Why do we love Arsenal?
And why do we care about them as much as we do?
These are questions we have all asked ourselves at various points over the course of our Arsenal supporting lives. As with supporting any football club, there are highs and lows no matter the size or expectations of your club. And the thing is, expectations change over time. A good season for your club in 2025 may have constituted a poor season for your club in 2005 or 1995. We have experienced this expectational shift in recent seasons. If we are to finish second with no silverware the reality is many would consider this as a poor or underwhelming season. As recently as 2022, this would’ve been considered a tremendous season. If you had told an Arsenal supporter on the final day of the 21/22 campaign, in which we finished 5th, two points behind our local rivals in brutal, gut wrenching fashion, that the following season we would unexpectedly challenge for the title and ultimately finish second, they would’ve been over the moon. And yet when that did indeed transpire, many of us were beside ourselves with disappointment.
I suppose the point I am trying to make is sometimes you need to stop and take stock of the journey you are on and relish the progress you have made and will continue to make. Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa was a major blow to our title aspirations, but at least we have title aspirations! The same cannot be said for most of our rivals. At Arsenal we strive for the big trophies which have eluded us for 20 years and one of them has eluded us for 139 years. But it doesn’t stop us believing. Three years ago we would’ve been ecstatic with fourth place. Now, second feels like a disappointment. That is progress. Has our progress stagnated this season? At this moment in time, possibly. But that’s precisely what football is made up of; every goal, every tackle, every shot that goes miles over the bar is a new moment in time. If you go 1-0 up in the first minute do you refrain from celebrating because you might concede in the next 89’? Of course not. You can never know what is around the corner. Football imitates life in that sense.
We let a two goal lead slip at home causing us to drop vital points in the title race. That is not a good thing. But it happens. Another contentious VAR decision prevented us from winning 3-2 and here I am sitting here trying to be philosophical about it all. I would much rather be talking about how we followed up our morale boosting NLD win with another three points against a fellow Champions League side. But I’m not and I am surprisingly ok with that. We can still win the league, it’s just become even harder for us now. As fans we can give up if we want and attempt to accept that it’s not going to happen for another year. But I’ve tried that in the past and it just doesn’t work. Getting angry and blaming the referees won’t make you feel better either. If your happiness depended on the competence of the hapless PGMOL, you’d spend life in some sort of uninhabitable purgatory, constantly stressing over whether or not a bald Tranmere Rovers fan from Wythenshawe was going to ruin your weekend.
Without belief and hope, we are left with very little to strive for. And Mikel Arteta has reignited our Arsenal supporting lives with those two things and I am confident that I speak for all of us when I say, we are grateful to him for that. The Maths tells us we are unlikely to win a trophy this season. We trail Liverpool by six points in the league. We are 2-0 down to Newcastle at half time in our League Cup semi final. I believe we are fourth or fifth favourites to win the Champions league. But there is a very big difference between unlikely and impossible. You have to be pretty good to be second in the Premier League after 22 games. You have to be quite good at football to be third in the humongous 36 team Champions League table after six games. And let’s not forget we overcame the footballing giants Bolton, Preston and Crystal Palace to reach the semis of the Obscure Energy Drink cup. Arsenal are probably the fourth or fifth best team on the planet and that means we are capable of winning lots of football matches which we have done in recent years. It also means we are capable of winning the Premier League and Champions League. Most teams are not. And without the efforts of Mikel and his players in recent seasons we wouldn’t even be in contention.
I have constructed my “match report” in this way because I have seen and heard of much displeasure within the fanbase towards the manager, the board and certain players in recent weeks. I could go over where we went wrong against Villa, who was at fault and why the ref is an obnoxious oik. But that’s not going to make me feel better, nor you, the reader. So instead I have opted for a piece I hope will offer fresh hope and belief following this very emotional and fragile period of the season. Ultimately, it just is not that bad. Of course expectations are always high at a huge club like Arsenal but winning trophies is not the be all and end all. Football is not “win a trophy or bust”. Contrary to our Amazon doc a few years back, it is not All Or Nothing. I think football, much like life, is not black and white. You can not win a trophy and have a successful season. In any case, winning trophies only makes up 1% of supporting a football club. It is the journey that Mikel has referenced that makes up the 99% of following your team whoever they are, no matter how good, bad or mediocre they play. And that is my message: enjoy the journey. It is nowhere near over and there will be ups and downs as we have already seen many times. And maybe it won’t have a happy ending. And even if that is the case, what next? Will we pack up and go home? Not a chance. There is always the next game or next season. Perhaps that’s why we love Arsenal and care about them so dearly. They are a constant in a frightening, ever-changing world.
Life is Arsenal and Arsenal is life.
Always Forward.
Excellent review and well worth the stopping and taking stock, thanks 21CG
I remain hopeful for this season as well, a lot depends on our luck
changing with injuries, getting in a forward, and stringing together a
a few wins to boost confidence. Looks tough at the moment but a
couple of wins can change perspectives quickly.
Onward and upward, 21CG.
That’s a superb piece, 21CG. Gird yer loins, fellas. Arsenal expects every man (and woman) to do his (and her) duty.
Cheers, Monty 21CG Python. Lovely stuff.
That’s an excellent and very measured, Faberesque, piece 21CG. It’s been a very frantic month and I for one am knackered at going to so many games, with so many late nights (I know, I should check my entitlement, there are many who would swap places). At the moment, if the CL goes well, we have a week off in February which I imagine Arteta would love to use to take the squad away for a break.
I was a bit gloomy on Saturday evening. So many thanks to Spurs and Manchester United for considerably brightening my Sunday by bringing out the clown cars.
Good point too C100. I texted a friend after Saturday saying there was at least still a chance Spurs would provide some light entertainment/relief, but I didn’t completely believe it this time. And well, they truly delivered. As well as the Mancs.
This is an exceptional piece 21CG . One of our youngest regular contributors (the youngest?) but full of balance , commonsense and life experience.
One of the What’s App groups I belong to ( reluctantly) is a group from my old school- exact contemporaries of mine but being South London oiks , I am the only Gooner. The most vociferous is a Palace fan who baits me literally with every point we drop. I’ve realised that social media has changed football.The memes, the instant stats , the negative blogs are all at the fingertips of a jealous and negative keyboard army. And constant haranguing blunts perspective .
I am 74 on Saturday ( when we will thump Wolves ) and for 67 of those years my life has been deeply affected by how Arsenal do ( Mrs TTG would say too much!)
But what a ride it has been ,what a privilege to be a Gooner. We’ve reached heights and while we haven’t plumbed real depths it has been a relative rollercoaster.
Fairs Cup in 70, WHL in 71, Wembley in 71, 79, 93,98, 2014/15/17/20, Anfield in 89, Copenhagen in 94, Cardiff in 2002/3/5 ,
Three doubles , the 1991 almost Invincibles and the actual Invincibles in 2004 . I’ve been there for nearly all of them .Thank goodness I didn’t become a Palace fan. Or a Tottnumb one!
Just European glory to come and it could genuinely come this year . What other fans have had a ride like that and done it with a club that oozes class and style ? We have much to be thankful for . Thanks for reminding us 21CG
Thank you 21cg. Your piece is among the very best ever published on this site, and comes as a very timely reminder to all of us that we are on the journey because we love the journey, the same as all other football fans but our journey as Arsenal fans is quite evidently so much the richer than that of most any other set of fans. As if more evidence of that is required, today’s Arseblog is well worth the read.
“Just the 533 goals between Henry, Wright, and Bergkamp” is one excerpt that provides a clue as to what that is about.
Thanks again, 21cg. Your perspective is very admirably mature for your years as TTG said so well.
Just what the doctor ordered, I think, 21 CG. Some of the reactions across social media are, well, hyperbolic doesn’t come close. Reading another match report detailing how the officials didn’t intervene in the Martinez time wasting and the apparent D-Notice (my turn to be hyperbolic) in the media around Kamara kicking the ball away to prevent a restart towards the end of the game- when the pressure was really on Villa- not attracting a second yellow would have been accurate, yet not satisfying. Your focus on how much bigger and better we are, and the sheer pleasure the team and club give us was so much more edifying. It fed my soul. Thank you.
The rest of the Premier League mourns the loss of such an ineffectual opponent …
News item: “Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton is expected to be the last game for Brazil winger Antony, 24, in a Manchester United shirt, with a verbal agreement reached on a loan move to La Liga club Real Betis.”
Excellent stuff 21CG.
COYG!
A most uplifting ‘match report’, 21CG, and a much-needed tonic. Bravo.
Our record over the past six games — won four, drawn two — matches Liverpool’s. Just saying.
Cheers 21CG, well said.
COYG
The GHF Predictathon leaderboard for Match Week 22 has been posted. Not much bright side to look on this week, but, again, a lot of movement in the table. You know where to find it…
Thanks 21CG for a fine perspective of where we are and who we are. There’s still a lot of football to be played and ups & downs to come. The team are putting in 100% effort week in week out – that’s the first requirement within their own hands. The rest is down to skill, luck, injuries & PGMOL. Much to look forward to.
Lots of tickets for tomorrow night on Ticket Exchange if anyone fancies going to the game.
Can’t do, C100 but I’m hoping Man City match will have last minute tickets there as I am travelling over for work, and have arranged my stopover in London. 🙂
Good news on Calafiori and Nwaneri who will be in the squad for tomorrow’s game and less bad news on Saliba who could be fit for the C130y game. Please God, no more injuries.
Biereth moved to Monaco today for £11m . We get £2m of that having sold him for £4m in the summer . So we got £6m and Sturm Graz who had him for 4 months made £5m . If I was a bloke who thought we didn’t drive very good bargains with our players I might suggest this wasn’t a blockbuster sale by us . It will be interesting to see how he does . Balogun who we sold to Monaco hasn’t set the heather on fire so far
I liked the look of Biereth but it’s hard to say he would do well in the Premier League
I guess neither Sturm Graz nor Monaco were willing to pay 11 million when we sold him so we got what he was worth at the time. He may well prove to be a really good player in time and I hope he is. I liked what little I saw of him playing for Motherwell.
As Monaco have just beaten Villa and are guaranteed to make the play-offs (very unlikely to be top 8 though), we might see Biereth further in the CL I guess (the silly new format means players signed in January can not play in these last two rounds, but I think he was cup-tied for that phase anyway?) . As well as Balogun if he is back to full fitness (he had a pretty good start to the season before a big injury).
Wild CL game in pelting rain in Benfica with Barca coming back from 4-3 down to win 5-4. Three penalties and Raphina scored with a header from 25 yards that he knew absolutely nothing about. Woj had a night to forget, including spectacularly taking out his own defender midway in his own half.