2022-23 English Football Thread

[Krebstar]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

He also called Curtis Jones Salah a few times. I think he just sees shapes with hair.

Unless it's Harry Kane—he sees all of him.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

30 seconds in though 🥴

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Can’t blow a lead if you concede in the first minute!

[PPerfect_CJ]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Wow, Arsenal. Wow. Looks like evil will win, again.

[dubcity]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Don't get y'all's hopes up lol

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

I didn’t expect them to win it all this year anyway so the jokes won’t hit as hard as they *should* for possibly blowing this in the last month of the season…but it’s still funny nonetheless lol.

At least they’re back in CL next season though.

[Keirik]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Arsenal can’t lose this game. They just can’t. Even a draw isn’t exactly that helpful.

[Brahvocado]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Arsenal fans can gaslight people all they want about how “nobody really expected us to go ALL the way”.

This has been a stunning mental collapse.

[southernmetalhead]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

They even managed to let Caleta-Car get a free header when Southampton had no interest in attacking.

[Keirik]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Salvaged a point. Almost a Herculean comeback.

[Krebstar]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Arsenal fans can gaslight people all they want about how “nobody really expected us to go ALL the way”.

This has been a stunning mental collapse.

Warning: The words ahead contain logical and nuanced thought. If these things at all frighten or confuse you, I can provide links to Reddit and Twitter where you might be more comfortable. (Not directed directly at you, Brav, obviously)

—

The sane among us said from the start that this squad does not have what it takes right now—period. But that was often dismissed, because a sane, logical viewpoint is much harder to oppose, meme, or respond to with Twitter-esque levels of discourse.

Yes, there are absolute idiots out there who will sing about winning the league and will now backpedal as quickly as they can, and should be responded to appropriately.

It's funny when a supporter tells everyone else exactly what will happen with the team they've watched far more minutes of, re-watched more minutes than others will watch once, and what they said happens does happen, it'll be avoided for as much as possible.

People have, well, stupidly told me my viewpoint from the beginning of this season was only to protect myself, or my emotions, so at the end I could say "I told you we couldn't do it" or some other bull****. No, it was just me for once being incredibly realistic about how I view the squad.

Instead of allowing myself to become bloated with false hope while ignoring reality, which inevitably leads to bargaining after being upset and disappointed, I instead chose to enjoy what I was watching without worrying about what it could mean at the end. Let me explain that a bit more:

Many, many, many Arsenal supporters are going to be incredibly upset, disappointed, and distraught when Arsenal very likely do not win the title. It will take them weeks, or months, for them to ever stop, look back and actually enjoy what the team did achieve, the football they played, and the results they secured. Some may never allow themselves to experience that as they'll view the season wasted due to not winning the title.

By never really concerning myself mentally with winning the league, I've instead allowed myself to really, really enjoying watching Arsenal play football for the first time in many, many years. Without worrying about what it all means in the end.

I once heard a football writer say something to the effect of "The issue with playing results-based football is that if you don't get the result, it wasn't worth it." What they were saying was if you set your team up to not concede, and attempt to 1-0 your way to a title, playing the most boring, safe football possible, you better win the damn title or else all of that was just awful to experience.

I've watched and viewed Arsenal this season with an anti results-based view, meaning I'm watching them and enjoying how they're playing, how they're using the players in the squad, and how the squad is enjoying playing together. I haven't watched them from the point of "if we don't win the league, this was all pointless" because that's an incredibly stupid way to view football (but many people do it, and some expect others to do so even if they don't view it that way).

If you're still with me, yes, Arsenal have obviously collapsed in more ways than once in the run-in and mentally is one of them. But if you never saw that coming, you're either an Arsenal supporter who needs to evaluate how you view Arsenal, or you support another club and refused to view Arsenal logically because it made you feel better to be dragged along by whatever new narrative was driving clicks and mining your data.

I've ****ing loved watching Arsenal this season. There have been times where I've been frustrated or disappointed, but nothing will change how much I've enjoyed watching this team play. I never truly believed we could win the title, and I don't really ****ing care. We're going to finish second with a young squad and a young manager, and that's exciting to me.

I'd never expose her to you hooligans, but my wife could honestly vouch for how differently I've watched Arsenal this season. She's gotten pulled mentally into the title race, and has continuously told me she's surprised at how calm and relaxed I seem compared to how I reacted in the past, and how much I just seem to be enjoying watching Arsenal and not agonizing over it.

Of course, poke fun, make jokes, etc. but don't entirely dismiss the notion that some Arsenal supporters never believed a title win was a reality, and we were okay with it from the start, and still are now. I'm not denying we were in a title race—I'm denying that all Arsenal supporters should be livid with not winning it.

TL;DR: Nah, go somewhere else for that.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

I read all of that and I’m still lost as to what exactly you’re saying, lol.

I follow *some* of it but the others I’m like 🤷🏾*♂️[emoji23]

[Brahvocado]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Warning: The words ahead contain logical and nuanced thought. If these things at all frighten or confuse you, I can provide links to Reddit and Twitter where you might be more comfortable. (Not directed directly at you, Brav, obviously)

—

The sane among us said from the start that this squad does not have what it takes right now—period. But that was often dismissed, because a sane, logical viewpoint is much harder to oppose, meme, or respond to with Twitter-esque levels of discourse.

Yes, there are absolute idiots out there who will sing about winning the league and will now backpedal as quickly as they can, and should be responded to appropriately.

It's funny when a supporter tells everyone else exactly what will happen with the team they've watched far more minutes of, re-watched more minutes than others will watch once, and what they said happens does happen, it'll be avoided for as much as possible.

People have, well, stupidly told me my viewpoint from the beginning of this season was only to protect myself, or my emotions, so at the end I could say "I told you we couldn't do it" or some other bull****. No, it was just me for once being incredibly realistic about how I view the squad.

Instead of allowing myself to become bloated with false hope while ignoring reality, which inevitably leads to bargaining after being upset and disappointed, I instead chose to enjoy what I was watching without worrying about what it could mean at the end. Let me explain that a bit more:

Many, many, many Arsenal supporters are going to be incredibly upset, disappointed, and distraught when Arsenal very likely do not win the title. It will take them weeks, or months, for them to ever stop, look back and actually enjoy what the team did achieve, the football they played, and the results they secured. Some may never allow themselves to experience that as they'll view the season wasted due to not winning the title.

By never really concerning myself mentally with winning the league, I've instead allowed myself to really, really enjoying watching Arsenal play football for the first time in many, many years. Without worrying about what it all means in the end.

I once heard a football writer say something to the effect of "The issue with playing results-based football is that if you don't get the result, it wasn't worth it." What they were saying was if you set your team up to not concede, and attempt to 1-0 your way to a title, playing the most boring, safe football possible, you better win the damn title or else all of that was just awful to experience.

I've watched and viewed Arsenal this season with an anti results-based view, meaning I'm watching them and enjoying how they're playing, how they're using the players in the squad, and how the squad is enjoying playing together. I haven't watched them from the point of "if we don't win the league, this was all pointless" because that's an incredibly stupid way to view football (but many people do it, and some expect others to do so even if they don't view it that way).

If you're still with me, yes, Arsenal have obviously collapsed in more ways than once in the run-in and mentally is one of them. But if you never saw that coming, you're either an Arsenal supporter who needs to evaluate how you view Arsenal, or you support another club and refused to view Arsenal logically because it made you feel better to be dragged along by whatever new narrative was driving clicks and mining your data.

I've ****ing loved watching Arsenal this season. There have been times where I've been frustrated or disappointed, but nothing will change how much I've enjoyed watching this team play. I never truly believed we could win the title, and I don't really ****ing care. We're going to finish second with a young squad and a young manager, and that's exciting to me.

I'd never expose her to you hooligans, but my wife could honestly vouch for how differently I've watched Arsenal this season. She's gotten pulled mentally into the title race, and has continuously told me she's surprised at how calm and relaxed I seem compared to how I reacted in the past, and how much I just seem to be enjoying watching Arsenal and not agonizing over it.

Of course, poke fun, make jokes, etc. but don't entirely dismiss the notion that some Arsenal supporters never believed a title win was a reality, and we were okay with it from the start, and still are now. I'm not denying we were in a title race—I'm denying that all Arsenal supporters should be livid with not winning it.

TL;DR: Nah, go somewhere else for that.

“I’d never expose her to you hooligans”

Are you suggesting we are not perfect gentlemen?

[Krebstar]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

“I’d never expose her to you hooligans”

Are you suggesting we are not perfect gentlemen?

You’re all, at best, the definition of riffraff and comparable to horse thieves in the Wild West, and villains in silent films. But I love you as much as one can ‘love’ internet strangers in a tight knit community.

To an extent, she knows about this rag tag group, as those I used to talk to about football in person I don’t see often. You know, pandemic, getting older and growing apart.

But gentlemen, of the perfect variety? No, I think not.

[legendkiller5]

Re: 2022-23 English Football Thread

Arsenal fans can gaslight people all they want about how “nobody really expected us to go ALL the way”.

This has been a stunning mental collapse.

These two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.