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Declan Rice has a lot of medals for coming second; never was a man so suited to Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Thanks for your mails; send more to theeditor@football365.com<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Now that Arsenal have handed the league to Man City on a plate (after Declan Rice said nothing gets handed to you in the PL), its essential Arsenal defeat Atletico in the CL so that Declan Rice can get a hat trick of runners up medals this year to make an incredible total of 7 career runners ups and just 1 solitary winners medal from his time at West Ham.<\/p>\n
3 x PL runners up, 2 x Euros runners up, 1 x CL runners up and 1 x Carabao Cup runners up. This guy is the Arsene Wenger of the 2020s \u2013 an \u2018expert in failure\u2019. READ: How Declan Rice\u2019s gypsy curse is responsible for Arsenal\u2019s ongoing trophy drought<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n As someone who has seen Arsenal get the rub of the green on multiple occasions (e.g. Granit Xhaka\u2019s attempted unpunished ankle break on Raphinha; Gabriel being blown over by Patrick Bamford\u2019s breath, thus denying us an equaliser), watching them capitulate this season is wonderful. Nothing encapsulates everything to dislike about this team more than Gabriel and Arteta. Same Old Arsenal, Always Cheating.<\/p>\n But I digress. Did Mourinho jinx Arsenal with his \u201cSpecialist In Failure\u201d comment? Does the weight of failure hang heavy over the club? All that money spent for a couple of FA Cups. At this stage, they\u2019re giving Don Revie\u2019s boys a lesson in falling short. Dear John Nicholson<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n Losing is absolutely not bottling. If it was then 90% (or so) of all clubs would bottle every season.<\/p>\n But only winning when the stakes are not the highest and losing when the pressure is really on \u2013 that *is* bottling. No if, ands or buts about it. What emphasises it is when the club does it not once, not twice but 3 seasons out of 4. Yeah they came second to us too (Liverpool) but they were never in that title race. So they just lost that one, no bottling involved. The rest they were leading then started losing when it really mattered. Textbook definition of bottling.<\/p>\n Important caveat \u2013 Arsenal bottled *nothing* on Sunday<\/strong>. They played well in a really good game and were definitely unlucky not to draw at the least. They brought their best game to a vital match and only lost because Havertz couldn\u2019t keep his header down at the death. Which, again, he didn\u2019t bottle \u2013 he just missed. It happens.<\/p>\n Why are people enjoying it so much? A lot of it is because Arteta is a complete f*****g tool. He\u2019s spectacularly easy to dislike and more than a little weird. The difference between him and Pep? People *respect* Pep. He is also more than a little odd but he is the preeminent manager of this and perhaps any other generation. Be as strange as you like fella.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not exactly in love with City. The Middle Eastern money stinks and the 115 charges against them are none too clever. Watch that situation come to nothing by the way , City have a *lot* better lawyers than Everton and the FA haven\u2019t got the balls to go head to head with them. Which also does not appeal to the neutral supporters.<\/p>\n But not one of those 115 charges mean that City get the job done when the heat is at its hottest. They\u2019re just mentally tough, end of.<\/p>\n And if you give a total melt over \u00a31 billion pounds to not only get the side, but the complete squad he wants and he *still* wins nothing? That is funny. Especially if it\u2019s the kind of clown who keeps doing all kinds of pseudo witchcraft to help them win, when all he has to do is play with the damn handbrake off. Funny!<\/p>\n Mockery is scarcely limited to just Arsenal. We\u2019ve just spent nearly half a billion to turn a title winning side into one that can barely qualify for the Champions League. We\u2019ve had to eat s**t and like the taste of it this year. Many, many people have found this very funny indeed. What hasn\u2019t helped is our much vaunted executives making a bunch of damn fool decisions. Much boasting has been done \u2013 by them mainly \u2013 about how good they are. You win titles and you get to boast. You fail utterly after that and you get to be mocked.<\/p>\n That\u2019s just the game fella. I\u2019m surviving this season of anti-Scouse mockery just fine, as will the Arsenal fans as well. When they win something important they can give it back in spades \u2013 that\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n Loosen up a little sport. The day I let stuff like this bother me is the day I\u2019ve got nothing more important to worry about in my life. \u2026JN misses the point for me. I\u2019m neutral, and I want Man City to win every title from here on in. Although I would not care if it was another team, just so long as the EPL is exposed as being no different from the others \u2013 unique or best; my eye. A few years back a man was interviewed following a plane crash at an airshow. He was an aviation enthusiast and admitted he had often wondered what a crash would look like. But now that he had just witnessed one he regretted his earlier interest. I\u2019m having the same feeling about Arsenal after yesterday, finding it difficult to know why I wanted them to fail. I\u2019m also beginning to remind myself again that the 117 charges do matter, that losing to City is very real. They\u2019re not a phantom competitor that fans of other clubs should accept as a non-serious fallback to their one winning (yes, LFC). If they win, it\u2019s worse for everyone. I see the whining Arsenal brigade are out in force again about the City charges (as they couldn\u2019t complain about the game itself \u2013 Gabriel should have got a red, obviously).<\/p>\n You want to talk about unfairness vs City & their undoubtedly (\u2018allegedly\u2019) doping\/115 charges, but no mention of PSR. The rule where even ambitious clubs have to keep selling to clubs like Arsenal every year in a doom loop of success-sell-decline due to revenue built up 20-30 years ago even when they have less debt than their \u2018big 6\u2019 (5?) rivals.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t hate unfair financial practices, you just hate it when it impacts you negatively. It\u2019s why so many, albeit it not all Everton, Villa, Newcastle & other fans would actually much rather (alleged) FFP breaking City soullessly walk their way to victory Terminator style, than give anything to the Red Cartel who are most dedicated to PSR. Still, rather Arsenal than Liverpool. P.S I\u2019m sure Arsenal fans will be outraged when Rogers, Tonali, Livramento, Branthwaite et al are all sold this summer as clubs are not allowed to offer them contracts that they can clearly afford, to ensure said clubs are PSR compliant. Right\u2026.?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Two themes to chat about on The Arsenal front.<\/p>\n I first started thinking about how it is for Atletico Madrid, Arsenal\u2019s semi final opponents with the second leg in London, they clearly play third fiddle to the two behemoth clubs , they also spend a lot on transfers and wages and while Arsenal have played a similar third fiddle over the decades since Terry Neil\u2019s era with Liverpool and United the behemoths then City taking over that role.<\/p>\n Although Diego Simeone lost the Spanish cup final over the weekend he has won a good amount of trophies and in that mould I cannot see any reason why Arteta can\u2019t do that for Arsenal over the next five seasons. Having said that I\u00b4d reckon most fans would expect this season\u2019s European Champions to come from the other semi final clash.<\/p>\n I was then considering the old chestnut of how many Arsenal players would Guardiola currently want in his City starting eleven ? Well I\u00b4d start by saying Cherki, Semenyo and Haaland, Baldy Bernard, Rodri and Nico O\u00b4Reilly would all get in.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say it is closer between keepers yet I\u2019d go with Gianluigi Donnarumma by a nose then Guehi over Saliba.<\/p>\n Just then, Timber who like Saka over Doku was unavailable, Magalhaes and Rice, so at the end of the season, whatever the outcome, City have way more better players. To Steve (ex-Flixton Red), Ontario (better Arsenal than cheating City)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t answer the rest of your questions, but regarding Cole Palmer\u2019s hairstyle, I am convinced that Stevie Wonder wouldn\u2019t approve of that catastrophic mess, as he had an operation a few years ago which means he is able to see outlines. As someone with no loyalties in the North London banter-max I am a bit disappointed with Spurs fans.<\/p>\n Most of us have known about St Totteringham\u2019s day for ages;- it\u2019s the date that it becomes mathematically impossible for Spurs to finish above Arsenal, and perhaps inevitably it had it\u2019s earliest ever date this year. Until next season, maybe, when it is looking likely it will be St Tott\u2019s on the first day.<\/p>\n Anyway, Spurs fans \u2013 the idea of St Tott\u2019s is quite clever, and it\u2019s funny (to everyone else). So why haven\u2019t you distracted yourself from your own pain by starting to get ready to celebrate St Bottlingham\u2019s Day \u2013 the day that it no longer becomes mathematically possible for Arsenal to win the title?<\/p>\n If you get to it you could get the bunting shipped from China in time.<\/p>\n Just a thought.<\/p>\n (For the record I don\u2019t think this is anything like over \u2013 City and Arsenal can both easily drop more points \u2013 anything can happen)<\/p>\n Enjoy the second tier if you end up there \u2013 as a City fan I remember watching us lose to Port Vale in the freezing cold on Boxing Day and thinking that was surely as bad as it could get. We got relegated to the third tier the following season. <\/div>\n
Ben Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\nHas Jose jinxed Arsenal?<\/h2>\n
Mat, Leeds<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nArsenal are bottling, not losing<\/h2>\n
James, Liverpool<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Finlay x<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nTime for a positive re-think on Arsenal?<\/h2>\n
Yours in penitence, Bock<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe financial doping shades of grey<\/h2>\n
Tarqs, NUFC, Walthamstow<\/strong><\/p>\nTwo big Arsenal questions<\/h2>\n
Peter (it\u00b4ll take a brave man to bet against Emery in that UEFA cup competition) Andalucia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nOn Cole Palmer and his hair<\/h2>\n
Zebediah Patterson<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nLighten up, Spurs fans<\/h2>\n
Moonchester, The Blue Moon<\/strong><\/p>\n