Arsenal, the day after the season finale

ARSENAL... THE DAY AFTER THE SEASON END

And the English Premier League came to a resounding end and climax yesterday with Man City deservedly carting the coverted title and trophy away to their base and shelf but their well orchestrated feat is not my business here but Arsenal as the caption indicates, is very much my business here and my refering to City's achievement as orchestrated and garnished is predicated on its  115 breaches, counts and charges being left hanging in the air and unattended while hapless Everton was slammed with points deduction, talk about different strokes, there you have it, a glaring example. I am glad that they somehow survived and will remain a EPL team next season.

Back to my Arsenal business, we lost the league title to the home defeats of West Ham and Aston Villa in which with optimism we had hoped to over come and recover but it was not to be for it was a telling blow to our aspiration that manifested with deep etchings and cuts at the end, for indeed as a direct fall out, the title went out of our grips once again.

Our Coach, Arteta and Edu, the Scouting cum Sporting Director must share in the blame for various reasons. Arteta normally has a strong resolve and conviction which is good for a coach in galvanising and inspiring his team but he tends to go overboard with it at times. The way he meticulously and trickily brought his compartriot Raya to come and takeover from Ramsdale unsettled the team spirit and dynamics beyond the optics that was presented, the players and indeed the fans took a long time to adjust and take the situation in, sapping their psyche and psychological base with disruptive energies that should it be welcomed at a time of the season  when they should be in full consentration and focus, although not glaring, the team never recovered from this "short circuit" till the end. For if you tame the sometimes erratic nature and exuberance Ramsdale he is a far better prospect between the sticks than Raya, with his height and wing span, agility and instant spring to his leaping ability, not to mention his shot stoppiing skill set and his prowess in one-one confrontations and situations, these clearly puts him ahead of David Raya that man that sneaked in on his prime position. Raya's Golden Glove Award was largely due to his well marshalled defence line starring William Saliba and Big Gabby- Gabriel Magalhaes and not as a result of his dexterity at goal keeping , the evidence abound as I won't waste your time on that. If Aaron Ramsdale was shown the same love and support given to Raya, he would have sparkled and shined like a thousand stars but then on all these he maintained his boyish smile and calmness, oh, how I like this lad.

Edu on his part tries to be clever by half all the time, waiting for last minutes to pitch or have a go for a player that he wants. In today's football "good things" don't come cheap and I don't think he is being handicapped by the financial fair play rules, he is just displaying his unique variant of smartness. It has been chorused, campaigned and appeals made for Arsenal, no please, for Edu and Arteta to get a 20 to 25 goals heighty and quick striker for the team but it usually falls on deaf ears as they continue to prance and dance about in the transfer window, dillydallying in search of cheaper deals until the window closes down on them.Let's look at this,could you imagine what a 25 goal striker would have brought to this free scoring team? Add his goals to the tally of this present crop and you will have the EPL title all wrapped up and delivered , common, common, let this duo lend a listening ear please.I must commend them though, for we have made a giant leap on progress but when looked at critically in statistical terms it's very minimal. We came 5 points behind City in second place last season and this concluded season it was 2 points behind the league winning City team not exactly the quantum leap that we portray as our fate was entirely dependant on another team doing us a favour but then it should be mentioned that it went all the way to the last day. 

Away from all that to the future "surgical and precision surgery" in the team. The likes of Partey, Nketiah, Reis Nelson, Zinchenko and Jesus should be offloaded and thanked generously for their services, the later mainly for his injuries and long time sorjourn on the treatment table which dwindled his productivity, not to mention his wage bracket, sadly Jesus will have to go, and as for Partey, it's a fore gone conclusion as he is clearly a spent force and prone to periodic intervals of serious injuries, obviously no longer a productive investment, sentiments apart. 

Contrary to general believe the league is determined and won for the most part by what you do at the beginning, for those mistakes, glitches, actions and inactions always come to hunt you and take their place at the end, we therefore need to hit the ground running next season.