Everything about Baku just screamed "second-rate competition." The fans of the clubs involved have every right to be proud or disappointed depending on their allegiance, but for the rest of us the whole affair was very "meh." This is UEFA's fault for their insistence on holding the final in Baku.
I will repeat, for the umpteenth time, that Arsenal fans should see this season as a free hit, no expectations, and give Emery time to rebuild. However, with that being said, there is no hiding the fact that this feels like a setback for Emery. The team capitulated badly, the defense is a shambles, Ozil is completely checked out, Lacazette is hinting at a departure, and there is apparently little money available for transfers.
This is a critical summer for Arsenal. The top four league positions are going to be hard fought next season, and there are five other teams arguably stronger than Arsenal as it stands.
Chelsea, on the other hand, seem to thrive on chaos and win trophies even when everything seems bonkers - though it seems to be a trend that Chelsea fans hate their own Europa League-winning mangers. Fan hatred for Sarri is way over the top, I understand that many fans don't really like his tactics but the vitriol is totally uncalled for in a season where they have comfortably qualified for the Champions League, came close to winning the League Cup and won the Europa League. Entitled fans need to appreciate what they've got. It's not every year you win a trophy, unless you're Celtic or Crispy Ronaldo-era Real Madrid. With Hazard leaving and a transfer ban on the horizon, fans will likely get their wish and see the back of Sarri - but be careful what you wish for.
Kroenke is a sports owner who owns losing teams that make money. This is, sadly, a well-established fact. Under Kroenke Arsenal will continue to be a profitable club - For Kroenke. But, if his ownership of other teams is any indication, they are unlikely to win anything for the foreseeable future.
Excellent post, and I am pretty much in agreement with you re Baku.
And I agree, also, on the need to give Emery time, another year at the very least, probably two.
Yes, Ozil has long checked out, but this is a pattern with some of those exceptionally well remunerated, very talented but blithely unconcerned and rather demotivated individuals (Pogba, and Gareth Bale also come to mind).
And I accept that Arsenal's defence - at a time before Holding and Bellerin fell to injury, had begun to improve.
However, I am concerned about the capitulation; I had thought that this feature of late Wenger Arsenal was a thing of the past. I don't mind a defeat to a clearly better team - I do object to a lack of steel and spine and skill in responding to this, a lack of mental as well as physical strength.
And letting Ramsay - an able and motivated and passionate player - go on a free transfer rather than renewing his contract for a further year is idiocy, just pure insanity.
In fact, as Amy Lawrence in the Guardian remarked yesterday, (in the first of two excellent pieces about Arsenal - the second looked at the Emery-Ozil relationship, or lack of), Arsenal blew it twice in the dying days and weeks of the season; they could well have finished fourth, or third, in the PL, but contrived to find a way to destroy any such chance (by one point) and they threw away their second route to CL football with their spineless capitulation in Baku in the Europa Cup final.
Likewise, the fact that Arsenal have not filled a number of key administrative posts (director of football, etc) going into the summer is also a matter of concern.
Re Chelsea, agree that the attacks by the fans on Sarri are grossly unfair; against two of the best teams ever to grace the Premiership - Liverpool and Manchester City - he led Chelsea to third place, and thus, a guaranteed Champions' League spot next year, managed to reach the finals of two cup competitions, one domestic (the Carabao Cup, which he lost on penalties) and one international (the Europa Cup) which he won, and all of this against a background of uncertainty re the legal status and intentions of the owner of the club.
