I don't really want to get involved in this, but just a couple of points: You refuse to acknowledge the fact that injuries didn't help. There is no proof that Walcott would be any good as a striker, because he doesn't (normally) have a very good 1st touch and certainly can't hold up the ball. Plus we would have to change the system. Our defense isn't poor when we have some full backs. Mert makes up with intelligence what he lacks in pace. Adams, Terry etc. were not exactly speedy, but they did alright. Panic buys include Arteta yes? He's been pretty good. Santos before getting injured was looking pretty good. He will probably be 1st choice when fit again. Was Oxo a panic buy as he signed in August too? Play has improved, coincidentally when players started returning from injury. & this is where you accuse me of being ignorant / stupid / blind / any other insult.
The only injury we had at the season start was Wilshere. Djourou is not a fringe player and neither is Ramsey. Walcott was a striker when we bought him from Southampton and when played on the shoulder of the last man he is miles better then out wide on the wing having to cross the ball, as wingers do. He is playing more as a forward recently. Our defence WAS poor. Sagna wasn't playing that well and we had to throw Jenkinson on to cover Gibbs who was injured and he was dire. Then Djourou came in for an injured Vermaelen. Merts is too slow and I am sure when he has recovered he won't get in front of Kos and Verm. There was an article in the Standard yesterday which echoed this point. Yes, they were panic buys. We didn't play Benayoun for ages, Park is like the Loch Ness monster, who has seen him ? Santos wasn't even fit. Arteta had to take a pay cut to join us. Arteta was not a panic buy, but the rest were. Gibbs is better than Santos. Play has improved because of the resurgence of Rosicky, Kos and Verm playing together, Sagna and Gibbs coming back and Walcott being played in a slightly different way. Its a combination of things. I'm not going to accuse you of anything, I am man enough to say when I am wrong, but in this case I am not. the things I complained about were correct. Our defence was clueless at the beginning of the season and we sold 2 of our best players, didn't replace them and thought we could get away with it. An 8-2 hammering later Wenger realised he got it horribly wrong.
I'm not going to get into the wrong or right argument, but I don't think you can claim to know what Wenger did or did not think. Are you really claiming to be a mind-reader?
HotHead - all that you've proved is that you made a massive error of judgement on Wenger and our players.
You are quite wrong. More or less everything that was said by Hothead and myself (and others) was proven to be correct. Your approach was to pretend nothing was wrong, or 'we were not far away' and now you are trying to convince yourself there were never any real issues whilst trying to claim some moral victory. How funny. Our season has been a failure and we are miles off challenging ("not far off" )- this is due to the very issues that were raised that you chose to pretend didn't exist (even Wenger has acknowledged them). The biggest issue - NOTHING to do with confidence was the complete pigs ear made of the transfer window. We lost any hope of challenging from that one mistake alone. To give you some insight - as you still seem to think it was all to do with confidence and injuries - the most fundamental difference to our team has been the inclusion of Rosicky at the expense of Ramsey. We now have pace and guile in midfield. It was another bad mistake to persist with Ramsey for so long when he was clearly struggling. You seem to live in a world where if someone says something, they must always hold that to be true - and as soon as we string some wins together you come out with this tripe. As it happens I agree with Keown - a man of sense - who has said very openly that he is now more positive than he has been for 4-5 years - ring any bells?. He does not however try and gloss over the fundamental issues that made him less positive over those years. When things improve the people to listen to are the people who were open about the issues. If they say it's getting better then it's something to believe. You, on the other hand, are not to be believed, because you only see things through rose tinted specs.
Explain exactly what was 'proven' to be correct. I'm assuming it wasn't that we'd finish mid table, that the power shift was complete, we should sell Sagna, or Walcott, sack Wenger or that Song is no better than a non league player. The rest of your post is just misplaced assumption
Firstly I have never called Song no better than a non league player, and as I have debated with hothead, I think he is wrong on that one. Secondly I never said we would finish no better than mid table - i said on our current form we could be mid table - big difference. Thirdly - Spurs' power shift was well and truly completed this year - they had closed up and had overtaken us. Put simply they were the better team. Selling Walcott is not a matter of right or wrong as I said we should sell him if we get £20m for him and if he persists with his demands for £80k per week - I maintain that. Selling Sagna is not a matter of right or wrong. My opinion is that he is not as good as some believe. Now the key areas where I (and others) have indeed been 100% proven to be correct: The mess of a transfer window cost us any hope of challenging Defensively we were all over the place and needed to make significant changes to stop the opposition - Wenger has done this. Ramsey needed to be replaced - done The team needed to work harder without the ball - now happening The team needed to play without fear - now happening (though I maintain from a character perspective it takes a terrible run of results and stick from the media for this team to 'come out fighting') Not signing a FB (even a loan) in the January transfer window would be a disaster - it was. We needed to shoot more and stop trying to pass it into the net - we are. We needed to get rid of players not good enough - we did and are doing more of it. As I need to keep pointing out to you - because you seem to be in some make believe land - we are not even close to challenging for trophies and are in the process of regaining some pride in what has been a failure of a season. If Wenger had acted years ago we would be in a much better place now - but he didn't.
Instead of coming out with comments that have no basis as some triumph why not prove me wrong as I have proved you wrong time and time again PISKIE. Analyse what I said and prove to me and the rest of the forum HOW it is that I am wrong.
The man is continually proven wrong, and shown up for his antics at trying to WUM (he was baiting four seperate posters yesterday). He will never admit he was wrong and will just fudge whatever he wants to suit his altered state of reality. Shockingly sad individual.
Injuries have not helped, but they are not the underlying cause of the issues we have had for a few years - other teams have coped. I think Walcott will be a striker - mainly because as a winger he lacks the ability to beat players and is not the best crosser of a ball. His strength is timing runs and geting in behind the last defender. Our defence has been poor for years (in comparison to the top teams). We go through stages where we look solid, but just look at the goals conceded over the last 2 years. Its not good enough to allow us to challenge. Arteta was 100% a panic buy. He has turned out really well, but was clearly rushed in at the last minute. Along with the other panic buys, the summer transfer window can only be described as a disaster as it took away any hope we had of winning the league. Returning players have had an impact - but it's one of many changes.
What have you proved me wrong on ??? There is nothing. You'd love to believe that this is true, but the facts are that you called it wrong. You panicked earlier in the season and called for a revolution, sacking the manager and selling our top players. Ask anyone on this forum and they will tell you that you over react and over exaggerate and post comments based on a knee jerk reaction. A lot of people call you a WUM for being so overly negative. Again, you have proved me wrong on nothing whatsoever. I have always been consistent with is saying that the solutions were within our squad and with our manager, which has been proved right. Even after the 8-2 I told you that if we arrested our mistakes, we would still be good enugh for top 4. We took control of our own affairs and the results have changed accordingly. What is even more incredulous now, is that you are claiming that we've improved because of suggestions that you made It's laughable and utterly contemptable. Designed to brush aside the glaring errors of judgement you called. If we'd listened to you, we would have sacked Wenger and sold our best players and plunged this club into the 'full blown crisis' that you were trying to ram down people's throats.
Lets just take one example. You said as a team "we were never far off challenging" (which you've now changed to "not far off winning games" and again to 'not far off winning the Bolton game'). Hard to keep up with your definitions. I said we are a long way off challenging. League table: Man Utd 15 points clear of Arsenal. Ergo - Arsenal are a long way off challenging. Piskie - Wrong We could go on..... How about when you tried to belittle me for using a Daily Mail / Metro story because it wasn't a credible source - then used the same source as your ultimate proof of one of your BS comments just a week later? That was funny. As has been proven time and again - you are myopic, see the world through rose tinted specs, but above all are a hypocrite.
You seem to have trouble grasping basic concepts, so I'll explain it to you again. Winning games would mean you are challenging in most people's definitions. At the start of the season we were losing and drawing games, not because we were being outplayed by the opposition, but because we were making defensive mistakes and had lost our confidence. The solutions were within our own grasp. This is what Arteta was talking about in his 'small details' article, it was about ensuring that we got the small things right - as we were not NOT FAR OFF from turning draws and losses into wins. It was never about sacking the manager or selling our best players. That was a completely ludicrous suggestion to turn our fortunes around. You panicked, over reacted, over exaggerated and called it wrong in a spectacular way. If you were to eat a bit of humble pie and admit your errors of judgement, you might gain a bit of respect.
Is that it ? Is that the sum total of your effort ?? Personal preference, I don't rate him - you do. Now back to the point seeing as you like to move the goalposts and evade questions, prove what I said was wrong about Arsenal and the position we were in and our change in fortunes.
What a crock of BS! Winning games means we are challenging??? For what? To challenge you have to actually be challenging for something - i.e. wimming MORE games than your opponents! So I ask you again - challenging for what? I am saying that we are miles of challenging for the title, but you clearly seem to have some other goal in mind. You really need to be clear on this as so far you've given 4 different explanations from winning games to hitting the post at Bolton.
We are challenging for a Top 4 spot. Which is very different from your assertion that we would 'end up mid table'
