Introduction
The pain of working/striving hard to achieve a purpose, with great expectation of having a good reward, is the ideology of every human. No man ever works hard to fail. Inorder words, someone needs to see rewards inorder to keep him/her more focus.
The whole introductory write up above, is a perfect statement to describe how the gunners(arsenal) fared last season. Even if the whole hard work yielded no result(trophy), we saw how dominating they where, almost through out the season.
Since the gunner's era of great performance ran out, i.e during arsene winger's time, arsenal was n't the club they where known for, as they struggled seasons after seasons. Inorder to restore the club, the board had to get in someone from the winning side as a manager.
Mikel Arteta, who was a formal player at arsenal was employed on the 26th of December 2019, where he signed a 4years deal. In his first season, we saw him winning the fa cup and community shield, which made him the only person to have won the two trophies as a player and as a manager.
Photo by Nelson Ndongala On Unsplash
Mikel's side of last season
With things not going well with the club for a very long time, we saw mikel arteta assuring the gunners fans to..
"Trust The Process
The process seems to be like an eternity, till we saw the transformation last season. The pattern of play, atmosphere and mentality of players changed for good. It all started in last preseason matches, where they won almost all there preseason games. Lots of people really doubted that arteta boys could transfer same energy to the english premier league, but they proofed so many wrong.
And one thing i have come to learn about mikel is that, "he always claim responsibility for the team's loss".
What happened to the current squad ?
This is a question that really needs an answer, because the entire squad was completely different. Arteta was never given a good amount to sign quality players like other big clubs, but we could see how he was able to manage the team with the little resources around.
Bukayo Saka, who has being excellent for the gunners for sometime now, was relieve with the stress of always creating chances for the team, as gabriel jesus and zinchenko where bought for around £45m and £30m respectively. The two formal manchester city stars brought great force to establishing all the performance of last season.
We also saw how granit xhaka, made a shocking performance last season, by playing in his best form. Xhaka, who has being know to be a very violent player and always getting a red card every season, was completely different.
We should forget william saliba, as he was able to prove that his loan to Olympique de Marseille was a great opportunity for his improvement. We also saw him scoring some goals. Captain Ødegaard was the gunners highest goal scorer this season, making him to equal KDB's record as mid-fielder with the most goals in a season.
The players are just too many to mention, but we should note that the team had really change this season. Surprising, all players except tamiyasu and smith rowe, scored at least a goal across all the games played, but tamiyasu and smith rowe where also involved in an assist.
What are their plans for next season
Gunners has already made arrangement for the 2023/24 season, even before the end of 2022/23 season. They've already line up their preseason matches, which they will be facing barçe and manchester united also.
We have seen them done well in the transfer window, after signing havertz, rice and timber. There are also rumours of other players like cancelo, laporte and lavia joining the gunners soon.
Arteta has really wanted a strong team, with good depth, which will help the players relax more for other competitions.
What about the emirate stadium ?
This part of the post is all about the fans and supporters of arsenal. We have seen how the fans contributed greatly to the performance of the players this season, by singer and cheering for them. That was what some clubs like liverpool lacked last season.
The fans where always singing the The Angel song by Louis Dunford.
Whatever the weather
These streets are our own
And my heart will leave you never
My blood will forever
Run through the stone.
The fans have really contributed to the recent development, so it would be best to give them a trophy to celebrate for this coming season.
My Opinion
Arsenal can really turn things around, but i think the scouting team are not doing enough work. Sometimes, i imagine how city could easily get Nathan ake, Akanji, Julian Alvarez and others.
Though, alvarez was totally a man city brand from start.
If arsenal can improve their way of scouting, things might just work out for them.
In Conclusion
The gunners where able to surprise us last season, with an amazing performance, unfortunately, couldn't secure a trophy. But it seems this season might just be their's.
Thanks for reading, please do well to share your thoughts in the comment section below, and do well to follow me.