The transfer window is shut. Foootball returns today. It is time to get back to being Mikel Arteta’s 12th man.
Despite spending £200m, there are fans still complaining that we should have spent more. Or should not have bought the players we signed. Luckily those “fans” follow Arsenal through social media and have probably never, and will never, step foot inside the Emirates.
Armchair critics who attempt to make their sad little lives better by trying to project their negativity onto others and bring them down.
It is interesting how these people were hardly heard from last season, and then, off the back of a single draw to Fulham, they are back out from under their rocks and demanding Arteta to be sacked. You would think they had learnt their lesson from last season.
In his post-match interview, Arteta highlighted how often that noisy minority have been wrong. When asked about fans not being convinced by Kai Havertz after 3 games, he said:
“More than two months [people weren’t convinced by Ødegaard]. Gabriel Magalhães was the same. White could not play as a full-back. Ramsdale wasn’t good enough & now you sign another goalkeeper, it’s a catastrophe!
“Saka was a left-back, eh? Now he’s playing right-wing. Granit Xhaka, we have so many examples, good examples.
“The players have to love what they do & I think they love more what they do when they feel supported.”
Arteta might not get everything right, but he gets a lot less wrong than his criticis.
Whilst Arteta was building a title challenging team, his harshest critics were calling for us to sign the likes of Lewis Dunk, Ben Chillwell, Idrissa Gueye and Ryan Fraser.
They would have us still starting Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin, Alex Lacazette down the middle and Reiss Nelson (rather than Bukayo Saka) out wide.
Last season, the Emirates crowd were more connected with the team than we have been for decades. That needs to continue this season and we need to ensure that those few online trolls do not let their negativity infect us.
We spent £200m, and fans demand more. Had we spent £300m, they would have demanded more. Had we spent £400m, they would have demanded more. Never happy.
By purchasing top quality players (rather than going down the Chelsea route of buying 20 unknown youngsters for a lot of money), we have dramatically improved the squad:
Rice is an improvement on Xhaka and Lokonga.
Havertz is an improvement on Patino and Balogun.
Timber is an improvement on Tierney and Trusty.
Raya is an improvement on Turner and Runarsson.
Some will now say “well we have to win the league then”, but football does not work like that.
Manchester City have also improved (and spent more than us). Liverpool also looked to have returned to their top form in the second half of last season.
A bit like the last campaign, I do not see it as a failure if we do not win the league. I do not expect us to get the 90+ points to win the league. And those that do clearly do not realise how tough this is, and how much Pep Guardiola has raised the bar.
We could get 84 or 85 points again and end up finishing 3rd. That is not failure.
And if you want an example of why fans need to be ignore, just look towards East London.
West Ham fans spent the entire summer demanding David Moyes be sacked.
Following the departure of Declan Rice, they complained over the signing of James Ward-Prowse. Not good enough was their opinion.
After 4 games, they sat top of the table unbeaten, with Ward-Prowse their best player.
If fans ran the club, Moyes would have been sacked and replaced by Graham Potter. Kalvin Phillips would have been signed instead of Ward-Prowse.
Some of their fans will never accept David Moyes. Even though he has taken them to a trophy and a 6th and 7th place finish in the Premeir League, with a win ratio of 46%. The adhored Harry Redknapp won just 37% of his games in charge.
So today, back the manager, back the team. Win lose or draw.
We achieve nothing by booing an individual player, or booing the team off at half time or full time. This is Spurs behaviour. We are The Arsenal.
Leave the negativity at home. To those who follow the club on social media. Who record themselves watching the game.
UTA.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Thank you for a thoughtful and positive article. COYG
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Absolutely spot on.
We are the best version of ourselves since the invincibles and everyone needs to get onboard or f**k off.
7 points from 3 games is an 88 point season, and we’ve not got out of second gear yet.
We are trying new things, we have new players to bed in, existing players to learn new positions/ tactics.
We’ll have our ups and downs, but, we will compete for honours this year and for years to come.
Arteta is the man.
Ask yourselves who you want to replace him with? There is no one else, (other than Pep), who could take us on this journey, so stop whining and enjoy the ride.
We are The Arsenal.
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I know the type of people who wants to force Arteta to buy rubbish players. The same type who managed to force McD to have breakfast menu. Shocking.
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Great stuff and absolutely bang on. Thank you.
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