Remember when Arsenal were the second best team in England?
Hell, there were a couple of years when Arsenal were the best. Champions League qualification was guaranteed. A title push, even if only for a portion of the season, was pretty much a given. Winning a top trophy didn’t seem like an absurd notion.
That seems like aeons ago now. Gooners would give anything to have those days back.
Remember when Arsene Wenger was considered one of the world’s elite managers? Back then, it was only the opposition supporters that abused him as part of a rivalry instead of the home crowd screaming ‘Wenger Out!’ (with eventual success).
Now that the Frenchman is finally departing, the tributes come with an asterisk. ‘Wenger was great but, well, you know…’
Remember when Arsenal players were capable of having an ambitious pop at goal without bringing embarrassment to the entire club?
What does that hackneyed commentary line go like again? If you don’t shoot you can’t score?
Well, let’s wheel out another lazy one – you have to test the keeper.
And no, Iwobi. We don’t want you to test how flexible his neck muscles are.
So the initial run was pretty good. He sold the defender a dummy, danced past another and found himself at the edge of the box with a clear shot at goal.
He made some space… lined his shot up and executed the strike.
As soon as the ball left his boot, it was clear this was going to make a great series of images in an article making fun of it.
The camera zoomed out, but alas, even the most modern of machines wouldn’t have been able to capture its waywardness.
And then, just like that, it disappeared out of frame.
He knew how shite it was too.
Remember when… oh forget it!