied to me what I will say is this.

Prioritising the CL vs the FA Cup is all well and great. Had we been playing against a midtable to top half side I fully understand. Had we even been playing with any PL team also maybe I'd understand. But playing a Championship team and losing to them in an FA Cup quarter final is not on unless the level of rotation is that of Wenger Carling Cup type side, which at that stage of the competition would be too much, and thankfully is not what Arteta did.

He may have rotated but it was still a strong side that would easily end the season in midtable in the PL had they been the starters for another club. If you believe looking at that starting lineup that Sputhampton are a better side and would win that tie on paper than I'd have to disagree. However if we look at their lineup compared to our and feel we have the stronger side, then losing isn't because of rotation and the strength of the side, at least not directly. It's possible it is indirectly linked to the lack of minutes and rotation given to the likes of Norgaard, MLS, White etc who have come into the team having hardly played any minutes all season.

That said, my point was in regard to whether this loss coupled with the loss against City in thr LC final have shalen people's confidence that we can win yhe league and even though I believe we will win the title, I do not see why it's unreasonable for those who don't to feel that way.

RocktheCasbah

invisibleman18 well, okay, but it definitely wasn't the one on Saturday was it? 🙂