Are Trophies Over-rated? Come on Arsenal fans – be proud to be a Gooner! | OneFootball

Are Trophies Overrated? by Ben Dungate

Despite what Americans will claim, Football, or to be more specific, Association Football (soccer) is the world’s most watched sport. It sparks passion amongst players and fans alike, divides cities, divides friends groups, families. It is partisan and incredible and those involved in the game face intense scrutiny. Sometimes too much, leading to heinous and ridiculous acts such as the assassination of Andreas Escobar, the Colombian defender, whose crime was scoring an own goal at the 1994 World Cup.

With this in mind, should us fans and supporters take a step back and assess what we want from our team. What we demand from our players and manager and whether those expectations are actually realistic.

Arsenal find themselves currently in third place in the Premier League at Christmas, with a handful of us, perhaps understandably, a little bit disappointed, given the horrendous run of form Man City are going through. However, should we not in fact actually be pleased that the management team as a whole has led the side to a period where the fans can actually have positive expectations, without placing all the emphasis on delivering trophies?

Arteta ‘s recent interview in which he petulantly reminded the interviewer that he has won 2 Community Shields during his tenure, perfectly demonstrates the ridiculous nature of the expectation placed upon people in his position. Should we not in fact see the team’s consistency in the league as a success in itself, and arguably just as difficult to achieve in the most competitive domestic football league in the world as winning a domestic cup?

Let us remember that Erik ten Hag won an FA Cup, a League Cup, and reached another FA Cup final in during his 3 years in charge at Man Utd but also delivered their lowest league finish in decades. Would we really swap our consistent league challenge for the odd trophy here and there?

Now, before you bite my head off, I absolutely believe there is no reason why we can’t and shouldn’t be competitive in the league AND win trophies, this article is more to make us reflect upon our expectations and to realise that no team has a divine right to win anything and simply having a good team does not give any guarantees.

So, maybe we should actually just be happy and proud that this group of players and the manager are able to provide the fans with hope of success on a season by season basis and not actually expect anything!

It’s Christmas, so let’s not waste these years demanding more, more, more, but instead be grateful that we are Gooners and support the greatest team in the land. The only side never to have been relegated from the top division (technically) and the only team to have ever gone an entire league season undefeated.

We get to go into each season with hope of victory and success, watch fantastic games, and see homegrown talent pull on the famous red jersey and represent the team as those that have gone before them have and try to deliver the fans the success we crave so much. Let us simply be grateful for what we have and know that when success is delivered, and it will be, it won’t be tainted by improper financial activity or under a cloud of dismal league performances.

Remember, we could be Tottenham fans!

Best regards

BEN

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