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Morning all.
So that’s it then, another season gone by without winning anything which is disappointing but always likely perhaps.
The difference between Arsenal and PSG last was in front of goal. They took their opportunities whereas we didn’t. Had we done so, the tie would have been turned on its head in the first half an hour of the game. The home fans would have been silenced, the nerves would have set in and PSG might have wilted. However, that’s not what happened. Credit has to go to Donnarumma because he was excellent in goal but I can’t help but think about what might have been if only Arsenal had a goal scorer or two in the squad.
Mikel Arteta on the performance…
**_First of all, congratulations to PSG for being in the final. Talking about merits, I think we deserved much more. When you analyse both games, who has been the best player, the MVP has been the same player, the goalkeeper, and the Champions League is decided in the boxes, and he has won the game for them. Because obviously today after 20 minutes and what happened in London as well, the result should have been very different._**
**_So, I can take a lot of positives and I’m very proud of the team. We have to arrive in the competition at this stage with a full squad, full available, in best condition. We haven’t got that, so let’s put that aside. It’s still the team that I’ve seen today against, probably one of the best, if not the best team in Europe, it gives me so much pride, but at the same time I’m so upset, so annoyed that we didn’t manage to do it. And two things that are on us, probably not together, another thing is that obviously the opponent at this level has the quality to deliver like Donnarumma has done today again._**
Arriving at this stage of the season with a goal scorer would help too Mikel, as would having players fitter than ours were because they’ve played too much football over the last ten months which is down to him not rotating his squad enough. Once more he stood by and watched a player struggle, this time it was Myles Lewis-Skelly yet he had both Kieran Tierney and Riccardo Calafiori on the bench.
As good as Mikel Arteta’s team was at the start of the game, the players clearly tired. The energy levels dropped, mistakes crept into our play and PSG took advantage. 2-1 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate and all the bold statements from the manager/players before the game, drifted off into the night.
Of course it’s great to see the club we all love in a Champions League semi final, just as it’s been good to see the club improve its league position recently but no one remembers a semi finalist any more than they remember the runners up in the league.
Three Premier League matches remain and personally speaking, I’ll be glad when they’re over. The sooner this rotten season is over the better. Injuries and referee/VAR decisions have not helped our journey over the last nine months but the biggest disappointment in my opinion, has been our football. Yes, there’s been moments where we’ve been very good, there’s been a few cracking performances in Europe too but domestically, I don’t think we’ve been particularly good at all.
What we do now is hope the club will bring in the right kind of players this summer, like creative players, strikers, wingers, the list goes on and then hope that Mikel Arteta is more flexible in both his management of the squad and tactical approach to games.
Five and a half years into his job, multimillions of pounds spent on players and we’re still playing the same way. That’s not quite true actually as last night and for the first time ever, Thomas Partey was taking the throw-ins and sending them into the box. Great I thought to begin with as PSG weren’t expecting it but after a few goes, it became predictable and easy for the home team to deal with.
What’s the saying? It’s the hope that kills you….
Catch up in the comments.