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So
there you go, the European football season of 2016-2017 finally concluded
with Real emerging as worthy conquerors of Europe after they beat Juve to the
trophy rather disappointingly to me I must say. I expected a whole lot more
from the old lady of Turin, but hey as a neutral, I really can’t complain right
so congrats to Zidane & his charges especially CR7, you are very much worthy champions. Take a bow please...
Back to
Arsenal and I will start this by saying no surprises seeing Arsene Wenger pen a
new two year deal worth a whooping 16Million in queen’s quid. Well after the FA cup win what were we
expecting, we wish init. The Arsenal management needed an okay excuse to stick
with le’boss….they got a good one. This quotes from Ramsey after Arsenal’s lets
us in on whats expected
“It’s
been an up-and-down season, but to finish it with an FA Cup has to make it a
successful one. I just love this competition. The boys deserve it, and I’m
happy for the manger, I’m delighted. He’s been fantastic for me, fantastic for
these players. Fair play to him, he’s changed the system and it’s paid off. So
hopefully he’ll be here next season, because we owe him a lot.”
That’s
saying
a lot but I don’t agree on the “successful one” part. if you ask me. So now
that the fan fare is all over, Arsene has peened a new 2year deal whether or
not we think it’s the right decision by the board, what next? We all know this
season was barely salvaged from the decimation of DISASTER by our FA cup
Triumph, still there are many reasons to feel very disappointed considering the
size of the club in terms of financial as well as player resources. Lets look
at those low lights of the 2016-17 season past.
To start
with, we finished a terrible 5th on the EPL log while yet again
ending the season double digits behind the league winners, a whopping 18 points
off of the Top, 7 points worse than 2015-16 season. The gunners also finished
below Tottenham for the first time since Wenger ascended the mantle as head
coach, last season’s miraculous 2nd place finish due to Spurs last
minute capitulation should have been the wake up had Arsenal being paying
attention, instead the Arsenal management did an ostrich by ignoring the “signs”.
That wasn’t all, most teams around the top 6 beefed up their squads quite early
ahead of the season, Arsenal chose to dither as always on transfers, got beat
in the first game of the season, thus began playing catchup right from the get
go. Arsenal conceded 41 goals in the league this season as against 36 last year
and 32 goals the year before…….Progress? I think not. Then there is whats seems
to have become an annual ritual of the round of 16 champions league exit for
the 7th successive season. Bayern really taking us to the cleaners
with that 10-2 aggregate scarring ……Mein Gott!! There is some sort of consolation
in the fact that this coming season will be different since Arsenal did not make
the cut. I am not trying to be cynical r sarcastic, just saying there is no
point qualifying for Europe’s elite club completion only to bow out at the
first knock out hurdle. Let’s take a chill pill and learn the right lessons
even if “SpursThursday night football” hurts our gooner pride, hopefully
it’s going to be the spur we need however ironic that may sound. I will say
that captures the main lows for me this season. Next post will look at dissecting
the team from goal keeping to the attack as well as checking out whats buzzing in the rumour mill, so keep a date.......……Ciaooo
