Back from a week off in the Maldives and having fortunately picked a week in which it’s been internationals going on, from an Arsenal perspective it’s been good because there’s not really massive amounts to talk about. Well, nothing that you have probably not already read just about everything on.

Then I check in on our fixture list and the next time we’re in action is Tuesday next week! So this is going to feel like one heck of a slog for us, because this weekend coming is the FA Cup quarter finals, which of course we’ve had no interest in since the beginning of January.

I do have to say – and this is not just with hindsight in mind, the way in which I saw some of the fanbase dismiss the FA Cup at the time of that third round draw never quite set well with me. I get that a semi final of a League Cup puts you closer to a trophy, as well as the fact we were still in the discussion re: the Premier League title race, but it just didn’t feel like this was one we could just throw away. To be fair to Arteta I think he played his best possible team, we got an unlucky third round draw for like the third season in a row, plus we battered a United side that absolutely did not deserve to go through on the day. Then you look at United’s games in the cups – Leicester City, Fulham and then if they’d have overcome Fulham it would have been Palace for a place in the quarter finals – and you start to think (and this IS with hindsight) that were we still in that competition we’d probably stand a brilliant chance of winning it outright given the teams currently left in it.

And you should never besmirch a cup and the value it can bring to a side. The Arsenal side of 87 used the League Cup as a springboard for future glories. Arteta needs something silverware-related you feel and I don’t know about you, but it does feel like there are a few murmurings in similar fashion from the fanbase, the media and others. We all need to collectively ignore the ‘bottlers’ tag from rival fans; it’s just thrown around without any context in an era of over-saturated social media influence and designed to get a rise from us as fans. I ignore it outright as it’s not worth any of my thinking or brain power to respond to moronic labels like that. You aren’t getting my clicks and you aren’t getting any interaction from me if you’re putting nonsense like that in front of me.

But the reality is that we do need to get some silverware on the score board sooner rather than later. The injuries and rotten luck (as well as downright bizarre officiating) have had an impact this season, for sure, but next season I think becomes the ‘final phase’ for this Arteta side. They have all had three season’s together competing towards the top at the end of this season and now it is time that they got over the line. Another second place finish given the context of this season, then a trophy like the FA Cup, would have been ‘par’ for me. Winning nothing and finishing second (if indeed that is what we do) will be seen as a bit of treading water amongst plenty in the fanbase and even though we all know the context of the season and can accept we’ve been unlucky with injuries (depending on which side of the fence you sit on, we have another one with Calafiori it seems, although I’m starting to think he’s just another very talented and likeable, but ultimately injury-prone, defender), it still doesn’t keep those nagging doubts away – does it?

It ‘feels’ like this team is good enough to win something for me. It ‘feels’ like now is the time. But there’s something that little extra that every team needs to get over the line. So far we haven’t exhibited it. I think the fans – one’s I speak to and how I feel in my bones as well – look at last season’s points haul and say “that was the mark of champions”. But I still look at that game last season against Villa and can’t help but think “winning ‘that’ was the sign of champions” – because that’s what City needed to do to get over the line. We had the slightest stumble last season and it ended cost us in the run in to the end of season last season. We can all accept that fate hasn’t favoured us this season, but when things keep happening that mean you just fall short, you wonder how long it is before the noises start to pop up about making a more radical change in fortunes.

Let me be clear on one thing though – I’m not saying that’s Arteta being moved on. I’m 100% not advocating that because I think he’s been brilliant for us and the fact we’re even in second this season with the decimation of squad we’ve had is a miracle in itself. But maybe something else has to change. Does he need to overhaul somewhere in the team? Does he need to change something in his approach? Maybe the change has already started to take shape in the form of Berta coming in as a Sporting Director. But I do think we’ll be at this inflection point of having a lot of questions as an Arsenal fanbase that goes something along the lines of “how do we get over the line now? What are we missing here?”

For some it will be as simple as “get a striker” but I think our tweaks need to be more than that. They need to be in a few variations in style of football, more clinical finishers, less injury-prone players, ability to make low block teams not just be able to park the bus, keeping more players happy with better rotation, different tactical tweaks, etc. That’s a lot of variables I’ve already chucked in there, but it does feel like we’ll be coming to that inflection point soon. Maybe this summer, maybe next summer, but getting that first bit of silverware over the line kinda feels like it needs to be nowish (over that timeframe).

Catch you all tomorrow.