I used to have a collection of these kind of posts from before the invincible's season. Arsenal hadn't improved their squad, Bergkamp was past it Henry was tempremental, the defence hadn't been rebuilt after the one GeorgeGraham put in, Pires was too lightweight for the premiership and so it went on. Fans on 606 were calling for Wenger's head before a ball had been kicked.
An interesting point - but how on earth can it be qualified with only press gossip to go on? I have said on other threads that I still trust Wenger - but this is a big season (his last chance?) and I am hoping he has got it right. Only time will tell, but I supspect we are in for a season of the usual highs and lows and frustrations that go with being an Arsenal fan. (I am old enough to remember the days we went 17 (seventeen!!) years without a trophy!!
When you go from title winners & challengers year on year to relying on an implosion & a poor season from Chelsea to finish in the Top4 I think you can call it scraping in. Yes it was because of a poor start to last season, I'd say that happened because of poor planning - laid at the foot of the board / Wenger. They were responsible for the poor start last season, and they were also responsible for the successes of finishing top4 again. They had chances to learn their lessons, and they clearly haven't learnt enough. Arsenal will be lucky to get top4 this season, due, once again to poor planning, a lack of investment, and severe lack of foresight.
Yup we have been lucky fifteen years in a row, sheer luck, nothing to do with Wenger. Lucky with the referees, lucky with injuries, and lucky with players not wanting to leave after saying they would stay. Just plain lucky. Is it the drugs you are taking, or do you live in an alternate reality?
Yes exactly, and if you look at the points totals for the top 4-5 over the last five years you can clearly see Arsenal did enough to have secured a top four finish in all of those seasons, in essence the guys talking cr@p!
What I don't really understand is why Wenger did not spend some of the RVP money? Surely you wanted him to stay so did not need the money to fund Cazorla etc... 1 or 2 shrewd signings M'villa or Soldado etc.... would have made a massive difference, just seems you are so close to challenging but refuse to make the 1 or 2 signings that would propel you further. Not trying to bash Wenger, I think the guys a genius and with the right funds would be winning heaps of trophies, but this part does truly baffle me!
Why do you have to become insulting when Bonstar, or anyone else, puts forward an alternative view. Is it because you are not confident enough to debate properly. What happened 15 years ago, or even yesterday, has no relevance on today. We are all desperate for success, and some of us feel that the board has put profit before performance. Effectively we are being asset stripped by an American businessman.
But none of you actually elaborate what you mean with that? No money is being taken out of the club, and we still have interest payable, which means there will be some yearly sacrifices. And people call this "lack of planning". Wouldn't lack of planning be what AC Milan have done? They completely ignored the problem for years, and they had to offload basically their whole first 11 in one go. How do you think that will affect their "performance" and the club's standing?
Please don't treat me like an idiot. I'm a very highly educated person. There's no need to resort to childish comments with facepalms & "what drugs are you on" comments. I think you'll find I don't engage in that myself, and am in fact respectful of others views, whether I disagree with them or not. I would ask that you extend to me the same courtesy of engaging in debate and not a slanging match. Your gross over-exaggeration is ridiculous. My point was that Arsenal have gone from worthy title challengers to scraping into the Top4. That's not "lucky for 15 years," it's a gradual down-grading of the squad. Do you believe that the squad now is as capable of challenging for the league title as the previous ones that won titles? Or is it weaker? My belief is it's weaker. In fact there's a quote today that's come out: "arsenal are in a perpetual state of reconstruction - coffers strengthened, squad weakened." If the points totals for the last few seasons have been legitimately high enough to get Top4 then that's great, I haven't checked them. I'd like to know if there's been any progress whatsoever in that time? Have Arsenal improved their totals year on year bringing them closer to the title? Or have they regressed slowly to also-rans? Personally I don't want Arsenal to "do enough" to get Top4, I'd like them to do more than that, and be a genuine club capable of winning the league. If you continue to try to do just enough to get Top4, one year it won't be enough. No money is taken out of the club. I know that, I accept that, I love that. I cannot fathom that 100% of the money the club makes goes on paying off debt, and that Arsenal must sell to buy. I'm sure there was a 25m property windfall earlier this year & it was said it would go on transfers - where is it? Lack of planning to me is not tying players to contracts - circa Nasri. The contracts at Arsenal seem poor. Clauses activated under certain conditions should be in to automatically extend them by a year or more. When a player might leave, suitable alternatives should be found - several. And initial contact made, or a concrete offer put in immediately after it becomes clear the player is leaving. This doesn't seem to happen, other than in the case of Giroud / Pod & RvP. Too many downgrades over successive seasons have turned Arsenal from continual contenders to also-rans grateful for Top4. With 2 more players this summer - a total outlay of 30m & wages - they could have become genuine contenders. Once again the board fell short of this, and they'll struggle for Top4 once again.
This sums up my feelings. It's not that the players we have are ****, it's just that through the course of a season I think you need more in order to challenge. I've been saying for years now, I want Wenger to remain here as long as he is a football manager, I just want us to make that extra push and sign 2 or 3 more quality players so that our squad can cope with injuries/suspensions etc. We seem to make it harder for ourselves by trying to get by on the minimum of resources and it's so frustrating!!!
I should also mention that had the Sahin deal panned out there would have been much less outrage at the end of the transfer window, fine lines and all that.
I must be the only person who doesn't see Jack Wilshere as World Class! When people mention a boy with one Season of Senior Football in his tank, who's also been out injured for longer, as the solution to our problems, I am a little dismayed. Though much is being made of our inability to supplement the Squad in the last days of the window, it is important to remember we have bought well. To offset the lose of RVP we have the top scorers in 2 reputable Championships in Giroud & Podolski. We have the Creative flare of Santiago Cazorla, who we seem to have blindsided the entire World to have acquired. When you look at what Hazard, Modric et al have swapped shirts for we've bucked the trend to go crazy with our recruitment campaign. RVP has gone, Song was a personal favourite of mine, we've thrived after the loss of better players, we will again. Like AW I'd have liked to see one more midfield body, preferably a game changer, but, at a price that makes sense ( totally agree with AW's stance on Sahin ), where this has not been possible, an opportunity presents itself for a current Squad Member to step up. Perhaps the debate should be, " Which Squad Member's Will Have The Season of Their Life's? "
Because how can anyone describe Arsenal as "Lucky" to scrape into the top 4. It defies logic. There is no sensible reason why ANY sane person could describe Arsenal as lucky. You are simply creating a fantasy. There is no "asset stripping" going on. Do you even know what the term means? There is no money being taken out of the club by anyone. The money is still in the club. You and many others are just telling flat out lies, because you seem to have this idea that by insulting the owners of the club, the manager, and the players, this somehow makes you bigger. It doesn't. You haven't a clue what you are talking about, you don't have a clue how to run or manage a football team and your opinion is essentially worthless. So, I will answer your question and ask you a question or two, why do you insult the players and the club and the manager at every opportunity. Because I only become insulting when posters insult the club, players and manager that I support? Who do you support?
The WUM cabal that used to infect our board have now all ****ed off (even though they spend the majority of their time being obsessed with what's going on here) and consequently this is now a far happier board.We all have different views about players,the manager and about the club in general.If you don't agree with the view of another member it doesn't mean you have to indulge in petty insults. We are all Arsenal fans together and we all want is best for our team.
I like the clean sheets we are keeping, that much I will say (shows discipline). As for title winning squad... I think we all know thats not gonna happen. The Champions league is another story, if we get out of our group then the draw could be kind to us and then it becomes a lottery. I believe we are still one of the teams who can beat anyone on our day. We clearly need more 1 or preferably 2 more signings (quality ones) but unfortunately our board are some the greediest bunch of money pinching scum bags on the planet so thats not gonna happen. For now i'll enjoy the win but not attach any significance to it.
