An Arsenal Season Reviewed

Article by Nate Phillips

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I realize that an Arsenal fan saying they have mixed feelings about their team’s latest Premier League season is getting a little old by now, but it’s different this time. I swear. In 17 years, this is the first time I’ve felt this particular set of mixed emotions at the end of a season… Granted, some are the same as always (I’ll get to those at the end) but first here are some of the most different ones I have felt this year.

First of all, there is no sense of dread about the upcoming summer transfer window. In fact, I’m excited. In a season where no players have expressed their desire to leave and the Spanish press have been strangely quiet in their annual attempts to unsettle our star players, the “worst” thing going on is Walcott’s protracted contract negotiations, but to be honest, since that’s an ongoing situation for years, it’s hardly even worth a mention.

In fact, I’m excited to see what Arsenal have in the works for this summer. The last two summer transfer windows have not only been successful for Arsenal, but have signaled significant departures on a number of key policies from the last decade. We’re buying established players, older players, better players, and most importantly, not selling from the core team. This summer may be the first summer we seen an Arsenal team that has shown major improvement over the last year AND is not selling any players since before The Invincibles. That’s significant.

This leads me to the second key emotion I have at the end of this season – contentment. After years of the aforementioned high turnover in between each season, Arsenal are finally becoming a team that has depth not only in talent, but in experience as well. Again, this has not happened since The Invincibles were broken up. We’ve had ten years of “The Youth Experiment” which created amazing moments, world-class players, and philosophical debates galore, but for all that, there has never been a sense of contentment at the club during these years.

Of course, every Arsenal fan wants to see improvement, but as demonstrated today by the TV commentators talking about what Chelsea need to do to improve while their players did laps with the trophy, every fan wants to see their team improve. What isn’t there anymore for me is the strong sense of discontentment before, during, and after every season. I no longer worry about which players will stay and for how long, but only about who we’re going to buy. Again, that’s something I haven’t felt in a long time.

Another reason I’m content is because barring the early season collapse and 8 first-team players being injured for 4 months or more, this season would have been a very different story. I know… enough about Arsenal’s injury “what ifs” because it’s always that way but hear me out – the current Arsenal team are very capable of winning the Premier League on their own. Even with this season’s injuries, our early season collapse is the only reason we weren’t right there with Chelsea all along.

The third thing I am feeling right now is disappointment. I’m disappointed we didn’t do better in the League. I’m disappointed we completely capitulated at home in the Champion’s League to Monaco. I’m disappointed we didn’t hold on to second place in the last month. But they’re all disappointments stemming from the feelings I had coming into this season. I had high hopes and really expected us to challenge for the League all the way through.

As it stands, we may still win the FA Cup and cap our best league finish in years with some silverware so I really have to ask myself if it has been too disappointing after all. But I’m an Arsenal fan. I thrive on hopes and dreams. While my confidence in the team’s results has gone up and down throughout the years, my confidence in the team’s possibilities has never wavered. Which leads me to the final new feeling as a result of this season…

Confidence. It has been a long time since I have felt confident that Arsenal are back on the right track and could very well win the Premier League or Champions League next year. As it stands, a proven goalkeeper, another DM, and a world-class striker will shut up even the worst critics and bandwagon fans, and remarkably enough since criticism is part and parcel of “the Arsenal way,” all three of those signings are possible with this summer’s transfer budget.

I feel like we’ve made the leap from “would” to “could” in the last two years, and are now on the verge of moving from “could” to “should.” It’s been a long time since any Arsenal fan has felt like they should win the league, but my confidence is stemming from the fact that we’re almost there.

It’s weird to feel that again but here’s why I’m confident – we’re not selling our players, we’re buying more, there are no major summer tournaments, and everybody else (besides Chelsea) is entering a rebuilding phase. Manchester City are allegedly about to undergo a complete overhaul, Manchester United can’t de Gea their way through another season, Liverpool are in absolute shambles, Tottenham will continue being themselves, and Southampton is the new Everton. Chelsea and Arsenal are the only two smart bets to win the league next year.

Granted, there’s a long summer full of useless Tweets and transfer rumors between now and next season, but despite all the mixed feelings and possibilities, one thing is for certain - expectations have changed. Arsenal are no longer a selling club fighting to hang on to fourth place for economic reasons. Arsenal are a solidified team that has made significant developments in the last two years with a core group of content, world-class players fighting for something they personally believe in. I’ll take that, and all the emotions that come with it, over a trophy any day.