With the 2012/13 season review already published, it’s time to relive those moments that would that stood out from yet another exhilarating campaign. Arsenal began the season with a renewed sense of optimism but the departures of RVP and Alex Song despite the acquisitions of Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla seemed like a classic case of three steps forward, two steps back.
The Premier League was one hell of a roller coaster ride with Arsenal seriously flirting with Europa League football before usurping Tottenham to the final Champions League spot. The Capital One cup saw the Gunners humiliated after losing to a team 65 places below them in the division. The FA Cup also saw the Gunners lose out to another lower division outfit, as the manager had half an eye on his monumental Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.
The Gunners were an aberration at home before putting up a spirited performance away at Munich.
With no further ado, I’ve created nine categories for the voting sequence (polls) and I’ll be grateful if you select the category that best suits you then place your vote.
Category One: Save of the Season
This season, Arsenal has had the chance to use all three registered goalkeepers as Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone have all gotten chances to be custodians between the sticks. While Szczesny undoubtedly had a lion’s share of playing time, Fab and Don Vito also put decent shifts when they were called upon.
The nominated saves of the season include – Szczesny’s one-handed save from Steven Fletcher’s header against Sunderland (away), Szczesny’s save from Loic Remy’s shot against Queens Park Rangers (away) and Szczesny’s save from Arouna Kone’s close range shot when Arsenal hosted Wigan.
[polldaddy poll=7128153]
Categoty Two: Goalkeeping Blunder of the Season
Of course, a season can’t be complete without a blooper or two. While the likes of Szczesny, Fabianski and Mannone did well to put up decent performances, there were some moments of madness they exhibited that probably made them hope that the ground could open and swallow them up.
The nominated blunders of the season include – Szczesny’s unbelievable gaffe against Southampton (home) that broke Arsenal’s clean sheet record, Szczesny’s lapse in concentration from Andreas Weimann’s shot from “three blocks away” against Aston Villa (home) and Mannone’s weak parry from Alex Tettey’s shot that was dispatched by Grant Holt in that disappointing loss to Norwich (away).
[polldaddy poll=7128157]
Category Three: Goal of the Season
As expected from an attacking side like Arsenal, the goals have rained in this season but there have been some that have stood out from the rest. Here’s my pick of the bunch – Santi Cazorla’s left-footed belter against West Ham (away), Lukas Podolski’s screamer against Montpellier and Kieran Gibbs’ thunderbolt against Swansea.
[polldaddy poll=7128160]
Category Four: Assist of the Season
While there have been goals that have been awesome in every sense of the word, there have been some stand out assists as well and I can look no further than – Olivier Giroud’s perfectly-timed chip to Kieran Gibbs against Swansea (away), Giroud’s inch-perfect pass to Walcott against West Ham (away), Giroud’s carefully-weight lob to Lukas Podolski against Montpellier (home), Santi Cazorla’s defense-splitting pass to Podolski against Liverpool (away) and Cazorla’s threaded ball to Walcott against Chelsea (away)
[polldaddy poll=7128169]
Category Five: Match of the Season
Arsenal fans watch their darling team play week in week out but there will always be some games that would last forever in the minds of the supporters. This season, my pick is – Arsenal’s spirited away victory over Bayern Munich, Arsenal’s 5-2 thrashing of Spurs in the North London derby and Arsenal’s epic Capital One cup encounter against Reading.
[polldaddy poll=7128171]
Category Six: Worst Match of the Season
While there were games that filled the fans with fits of euphoria, there were other games we couldn’t wait to see the back of. This season, Arsenal has had a plethora of horrible results but I had to sift from a host of them before concluding with – the FA Cup home loss to Blackburn, the Capital One humiliation in the hands of Bradford, the Miguel Michu-inspired home loss to Swansea and the away outing at Old Trafford marred by van Persie’s goal and Andre Santos’ moment of madness.
[polldaddy poll=7128177]
Category Seven: Most Improved Player of the Season
This season, so many players stepped up the plate to put up much-improved performances in contrast to how they played last season. Many players improved in all ramifications but my pick of the bunch was Carl Jenkinson’s early season performances when Bacary Sagna was still out injured, Aaron Ramsey’s resurgence in Spring, Theo Walcott’s improved output and Per Mertesacker cementing his status as Arsenal’s No. 1 defender with stellar performances.
[polldaddy poll=7128180]
Category Eight: Most Disappointing Player of the Season
While there were some Gunners that put up improved performances all season long, there were others that were big disappointments throughout the campaign with outings that made the fans call for their heads on a plate. This season, many Gooners have been disappointed with the performances of Thomas Vermaelen, Gervinho, Andre Santos and Bacary Sagna.
[polldaddy poll=7128185]
Category Nine: Player of the Season
Finally, this is the award that goes out to the best player in the 2012/13 season. All players gave their all to the Gunner’s cause but these individuals stepped up the plate and endeared themselves to the hearts of Arsenal fans. May I present – Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Laurent Koscielny.
[polldaddy poll=7128186]
That’s your lot, my Gooner family.
Please make your votes count because the results will influence my 2012/13 End of Season awards post.
Feel free to check out how last year’s awards looked like.
Sayonara.
You can download the Gooner Daily BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.
You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back
Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s Facebook page and click on the like button.
You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button
