Quote Originally Posted by redgunamo View Post
Fair enough, but it is defeatist at least in the sense that it's decidedly not .. whatever the opposite of defeatist is.

We're supposed to be supporters, for heaven's sake!
Of course. Just as any good film gets the viewer engaged and rooting for the main character. No matter how good the film, the viewer will find it far harder to root for anyone when watching it for a second, third, fourth time. Still a good film, still worth watching, but your perspective is irrevocably changed by knowing the outcome.

Same with Wenger's Arsenal. We're watching the same film and we know how it ends. It would take a strange form of amnesia to be surprised when we, for example, lose at Chelsea even if they are in the bottom three at the time; run out of midfielders before Christmas; start the season without any centre backs; look good for a three month spell then implode; finish 4th/5th/6th with between 70 and 75 points.