Reflections on another second to Man City115 – Forget the corruption, we need to look to ourselves | OneFootball

Reflecting on another second place finish by Konstantin Mitov ​ Well lovely Arsenal people, it’s officially done. Four in a row. What Pep has done at City is simply remarkable. I will definitely speak about the 115, but if you just look at what happens on the pitch, it’s simply incredible. Our record of going 15-1-1 in 17 games was remarkable, probably the best I’ve seen Arsenal do since I follow the club and yet since Villa, not for a second did I truly believe we might win the league.

The mentality to start winning on demand under pressure with such ease is just out of this world. It’s become inevitable, it’s not just Pep, everyone now expects City to just steamroll the last 10-15 games as it has happened numerous times in a row now. That’s one of the big differences between us and them. We can’t handle pressure the same way. We had it in our hands really for the first time against Villa and we fluffed it. Last season we fluffed it against the likes of West Ham, Southampton and even a poor Liverpool side when we were 2 nil up.

That’s something we’ll need to improve if we want to win it. Maybe going through the pain of missing out is required. I do believe we need a few players ready to win now, maybe ones who’ve won stuff as well. We definitely need a match winner. Foden scored an incredible goal in the second minute. It just settled any potential nerves which they might have had. That has happened at the Bernabeu as well, heck, even their LB Gvardiol has put some worldies. There’s nobody at Arsenal who can do that. Last player like that we had was Alexis Sanchez.

Imagine If we could’ve signed Mbappe what a message that would send? That we’re here to win now. I think we’ve made massive strides in making a lot of project players. Ben White and Gabriel are examples of players who we’ve turned from good to amazing players, part of the best defence. We made more of Havertz that most people thought was there, but sometimes to win, you just need to buy the quality. Liverpool were transformed when Van Dijk and Alisson were bought.

Speaking of buying it, I can’t bypass a few facts. The premier league should shame themselves. The guy that was supposed to hand out the medals chose to be at the Emirates rather than the Etihad because of 115 reasons. How Everton and Forrest were deducted points with such swiftness, when City have been charged for 18 months? Everyone and their mother knows City have cheated on some level. They never get a VAR decision go against them. Liverpool should’ve had a penalty in the last minute, Kovacic should’ve seen red against us, just a few examples. The same refs that go to Saudi to referee games there as well, I mean it could all just be business, but I can’t deny what my eyes are telling me, something is not right. Remember that City were charged by UEFA before, but were allowed to continue in the CL because the information was for a few years back and they don’t look that much in the past. Absolutely pathetic, but we all know the corruption at UEFA.

City are a club ran by a country with unlimited money, they can afford to buy big and make a mistake. It’s not a luxury many others can afford. They have the very best lawyers and I bet to you when this all settles and they’ve won a fair few more trophies no punishment would come. But even if it did, what does it matter? I won’t ever relive the potential 2 titles in a row we should’ve won. Those emotions and memories now live with me and I wouldn’t care if they stripped them of the titles.

That said, we need to look in the mirror and admit the mistakes we made. Subs were too late in almost every game apart from that period where we were 4-5 up at half time and we could literally walk the second halves. We’re over-reliant on our starting 11. Saka has played so many games on 1 foot. I wouldn’t have bee surprised if he had started on Sunday if the league was in our own hands. Then again there are some players who are just out of favor. Fabio Vieira is one of them and he shouldn’t be here next season. He’s been available, yet I only remember him this season for turning the Fulham game on it’s head and then not featuring at all.

Eddie and Smith-Rowe are almost certainly gone as well. Zinny is a player who makes far to omany mistakes which cost us. That corner against Fulham cost 2 points against 10 men which ended up being the difference. With the return of Timber I definitely think the Ukrainian should be up for sale. Thomas Partey has also been poor in the last few games. A player who on his day turns the ball in midfield like no other, but inconsistencies + injuries and his age tell me we need a new midfielder.

Apart from not trusting the squad enough and the late subs, the manager also made some very poor experiments like Kai in midfield, Thomas Partey at RB and so on, which’ve ultimately cost us some very expensive points. That game against Villa, to change it up like that, when it was in our hands, and not to use Partey who was available are some hard questions to answer. Moving Ben White from CB to RB was a stroke of genius but the other experiments with moving players positions haven’t worked at all.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 06: Thomas Partey of Arsenal receives medical treatment during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park on February 06, 2021 in Birmingham, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Another thing we need to work on is the apathy in some of our performances. Fulham away was probably the only game we truly deserved to lose with Chelsea away a close second, where we salvaged a point from the jaws of defeat. We beat United away, but the performance against that side they had on was terrible. We’ve had some inexplicably poor halves like the second one against Villa. Porto away was yet another pathetic display in Europe. The home game wasn’t much better even though we won. There’ve been a few games where it felt like we wouldn’t score like Villa, Porto and Newcastle away. We have to change that.

We might have the best defence in the league, but we still gave away a fair few poor goals. We started so good against Bayern, but Raya caused some panic and we all know what happened from there. Same against Spurs, 3-0 up, we made a nervy end due to silly mistakes. To reiterate that corner against Fulham again. If we cut these mistakes out, we’re talking about 6-10 more points. Really 1 point in 12 against Villa and Fulham is where we lost the league, but it is what it is.

I’m a little disappointed with the early cup exists. We really could’ve done better there. Even the Carabao cup is still a trophy. It’s one Mourinho and Pep have used to give players the feeling of lifting a cup above your head. All and all this is the best title challenge I’ve seen from Arsenal since I fell in love with this club and I enjoyed the players reaction to the situation. They weren’t happy. Declan didn’t come here to be second and you could see it on his face. Havertz wasn’t happy, neither was Odeegard, nor was Arteta.

I liked their interviews, short and straight to the point. “Don’t be satisfied”, “Keep pushing”. We must elevate our way of thinking from players, coaches and manager to the fans to become a team who will win the biggest prizes. After the disappointment of not winning it, I actually leave a little encouraged. It will be difficult, but if we do the right things in the market we might come back stronger. Now it’s time for a well deserved and needed break.

Konstantin

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