Blog

Welcome back, and welcome to this week’s blog, and be warned you’re getting a little bit of everything this week. Me having a moan generally, a mention of an old villain of the club and I have somehow snuck a golfing analogy in. For those reading this that know me, would have guessed golf would somehow sneak in at some point. 

Champions League Final

First off, the Champions League Final. Parisian flair v Italian steel or so we thought. 

Well that was pretty comprehensive wasn’t it! 

The game pitted the two teams that Arsenal lost to in the competition this season and deservedly the best team in the competition won it, sorry Mikel, PSG have been absolute class in the knockouts. A level above. The pressing and the passing that Enrique has instilled is the best around currently sweeping aside the English teams and Inter on their way to the trophy, also the speed they play out, with a special mention to Vitinha, he sets the tone.

But yet another nation state winning it with some FFP history but let’s not dwell on that today….

With no Zubimendi confirmed but looking closer this week and the striker situation being resolved, I thought I’d look at the recent debate of trophies but with a focus on the Gunners.

Overlap With Thierry Henry

With many teams this year breaking years worth of trophy droughts and in last weeks blog I made mention of trophies ticking you over.

But, what is more important for this current Arsenal team? Competing at the very top with the very best? Or ultimately, are trophies the be all and end all and this team needing just any old trophy they can get? I’ll dive in. 

This week’s Overlap featured the King,  Thierry Henry. Some of his comments raised eyebrows, some nods and some who flatly disagreed with some observations. He made a remark of a very tall building with nothing to show, in terms of a comment from Neville about the club continually building season on season. He then mentioned United have made five finals recently, with a couple of trophies, but I ask, are their fans truly happy with the current situation? And are they the measure to which Arsenal right now should be compared? 

Right now, United remind me of Arsenal from 2017–2021, brief highs but a lot of lows. Sure, many clubs would take that, a place in The Premier League and the odd cups here and there, but with Arsenal’s size, infrastructure, history, and pricing of tickets (another topic for another day), we expected more at the time and exactly what United fans expect of their club as well in terms of being in the hunt for the biggest prizes. 

Let’s be clear, I wouldn’t trade Arsenal’s current trajectory for a drop in league performance just to snag say a League Cup, Europa or Conference League to get a trophy.

Domestic trophies, not the yardstick right now

However, should Arsenal be better in the domestic cups? Absolutely. I’ve seen some fan opinion that if Arsenal don’t win any trophy next season, Arteta is on thin ice. Discussing this recently though with a friend, I just don’t see it though, should Arsenal be right up there again in Spring 2026, competing in the Premier League title race and the Champions League latter stages, Arteta will stay 100 percent. 

Enter: The Golf Analogy

I look it at this way, here’s the golfing analogy I mentioned. 

I will say the name  ‘Tommy Fleetwood’, 

He’s among the world’s most consistent golfers on the PGA tour, 41 top 10 finishes, 27 top 5s, 5 runner-ups but no PGA wins. 

Yet he competes with the elite weekly and earns among the best on the tour. Now, does he look at the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) where he has 7 wins and thinks I’ll go back and play fully on that tour to rack up wins, in what you could say is a lesser tour? 

No, he’s not dropping to the DP World Tour weekly anytime soon. He’s competing at an elite level, with the best, aiming to be the best.

The Balance

So let me link this back to Arsenal, if the club is in the latter stages of Europes best competition and in a title race, the board will  not get rid of Arteta. Where I do think a league cup win could be useful is as a springboard to more success. 

A confidence booster if you will. Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2005 comes to mind, the man said get this one in the cabinet and that breeds winning doing it from first in the league.

I do think when this Arsenal team gets one in the cabinet, more will follow. 

With squad building and good management, Arsenal should aim for domestic cups, but alongside title and Champions League contention, not at their expense and not from a lower place in the league. As I said last week, that’s the next step for the club to compete across multiple competitions.

If we finished say 5th but won a League Cup or FA Cup, sure, I’d enjoy the final but overall? That’s not enough and from where we are right now that would be regression in my eyes. I want Arsenal with the best, challenging for the biggest prizes, attracting the best players.

Plus, if that happens you can bet your bottom dollar the media would go after Arteta because the level drop and not because of winning ‘a cup’.

The Summary 

So to summarise, I believe it all depends on where a club is in its journey, football moves in cycles. Right now, considering the squad Arsenal has built and the progress made, I’d be disappointed if we ended up in the Europa League or worse, the Conference League based on a lower league finish but with an opportunity to win them.

Given our current trajectory, I want us competing with the best, aiming for the biggest trophies in the game and if that means a loss in the Semi final or final in Europes best competition then so be it. Domestic Cup runs are great and can complement the season, but they shouldn’t be used as one of the main benchmarks against the progress Arsenal have made and the manager.

So that’s all for this week, until the next one, the transfer window has opened and silly season has kicked off, maybe the Zubimendi deal might be unveiled by then. Have a great week.