Fine margins doesn't men you were close to a damned thing. Liverpool battered most of the teams they dropped points against at home by "fine margins", they still only won 6 games at home (I think). We keep coming up short by fine margins, time to say maybe we aren't good enough rather then using the fine margins argument.
It is intensely boring I must say. The delusion of being not far off, is just as bad as Spurs fans now bleating that it was Fulops fault we finished ahead of them.
Actually by definition, a fine margin does mean you are close to something. And I totally agree that we weren't good enough. But the point being was that it was never as catastrophic as some claimed, as demonstrated by our ability to get 3rd. That suggests that we got more right than we did wrong.
Depends on what you are talking about. Football is all about fine margins, but we are still way way off challenging for the title. Note that 'fine margins' has nothing to do with luck. Would you say that Fulham were close to finishing above us - or not far off it???
Nope, not after we got whooped by Man U, we were so far from being close that 58 years was in danger of being something more. The team we started the season with and the team that we had in the middle were unrecognisable and was fundamentally different. The team we had mid-season were considerably better than the team that started.
Oh by the way - I did enjoy Wenger's post match interview after WBA. He said we were in crisis for a long period this year At least he recognises how bad it was, as some of us did at the time. There is some credit due to the team for pulling themselves out that crisis we talked about.
Its probably the earliest time he could publicly state that...i.e after the season was over. Had he spoken like that publicly earlier then the media would have had a field day..to the probable detriment of team morale. I just wish he'd stop talking about mental strength...
I agree, thats exactly why he didnt come out with it - although he did call it a mini crisis at the time. He's upgraded it. I think many saw what was going on though. I think he has the same emotions as a lot of fans right now - just huge relief after a poor season.
Mental strength Joking aside there are times that I have been mightily impressed with our determination, that never say die attitude, turning games around etc. But mental strength ?