Some Arsenal fans were left wondering why other portions of the fan base have such a negative reaction to the club’s pre-season loss to Hibernian. There are a few reasons why fans had such a strong reaction to the way the team performed even though it was the first pre-season game.
The main objective for these pre-season friendlies is to get the team’s fitness up to par as well as experiment with tactics and possibly integrating new players into the squad. However, these games are also useful for the team to gain confidence and momentum heading into the new season. The Gunners put a team out that consisted of a mixture of kids and some first-team players in the first half, but a bit of a stronger team in the second.
With either team, the expectation from fans was that the north London club should be able to beat a team like Hibernian. That’s most likely where the frustration started. Seeing players on the pitch that shouldn’t really be at the club anymore was another source of frustration for some fans.
Players like Willian, Bellerin, Kolasinac, and Nketiah have all been subjects of heavy transfer rumors and are players that have fallen out of favor with most fans. However, they were on the pitch and it didn’t make sense as to why.
It led fans to question why pre-season minutes were afforded to players who are likely to leave instead of players who will most likely remain at the club. Seems like another management blunder, which is happening all too often for the fans’ liking. Even though it was the first game of the pre-season, the mistake ladened play, slow build-up, and missed chances were a story that was all too reminiscent of last season’s problems, which saw the club finish eighth and out of Europe for the first time in 25 years.
Fans would have definitely been frustrated expecting a new beginning but instead, they saw the same old problems. It is pretty safe to assume that fans were also frustrated with not seeing the new signing on the pitch. Mikel Arteta has claimed that one of the reasons why the team had early season struggles last year was because of the lack of a pre-season.
The manager has claimed on multiple occasions that he has the full backing of the Arsenal board. If that were the case, they would have known how important it is to have players that Arteta wanted in early so that they could gel with the team during these pre-season friendlies. Not doing so makes it look to the fans like the Spanish boss was just giving excuses as to why the team struggled last season.
A large portion of this fanbase are beyond tired of excuses given to them as to why their beloved club has been underperforming for so long now. Phrases like “be excited”, “be patient”, “trust the process”, are phrases that have grown old with some fans. Watching the team in that game did not help the fans to believe that this team are moving forward in a positive direction.
Fans’ frustration with the lack of transfer activity is already creating a negative vibe around the club’s new season, couple that with the loss to a side that the Gunners were expected to beat and you get the negative reaction that a lot of the fan base had. It was easy to understand why some fans were upset about the game as they had a few reasons to be.
Even though it did not look or feel good to the fans, it was just the first game of pre-season and the team will have a chance to put in a better performance against Rangers this Saturday. A good performance and a win followed by some positive news in the transfer window could start to change the vibe in the fanbase and start to build some positive momentum for Arsenal heading into the new season.
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