2ND SECURED

BUT WHY DOES IT FEEL SO FLAT?

Arsenal did it. Second place for the third straight season. They downed Newcastle at the fourth attempt. It was a very good result given the context of the progress the Geordies have made on all fronts. Even better when you think about how poorly we started.

But something didn’t quite sit right with me in the way Arteta went off after the game about the incredible resiliency his side showed over the course of the season with things like injuries.

I know what we've been through for nine and a half months. I know what we've done. I know very well the history of the Premier League and the teams that have been in 30% of the situations that we've been in. They have collapsed, completely collapsed, and we haven't. I really value that because that shows that we have built something that is very, very sustainable and consistent, regardless of people who don't like to see it.

I don’t need him to get out there and go into detail on those things, but I do worry that this sort of reframing of failing to win a major trophy feels a little bit like a new version of Arsène Wenger talking about the Top 4 trophy.

There are technical things in football that fans mostly don’t care about, but the professionals do. Arsenal finishing second after the collapse of the squad in key areas, to a professional, would go down as an exceptional achievement. Sustaining league form with deep squad players and smacking up Madrid with Kiwior in defence and Merino up front is outrageous. You don’t even need to be a coach to get that. But those achievements don’t really matter to fans who have watched a burned-out Liverpool team rise from the ashes in a season that was supposed to be ours.

Celebrating the achievements of a broken squad rings hollow when you know how the squad was broken.

It’s like badly rolling the family SUV and bragging that most people end those sorts of crashes with at least two fatalities. Factually correct, but no one wants to hear it.

On paper, I understand that what he is saying is right, but really, I don’t think we should be in year five of Project Arteta celebrating second place when the reason the squad was broken this season was because no one has managed to convince him those tired and broken players are his responsibility.

Arne Slot has shown the way. It doesn’t have to be like this moving forward. I hope he feels chastened by watching a manager who probably isn’t at his level trounce him in the league, signing no players, and just managing the load of the squad with a defter hand than Klopp was able to. That has stung me. I wrote at the start of the season that managing player fitness would be a determining factor, but I didn’t realise it would be Liverpool leading the way.

So now let’s briefly chat about the game… the right result. We did it. It wasn’t always pretty, and we were quite lucky Isak wasn’t playing, but the only thing that matters at the end of the 90 is the score. It read 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Securing second place does have symbolism. It says that we’re the second-best team in the country and it wasn’t a fluke. If you want to go in the direction of Arteta, what he said this season is we’re the second-best team in the country even with cheating refs and diabolical injuries. It says… if Arsenal get the summer right, and Berta gets his improvement plan delivered to Arteta right, then we are going to f*ck the whole league up next season. This is how the manager spoke of those plans:

The plan is done and the time will be dictated by many parties, many circumstances that unfortunately we don't control. But we have great people in charge of that and they're going to be leading that with the board and ownership. And as well make sure that the ones that we have, they feel valued, they feel loved and make sure that they want to continue with us in the right manner, then the whole environment that is excited. That is not just about if we make it because we cannot start a season like that, and I want to feel that from day one. I'm going to be very insistent on that.

This summer will go right. Berta will give Arteta the best squad we’ve had since 2003-04. There will be nowhere to hide. It will be go-time because Arsenal will be favourites for the Premier League and the Champions League. It’s time for Phase 5 to activate, and it’s time for Arteta to bring a big trophy home and be more than just a calendar-year coach.

There were some interesting narratives you could follow in the game.

No Alex Isak and a manager non-committal about his future. People think Newcastle are swimming in cash… they’re not. They are up against PSR challenges right now and I suspect if they want to build out a much bigger squad, they might still have to sell a jewel. So who knows, I still think it’d be bonkers to drop £120m on Isak, but it’s as Phase 5 as you get.

Martin Odegaard landed a great assist for Declan Rice, but he’s still a hard watch this season. He doesn’t lift games on his own like he used to. He looks battered and low on confidence. The worry is it’s been that way all year. He’s a single point of failure and I don’t think anyone looking dispassionately at his decline would dare go into next season without a hefty rotation option. Arteta didn’t meet with Nypan in January, perhaps he knew he’d need someone more like Cunha to come in and compete?

Jakub Kiwior had a great game. He’s had a lot of them. Why would we chase another centre-back this summer when we’ve proved that we have one who can go to the Bernabéu and look comfortable? He’s done enough to prove himself at Arsenal. Next season, he needs more minutes, and not only when there’s a disaster to cover for.

Thomas Partey was not at his best. He was running like he was ploughing through sand—not because he was slow, but because he was dreaming of his all-inclusive in Magaluf this summer. It was a bit of a bonehead performance from a guy who has been in the form of his life this season. He has no legs, but if we’re moving on Jorgi, then I can hack Partey as our Champions League guy.

William Saliba exited at halftime because of a hamstring issue. Again, another player who never gets rested. But when Ricky came on, he was great. This idea that our best players can just do all the minutes needs to die. It’s not like he learned that idea working under Pep, who rotates his players. It’s an Arteta thing he needs to shake.

Kai Havertz returned to action. It was a great moment. Any view that he’s just the same as Merino was squashed. He moves faster, with more grace, and he has far more elegance about his game. Next season, he’ll be giving up that 9 role and will be rotating around the pitch. I’m excited to get him back. Keep him fit, and he will do damage and dig you out in tough games.

So, one last game, against the worst Southampton side in living memory. Then it’s over. We’ll take a break here (we won’t) and come back stronger (we won’t) for a summer of HEAVY TRANSFER rumours. Can’t wait for a whole bunch of fake ITKs to ruin my summer.

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