Today’s post gives you a rest from my ramblings, these are Flint’s thoughts on the months past.

After 40+ seasons sitting in pretty good seats in the East Upper, at Highbury, moving to West Lower, at the Emirates, was both exciting and worrying. Now I don’t mind standing, I prefer sitting, but I just hate the old “up-down-up-down” routine all the time. As it has turned out that is not a problem, the stadium is fantastic, I am at last sitting with my mates and, from where we are, the atmosphere seems good and sometimes very good. I am afraid, for me, the old electric atmospheres died with the terraces.

From the playing perspective we were going into the season with some potential and some obvious problems:

1. The loss of PV4, Bob,DB10, Sol, Lauren (although we didn’t know that would be permanent) etc. in 2 years. There has been some unrest that the club should have acquired experienced players to replace those mentioned. It would be great if such players, of equal quality and at the peak of their careers, could be identified, let alone have the £70 million (minimum) to replace just the first three mentioned. We therefore had a young and transitional squad that would need a good start to really challenge for the EPL.
2. Adjusting to the new stadium.
3. A number of important players injured or knackered in the World Cup.
4. The Cashley Cole affair was still rumbling on. When that was settled he was gone and we had 3 new players, who had not had proper pre-seasons.
5. The loss Reyes was not planned so there was no replacement ready.

It is fair to say that our main rivals would have some of these difficulties, but not all of them. So my expectation was that we were unlikely to challenge for the title, top 2 could be possible, top 4 would still be good, but a few places lower was a distinct fear. It has turned out that all the above problems have had a major impact on the season.

We were slow to adjust to the stadium and the points dropped against Villa and M’boro knocked that all important confidence and started the amazing run of conceding the first goal from the oppositions’ often only attempt on target. I reckon, at the Emirates, we conceded the first goal on no fewer than 13 occasions. That may be a record or not but the fact that we only lost 1 of those games surely must be. Now, of course, we should never have conceded the first goal, so often, but the fact that the spirit was there to fight back on 12 out of 13 occasions is a real positive. The 13^th, by all accounts (West Ham was the first home game I have missed in about 16 years), was a complete travesty of justice.

The season breaks down to:

1. Mainly very good overall possession and quality of play.
2. Poor conversion of chances created.
3. Too many goals conceded through poor team or individual concentration
4. Mainly good to very good performances against the best and better teams. Liverpool, 1-4 at Anfield, being the only real exception.
5. Too many underperformances against the poorer teams
6. The FA & Carling Cup wins, at Anfield, probably cost us at least a further round in the CL. Even so I would not have swapped because I enjoyed our young sides’ performances in the CC and the Final was a glimpse into a future that I really like. We were not equipped to win the CL without TH14 or RVP anyway.

I was going to make a few more points but it appears that Arsene Wenger has already made them in a recent interview:

Our conversion rate is not the best in the league. It is mid-table…Our aggressiveness is a little bit lower than the others. We hear about the number of fouls, which is much lower. The number of tackles we made is much lower and that is linked with the conversion rate as well. On the other hand we have shown qualities that nobody else has shown. We are the only team that has scored 21 goals in the last 15 minutes. We have a mental strength and a technical quality that can really be predominant. If you make a table of the top four we are top. If you make a table of the top 10 we are second, three points behind Man Utd. If you make a table of the top 20 we are 25 points behind the leader. It means we have lost the points against the second part of the table

What we have lacked is a quick start and enough tempo, specially against the poorer teams. We have only scored in the 1^st half, in PL games at The Emirates, in 8 games out of 19. A good tempo is what upsets the opposition but in some games the impression was that just not enough respect was being shown. They were not approching every game as if they were playing Man U or Chelsea.This is very dangerous because even the worst teams have a lot of quality players.

We have also lacked that physical aggression that AW talks about. There has not been a player capable of being really “nasty” since Martin Keown. Kolo is the only one with the obvious physique and strength but he will never be a vicious b’std. Diaby has a way to go, on this front, he is not a PV4 for me, certainly not yet anyway. Denilson likes a tackle but you would not expect him to do a Cesc and be a regular next season. Unless a purchase is made it will have to be more a collective team aggression. Eboue is one who will certainly need to harden up. You must not show weakness like he does.

Overall, to the shock of many, I believe a lot of progress has been made. This season has been no disaster, far from it. In spite of some bloggers saying we cannot score goals, we somehow managed 63 of them, which is only 2 short of Chelsea’s total. At the Emirates we regulars know a hell of a lot of chances went begging but our 43 goals was just 3 less than Man U at Old Trafford.

Yes I am as biased as hell, but there were very few occasions when we weren’t the better side, even when we hadn’t played particularly well. Only Liverpool gave us a real savaging and even in that game it was a matter of them catching us after the PSV debacle. Of course there have been poor performances but it should be remembered that often the difference between champians and challengers is the ability to get results when not playing very well.

There seems to be an attitude on some blogs that virtually anybody,who has had a decent game for someone, will be better than what we have got. I am perhaps overloyal to our players but we now have the finest group of young players I have seen in 50 years of supporting Arsenal. Seeing young players come through is an Arsenal tradition and usually, in time, a winning one. Man U couldn’t buy a title in 26 years of trying. It is never as simple as that even in this day of the instant. Winning titles is not a divine right but a privilege. The more histrionic amongst us should remember that. Whether we sign anyone or not I am convinced that provided that Arsene stays the future is very bright indeed. I do however think there will be a couple of decent signings in the summer.

Next season may even provide more of the same but let us believe that we can make the step that the 2000/2001 side (63 goals for; 38 against; 70 points) made the following season. We must hope for better luck with injuries and that the young players will have learnt from the experience they have gained, a full squad prepared by the pre-season and a stable defence.

Off the pitch I hope that Arsenal can continue to be as it always has been. I hate the class system but Arsenal has been extremely well run by the current board. To want to throw that away in some wish that we will buy £50m players, is just plain daft. We would be as hated as much as Chelsea and end up with impossible debt. I am not against progress or even foreign investment but the heart of Arsenal must remain where it always has been. The tradition must be maintained. Thanks to David Dein for all he has done for us. Let’s hope that some kissing and making up can be put on the agenda.

Enjoy the summer Gooners all!!

FLINT McCULLOUGH