Arsenal have once again come within touching distance of major honours, only to fall away in the final moments, with defeat in the Champions League semi-final to PSG proving to be a bitter pill to swallow for Mikel Arteta. To fall agonisingly short again has had some people questioning Arteta's future at the club, and whether he can make them winners - but Arsenal fans in the football.london comments section say that he is still the right man for the job.
Arteta was both proud and defiant in defeat in his post-match comments, saying that Arsenal were the team who deserved to face Inter Milan in the final. He said: "I think we deserve much more. When you analyse both games, who has been the best player, the MVP has been the same player, their goalkeeper. And the Champions League is decided in the boxes, and it's 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."
It's the second time in two seasons that a major trophy has seemed to be in sight, only to have it snatched away. Second place in the Premier League last year should have been a moment to build upon, but transfer difficulties, key injuries, and poor luck have made each bad moment for Arsenal worse.
Dispensing with Mikel Arteta would not be answer for most fans. Reader Garga says: "Really disappointed especially after high hopes after those Madrid games. To fall off abysmally the way we did, in both legs, is really painful. Why not buy real players instead of those crumbs in Sterling and co. Are we the only poor club in world football? Disgusted. Can't really put the blame on Arteta because I think he's not been supported well."
Commenter Parisrocker57 writes: "There's a lot of clubs would love to be in the position Arsenal are. Be careful what you wish for. Look how we suffered when Wenger went, and then look down the leagues and see how many were once top flight clubs and where they are now. Our history speaks for itself, over 100 years in the top flight."
Lanadro says: "Loss indeed, but the team improved up to this stage in spite of all the injuries and lack of natural strikers. I doubt other managers or teams could sustain such a situation. Yes, we are not there yet, but we will be. In Arteta we should all trust!"
Robdenazar writes: "Mikel has improved the squad a fair bit at the Sobha training ground, but not sufficiently to overtake other elite clubs in Europe and England, who've outpaced our various upgrades. Clearly, we all agree to add great strikers, two if possible (like Viila's best pair). But we also need the owner family to help when it's vital - the slump in wins is largely due to lack of funding when we have so many injuries."
On our Facebook page, Carol Perkins says: "Arteta has turned this club around. Given us all something to cheer about, filled out the stadium on match days, introduced The Angel for us all to sing to. Injuries and Edu leaving was a massive stumbling block and probably the reason we failed to sign a striker in January. I still have faith in him."
Mark Mark adds: "Arteta isn't the problem, get a top striker who can score goals for us. Give the opposition someone to worry about, instead of us worrying about if we have a player that can score those goals. Amazes me that again we get top four in the Premier League, are semi-finalists in Champions League and most of the season we were without an on-form striker. Imagine what we could do if we did have a striker."
Have your say! What needs to change at Arsenal to win major honours next season? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.