The other day I was chatting on twitter to Peter Wood from  Le Grove. He pointed out to me that it didn’t matter that I had proven him wrong because football was about “opinions“.That was the fun of football. Talking about it and having “opinions”.

In fact, he told me I was boring for refusing to preach about things I was not qualified to preach about. Then it hit me. He was right. Well right for a great number of people these days he was right. In the past we had to go down to the pub, get a bit pissed, before we started to talk like experts on subjects that we had at best a basic understanding of. But not now. Now we can get up in the morning, log into twitter or our blogs, and start playing a huge world wide game of fantasy football manager. Like any role play fantasy game, it’s better the more people that join in and play. There is no point us dressing up as Luke Skywalker unless someone is being Darth Vader. You certainly don’t want someone like me telling you its not a real light sabre and you and your pals are mad. Why? Because you are having fun. So people want to play this game. The game where fans with a basic knowledge of football, all chat and pretend that they are experts.

The reality is that most people reading this will be a little upset right now. Why? Because almost everyone thinks they have more than a basic knowledge of football. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people feel their one area of expertise in life is football. People will insist they “know their stuff” because they have watched football for X years. Well, my Mum has watched snooker for 40 years, and I can tell you she is not an expert. When we play a game (in this case fantasy football manager ) we usually like to play with people of a like-mind and similar standard. This mean that idiots will read a blog written by an idiot and agree. What is inconvenient to people playing fantasy manager is logic, reason and facts. They want to believe their thinking is right, and inevitably these three elements make that difficult if not impossible. So they ignore them and claim that it is their opinion and they are entitled to it. And that is true, everyone has the right to be stupid.

Most of us know, or at least know of, @GeoffArsenal . I like him, I like what he says. But most of all I like his default reaction to people playing fantasy manager, he says “but you don’t know that, you are guessing”  Geoff also guesses, but he says when he is guessing, he does not pass it off as fact. Many people don’t like Geoff and I suggest it is because he deals in far too many facts, uses logic and reasons why things cannot be as simple as simpletons think they are. In short, he is not playing their game. Our mate Peter however is great at playing the game. He is happy to jump to conclusions and proffer his speculation as fact at the drop of a hat. Not only does he play the game, but he has set up a playground where others can join in and play. And that, for those that want to play, is a good thing.

A Guest Post from Muppet ( @MuppetGooner )

Perhaps we should be concerned with more pressing matters, but I couldn’t ignore when a 1st world problem appeared on  Twitter. The assertion that Wenger had changed was made by a well known blogger, and therefore all was well. Well, nice to  hear, given that this particular blogger has spent the best part of the last 9 years squealing like a stuck pig. Let’s be  fair here, and assume he could be right. Did Wenger change ? Did he ? What does he mean ? Well, I’m guessing this is all about old accusations and concerns. We are familiar with them. We had no DM, the manager is stubborn, We had too many injuries. There was no plan B. We never spent money. You get the gist. The blogger’s presumed opinion is that all of these situations have now been resolved to a degree of satisfaction, and therefore Wenger has changed.

Unfortunately it is difficult to react to this assertion without some degree of mirth. As the natural reaction, being positive about what AW has done anyway in the last 10 years, is to dismiss this out of hand. Moreover, it would be natural to say that the last 2 years have been not a result of Wenger changing, more, the effect of Wenger’s actions, and indeed the club. But to say that would be just to appear ingenuous.

It would be better I thought to examine these points and ask if the composition of the squad, the training, investment, tactics, the team play is that different in the last 2 years than the period, say, from 2006 to 2013. And also  include some those bug bears expressed over the years.

The DM

The revisionist argument is that now we have Coquelin (apparently a lucky break by AW), it is one facet of change, as Coquelin is seen as a specialist DM.

The players seen to occupy this position were Gilberto Silva, who left in 2008, then Denilson, until 2011, then Alex Song in the 2011 to 2012 season, then Arteta from 2012.

Does this point to a change in direction ? It is true that out of all of these players, Coquelin may represent the one who is the most defensive in his style, strengths and what he is asked to do. The other midfielders, especially Arteta and Song, have played more box to box. Denilson too, more attacking than coquelin, and seen as a lot weaker in the defensive respect.

It could point to a change in direction. On the other hand, we don’t know how much AW will persist with Coquelin. The clamour, from the critics of Wengerball, is that a specialist DM, in the Makelele role was always required. The evidence up to now, is that Wenger has always eschewed that solution. He prefers mobile, ball playing midfielders, who can even go box to box if necessary. Indeed, in games where we have been chasing the game note how quickly Coquelin is sacrificed for an attacking player after 60 or 70 minutes. Not always, but notable.

There is no discernable difference in quality in all the players. Gilberto was the most high profile, a brazilian world cup winner. The differentiating factor is that Coquelin is seemingly exclusively deployed in a defensive role.

Change in the gung ho approach ?

I’m guessing the default position now is that we appear to have changed our tactics so that we are less gung ho, more cautious and more respectful of the opposition.

Is this just perception ? Or do the facts back this up ? Statistics can be made to twist anything, so I don’t want to present too many stats. If you look at our results against big teams from 2013-2014, we got hammered at Chelsea, City and Liverpool. From 2014-2015, we did not. The worst result against the big teams, was 2-0 away to Chelsea. But 2006 to 2013 ? Were we gung ho, and neglected the defence the whole time ? The stats against the 2 biggest teams from that period:

2006-2007

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1, Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 1, Manchester United 0 Arsenal 1

2007-2008

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0, Chelsea 2  Arsenal 1
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 2, Manchester United 4 Arsenal 0

2008-2009

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3, Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 3, Manchester United 0 Arsenal 0

2009-2010

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3, Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 3, Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1

2010-2011

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1, Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 0, Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0

2011-2012

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 0, Chelsea 3 – Arsenal 5
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 2, Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2

2012-2013

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2, Chelsea 2 – Arsenal 1
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1, Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1

It is clear from these games that Chelsea and Manchester United have had the better of us.

We have to concede also that there have been some drubbings in this period.

On the other hand, there have been some years where the results have not been too bad, and were arguably more impressive then this season’s, against a stronger Chelsea and Manchester United team back then. In the 2010-2011 season we beat the champions, Manchester United at home. In the 2006-2007 season, we also beat the champions, Manchester United away from home. Chelsea were runners up in 2010-2011, and we beat them at home.

It occurs to me that looking at these results, it is also true that the adage that we can’t beat the big teams was only a recent phenomena. There are 6 premiership wins out of a possible 28 matches here, which although deemed a failure, seem to be commendable in my view, given the relative financial position of the 3 clubs during this period.

There were also champions league games where we slipped goals. Notably the QF in 2007 v Liverpool. But the result can be compared with the Monaco R16 match, where we conceded 3 goals at home this season. There may be a perception of a change of tactics, but the result was still an exit from the competition.

Transfers

The assertion here is that AW has been inflexible in the transfer market. He has not signed marquee players because of a philosophical preference to promoting from within, and baulking at the transfer fee, even though, allegedly, we have had the money.

If you define a marquee transfer as being over £30m, then on face value this is true.

Between 2006 and 2013 our biggest transfer was Arshavin. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arsenal_F.C._records_and_statistics, Arshavin arrived for £12m + 3m + add ons, in Feb 2009. Jut prior to this Nasri was signed for £15m from Marseille in 2008.

When we go back to between 1997-2005, the largest transfers here are in 2000, when Sylvain Wiltord arrived for £13m, Henry in 1999 for £10m, Reyes in 2004 for £10.5m. Interestingly, Hleb was signed for £11.5m from Stuttgart in 2005.

In 2011-2012, a season where we hadn’t yet starting signing big players, we spent £48.2m, bringing in Ox, Arteta, Mertesacker, Gervinho (the so called supermarket sweep).

The arrival in 2013 of Ozil for £42m signalled a significant change to the amount of money that was spent on an individual player. It broke the transfer record. This was followed by Sanchez for £31m. Interestingly, the spend on players overall in 2011-2012 was the same as 2012-2013, around £42m. But in 2014-2015 it doubled to 92m.

Final Thoughts

The assertion in some quarters is that Wenger didn’t do tactics at all, and is now doing tactics. The “in game management” was poor, the subs were a joke, and there was never any shape.

The narrative is that the penny has dropped. Along with transfers and Coquelin, Wenger has seen the light. The Bould effect is also attributed. The recent success of Borussia Dortmund and Juventus point to examples of teams who punch above their weight finacially, yet can take on big teams, and reach champions league finals.

One can argue that on today’s valuations, because of inflation, and the market, all the players signed in the period 1997-2005 would have cost double today. The money spent on Ozil and Sanchez also coincide with an increase in Arsenal’s turnover. The figures from 2011-2014 are £257m, £243m, £280.4m, £301.9m.

If the accusation was, that AW did not sign marquee players because he preferred a development policy, then the arrival of Ozil and Sanchez has disproved that. If  the accusation, that Wenger does not spend at all, then that does not seem to be backed up by the facts either. The total spent on players in the last 4 years is around £220 million.

With respect to tactics, and the attitudes towards defence, it seems curious to me that despite achieving a net spend in the period of 2006 to 2013, or in other words, having virtually no extra cash for transfers, we were able to reach top 4 qualification and still reach the quarter final of the CL in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010, and the semi final in 2008-2009. The argument could be that tactics would have improved this position, had we been less defensively naive. This is the default position of some bloggers. On the other hand, at least we got that far in the competition. None of the premiership teams got that far this season, and their squads are stuffed with players valued at far more than our squad from 2006 to 2010.

So for me there are two points to make here. One, your defence cannot be that bad if you do reach top 4 qualification every year. Two, that AW is an attacking coach. He has never taken the Mourinho or Benitez approach, and parking the bus. I think this is an observation of fact. I am not supportive of it, either way. If you want to argue, as some do, that in big games, this has hampered us, and we’ve not been able to progress in big competitions, then feel free. My only reply to this is to say  that if this were the case, then wouldn’t every good team just adopt a defensive approach, and therefore reach the latter stages of all the big competitions ? Certainly not Chelsea this year, or last. My belief is that an attacking philosophy has meant that we always gamble for 3 points, and this has been useful, but it’s about balance. Sure, we did need to tighten up on defence at times, but we also needed better players. And ultimately, the biggest factor for me was being blown out of the transfer market from 2006-2013. It is a fallacy, in my view, to suggest that defensive tinkering would have improved us significantly. We just simply did not have the ingredients. But the absurdity is, that we actually did better than the punditry gave us credit for. We had 2 very good league campaigns, from 2007-2008 and 2009-2010, with the aforementioned CL runs between 2007 to 2010. If Wenger has changed, I hope not too much.

A guest post from Muppet ( @MuppetGooner }

No sooner as we had won the FA Cup, the media narrative was being played out in the newspapers and on the radio. We were being reminded of our entitlement to the premier league. Of course, this was due to the amount of money we are all paying to support the club. Martin Samuel penned an article largely advocating that spending on Ozil and Sanchez had actually made us better. Words like “Cohesion” and “Stability” were all well and good, but we needed to continue to spend. The hacks clamoured to tell us, then ask us, what were the missing pieces of the jigsaw in order for us to win the title ? If I wasn’t so cynical, I would think it all sounds delightful. We are all over the radio. The media are chipping in and asking who we need, Martin Samuel is helping out. Hooray !

Well, not exactly. First of all, the acquisitions of Ozil and Sanchez are just two purchases that represent the first glimmer of light at the end of a very long tunnel. One which had a train coming the other way. There will be more. That is not to say that every signing will work out, that is not always possible. There have been some players that didn’t work out, like Gervinho and Santos, but there have been others that have. On the whole, I don’t know about you, but I am happy with our signings in the period where we had no money. As I look forward and have been enjoying the last 2 years, where we have had more money. Actually, there is a difference in my opinion and that of the media. I really really look forward. Not because we’ve got lots of money. No. It’s because we’ve got lots of money and Wenger is going to spend it. I actually believe, and will argue, that Wenger with lots of money will be  the most frightning prospect in Europe. The media can print stories about Bale, and about Pogba, and valuations of £80m. But what the media forget is that Wenger created Vieira and Henry, and in their prime, they would have exceeed those valuations on today’s rates. So my question is this, if Wenger can develop a player, what is so difficult about buying a player ? The media clamour is that Wenger is famously reluctant to spend big. We know this is absolute nonsense. Wenger is actually famously reluctant to spend big on a player that he does not rate, or he cannot afford. Don’t believe that it is possible to spend over £30m on players that won’t improve the squad ? Look around you. Di Maria, Mangala, Torres to Chelsea, Andy Carroll to Liverpool, before that Juan Veron.

Samuel concedes Wenger’s point that three outstanding performers in the FA Cup final were Cazorla, Bellerin and Coquelin. The latter 2 players costing nothing, the former, criminally undervalued. So what is Samuel talking about ? Wenger knows he has to spend. This is the reason for the stadium move, the improvement in the commercial deals. This isn’t some deluded positive narrative. ! We are not going to ramp up our commercial operation to bring in £300 million a year so we can stick it in the bank ! The Chelsea fans know this, and are ringing the radio stations and telling everybody that we have lots of money, and therefore we should have won the title. But a title winning squad takes time to ferment. The Chelsea team that won the title were underpinned by at least 10 players who won the champions league. You cannot expect to win the title after two years by just spending £40 million in each year. Chelsea spent £111.3m net in 2003-04, and when that didn’t buy them the sought after trophy, they went out and spent a further £92.2m net in 2004-5, acquiring Drogba, Carvalho, Ferraira and Robben. Our purchases in the last 2 years have been nowhere near on a a comparable scale to this, but we are expected to win the title ? I can accept some of the argument that Chelsea had to spend big initially, but they went on to spend at least a further £300m net in the subsequent 8 years after 2005.

Now that the FFP regulations have been relaxed, Chelsea, Manchester United and City will all spend at least £100 million each. Even if we could match that, the only way in my view that we can hope to win the title, is to put faith in our squad and the players that we have now. Which is why Wenger’s comments about “Cohesion” resonate. He believes we are not far off. He is defensive on preferring to promote from within and not necessarily seeking solutions from outside, because those solutions don’t necessarily exist. Yes, Aguero may be an upgrade on all our strikers ? But he would cost the GDP of Sweden. It’s hard to not sound like an apologist for coming 3rd or 4th, but we can see already that there is a scramble for the best players in europe amongst all the top clubs. Which is why we need to maximise our squad development and home grown players. Ox, Bellerin, Toral, Coquelin. This is why I feel optimistic. I think we are nicely positioned, and have already shown improvement in the last 2 years. 2 FA Cups, and an average of 77 points each season. I don’t know the exact stats, but I think without the injuries, we probably average over 2 points a game. And recently, we have beaten all the big teams, save Chelsea. And I belive there is more to come, because there is surely, still, a huge amount of untapped potential in terms of players like Wilshere, Ramsey, Ox, Welbeck.. even Walcott, to develop more individually, and as a team, with the other, more experienced players. Sanchez in his 2nd season could be Henryesque, which would be sensational.

But for the half glass empty merchants, the concerns will be at the back. But what is interesting there, is we are not lacking in numbers. Gabriel and Chambers to cover for Kos and Mert. A coquelin partner/back up/replacement is where most concerns are expressed, and a goalkeeper. It will be interesting to see what AW does. But whatever happens next season, if you can’t be happy with some of the football that was served up this year, then you are probably a miserable bastard. Yes, Monaco was the nadir, but let’s console ourselves that no one else got any further than we did in the CL.

A Guest post by Eduardo (stolen from the comments) I have no shame.

Since the upturn in form in the second half of the season the thought has occurred to me many times, and was only reinforced by the outstanding performance in the FA Cup Final, that this summers transfer window will probably be Arsene Wenger’s most difficult. yes more difficult than when the rats Cesc and Nasri jumped ship, much more difficult than when the skunk ran off to ManUre.

You may say in those years we were handicapped by both a lack of money and of not having the sex appeal to make us desirable to world class players, not to mention that we had to contend with Man U, Man City, Chelsea in England who could all pay bigger fees and much bigger wages, and then we had Real, Barca, PSG and Bayern who could do the same across Europe.

But the reality was that we were only battling with them in the transfer market in one way, and that was in our attempts to keep our best players, which we were unable to manage, we certainly were not battling with them for new signings, we just could not compete with them, and in truth we really still can not.

Back then the players we were after and could afford did not interest any of those mega rich clubs, Arteta, Per, Gervinho, Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski etc were not given a second thought by any of those clubs. Those players were not expensive enough, they were not big enough names to gain interest from the sugardaddy clubs. They were the next level of player, but they were exactly what we needed and what we could afford. With the disloyal scampering all over the place to get away from Arsenal, we needed good pros who wanted to be at Arsenal, who knew we were a step up from where they were, and who would give their all for the chance to play for us. This made convincing said players to join us a fairly easy job, it was a bigger job to convince their clubs to sell them to us, and in some cases it took the intervention of the players themselves to force the transfer through.

I think some of you will have already spotted my trend of thought as to why this summer will be Wenger’s most difficult. Simply put, Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Real, Barca, PSG and Bayern are still all able to spend more, pay bigger wages and offer what looks like a better chance of success to the world class players, and that is the core problem, cos we now are at the level where to improve on what we have, we will be competing for players that will be of interest to some, most or all of those clubs.

We are told Arsenal need a young David Seaman in goal, a young Tony Adams to lead the team from CB, a young Patrick Vieira to drive us on from CM and a Thierry Henry in his prime to shoot us to the titles and CL’s we all want. Now no one has yet explained the three big things here,

1. who are these clones that we should get,
2. why are their clubs willing to sell them to us,
3. why would these clones join us over the mega rich clubs

For me Arsenal are very close to having the best squad we ever had, but getting those few extra players of real quality to make it so, has never been harder to pull off.

On Saturday Arteta, Debuchy, Chambers, Rosicky, Diaby, Podolski, Campbell, Sanogo, Jenkinson, Welbeck Hayden, Akpom and Martinez, were not even in the 18, and Gibbs, Gabriel, Flamini and Ospina did not get any game time and I would contend that in those couple of seasons of deserters we often fielded a match day squad worse than that lot

Ospina
Debuchy, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs
Arteta, Flamini
Campbell, Rosicky, Podolski,
Welbeck
subs: Martinez, Hayden, Diaby, Jenkinson, Sanogo, Akpom

So I suggest that we have real squad depth, and to improve it will mean bringing in real top quality, the sort of top quality that all the other big clubs will be after too.

Having said that, I fully expect the likes of diaby, Podolski and Campbell to leave Arsenal this summer, others likely to go too, I will not be surprised if its announced that Arteta is joining the club on the coaching side, maybe a player coach, some of the young lads need loan deals and Jenkinson is likely to at best get another loan deal, so there is room for us to bring in one or two who are not world class, a la James Milner, but this sort will not on their own bring us to the next level, another Ozil/alexis type quality signing will help more, but who ?

And that is why for me this summer is likely to be Arsene Wenger’s most difficult transfer window, but for all the right reasons, and not cos of money grabbing traitors, rats and skunks

By: Shotta, @shotta_gooner

 Sports journalism is renowned for clichés that are repeated ad hominem by its practitioners as a substitute for substantive analysis.  It is my observation that that these rhetorical tricks are successfully used because they contain an element of truth which is undeniable. But, more times than not, the assorted hacks and pundits who are supposedly sharing with us these self-evident “truths” are also trying to conceal a lie.

Take Tony Gale, for example, who was doing color commentary on Sunday for my tv feed; just prior to Theo scoring his hat-trick, he was complaining the game showed how much AFC needed to go into the transfer market for world class players, while Walcott and Wilshere, who had just returned from injury, were ripping WBA to shreds in a world-class performance. Yes, every team could do with a world class players but Tony Gale failed to tell the truth, i.e.  Arsenal had very little need to go to the transfer market. On Sunday the lie was immediately exposed, but unfortunately most times it is left unchallenged, leading many to form the wrong conclusions and ultimately to choose a self-defeating course of action

Notwithstanding the instant rebuff of Tony Gale, with the League just ended, I now expect the hacks and their fellow travelers, to use our standing in the league table to form a narrative that Arsenal needs three or four world class transfers. This was famously previewed three-weeks ago by our own Titi Henry from his well remunerated perch on Sky Sports, conveniently reversing his prognostication two weeks earlier. But Henry is not alone in phalanx of famous ex-gunners with the same mantra. In the run-up to Sunday’s  last game of the season, Ray Parlour said the very same while on Talk Sport alongside Adrian Durham, the latter having made a media career by trolling Arsenal supporters.  By the way, Durham’s current windup is that Arsenal did not improve over the past season.

According to the hacks, Arsenal, by finishing 3^rd in the table, made no significant improvement over last year when they finished 4^thwith 79 points (troll-time on Talk Sport). Chelsea supposedly made much more progress by adding 8 points to last year’s total to win the league. Ergo, the solution is to follow in Chelsea’s footsteps by signing a “world class” forward, midfielder and goal-keeper.

In my day, one of the earliest lessons in high school mathematics was “how to lie with statistics”. Actually it is how to lie with data. By conducting the most elementary analysis, i.e. by comparing the changes in league position of the top 6 of 2014 with that of 2015, unearthed some very revealing information.  Take a gander below.

 Chelsea achieved a 10% improvement in points by realizing 2 more wins (8% gain). A 67% reduction in losses was split between 2 draws and 2 wins. Yet according to the pundits they smashed the League.

Arsenal in contrast had a similar reduction in wins vs Chelsea’s gain but the reduction in losses only showed up in the draw column. We all know the points-allocation in football prioritizes wins. As for the suggestion that the defense is horrible and the goalkeeping porous, there were 9 or 18% less goals conceded over the prior year. The goal difference improved 30% second only, percentage-wise, to United.

City ‘s demise from 1^st to 2^nd was due to 11% less wins.  The raw numbers would suggest a marginal change of two losses and one draw but the numbers identify the key deficit was in goal-scoring which declined by 19% and their goal difference down by 31%.

The most alarming change in fortunes was on Merseyside. Liverpool is the headliner. To the acclaim of a raft of pundits, many with connection to the club, they splashed the Suarez cash on an array of transfer targets hyped by the media, most notably Mario Balotelli whom they are now quick to disown. A 30% reduction in wins, 100% increase in losses, 48% reduction in goals scored led to a 26% reduction in points, second-only to Everton.  The latter club’s demise was just as catastrophic with 38% less wins and 100% more losses, leaking more and scoring less goals. Yet Roberto Martinez was tagged by the end-of-an-eraists as a Wenger successor.

Finally Manchester United, who won the 2014 transfer sweepstakes, spending £170million on the likes of Falcao, DiMaria (remember him?), Blind, Rojo and Herrera, but only improved by a single more win over the Moyes era. At least they had 36% less losses but turned 3 out of 4 into draws. The end result was a gain of 3 positions in the table. Maybe another £170 million will get them to 1^st, failing which they might do a Liverpool.

There is a lot more one could do with this data but I leave that to the readers of PA. Already there is a barrage of mischief and misinformation at large by those trying to discredit the current squad (Giroud, and Ospina seem the favorite targets) and the progress being made by them and Wenger to become truly able to challenge for the title. With rare exceptions the pundits fail to acknowledge that we were handicapped by injuries at the start of the 14-15 season and not by a lack of talent.

But as one other cliché put it: figures never lie, liars figure.

A guest post from @foreverheady

So now it’s over. Another league season done and dusted, and one which after promising so much back in August, looked as if it was going to end with a bit of a tired whimper until Jack and Theo decided differently. Saturday, August 16^th seems a long time ago now: a family camping holiday saw my pensionable transistor radio greeting Aaron’s late winner against Palace with barely audible crackles, the south-west peninsular apparently not one of 5 Live’s hotspots. But that seemed Ok – the win, not the reception – after the drubbing we had handed City in the Shield and with the promise of all those summer signings bedding in and taking us on from the glories of Wembley. I’d expected us to beat Palace more comfortably, but put it down to summer cobwebs. Little did I know or guess that we were in for a run of injuries almost unparalleled in recent history. No need to go over those again, but although we played well in patches, we just couldn’t build any momentum through the autumn and early winter. We scored some good goals, but let in some soft ones, and at times before Christmas it seemed as if Alexis alone was carrying the flag. We slipped down the table, criticism mounted and one way or another the Club didn’t seem that happy an idea. We were missing our captain terribly.

But gradually, gradually the players returned from injury and an unexpected stroke of serendipity saw the shape of the team finally morph into something to go to war with.  Coquelin came into the heart of the midfield and his arrival seemed to make all the difference, a master class of the defensive arts and a sparkling performance from Cazorla setting up an away win at City that seemed to herald a new seriousness that had seemed oh so far away on New Year’s Day. Despite a disappointing reversal at our near neighbours, the team then put together an impressive winning run that saw us climb inexorably up the table, and which briefly threatened to throw down a challenge to League Leaders Chelsea. It wasn’t that we couldn’t maintain our form in the end: rather that they didn’t lose theirs, but the way they celebrated the hard-won point at The Emirates suggested that they too saw us as their only real threat. And so it came down to the last few games, playing for second or third or fourth, and however hard the players seemed to try you sensed that their heart had slightly gone out of it as they rather unluckily lost to Swansea at home, and then huffed and puffed but couldn’t quite blow down the Sunderland door. One point out of a possible six at home, and a slightly fortunate point away at Old Trafford meant that second place slipped from our grasp, but Third and automatic entry into the Champions League draw was all but mathematically secure as we faced our last opponents of the League season.

Most will have seen the game now, so no need to go over it in detail, but Walcott, Ozil and Wilshere simply blew Sunderland away in a sparkling first half of irresistible pass and move, pass and move. The patterns were intricate, the execution deadly and Theo’s first was a thing of wonder: it was a very good goal indeed, struck with belief and power. His second and then third showed his pace and predatory instincts: they were real striker’s goals and unless he has a real desire to go and play for one of the top European clubs, I think we will be seeing plenty more of him in the seasons to come. There are few strikers in world football better than a fit and confident Walcott. Jack too was outstanding, and what I would call the Rosicky role seems to suit him. He hugged the line when he had to, probed and prompted, and took his goal with glee.  Nine times out of ten it would have ended in Row Z, but somehow that was never going to be the case yesterday, and let’s hope that his wonder strike gives him the confidence to add more goals to his game, for you won’t see many Englishmen play better, and it is good he is playing for The Arsenal. And Ozil tackled and ran, tackled and ran and doing well for this team seems to really matter to him. I had not seen him play before but it was a privilege to do so yesterday. They were all good in that first half, and although a strange May weather pattern saw grey skies and drizzle, they played as if they were bathed in gold.

It was good to see the team parade around the ground and show their human faces a little in the now traditional send off, but it must also have felt strange and a little premature to them. Their season is not yet done, and fairly or unfairly will not be defined by that excellent third place finish, however magnificent an achievement that was given the scale of injuries in the autumn.  They will want to do well at Wembley, for if they do it will set up a Community Shield encounter that I suspect will be far from charitable. If those players want to win next year’s league then they will know it is Chelsea they must be measured against – and for 45 glorious minutes yesterday they showed they are more than capable of doing just that. I am looking forward to next season already!