DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

It's a new dawn.

We are down, but not beaten.

There are still things we need to take from this season.

But the pain is real.

I'm not quite ready to write the obituary yet; we'll save that for a day when we don't have Nottingham Forest on a weeknight. But I have found some of the football intelligentsia's takes to be slightly nauseating.

I read an article yesterday that suggested that the reason the league has slipped from Arsenal is we lack discipline, we can't handle adversity, and we lack edge in difficult circumstances. Liverpool, apparently, have all these ingredients.

The victors write the history books, but me, the loser in the dunce hat, will never forget the luck. The incredibly easy start that gave Slot the momentum he needed to start strongly. The incredible lack of injuries in an overworked squad at the end of a cycle. The amount of times they played teams broken and out of form.

I'll also not forget our 4 red cards. Cards that Liverpool and City simply do not get. Cards so bad, they forced opposition fans to step out of their partisan echo chambers to say 'I hate Arsenal, but you can't deny they are treated differently.'

Liverpool will not repeat this form ever again and Arsenal probably won't have a season as unblessed.

This season, outside the horrendous luck, has really been one about our own momentum stuttering.

We gambled on a light squad; that was a poor bet. Now we've lost the house.

We dithered in a summer we should have pressed on; those players we've waited for have cost us a proper title run.

We spent what little money we did have in a way that hasn't really moved the squad forward.

This season was never supposed to be a transition moment; it was supposed to be one we were ready for, and ultimately, we haven't had the resources to call upon in times of need... and more worryingly, the manager hasn't shown enough maturity with his small squad of players he's run into the ground.

These things can be fixed with good leadership this summer, but the jury is certainly out as to whether that's going to happen. We haven't solved our Sporting Director question yet, which is a worry 5 months out. And who knows whether Arteta will ever stop beasting his best players, because hearing him say his injury issues are down to luck and players actually need to be training all the time to prevent muscle atrophy feels like a very 'Arsene Wenger 2012' kind of attempt at escaping culpability for things very much in his control.

But we can deep dive into those subjects another day. Right now, the most important thing is for Arsenal to avoid getting pulled into a dogfight for top 4. If we beat Forest on Wednesday, we can move 9 points clear of them in 3rd. This is a 6-pointer for 2nd place right now. They have just conceded 4 to Newcastle; they're probably feeling their heavy legs right now, so who knows what to expect from that game.

The Arsenal performance against West Ham was timid. Meek. Cowardly. It needs to be banished. What we don't know is what the underlying cause was. Bad training? Bust-up with players? Fatigue? Or just one of those grim days at the office where everything goes wrong and the carefully laid plans get a smack in the face from the sort of Mike Tyson the Paul brothers wouldn't fight for all the money in the world.

Arteta needs a reaction. Arsenal getting PSV in the next round of the Champions League has gone from 'oooh, wow, that's a nice draw' to searing memories of that Wenger side that lost to PSV when Alex had an absolute blinder (so good, Chelsea signed him).

Don't take the commentary of the catastrophizers to heart. There are too many people outside and inside the fan base looking for wins. This Arsenal team has dealt incredibly with the shitty hand this season has thrown at them all year. We are always finding solutions. If Liverpool were missing even one of their legends for 3 months, you'd not see them in a title race. We're missing 4 forwards at the same time and our best player. Only Arsenal get the 'should be finding solutions' for that type of crisis.

But, if we want to keep in the mixer, we need to find a way over the course of the next 5 games. 3 Premier League matches, 2 Champions League. If we can navigate well, the reinforcements will arrive for early April. Bukayo and Martinelli give us proper options. It'll gas up the team. It'll put us in a good position to block and tackle anyone coming up behind us down the home stretch.

But it's a big ask with no striker, Raheem 'the nightmare' Sterling being a contender, plus a teenager. It's going to be even tougher if our midfield puts on another disaster class, and our defenders fail to show up. That West Ham result has to be a blip because if it's something more serious, our season could take a turn.

But there's not a lot of evidence for total collapse in the Arteta machines. Perspective is that we've only lost three games all season. Our issue has been too many draws. So we need to get the foundations correct and hope that gives us more attacking flair... and we have to pray someone can step forward with some goals. I can't be watching another 0-0.

Ok, we're taking the return to blogging with baby steps, one day at a time. I hope your mental health is holding up. I'm 7500 miles away and I was still getting dogs' abuse today. Can't imagine what it's like in London. x