Sunday 6 April 2014

This could still be a successful season


This season could still be a successful one for Arsenal. Despite our mutual frustrations with our mind-numbing manager, some of our players, tactical faults, and our late season crumble, we could end the season celebrating.

We “should” win the FA Cup, which would be massive in itself. To lift that monkey of the club’s back would be huge, that pressure from the media in particular would go away and more positivity would surge through the club. The general mindset at Arsenal Football Club these days seems to be anxiety about having not won a trophy for X amount of years. It is talked about constantly. Whereas if we won one that would turn into a more positive, optimistic for the future mood without that huge sense of pressure and actually giving us a springboard to win other trophies. More of a hungry, winning mentality should be created. Plus this would feed into players of other clubs that we’re trying to sign, hence making us more attractive.

Additionally, we still have a decent chance of finishing fourth. I think it’s going to be a case of who handles the pressure best to be honest. Everton’s fixture schedule is a bit tougher than ours, Man City at home especially looks daunting, so even though it’s in Everton’s hands, Arsenal still have a good chance.

Therefore if we can secure the top 4 and win the FA Cup, then of course it’s a season of progression. It’s a reasonably sized “if” right now but it’s a perfectly reasonable possibility as well.

1.       Winning the FA Cup

2.       Finishing in the top 4 with a higher points total than last season

3.       Being in the title race (which we weren’t in the last 2 seasons) for so long and being top for a long time

That would all be healthy progress and reason for optimism for the future. Those experiences will help us move forward further as well.

Momentum is a powerful thing in football and Everton have it in the race for fourth, but given Arsenal’s fixtures and experience of top 4 battles it’s going to be very tight in that race for Champions League qualification. Let’s not give up or be too negative yet. It could still be a successful season.