"We've been overachieving given our players, largely due to the efforts of Bale and one or two others." I disagree. IMHO the squad as a whole over the past two seasons always had 70 odd points in them. Whether it came in that superb burst of 2011-12, or the steadier rate of last season, is moot. The question now is whether the net change in personnel + the ability of the manager will get the extra 5-6 PL points that will probably be needed to get a CL slot come May.
If he plays I hope he proves me wrong. But we paid £30m for Lamela and i don't think Lennon is close to being in that class. It seems barmy to me to sign players like that and then leave them on the bench in case your current players suddenly improve. But I'm a great believer in rotation and, in a perfect world, we'd have a squad where no-one was a certain starter.
I think we've under achieved. We've spent a good amount of money (albeit what we've earned/ made from other sales) on players who we've hoped would take us to the next level for a few years now yet we've only achieved 4th twice. We've started off brightly but faded at the final fence in the past two seasons, throwing away 13 and 7 point leads respectively. Our players are very, very good. What we need from them though is consistency, if we get that, we're laughing.
I agree with all your points above. But Boss seemed to be claiming that just because we were in or close to the top 4 all the players must be of that quality. I think Lennon is a very good squad player but we need someone better to get the extra 6 points.
We didn't throw away the lead last season, we performed completely consistently throughout. Arsenal were just a bit better on average. And everyone else above us has much more money which they've used to buy players who are better than ours. I agree about the previous season, though. Harry had our best PL team ever (although not a deep squad) and messed it up badly towards the end but fair play to him even getting us into that position.
"We've started off brightly but faded at the final fence in the past two seasons, throwing away 13 and 7 point leads respectively." Hence my comment about the PL worth of the recent squads. The fading away IMHO was inevitable, and in hindsight makes the collapse of 2011-12 not so shocking (though at the time I was absolutely ballistic about it) . So again, next March will be the acid test for the current squad in the PL.
I never said just because we're top four or close to top four that all players are of that quality, a bit cheeky trying to put words in my mouth. I was simply defending Lennon against your original statement which was wrong. If you look at the last two seasons, Arsenal overall haven't had better players, they had a better manager, that's why we missed out on our targets. I could single out someone like Siggy and say he isn't good enough, plus in many ways it's laughable that lescott and Barry where regulars in a title winning side but ultimately you look at the manager and team setup rather then single out certain players.
OK - apologies. I've never thought that Lennon was one of our better players but the forum would rather lose its point if we agreed on everything! I also agree on Arsenal but i doubt Lennon would be a shoe-in even in their team which on paper was far the weakest of the eventual top four.
Haha don't be daft buddy, no need to apologise....! But just as an example. Would cleverly be a starter in our team? Not good enough? but was good enough to help Utd win a title. So I know what you're saying, that on the face of it you believe Lamela if he settles will help us push more then Lennon and that I won't disagree with. But if the manager sets up the team right then we can get top four with Lennon starting each week. Even with Siggy starting each week and Lamela may go onto be a great player but it could take over a year.
Lennon's severely underrated for one of his primary attributes, in my opinion. He absolutely runs himself into the ground. Townsend has done a lot of things right recently, but that's definitely something that he could pick up from the older man. Prepared to attack all day, but a little lax with his tracking back at times.
I'm really surprised that some of you truly believe that Lennon is simply going to waltz back into the starting XI. Sorry, but I cannot see that happening, not whilst Townsend is playing like he is. Nor do I share the pessimism of many of you that Townsend will fall on his arse; quite the reverse, in fact, I believe he will keep on improving. AVB would me an absolute mug to drop Townsend right now, or to switch him over to the left in order to accommodate Lennon's return. Why try to fix something that isn't broken? I see Lennon having to work his way back into the squad from the bench, and I can see how that would work best for the team. Not sure where Lamela fits into this. I'd like to think that Lennon will get the nod ahead of him, but I cannot see the club splashing out £30m on a top player only to see him warm the bench.
Who said Townsend will fall on his arse? Is this a thread for putting words into people's mouth or actually just reading what is typed? Lennon isn't going to just waltz back into the side and Townsend will keep his place until he drops form but most of the comments re Lennon are due to fans underestimating what he brings. The funny thing about Townsend is last year when a few of us said he should be part of our plans based on his form at QPR we was told '' he's not good enough '' so it's a bit ironic he's now elevated to a superstar.
I think you will find we are talking about him playing in the left,at the moment,as he can play in that position
I love how Real has made Modric the tail on Bale's dog. They wanted Bale, so they played Modric (look at how well we're treating your mate, son). Bale gets hurt, and they can't kick him, so they make Modric slice oranges. I wonder if Modric will ever be bright enough to regret being the spokesman for the Bale tapping up campaign.
"I wonder if Modric will ever be bright enough to regret being the spokesman for the Bale tapping up campaign." Come on now, he was hardly the choirmaster last summer, was he.
You're quite right, of course, but I'm surprised anyone on this board sees Modric as anything other than a universal kicking post. What I hope I'm seeing is a gradual progression from winning by graft to winning by speed and talent, which would seem like a sensible plan given our mostly new team this year. It seems to me Lennon fits very nicely into this plan as it is now evolving (in my head at least...). So much so, that I'm wondering if and how Gylfi and Lamela will get first team starts. I'm not convinced either one is really going to threaten from the flanks, which is what that plan demands. They're both more central-ish players to me, but are unlikely to get in ahead of Eriksen and Holtby. Maybe against teams that park the bus, their greater goal threat and creativity may get them starts. Chadli is a wide player and has real potential, no doubt, but his attitude has been poor so far. I have no doubt he crosses better than Lennon, and this may, may, let him win a starting spot eventually. The strange quality Lennon has is that when he raises his hands to start a dribble, it seems to take the life right out of the other team and put us on the front foot. It's striking how often his dribbles are turning points for us. The way he tracks back is outstanding, of course, as well.
"What I hope I'm seeing is a gradual progression from winning by graft to winning by speed and talent, which would seem like a sensible plan given our mostly new team this year." I am hoping that AVB has the nous to realise that playing the way of 2011-12 AT HOME, is quite acceptable for the great majority of visiting teams. And that : - it is not a betrayal of whatever core beliefs he may have - he now has the squad to play both setups, even with the <standard> injuries
Read back some of the posts, it's all there. I'm not making it up. I repeat, that the idea of Lennon simply waltzing back into the squad is not a realistic position to adopt.
you on the Wum! A couple seem not totally convinced, in the sense it's unrealistic to expect his form to continue yet he will still be an important squad player. Remember, we're all rooting for Townsend to be a top player, but as it's early in his career we don't know if it's more form or permanent class.
another one of your wrong idea's,he's is our best winger,even though Townsend is flavour of the month
