the only real reason iβm posting this is to say that our listed βpotential backup xiβ is equal to/greater than the teams that wenger was taking to the ucl knockout stages every single year when i first became a supporter. two takeaways:
1)What Arsene Wenger did here was incredible. I cannot imagine another manager taking this club to 19 straight ucl ko stages with the asinine budgets he was given to work with. incredible.
2)the pressure is really on this year. i have been openly and extremely pleased with the job arteta has done. for us to beat City 5-1, and to dominate the defending champion madrid team 5-2 with an injury crisis and merino at striker? i could never have dreamed of arsenal doing these things before arteta. not even close. those teams used to do that to us, regularly. now weβve done it to them. it shouldnβt be glossed over or unappreciated.
and look, trophies are the ultimate goal, but finishing in the top 2 three consecutive seasons with best defense in the league and squad full of guys mostly entering (or still years away from) their primes is straight up badass. thatβs on par with what sark has done at Texas, so iβve really never understood how underwhelmed so many fans have been. this is by far the strongest the club has been during my time as a supporter.
that said, we really do need to take the final step and win something this year. weβre going to have the squad depth, weβre finally going to have the striker weβve been missing, and weβre still going to have the best defense in england and possibly all of europe. itβs got to materialize with a trophy and a parade this year. if not, then for the first time since he took over, arteta will have his most staunch advocates (me) no longer being satisfied with clear but trophyless growth. this year has got to be the breakthrough.