[Football] Did Arsenal bottle the league?

[Wrong-Direction]

...

 

[Badger Boy]

They lost their best player, Saliba, to injury at the worst time and had to play Holding as his replacement. Any team would suffer with that.

Poor planning. Ramsdale in goal isn't great, Holding's a clown whose greatest trick is regenerating his hairline.

 

[Bold Seagull]

They lost their best player, Saliba, to injury at the worst time and had to play Holding as his replacement. Any team would suffer with that.

Hardly an excuse. They spent £50m on an alternative CB.

 

[BN41Albion]

No not bottled - just not good enough to last the distance against an insanely good MC team/squad. Its not easy to keep winning the way they had been when pressure kicks in at the top - especially when a relentless City are breathing down your neck.
They're 15 points ahead of 3rd/4th - far exceeded their or anyone's expectations for the season

 

[The Wizard]

Thing is the 28 games Arsenal had played aren't exactly the same as the 27 games City had played. There are so many variables involved with each of the games it is impossible to compare between teams after X number of games. Maybe Arsenal had had some "easy" matches against opposition that weren't fully in form or were missing players while City hadn't. There's a lot of reasons why they could be ahead after 28 matches but not after 36.

Arsenal 5 games after being 8 points clear:

Liverpool (A) : 2 nil lead, 2-2
West Ham (A) : 2 nil lead, 2-2
Southampton (H) : 3-3 draw - should have been a banker
Man City (A) : 4-1 loss - could happen to any team but the way they lost that game wasn’t great
Chelsea (H) 2-1 win

A lot of people are saying they have over achieved and didn’t have the quality to last the distance, all true but I think it can also be true that they bottled this league title, if you look beyond the ‘oh they’ve overachieved overall’ yes they have that doesn’t mean there isn’t some element of this that’s because they lost their mental strength for the challenge (bottle) at a key time.

Throwing away 2-0 leads in two games in a row, and failing to beat a dreadful Southampton team at home.

 

[Weststander]

Well they definitely threw it away, but I think their 8 point lead flattered them in the first place to be honest. Clearly they're a good side and they were brilliant at the Amex, but they've fallen away badly and weren't the same team by the time we beat them comfortably on Sunday.

By the way, I assume all those bandying around the "bottled it" terminology will be describing our team in the same way if we don't reach the Europa league from this position?

I don't like "bottled it" at all. They will finish second by a mile without the backing of an oil state. That's a good season, and they have continuously improved over 2 seasons now.

When they lucked out because we were missing our world class centre midfielders.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

No not bottled - just not good enough to last the distance against an insanely good MC team/squad. Its not easy to keep winning the way they had been when pressure kicks in at the top - especially when a relentless City are breathing down your neck.
They're 15 points ahead of 3rd/4th - far exceeded their or anyone's expectations for the season

That's essentially bottling it isn't it? Couldn't deal with the pressure.

They could win when there wasn't any pressure but when the finishing line and title were in sight, when City started putting a run of wins together they folded.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

From this position:View attachment 160951

Yes it’s still been a fantastic season for them over all but they won’t get a better chance at winning the PL with several other big boys toiling, and from this position with the results they’ve had against teams they would have expected to beat, for me it’s a 100% bonafide definition of a bottle job.

Seeing the salty arrogant arse fans trying to paper over the bottle makes it all the more amusing, or am I being harsh?

They have lost out to a club owned by a state nation who have won the league 4 out of the previous 5 seasons and arguably fiddled their books to do this. No, they're not bottle jobs. More that they are not quite good enough/dont have the resources to win the league.

 

[5Ways Gull]

This.

Just look at the form table for the last 14 games:

View attachment 160952

Arsenal 3rd, only behind Liverpool on GD and averaging over 2 points a game is hardly a big-time bottle job.

Man City is the outlier - just a ridiculous run.

That said, even though it's not really fair, I will very much enjoy telling the Arsenal fans I know that they bottled it

It's very much worth looking further down that table too.

Chelsea
Stains

That's a really interesting table. Hope the Chelsea fans appreciate what Potter did for them earlier in the season, those stats put them right in amongst the pooey end if it was extrapolated across the whole season.

Fair play to Bournemouth as well, as much as it pains me to say

 

[BN41Albion]

That's essentially bottling it isn't it? Couldn't deal with the pressure.

They could win when there wasn't any pressure but when the finishing line and title were in sight, when City started putting a run of wins together they folded.

Yeah I suppose so in a way, but I think it's harsh to say they bottled it really - no-one would've predicted that they'd be in that position to begin with and other than city fans others (so-called Big 6 especially) havent really got a leg to stand on when taking the piss (although it is entertaining to of course) because they haven't got anywhere near city this season let alone be in a position ahead of them to near the end of the season, and some have been absolutely bloody awful like jammy fuckers spurs and Chelsea

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Yeah I suppose so in a way, but I think it's harsh to say they bottled it really - no-one would've predicted that they'd be in that position to begin with and other than city fans others (so-called Big 6 especially) havent really got a leg to stand on when taking the piss (although it is entertaining to of course) because they haven't got anywhere near city this season let alone be in a position ahead of them to near the end of the season, and some have been absolutely bloody awful like jammy fuckers spurs and Chelsea

I agree that the rest of the big boys don't have a leg to stand on in terms of their challenge this season. It's also an overall positive season for Arsenal, they've taken a big step forward but in the context of how they've ended up second it can only be seen as 'bottling' it. Harsh term perhaps but the meaning is right, IMO.

 

[Arkwright]

I wouldn't say they bottled it, in the end they just weren't good enough. That said runner's up is a great achievement.
I thought on Sunday they were a bit clueless, knocking long balls over the top I presume to use pace with the front three was meat and drink for our defenders. Looked good when they did play through midfield.
Other than Albion games I don't watch a lot of PL matches, thought Ben White looked weak, he was good for us with Dunk and Webster doing the dirty work and him tidying up when required.
Maybe you could quiery Arteta's management, he cuts a miserable figure on the sidelines, not sure if continuous moaning helps the player's on the pitch.

 

[Springal]

9 points clear early April. They then went in this run. Bottled it - no club has ever lost the league at this point

 

[The Wizard]

9 points clear early April. They then went in this run. Bottled it - no club has ever lost the league at this point

Yep, they definitely bottled it.

If they’d lost to city and dropped a few points here and there & city won every game I’d say fair play they just fell short and weren’t quite good enough, but this run is nothing to do with how good city have been, they couldn’t cope with the pressure when the going got tough.

That’s probably the definition of a bottle.

 

[phoenix]

After tonight's pathetic effort yes. Did they even have a shot on target the 2nd half .Where was the passion !!

 

[A1X]

Discussed this elsewhere but I think undeniably, when the going got tough they kept slipping up, then lost belief

 

[AlbionBro]

Yes they did, big style. Trossard wasn't giving them the goals he gave us either. Those Arsenal guys, you know one's in their mid forties dreams are fully shattered, shame really.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Saka has been brilliant all year but has dropped off in recent weeks. Understandable, it's almost impossible to perform consistently at that level all year with a World cup in the middle (where he was fantastic). They also have a thin squad - sound familiar - and had some key injuries at the wrong time. Tierney, Holding and Eddie Nketiah aren't quite good enough at least yet as replacements.

They haven't bottled it. It's a narrative that people put on mathematical variance. They've overperformed all season and just come up short against a team of superstars funded by an oil state managed by the best of the bunch.

 

[The Rivet]

They didn't bottle it Brighton prevented them primarily. That's what I tell myself anyway.

 

[Weststander]

This was their moment.

Chelsea/Liverpool/Spurs/Manure all in flux, the Newcastle spending is only part way through, ManC getting use to Haaland had indifferent results and were way behind, Arsenal lucked out at several games eg MacA/Caicedo missing on NYE.

Next season will be much harder.

Always amusing to see what he has to say about it.