I think you've been overperforming in the two seasons past. Which is, I suppose, also to Arteta's credit.
In terms of your evolution of play, you had a young team that was really coming into its own. But when you look at where you are now compared to 2023, has anything really happened? What's the next step? I am thinking here both in terms of development of your players and style of play. Arteta seems to be losing sight of his own vision as well. He's far too concerned about being hard to beat than making it hard for the opposition to stop you.
He's been there five years and imo done really well. This isn't a "failing to win a trophy yet again is not acceptable" kind of thing. Klopp had off-seasons too.
It's not so much about the results, which are injury affected, as it is how you are getting them. I just don't see him finding another gear in the evolution of this side. He's treading water, a bit like Wenger ended up doing. The Transfers kinda show it too, though that isn't all his fault (I imagine he decides whether a forward is all important, or another midfielder though).
I think you'll have to spend another season to find out if that is really the case though. Which is where the pity is really. Teams like this don't really have as many years to come together and then win stuff as it can sometimes seem.
I see your points mate, all very valid.
I'm obviously looking through red tinted glasses, so obviously biased, but I still think we are well positioned to keep up there challenging. I think we have dropped off a bit quality wise this season, but i also believe the injuries and sending offs have contributed to this. We might need a tweak or 2 to become more fluid or whatever, and we certainly need more firepower in the forward areas, but the fact we are where we are in the league despite these issues and obvious weaknesses gives me hope that there is still another level for us to go to.
Obviously a lot will come down to what we do in the transfer market, and no-one can really predict how that's going to go in the summer, so i will be a lot less confident if we again fail to get what we need next window. Good thing is we know there's little PSR issues, and we should have a decent budget, but they still need to execute, so there will be little excuse, there will be massive pressure on them to deliver when we've had 2 windows now that have been disappointing.
Mentally, i get the 3 year challenging disappointment aspect, but i think by March / April we won't see this as a real challenge, it will be out of sight. I think Arteta might try and drum into the squad that the injuries and the sending's offs are the main reason why the season never really took off (even if there was more to it than that) to try and deflect some of the disappointment away and try and galvanise the squad to again.
The other unknown is what happens to our direct rivals. What happens to Salah, Van Dijk & Trent? How do City react to this season? How much can the likes of Chelsea, Villa, Newcastle etc improve?
I get the Netflix FC comments that will come, and are all valid as well. We've proven nothing yet but that we are a good team that can't take the final step. But i'm a football fan, like all on here, and i bet everyone of us hope and think next season will be better. We are all Netflix FC in that regard.
