It would be a huge disappointment considering how long they've been on top.
ARSENAL OFFICIALLY BOTTLE IT! Arsenal fans now backtracking....2nd will be a great season for us! Surely that has to be seen as a failure??
- Thread starter RedPed
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Ofcourse fans who comment with 0 context.
Did Jose lead the title race for 90% of the time whilst having a 8 point lead?
Not in the slightest bit worried about City winning the treble. For one thing, they're getting Real in the next round, and even if they do somehow win the treble, it's been done before by us. I'd only be worried if they won the Quadruple.
They’re not going to bottle the league by one or two points. If they collapse it’ll be over 4/5 games which allows third and fourth place the chance to close that gap to them.
There’s a realistic scenario that could have United 12 odd points behind with two games in hand after their City game and it’s not as if watching City gallop off into the distance will motivate them to finish out the season strongly, especially with top 4 secured
2nd would be a good season. Most of the pundits and neutral fans didn't think they were ever going to win it.
What is a massive bottle/gone under the radar is how embarrassingly early they fell out of every other competition they've been in this season.
What is a massive bottle/gone under the radar is how embarrassingly early they fell out of every other competition they've been in this season.
I have a lot more friends who are Arsenal fans than City fans, and of those I do know, the City fans are infinitely more affable (if indeed such a term can be used) than my Arsenal loving friends. It's not even close. Arsenal fans can win a throw-in and make it seem like they're the top dogs in Europe, yet most City fans have won countless titles now and have only a fraction of the smugness.
It's not a great result whether City or Arsenal win, but I can tell you categorically which one would make my personal life more unbearable. So feck Arsenal.
It's not a great result whether City or Arsenal win, but I can tell you categorically which one would make my personal life more unbearable. So feck Arsenal.
Dropping off badly is overstating it. After matchweek 19 they had 47 pts. Realistically, they will finish with 88-90 pts. Being 4-6 pts worse off isn’t a catastrophic collapse.
I think they will replace Spurs as a top 4 mainstay now, for the foreseeable future. Mounting another title challenge depends on too many variables.
There isn’t that many games left. Of course I’m basing it off Arsenal struggling over the next two games but it isn’t that absurd.
If you had offered them second place before the start of the season, they would have snapped your hand off.
But losing it from the position they had, especially with giving up two-goal leads in consecutive games... it has to be disappointing.
But losing it from the position they had, especially with giving up two-goal leads in consecutive games... it has to be disappointing.
If you're leading the race all season, and end up losing it because you dropped silly points to lower-table sides like West Ham and Liverpool, as well as getting beat by your main rivals for it, then absolutely it's a failure, regardless of odds at the start of it.
Arsenal did the same last season. Were in the top 4 for months and slipped out at the last second. That has to be disappointing no matter what the expectation at the start of the season.
The psychological impact could be devestating too. I think that Liverpool team that went close never recovered and the one that eventually won it was an almost completely new team.
The Liverpool team that did win it were never 8 points clear in the 18/19 season and stayed level with an arguably better and more determined to win City team. What's more is Liverpool won the champions league before winning the title, Arsenal won't be riding that high.
It's now or never.
The Liverpool team that did win it were never 8 points clear in the 18/19 season and stayed level with an arguably better and more determined to win City team. What's more is Liverpool won the champions league before winning the title, Arsenal won't be riding that high.
It's now or never.
If they get hammered by City, I suspect there is a small chance the wheels will come off and mentally they may be gone. If they are not careful they may end up third. Which will be funny.
It’s fairly absurd. They only need 6 points to guarantee 3rd and that’s if Newcastle win every game. I’d wager they finish 3rd if they somehow lost all their games.
I thought it was 50? Over 2.6 points a game. Since then just 2 points a game.
It is absolutely absurd because you are assuming that suddenly from title winning form they would go to relegation form and Man UTD would end winning 11 games straight to finish the season .
Casemiro being handed 2 soft reds saved them from the ultra embarrassment of Gary Neville being absolutely right and saying they'd come 3rd to be fair. 
City started pulling ahead in - what - October?
By this time (mid April) we were 15+ points behind them.
It is utterly, mind-bogglingly absurd. We aren't finishing ahead of Arsenal. Even with a catastrophic collapse from Arsenal, we'd pretty much have to be perfect with our threadbare, injury-stricken, exhausted squad. Neither is going to happen.
I think an 80+ point season is pretty great for that team so dont think failure fits. I wouldn't be at all happy about it regardless though.
Where are they getting it from if they continue their bottling form v Southampton and City though. All I’m saying is it’s a possibility. I don’t think a realistic chance of being 6/7 points in front of United in third with 5 games to go warrants this talk of being second as if it’s either / or compared to winning the league. Teams do completely fall away when the momentum of going for the title is gone or top 4 has been achieved ala Chelsea last season.
Personally I do see them getting second and comfortably so but I can also see them saying feck this to the end of the season when the title is gone and they’re facing sides battling against them to stay in the league
It's all relative.
Compared to us (at least in the league) it'd clearly be a much better season compared to expectation at the season outset, and also simply the final result. So if you look at it like that, it's pretty easy. Sadly that's not how football is, you have to adapt to what happens and set new goals, otherwise you could theoretically achieve nothing by simply reaching par expectation every year. Reaching the season goal, patting yourselves on the back and going on. Which is what most drifting clubs do.
But compared to the position they arrived at, it would be a failure and I think there should be huge disappointment if they fall short. How much of a better opportunity are you really expecting to win the league with Man City around? This is it. This is the best you're gonna get. It doesn't matter who Arsenal buy in the summer, this is a chance you can't have any certainty around replicating because of the unusual consistency Arsenal have shown, while City have not been perfection.
Compared to us (at least in the league) it'd clearly be a much better season compared to expectation at the season outset, and also simply the final result. So if you look at it like that, it's pretty easy. Sadly that's not how football is, you have to adapt to what happens and set new goals, otherwise you could theoretically achieve nothing by simply reaching par expectation every year. Reaching the season goal, patting yourselves on the back and going on. Which is what most drifting clubs do.
But compared to the position they arrived at, it would be a failure and I think there should be huge disappointment if they fall short. How much of a better opportunity are you really expecting to win the league with Man City around? This is it. This is the best you're gonna get. It doesn't matter who Arsenal buy in the summer, this is a chance you can't have any certainty around replicating because of the unusual consistency Arsenal have shown, while City have not been perfection.
I want Arsenal to win. Lesser of the 2 evil and all that. This is Arsenal's best opportunity.
Premier League website is telling me 50. By that stage of the season, who had they lost to, apart from us?
You simply can't be serious!
They lose v City and we win v Spurs and we will have closed seven points in 3 games already to them?
I sound like I’m saying it’ll happen or it’s likely but they also looked likely to close out the season strong last season and look at what happened. It’s a team bottling two goal leads never mind contesting tight battles.
It won’t happen all likelihood but we could have top 4 secured and playing with the handbrake off, it’s not as if we’ll be under any pressure to keep going and chase Arsenal down.
Teams on beaches have weird finishes to the season. That’s all I’m saying.
Yeah I just went back and checked. Indeed they were on 50 pts after beating us in their 19th game, the website I used above probably counted their rescheduled game against City instead of our game at the Emirates.
They'll be trophyless - second doesn't mean anything.
And yes it's hilarious seeing all the backtracking.
And yes it's hilarious seeing all the backtracking.
You can't lead for practically entire season then not win it. Regardless of their historical context
If offered 2nd at the start of the season it'd be a triumph but 2nd now is a disaster
I actually think they'll still do it, people are assuming city will beat them but with their FAC and CL commitments I'm not so sure. I think they can win at the emptihad
If offered 2nd at the start of the season it'd be a triumph but 2nd now is a disaster
I actually think they'll still do it, people are assuming city will beat them but with their FAC and CL commitments I'm not so sure. I think they can win at the emptihad
They’ve all but secured CL progression with that 3-0 at home and their FAC commitment is bloody Sheffield United.
They may wobble further down the line but barring injuries, they will be fit and ready for the match at the Emptyhad.
Of course it would be a massive failure from the position they were in, regardless of what their preseason expectations were.
If I'm heading into a race with Kipchoge I'm not expecting to win, but you better believe I'll be kicking myself if I've got a decent gap in the last stretch but come second after tripping on my shoelaces.
Ambitions and expectations should be fluid. Liverpool fans didn't go into this season hoping for top 4, but at this point they'd see that as a success.
Any arsenal fan saying they'd be happy with second considering where they have been in recent seasons is simply trying to convince themselves just in case it becomes reality
If I'm heading into a race with Kipchoge I'm not expecting to win, but you better believe I'll be kicking myself if I've got a decent gap in the last stretch but come second after tripping on my shoelaces.
Ambitions and expectations should be fluid. Liverpool fans didn't go into this season hoping for top 4, but at this point they'd see that as a success.
Any arsenal fan saying they'd be happy with second considering where they have been in recent seasons is simply trying to convince themselves just in case it becomes reality
Successful season given they are ahead of schedule. Did anyone have them finishing second this season?
The idea of resetting expectations mid season is silly. It makes no logical sense.
The idea of resetting expectations mid season is silly. It makes no logical sense.
Agree with this. If you look at where they came from and look at how they overachieved this year they did a stellar job. It is a bottlejob, but fact remains the (cheating) machine that is City is hard to beat over the entire length of a season, especially with guys like Holding, Jorginho (why the feck did they buy him), Nketiah and Reiss Nelson as subs. If I were an Arsenal fan I would be extremely disappointed, but optimistic and relieved with CL football again when both feet are landed back on the ground.
Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser
Of course it does; expectations are a forecast on the position you’re in. But either way you look at it from two points of view.
Start of season: 2nd, they’d bite your hands off.
Now: 2nd, bottled it and disappointed to do so.
The hindsight of it being a successful season from the point of view of August doesn’t help the disappointment of losing it now.
That's not what's happening here.
Arsenal are still on track to finish with at least 85 points. That is an excellent point haul in any season.
They have the misfortune of going up against a City side that has previous experience of putting up insane win streaks. Against such an opponent anything but brilliance being labeled as "tripping over your shoelaces" is simply an insane standard.
Whether they think it's a failure or not, they'll have had a worse season than us if we get top 4 and only win the EFL Cup. Considering how long they've been at the top of the table that's got to sting a bit.
Idk. Can see them beating City.
Still if they do finish second then it’s definitely going to be promoted as progression but they have a fairy big lead over City at one point so it would be pure naivety to lose it now.
Still if they do finish second then it’s definitely going to be promoted as progression but they have a fairy big lead over City at one point so it would be pure naivety to lose it now.
They didn't lose to City (yet), they lost to West Ham after giving it away. That was the shoelace. It was in their hands.