Patience a virtue for Arsenal but season feels like one that got away

Mikel Arteta will have regrets despite a campaign that saw the Gunners overcome big setbacks.

END OF THE ROAD: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta with Martin Odegaard after the final whistle in Paris. 

MIKEL ARTÉTA had not long left his dressing room full of beaten players, some still teary-eyed, when he walked into the press conference room in the bowels of the still smoke-filled, still raucous Parc des Princes stadium. He effectively told the sympathetic media his Arsenal side were the best in Europe and only lost their Champions League semi-final two legs to Paris Saint-Germain because their goalkeeper was too good.

Fair to say emotions were running high and most here in the French capital thought the best team won, however well Arteta’s men played in parts. The stats show they had better goalscoring chances too. So, let us start the post-mortem calmly and give the Arsenal manager a pass on his decision to back his players so passionately before we dissect where he and they went wrong.