lol HIAG, I can understand your caution to be fair. Arsenal have always been able to string some good results together, but it never lasts, they always seem to improve once they have been knocked out of all competitions (CL, FA and MM) and a top 4 place is all they have to play for. Another thing in your favour now imo is that you have tea b...I mean AVB in charge. For all his faults when he was at Chelsea, I rate him as a manager, and his misfortune with us was a mixture of his own stubborness, our Chairmans insanity and a few bruised ego's in our squad. He is no Redknapp, and I think he will drive you forward. Wenger is a mystery to me, he seems to have lost that X Factor he had when he first came to Arsenal. Ever since the invincables season he seems to be despondent and miserable.
It's too early to tell yet but our transfer business has certainly given us plenty of reason for optimism so far. We still badly need a centre back though and will need replacements if Bale, Benny or a striker leaves. With a lot of business yet to be done for clubs before the end of the window a lit can change but it's nice knowing we've got some big signings in early whilst others will be doing the panic buying this year.
Can't see that myself. At this moment i think we are ahead of Arsenal but i also think Liverpool would more likely finish above us than Arsenal. I'm not entirely sure how that works. I guess i can see us having a nightmare more readily than i can see Arsenal having one, and i think it would require Arsenal/Spurs to have somewhat of a 'mare for Liverpool to get them
the goons haven't finished outside the top four since wenger took over, so as much as I want to rule them out, they will be right up there challenging.
Cheers, Wandering Yid. I'm not saying that they won't be challenging like, I think that the places 4th to 6th will be very tight this season, maybe coming down to GD...
Thanks for the thoughts, Bodanki. Here are two of the bigger complications: 1. We've got a bunch of strangers on the pitch. We're likely to lose crucial points gelling while Arsenal has a settled team. 2. Arsenal always seems to come up with a big signing or two. I doubt it will be Suarez, but surely someone will be willing to take their 40 million. 3. Teams that go on good runs and avoid bad ones get results, and the correlation between that and squad strength is far from perfect. I actually am glad Arsenal got Gustavo, not because I don't rate him, but because the Arsenal team built around Arteta and Cazorla was just sweeping up the points the last half of last year. I wanted Wilshere to come back from injury because they move Cazorla out to the wing to accomodate him, and sure enough the team with Wilshire in it was not as good. With those caveats, yeah, our squad is certainly looking better, and we have more depth than last year. If AVB can get us gelled relatively quickly, and without dropping too many points, who knows?
Sorry to disappoint you RWAEB, but it seems that he's currently being tipped for a move to Wolfsburg. Arsenal seem to be having something of a Spurs-esque injury crisis though, if the media are to be believed.
I don't think the goon's are as good as people think,the good run they had at the end of last season just papered over the cracks,their defence is'nt that good and they don't have any decent defensive midfielders.I think we will finish above them in the top 4,could even get runners,up,but Chelsea are the team to beat, IMO
I thought Arsenal did better when Wilshere came back - I don't have the stats, but they went on a fantastic run at the end of the season and I thought he was in the team then. May be completely wrong.
I think he missed a few games in that run. He's a great prospect but he's not been all that great whenever I've seen him since he's come back from his long run of injuries.
It's too early to tell with Utd and Arsenal certain to do some transfer business in the next 2+ weeks - and with speculation still surrounding two of the biggest stars in the PL. Spurs have bought some high standard international players but they are unknown quantities in the PL. If Bale does leave - and is replaced by one or more further signings - then the team will have have been significantly remoulded and a new team always takes some time to gel. If Arsenal improve with one or two quality signings, I think Spurs will be 5th again - otherwise 4th. None of the teams below 5th place last season can improve and be consistent enough to get the 70-75 points required.
Wheelchair was dire against Scotland yesterday. PNP, You have alluded to a gooner injury crisis unfolding in a couple of posts, enlighten us please.
On the law of averages, they are well due a fall. And talking about averages, they do now have a very average side.
Fanciful, but what actually happened last season was that up until we handed you that win at WHL by giving you two terrible goals on a plate, we had been defensively all over the place. Since that loss, we played Kos and Mert at CB and we finally had a solid base to work from. Szczesny who also had a poor first half of the season improved and Wilshere gradually came back to fitness, as did Rosicky and Sagna. What that did was allow the likes of Cazorla and Walcott to play without the shackles on and the whole team went on a great run, which was only surpassed by Man Utd. For all the critcism of Giroud and Podolski, they actually had very decent first seasons with us, and you would expect them to improve this time around, in fact in pre season, Giroud has been banging them in for fun. I still think we need a DM, more so than a striker to be honest.
