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Halfway through the season - How is it going?

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by afcftw, Dec 29, 2015.

  1. Marty Andrews

    Marty Andrews New Member

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    What is the FA Cup these days?

    Third place and we only win it when the big clubs are put out of it anyway. We should be aiming for first place, not third or that useless make-believe 4th place trophy.
     
    #41
  2. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    No, people should love the trophy because every registered team in England can play for it every year but only one club can win it each year.
     
    #42
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  3. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    Got nothing to do with magic and everything to do with winning a trophy mate... that moment of absolute joy when your captain holds the trophy aloft ...the moments you remember from being a kid (if you were lucky enough to watch you club win a trophy).
    My daughters don't hark on about when we got top 4 but they do remember beating Chelsea to win the Carling Cup...my eldest was 10 then and after the match wanted to come with me to our local shops and even though it was freezing and raining she refused to do her coat up cos she wanted people to see her spurs shirt.
    There would have been gooner kids like that after the last 2 fa cup finals and that sentence shows no understanding of the pride they were feeling and to me that's what's wrong in football...only the title and CL count...everything else is rubbish...mickey mouse trophies etc.
    I ain't a better fan or a more proper fan mate...I am simply an old bastard that wishes football hadn't lost its soul
     
    #43
  4. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    What has it ever been?
    What is second place just out of interest?
     
    #44
  5. afcftw

    afcftw Well-Known Member

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    We've put Liverpool, Spurs, Utd and Everton out of the FA cup in the last two seasons on the way to winning it, as well as beating the current holders at the time Wigan (who had beat City to get that far, having beat them in the previous final too).

    So by "we only win when the big clubs are out of it", you mean we haven't played City or Chelsea in the last couple of cup runs. We've played plenty of big teams.

    And with a handful of teams all competing for silverware and there only being a few trophies each season available, the FA Cup is still a big deal even for the top clubs IMO.
     
    #45
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  6. Marty Andrews

    Marty Andrews New Member

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    How many years have we said we could win BUT in reality we never have and the way we go about it, we never will. Not since 2004 have we are been in a position to win. In the years when we have headed the league, it has been only sporadically and never when it mattered. That really is because we are never in a position to win. We never buy the players we need so we never have a full squad. You can't put the blame on injuries either since every club has injuries but we seem not to manage that as well. We needed a DM, CB and striker last summer. Not only summer 2015 but also 2014. We have the means but despite claims by various members of the board that we can spend, Wenger does not do so. Ah yes, he says he cannot find the quality we do not already have but with the quality that we have we come up nought bar for that third place trophy. Wenger despite working hard never gets the players we need. Not in the number which we need. Sadly now it is not just squad strength where we fail. The manager also lacks tactical nous. His time is over. It was up years ago. Think this isn't the case? Where then are the big prizes? There aren't any so no, the manager and board must go. Sadly, that will never happen. Money talks at the new Arsenal. What a diminished club we have become. I mean as a sporting entity. Cam real fans truly be joyful at this?
     
    #46
  7. Marty Andrews

    Marty Andrews New Member

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    It still remains that we are only up for that third place " by way of good fortune " cup.

    Under this management we have not been in a position to really challenge for the league title. Look at our current form. Are you willing to bet that we can muster enough wins from our away games? We cannot even make our chances count at home for goodness sake. Today's match was a must win and Wenger takes off the player we have been reliant on for goals. The manager is an idiot. it is not the first time he has made the wrong call. Yes other managers make wrong calls too but the ones ours makes have mired us as a runner up club for over ten years now. And he is the highest paid manager in the land??? SAF was paid less than Wenger and has nearly 7x the number of EPL titles. Before anyone says it, no, I don't like SAF but it seems, we paid the wrong guy for the job!!!
     
    #47
  8. Marty Andrews

    Marty Andrews New Member

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    The first two prizes of any season have to be the EPL and the CL. I put them in that order since the EPL is the hardest league in the world. Coincidentally, our idiotic manager has not been able to win that since 2004 and only recently by chance have we lucked into that third place.

    #WengerOUT
     
    #48
  9. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    The dismissal of trophies is bizarre...who won the in the last 12 years the winners of the Carling Cup included Chelsea 3 times (won the league the same year on 2 occasions) City (won the league the same year) Liverpool, United (won the league the same year) and losing finalists have included Arsenal twice, Chelsea, united...yet it is called a mickey mouse trophy that big clubs ain't interested in!
    The FA Cup has been won by Chelsea 4 times, Arsenal 2 times, Liverpool and city yet it is being dismissed.
    I do not understand how any supporter of any club dismisses any trophy but I am obviously in the minority
     
    #49
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  10. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    There are only 3 trophy's to play for in England, the CL is a bonus or maybe even a dream, most teams never even get a chance to look poor in this.
     
    #50

  11. afcftw

    afcftw Well-Known Member

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    Commentators went on about Giroud having been trying to overcome a small injury to be ready for this game, so it may well be that if someone had to be sacrificed it was better to be Giroud who was already potentially a risk. also who would you have taken off instead? Walcott and kill our counter attacking threat? Campbell and remove the only player showing some fight? One of our midfielders? Since you think it was the wrong call, what was the right call?

    As for making us a runners up club you could argue it was his management that got the fans used to such a high level of success and that during the last ten years he has overseen huge financial and infrastructure change at the club keeping us consistently in the CL and into the knock out phases (something Ozil is quoted as having said attracted him to Arsenal and Wenger), which no other club has managed to do in that ten years. Now is a different story obviously as we can compete financially for top players.
     
    #51
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  12. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Don't think it's you in the minority, just the "entitled" ones :emoticon-0100-smile
     
    #52
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  13. afcftw

    afcftw Well-Known Member

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    We've finished third about as many times as we have fourth off the top of my head, at one point it seemed to go 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd each season! Just recently lucked into that third place seems a little dramatic.

    Edit: I've just realised you might be referring to the FA Cup as the third place? <laugh> not entirely sure I'm following you!
     
    #53
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  14. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Think he meant the FA Cup, he thinks it has no value <ok>
     
    #54
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  15. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    I'm sorry, but let's be honest here. The FA Cup is obviously a brilliant trophy to win, but it pales in comparison to the league. Winning the league is something that we haven't felt for 12 years, a feeling I haven't experienced since I was 8 years old and it is the real prize that we are all craving. Because we're so ****ing close to satisfying the cravings, but stupid, idiotic, inane mistakes are preventing us from doing so and it is ****ing frustrating that we aren't learning from mistakes of the past.

    We have players that are capable of winning the league, we generate a lot of money as a club and we have a very experienced manager. The foundations are there for us to win the title, yet we are struggling to take the initiative.
     
    #55
  16. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Sounds like United, City and Chelsea. What makes you any different?
     
    #56
  17. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    Those clubs have won league titles since 2004. We have not. That is a clear difference.
     
    #57
  18. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Yes, and they deserved it. You have to be the best team over the most games in a season, not just say we have a great team when things are going well. If you win the league it will be because you are the best, if not you aren't good enough.
     
    #58
  19. Marty Andrews

    Marty Andrews New Member

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    I agree.

    The sad thing is that we can do it but we never take the initiative. It is as though we merely snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Look at 2008 when after Birmingham, we went into reverse gear. How many times have we looked good in November or even in January, only to lose out by February? Last season, the other main clubs all had new managers but we failed to take the opportunity there. This year when the others bar Leicester are floundering every which way, we seem to almost take the same route in sympathy!! Had we brought in a striker such as Jackson Martinez and DM and CB, perhaps it might be look different and we start to once again chart our own course. Instead, we drop points when we should be picking them up. In short, we never get better nor in a position to win.

    Thanks Arsene for the memories. Now get lost.
     
    #59
  20. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    The actual fact is you can.t/haven't done it.
    Perhaps you should have bought Messi, Ronald, Neymar and Pogba, that would have helped <ok>
     
    #60

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