When Liverpool were looking dodgy for top 4 a couple of weeks ago their supporters tried inventing the "attacking football" trophy, not sure they realised City are already beyond reach in that one too
Eh? What a weird response. You ask why we haven't won silverware under Poch, then say it's just excuses, well of course it's excuses (or more to the point - admissions) but what were you expecting? Us to say God/ Jesus/ Allah/ Shiva/ Odin etc frowned upon us and decided we can't trophies? Or that the universe is against us? I merely pointed out, in a nutshell this time, we've not been good enough to compete on all fronts due to squad limitations and so having found ourselves in positions to have challenged for the Premier League title in two of the three full seasons Poch has been in charge, we focused all our efforts on trying to do so but came up short. This is the first season, thanks to an improved squad, which is allowing us to focus on multiple targets, winning the league is obviously out of the question so finishing in the top four and trying to win a trophy is the objective, which currently, we have a chance of achieving. If you asked a Spurs fan would they take silverware over top four then every single one of us would say absolutely but that doesn't mean we'll be devastated if we manage to finish in the top four and don't win a trophy, ideally we want both and as I said above, this is the first season where we realistically have a chance of achieving both under Poch, doesn't mean we will but it's nice seeing our progression to even harbour the hope of doing so.
Nothing would surprise me if Jose keeps messing about with the team and playing people out of position. I can only hope he is now thinking we have bigger fish to fry by going for the CL and FA Cup, the league is long gone so all we need to do is keep ahead of 5th (which shouldn't be hard with the lead we have) and go for the cups.
Whilst there are 5 clubs with a massive financial advantage the club will say that, this may have to be the case every place above 6th we finish is punching above our weight so 2nd and 3rd were a success - As fans we want to win trophies (we want to finish top 4 too) , we are constantly told that players want to win trophies too, but the owner, chairman, board etc they need the money from the highest league place and the champions league funding, once the stadium is complete the playing field may level but many of the fans will always prefer silverware to top 4.
What would arsenal or Liverpool's finances allow you to do that you can't do now? What players would you realistically afford that would improve your first XI? You already have £100m 'worth' players. It's just you didn't buy them for that much, you turned cheaper ones into them. I can't see a more expensive realistic transfer improving your first XI much.
To be honest I don't know, he did make noises about heading back to the North, but City offering a significant wage increase may also have been a factor.
Pretty much agree with this. I think the jury is still out on our RB situation. Aurier and Trippier have impressed in fits and starts this season, but both have also had multiple games where they've been woeful. A bigger budget would make it far, far easier to hold on to our first choice players. Alderweireld probably would've signed a new contract by now, and Walker probably wouldn't have left - to name two examples.
And Modric. And Bale. As Spurs seem to get far more bang for their buck than most of the usual suspects have since 2010, you can smell the fear should they get an extra 100m pa in revenue for which a fair bit can be used for squad activities.
The reality of modern football that the "magic of the cup" enthusiasts fail to see is the FA Cup isn't a prize anymore, it's either a bonus to a team who have already achieved their aims for the season or a consolation to a team that have failed in theirs - which is still better than the Season Killer Cup, which is often the cue for the winning teams' players to take their summer holidays early in spite of the eight weeks worth of fixtures they should be focusing on. So in terms of what's important, the answer's obvious: the option that greatly boosts the club's finances while offering an incentive for potential transfer targets - and that's not the FA Cup.
Why do you keep referring to first XI? We're well aware our first XI is brilliant but look past that and we struggle to fill the voids left by key players when they don't play or lose form. So if we had the finances to buy top talent to go on the bench, that's where we'd go from being a very good side to one that could very much likely win titles. When Eriksen isn't in the XI, our creativity goes from a 10/10 to a 3/10. When Dembele isn't, our drive from CM is non existent. When Kane isn't, we haven't been able to find a striker to even do a fraction of what he can do, we'd even take a striker who can "just score goals" but we haven't even found that in recent seasons what with Soldado, Janssen and Llorente all flopping. While Sanchez has been a great signing for us so far and no doubt has potential to be a leading CB, he's nowhere near the level of Toby at the moment - but then not many CBs are. The squad has held us back, not the XI and that's due to the fact we haven't been able to afford to pay for top players to sit on the bench most weeks and so we've relied on astute signings or promoted youth but ultimately that process will very rarely beat the sides with far bigger financial clout apart from when a Leicester City season comes around... Which is safe to say - very, very rare.
It could be. Mauricio Pochettino said winning stuff is not everything for Spurs right now and given the stadium cost and additional cost of the hotel, sport centre, housing etc., he's right. Winning the League Cup isn't going to pay for Jonny Evans; £60m or £70m of CL money would. Trust me, you haven't bought Aubameyang for £60m to ensure that you win the League Cup. He's an expensive late throw of the dice to get top 4/win the EL and get back in the CL For us, adding players like Moura, Aurier and Sanchez and Winks' development gives us nearly 2 teams, so now, we can field 10 or 11 different players against Newport, Rochdale, etc and rest HK, Dele, Christian Eriksen. Our spread of resources is expanding, which widens our horizons and ambitions. Pushing the starting 11 issue is meaningless. I don't think we've put our best 11 out all season. It's about having enough resource to overcome it. Citeh pay £50m for bench players because they improve the collective. We're still well short of United and Citeh in numbers and cost but in 2015/16 and last season we had only 20 senior pro's including 3 goalkeepers. That's a big disadvantage in big games at the end of the season with a few injuries. So, getting top 4 allows us to compete. You won't have realised this yet but failing to do so, restricts your ability, significantly. Which is why you can't afford Jonny Evans. It's down the rabbit hole if you fail again this year...
Your next 6 league games.... Chelsea [H], Palace [A], Liverpool [H], West Ham [A], Swansea [H[, City [A] ...after that, it's a lot easier but there's some room for **** ups in there, unless your form picks up markedly.
Cool story. Picture us quivering with fear and I'm sure it will be true. I could trust you..but you're a random on the internet so I probably won't. I'm here trying to have semi-serious discussion about the real problems arsenal have and the reasons behind spurs success and yet so many arsey responses. I'm not wumming. I'm not giving veiled compliments which actually contain backhanded slaggings off. Citizen Kane and Changing Man are about the only posters not constantly on the defensive & spitting venom.
The form that has seen us pick up 1 less point than City and Liverpool and a whole 2 points less than Spurs? That said, we lost to Spurs and Newcastle so you could be on to something
You've either asked questions or made points which have been answered or countered. No one's accused you of wumming.
I haven't said anyone has accused me of wumming. I'm merely summising that the level of some of the pissy putdowns I'm seeing are the sorts of comments normally aimed at WUMs. Don't get why they're appearing and why some of you seem so defensive.
