That was the reason that Utd were always too strong to write off: Ferguson. A good, settled, experienced manager can mean the world to a club. I'm not writing off Utd under Moyes either, but he's got big boots to fill and virtually no experience of European football or a title run-in. It'll be interesting to see how he handles both tests.
I think its going to be one hell of a season. i would hate to be a bookie this year. Too many unknowns, too many dark horses and for so many different reasons. I will never write off Man Utd, Chelsea have a quality squad and Mourinho returned, man City have a quality squad and very nice new signings, Tottenham have a very ambitious manager, quality signings and good youth set up, Arsenal always seem to get there and have a squad with player relationships that have developed over the years and Liverpool have a good mxture of Homegrown, youth and a couple of world beater, (or developing world beaters.) Going to be a wicked season, All going to come down to consistancy, which makes me think it will be United or Chelsea who will take the league. But any of those 6 could make top 4, for me it will all come down to consistancy.
Arsenal's first team is very good. They are a dangerous team and seem to carve open spaces for the likes of Walcott to exploit. Their issue is the squad depth. On paper, their first 11 can beat anyone in the league on their day, but over the course of the season when injuries kick in, that's when they are going to struggle. (as things currently stand) Last season, I thought we had no game changers on the bench. I now feel that's a very different situation with us, but arsenal are still in the same boat as we were in. They need 4 decent players before the window closes IMO.
The truth is we won't even know whether we or Arsenal have the stronger squad till September 1st, if then. It's fair to say we're off to a big lead in strengthening our squad this transfer window, but it's not inconceivable that Arsenal can catch up or even surpass us with a few last minute marquee signings. And even if we do have the stronger squad, our history of ****ing up remains daunting. There are a few good signs: finally killing off a game away in the Europa; our ability to make deals; the way Spurs profile has continued to rise--but the wise at sunset praise the day
They need 11 players, we've probably got at least 1 better player in every position now, in some positions 2 players. However, they are used to playing as a team under Wenger which goes a long way. We need time to gel. The NLD comes too soon for me.
about minus 5...to be as strong as spurs . We would need to add a few to be as strong as Chelsea , but we would have to LOSE players to be as strong as spurs .
Hey, Gunner B Allwrong! How you doing? Long time, no see. I would have thought that you would have been far too embarrassed for Whinger and the rest of your fans to show your face on here. Seems that I underestimated just how brazenly shameless you really are.
Are you waving? No, sorry, you're drowning. Somebody fish the corpse out the water when it's as bloated as Wenger's misplaced bravado.
Completely agree re: mentality. Mourinho is right in the sense that the last 3 winners have been very ordinary. In 2011/12 Spurs went to City just 4 points off the title. The lack of squad depth and experience told and in the end it was your undoing. In a flat out 6 month title race you more or less matched the Manchester clubs and outperformed both Chelsea and Arsenal.
Our manager tapping himself up for the England job and unsettling the squad is what did for us - although loaning out every youngster we had was pretty damn foolish, as we could've done with Townsend during the run-in.
Yep. Redknapp also negated Bale's effectiveness by playing wide right. Just feel you'd have been there of thereabouts with a bit more squad depth and a better manager. All of your key players performed that season. Walker's form curtailed a bit last year, so did Assou Ekotto's.
