I didn't say I was happy about it, I'd like us to be doing better, but you have to be realistic about what we can achieve this season. Anyway, the point was that I was saying that despite being told that everything is wrong at Arsenal, we must be doing some things right if we're still in contention for the top 4 and the cup competitions were progressing in.
For this alone, Wenger deserves a lot of credit. I believe that we might already have been out of the Champions league if Wenger hadn't been in charge.
Most of these are flat out lies or misrepresentations of my statement, as I'm sure you realize. generally, you state one or two exceptions and claim that these exceptions are more valid than the vast majority of the evidence. How can my arguments be blind faith, when I have listed all of them and shown evidence. "The arguments of those that are unhappy actually relate to what is happening in the real world. i.e. no trophies, crap defence, a regular knack of crumbling in big games, no tactical awareness, regular stupid schoolboy errors, ..." But this is best piece of garbage you have written yet and beautifully sums up your pathetic argument. I the lord and mighty Jayram, expert in all matters of football, beyond reproach for anything, have watched Arsenal and determined in my own mind, based on evidence that I can't articulate, that Arsenal all play like schoolboys and are crap. The club I support must win trophies, so I will tolerate no argument against my blind faith in my own superior knowledge, and my sense of entitlement. Is that really the best you can come up with? You do realize that these are professional footballers and a highly respected manager and they don't really make schoolboy errors and they aren't really crap? Please tell me you are only saying this for effect, and not because you truly believe it? Because if you do believe it, what does it say about the clubs in the league below us? Or the Barcelona team we beat at home last year? Are they crap too?
Things are not all right when Arsenal are simply in contention for the top 4, we should be challenging for the top spot, not be in contention for a chance at 4th spot. That alone is a sign of how low our club has gone, even Spurs are up there fighting for the title, while we are simply fighting to be in contention for 4th spot?
Why Wenger isn't succeeding, simple, no trophies in 6 years now going on 7, no league title in 7 years now going on a definite 8 (almost a decade now), not managing to even end up in the top 2 in the last 6 seasons with a definite 7th this season, not managing to keep hold of our best players which in turn sends us backwards when he fails to even replace them properly. And the fat lady isn't singing yet, but all the signs point to a finnish outside the top 4 this season, which will simply show how backwards Wenger is sending this club.
Once again you accuse my arguments as poor and blind faith, but you cannot give any evidence or argument of why you think that we can compete against Man City and Chelse financially. It is your argument that relies on blind faith that we can beat them. Statistically over the last 7 years against: Man United we are : L - 7, D - 3, W - 4 (That isn't even losing a majority, let alone a vast majority) Chelsea we are: L - 7, D - 2, W - 5 (Not a majority either) Man City last 3 years: L - 2, D - 1, W - 2 You probably don't consider Liverpool a big game but we are L - 3, D - 6, W - 4 against them. Nope, once we get down to facts, ya got nothing, just an opinion.
Toledo I don't wish to pour more oil on this little bonfire but your stats can be seen as such - Against Utd and Chelsea, we are behind on a head to head, total being 14 against 9 for Against City, it's a draw Against Liverpool we are 3 against, 4 for. I don't see that our record against Utd and Chelsea will change substantially and against City, we have lost more of late than we have won and given our form and make-up, I don't see us getting ahead by much in the years to come. Liverpool is anyone's guess. They are so unpredictable. I really wish they still had Rafa!!!!! I think this endless debate will go on forever. The Pro-Wenger camp will largely never see that their idol is doing anything but good for the club. The rest of us are saddened that our great club is no longer able to fight with the best anymore. Just look at our form against the other top 4 sides and you'll see what I mean. Worse to come is that our form against the clubs we should be beating doesn't read all that encouragingly either. However you and Piskie would have us believe, it's alright. Feel free to stick your heads in the sand if you like, it's your privilege but please don't expect the rest of us to do the same.
Statistically we have ended below Manu 6 times in the past 7 years Statistically we have ended below Chelsea 7 times in the past 7 years Out of our last 15 games with Manu, we have beaten them 3 times, lost 10 times, and drew twice Out of our last 15 games with Chelsea, we have beaten them 4 times, lost 9 times, and drew twice Our record against Liverpool is very good, but when it comes to the other top 2, our record is not good at all. These are facts too, not opinion.
I understand completely someone saying that they would like a different strategy, or that they think results are not good enough. I assure you I am not sticking my head in the sand. If you want to debate things that could change or how we can improve, Im all ears, but the "We have crap players who make schoolboy mistakes" glosses over the very real challenges facing any manager Arsenal football club. Saying we should be winning trophies, can't be said with the same conviction, as when you say Manchester City should be winning trophies, or Chelsea should be winning trophies. A lot of the disrespect towards the players and the club is very counter-productive. I'm never going to tell you that there isn't someone that couldn't do a better job than Wenger. But there is a vast difference between saying that someone might do a better job, than saying anyone would do a better job which seems to be the prevailing mood.
What? I can say they aren't scoring enough because I look at the stats which tell me they aren't scoring enough. Our second highest goalscorer having 6 goals is not very good As for the Wenger not doing an amazing job argument, before I have listed some very good players who moved in the summer to clubs with a lower wage bill than us. Moreover I have shown that we have a large amount of money in reserve, which should have been spent in the summer to ensure that we would have a much better chance of finishing in the top 4. As for long term problems there is the familiar inability to cope with pressure that has continued to live with us for so long, the reluctance to spend when it could really help us and the constant selling of our better players without them being replaced adequately. I know you like to stay with the familiar line that we do not have the resources to buy the players that we want, but Wenger kept up that line for the whole of last summer until the man utd game and look what happened? As the board continually say and from what I have shown with the swissramble article before, and the fact that we made a profit on our transfer dealings in the summer is that we do have money to spend. Now imagine if we had a manager who could realistically appraise our squad and buy accordingly.
Look Toledo if you are happy with the way things are, then by all means, stay happy. There are those of us who feel otherwise and there aren't many folk beyond those at the Emirates upon whom the responsibility for the continued success of our club lies. There are things at the club of which we have not been fully informed. Is there money or not? We keep getting told there is but when it comes to spending it there appears to be a great reluctance to invest effectively. If we are not told we can only speculate and make assumptions. In the meantime, success eludes us and the catalogue of problems and mistakes grow. Nothing to bring joy to any gooner.
If you are happy wearing the tin-foil hat keep it on. I can understand why believing the mundane facts doesn't make you feel special. But I can take all that, really. What I just can't understand is how you have come to the conclusion that winning a trophy is so easy.
I wonder Toledo, how you felt at half time on Sunday, knowing that out of a number of attempts we took nothing and in less than a mere handful, Villa were two up or indeed on any three of the previous matches of this year or even the final three of the last. There was a time when we would place a match out of an opponent's reach within 30 minutes. That's how far we have fallen. No investment worth the name and a feeder club for Manchester City. But of course, I've forgotten, there's money in the bank ..... There are times when some of the thinking here reminds me of a film many of us know of - The Stepford Wives. Life is rosy so don't rock the boat
'I THINK IT'S GONNA WORK OUT FINE ' sung by Steve Winwood, Linda Ronstadt, Tina Turner etc. written by Rose Marie McCoy, Sylvia McKinney © 1961 Ben-Ghazi Enterprises Inc (BMI) Toledo - are you Rose Marie?
or Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now Sorry Toledo, not having fun at your expense. Just a little light-hearted flow.
Would be nice if you could show a bit of respect when arguing your points instead of wheeling out tired cliches like Rose tinted specs, blind faith etc. We had endless cries of 'being attacked' 'censored' 'insulted' when people were accused of being doom mongers, so the least you could do is show the same restraint that you were asking for. I thought we'd agreed that to prevent people being accused of belittling others opinions, that we'd turned a corner with this, so please show bit of Gentlemanly conduct eh chaps?
"Your lack of proper analysis shows you up as being very limited in your thinking." i wouldn't call that light-hearted fun, i'd call it plain rude.
Next time you get upset then we'll just brush it off as light hearted fun ? I'm just asking for a bit of consistency and a bit of respect for each other. We all know the problems that we've had on this board recently. I thought we'd agreed to try and show a bit more tolerance for opinions that differ from our own.
PISKIE so what was so concerning about posting the title of a song with a point from me? I still see endless barbed acrimonious comment - including from you. The first little comment from me -and you have to jump in - every time. If you are not persecuting me - I don't what you are up to.
