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Arsenal Season Review: The Good, The Bad and the Not So Pretty

ColneyMay 11, 2010

Last Sunday, a win over a reserve Fulham side, brought a close to the regular season and secured third place for Arsenal. It means we will enjoy Champions League Football for the thirteenth year running, an amazing feat in itself.

It also means we will bypass the qualification process and head straight into the group stages. We will leave that to the likes of Tottenham to see what it actually feels like to juggle European football and Premier League fixtures.

The season has been full of ups and downs, a once promising campaign turned to a disappointing one, injuries once again having the final say and ensuring that our quest for silverware will have to wait until next season.

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THE GOOD

It’s perhaps hard to stomach not winning any silverware this year and finishing 11 points behind Chelsea, but there have been a lot of positives to take away from this campaign. Arsenal showed a lot of fight this season, the team simply refused to give up time and time again; keeping hope alive by scoring some very late important goals. Who can forget the comeback away at Standard Liege, the late goal away at Fulham, at home to Everton, away at Hull City, and the transformation at Stoke?

Another reckless challenge and a broken leg later, you would have forgiven the lads if they had just settled for a 1-1 tie, but the lessons at Birmingham two years ago meant that the collapse was avoided. We showed great character and team spirit to win that game 3-1.

Song, Bendtner, Fabregas and Van Persie have continued their steady progress, becoming important members of the team this year.

Fabregas has morphed into a goal scoring midfielder, Van Persie looked destined for a record breaking year before his injury, and Bendtner also chipped in with important goals this season. Alex Song felt the wrath of Arsenal fans two years ago when they wanted him gone. Fast forward to this season and Arsenal fans were pondering how the team would cope without the Cameroonian whilst away on African nations duty.

Ivan Gazidis met with members of the Arsenal Supporters Trust yesterday, where he revealed that the team no longer has any property debts. Henceforth, any sales from the Highbury Square development would be funneled back into the squad for redevelopment.

No-one knows exactly how much that amount would be but the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST) estimates that we have about £35m to spend on player transfers and wages .

The signings of Thomas Vermaelen and Sol Campbell might finally convince the manager that Arsenal needs to shore up on defence.

THE BAD

If one is to praise Arsenal's mental toughness and knack for late goals, then it is worth mentioning their failure to hold onto leads this season, which led to some epic collapses.

The own goal by Abou Diaby at Old Trafford, the debacle at Porto, conceding two late goals against West Ham, the collapse at Wigan, Blackburn and Birmingham and our lack of effort against United and Chelsea. The propensity of the goalkeepers to lose concentration and not be able to deal with set pieces was unbearable to watch. 

A manager who possesses the technical nous like Arsene does, surely knows Arsenal can’t afford to go into next season without strengthening those positions. They shipped in more goals this season than I can remember, not a trait of a championship winning side. Chelsea scored 103 goals and conceded just 32 compared to Arsenal's 41 goals conceded.

Season

2006-2007 season

2007-2008 season

2008-2009 season

2009-2010 season

Points

68 points83 points72 points75 points

Goals Scored

63 goals

74 goals68 goals83 goals

Goals Against

35 against31 against37 against41 against

Goal Difference

+28+43+31+42

League Position

4th3rd4th3rd

THE NOT SO PRETTY

The number of injuries Arsenal suffered this year, particularly impact injuries, seems to have risen. Key players such as Van Persie (ankle), Aaron Ramsey (fibula), Djourou (knee), Fabregas (fibula), Nasri (ankle), Kieran Gibbs (metatarsal), Gallas (calf), Vermaelen (calf), Clichy (back), Denilson (back), Bendtner (groin), Arshavin (calf), Eduardo (broken toe), Walcott (knee) have spent a lot of time on the sidelines nursing their injuries.

Name a club that can lose key players for the amount of time Arsenal lost them and still finish third.

It seems Ivan Gazidis is going to look into why the team has had so many injuries. Rumors are that a new medical team is being put together, so hopefully they can put an end to this nightmare.

The season is over, and we now have the World Cup to look forward to, I suppose many gooners will put aside club allegiances in support of their various national teams. Enjoy the World Cup and see you for preseason when Arsenal welcome Celtic, AC Milan and Lyon for the emirates cup in August.

Steelers got a LOT better this offseason

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