Over the last week, I have seen the same sort of thinking floating about Arsenal fans, opposing fans, and the media:
Liverpool win the leagueManchester City in the FA Cup finalNewcastle United win the League CupTottenham or Manchester United will win the Europa LeagueChelsea in the Conference League final
Meanwhile Mikel Arteta in Phase 8 finishes trophyless again
This sort of thinking has frustrated me, as the Arsenal fans pedalling it are essentially saying they want failure before they get success. And the success they are promoting for other teams would need be deemed a success if it was Arsenal.
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**Liverpool win the league**
No doubt that this has been a hugely successful season under Arne Slott for Liverpool. No one expected them to win the league this year. They have basically done what we did in 2022/23, but did not have Manchester City winning 14 our of 15 games to overhaul them.
But the mocking tone of “Slott has done in a year what Arteta could not in 5-years and £800m” is misguided.
The situation Slott and Arteta came into was vastly different.
Slott took over a Liverpool team that finished 3rd last season and 5th the season before. It was a squad of players that had struggled with form and fitness over those two seasons. But ultimately it was a core of players who won the league, finished 2nd twice, and breached 90 points 3 times in the 4 seasons prior to 2022/23.
Under Slott, Mo Salah refound his mojo and this is solely what has driven them to the league.
Phase one of Arteta was shipping out the ageing, over paid, underperforming players that had us sitting in 13th when he took over. Slott did not need to do this.
Phase two was building a team without Champions League football. A team that would see us get back into the top 4. Again, Slott did not need to do this.
Phase three was then building a team that could consistently challenge for the league title. This is the phase Arsenal are currently at, and the phase that Slott walked into.
Slott did not need 3 phases, 3 years of building and £800m to make a title challenging team. He walked into one. Just like Pep’s successor will also walk into a title challenging team.
Now we could argue that Phase four is building a title winning team, but I do not think this phase exists. Winning the title is the end game of Phase three, not a new phase in itself.
So well done to Liverpool. Nothing went wrong for them this season. No major injuries, not drop in form of its superstars, and no decisions really going against them. All things that went against Arsenal this season.
**Manchester City in the FA Cup final**
For me, winning the FA Cup and finishing top 4 is a success. But for many other Arsenal fans, it is failure.
Under Arsene Wenger, when we won 3 FA Cup’s in 4 years and were consistently finishing top 4, the narrative was “top 4 and winning the FA Cup is not enough. We want to be challenging for the league”.
So how is it those fans who were loudest critics of Wenger are now complaining that we are league challengers (although this season our challenge did not sustain into the final 3rd of the season), but not winning the FA Cup?
It shows that some fans change the narrative to suit the agenda. And that agenda is to just moan all the time.
If we were 3rd in the table, 18 points off top, but in the FA Cup final, would you be happy or moaning? Are you painting another team as having a successful season, when if the same parameters were for us you would be crying failure?
**Newcastle United win the League Cup**
For a team like Newcastle, winning the League Cup is a huge success. And if they finish top 4 (or now top 5 with the Champions League extra spot), it will feel like a double success.
Imagine after gameweek 16 we were 12th in the table, despite no European football. Would you be happy with Arteta? No.
Had we won the League Cup, but in gameweek 30 we were 6th, would you be celebrating a great season? No. Newcastle’s successful season would be deemed a failure for Arsenal and we would all (rightly) be calling for Arteta to be sacked, with a League Cup win not enough to save his job.
**Tottenham or Manchester United will win the Europa League**
The Europa League is not the competition it was.
These days, without failing Champions League dropping into it (correct decision), it is much easier to win. The quality of teams in the quarter finals onwards was poor. It would actually be a failure for teams of Tottenham or Manchester United’s calibre did not make the final.
Tottenham qualified for the Europa League by finishing 5th, in the same season Arsenal went to the final day of the season in with a chance to win the league title. Ironically, had Spurs won on the last day of the season, they would have finished top 4 and qualified for the Champions League. Instead they celebrated losing as it ensured Arsenal did not win the title (if the situation’s were switched, we also would have celebrated).
Tottenham in the Europa League final is a success for them. But would you rather finish 5th and qualify for the Europa League? Or take Man City to the final day of the season?
As for Manchester United, they qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup. But they finished 8th. If they win the Europa League this season, there fans will be boasting about winning the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League in back to back to backseasons. But if this was Arsenal, fans would be saying the trophies just paper over the cracks (in fairness, many Manchester United fans are also saying the same).
Over the last 4 seasons, would you have been happy finishing 6th, 3rd, 8th and 15th, whilst winning the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League? Or would you see this period as failure?
**Chelsea in the Conference League final**
The most laughable of them all.
The Conference League is a tinpot competition developed from sides in fringe leagues across Europe, and lesser top European league teams such as West Ham. For Chelsea to be playing in the Conference League, it means they were failures the year before.
Now I would caveat that last season, 6th got you in the Conference League due to Manchester United winning the FA Cup. This year it could be 8th that qualifies for Europe’s 3rd tier competition.
Chelsea fans will claim their side has “completed football” if they win the Conference League. But to claim that they are then celebrating failure. The only reason the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona have not “completed football” is because they never finish low enough to qualify for sub-par competitions.
Completing football actually means you have not been consistently good.
Chelsea winning the Europa League would be the equivalent of Everton the EFL Trophy. Yes, they would get a day out at a final and a trophy to life, but to win it they would need to have been relegated twice, down to League One. Should you really be celebrating “success” when you have needed so much failure to have a chance at that “success”?
Finally I come on to Aston Villa.
Throughout this season I have had Villa and some Arsenal fans saying how Unai Emery has proven Arsenal were wrong to get rid of him, and that he has had a hugely successful season.
Yes, they had an excellent league run in the Champions League, but ultimately they were knocked out at the quarter final stage and currently sit 7th in the table. They will also finish trophyless.
It just shows that others team success will (rightly) be considered a failure.
So finally, before you dig Arteta out for failing to win a trophy, ask yourself: Would you want other the teams league failure that led to them qualifying for lower competitions?
If your answer is no, then stop using the potential “success” of Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham as a stick to beat Arteta with.
I would rather lose a Champions League semi-final to PSG then win a Europa League final against Norway’s 4th best team.
**Keenos**