Yes, and I would put a lot of money on City spending more on wages each month than we do. Our highest paid player is Torres on about £150k PW, theirs is Tevez on around £250k PW and he doesn't even play!
a £64m difference between us, not as big as I thought it would be. Money we probably made back in trophies over the 5 seasons you haven't
Deeench If that happens and the world ended after that, we would still be behind them. OK, I know that sounds like a fatalist
Equally you are dire for us to finish 4th. We've been **** for 2 months and barely scored more than a goal in any of our last 6 or 7 games yet the gap between us has widened. Glass houses etc
And my response to them is this.. Up until around 8-10 years ago Arsenal and United had by far the largest wage bills in the Prem, nobody else could compete with them. I never once used this as an excuse though. I don't deny wages and financial muscle are hugely significant in determining success but they are not the only factor. Swansea and Norwich have proven that with a plan, good management, principles and the right personnel you can remain competitive at this level. Swansea's wage bill is no more than £20m yet they beat Arsenal who's wage bill is roughly 6 times that of theirs. They gave United a good run for their money and will probably get at LEAST one more major scalp in the Prem. Arsenal's wage bill is still comfortably in the top 4/5 in the Prem. IMO the recession is the best thing that has happened to football because clubs that splashed money around for fun are being more sensible about their money. Swansea, Newcastle, Spurs and Norwich by all rights should not be where they currently are in the table given money spent. In contrast Liverpool, QPR, Villa and Fulham should be doing much better all factors taken into consideration so I don't buy this notion that all success is down to money, good management plays a huge part as well. Chelsea have no right to be above Arsenal given the problems we have had, if Arsenal had not been as badly mismanaged as they have been over the last 18 months for the last two years they would be above us. Unlike Villas-Boas this is Wenger's squad, these are HIS players. I don't doubt that given the choice only Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Meireles, Romeu, Ramires, Mata, Sturridge and maybe Torres would make his team, that's why I think he should be given time. When you chop and change managers as often we have no matter how much you spend at the end of the day different managers have different ideas, philosophies. Every player at Arsenal FC has been brought in by Wenger and if they aren't good enough he has to take responsibility for that. Nobody is going to tell me that over the last few years with better squad players it wouldn't have been possible for Wenger to win the league. In 07/08 and 10/11 Arsenal were the best team and should have won the league. In 07/08 you paid the price for not having any experienced players. Even a Vieira or an older head in the dressing room could have steadied the ship when things started to go wrong for you in February. In 09/10 you paid the price for not signing a proper goalkeeper. In 10/11 you paid the price for not signing a proper keeper and proper defenders. Chesney is good but Wenger was chopping and changing keepers for at least 3 months. A first choice keeper should have been identified in July and stuck with I have no doubt that if we can begin to shift the deadwood/players AVB doesn't want, that includes: - Malouda - Kalou - Drogba - Lampard - Alex etc we will begin to see changes and be competing with the Manchester clubs where we belong. It would have been easy for Spurs to sack Redknapp, City to sack Mancini but they are currently where they deserve to be because they have a plan and have identified their own players. Sure if Spurs finish above us it would hurt, but I'd be a liar if I said they don't deserve at least 4th
As for injuries United have had the worst injury list in the Prem. Virtually every player bar Nani and Rooney has been sidelined for substantial periods yet they are still only 3 points off the top. Fletcher, Young, Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling, Cleverley, Anderson when all fully fit would easily be in or on the brink of United's first team.
Hit it on the head. I think us gooners should stop it with the injury excuses, we have a 21 man squad and the January transfer window for a reason........
You plank, what part of the English language do you NOT understand ?? You have your best team playing and you are piss poor. We are missing Gervinho, Sagna, Santos and Wilshere who are guaranteed starters and we are piss poor. Muppet ! What that means is you are ****e because you are ****e
And what does that prove ? I don't expect nothing else from the brain dead to be honest. What does your point prove ? I said we are ****e because half our first team are not playing, but you don't even have that excuse for being ****e
Top 4 is the absolute priority, i would happily be knocked out of all competitions right now if we were guaranteed a top 4 place. Our ability to attract players relies a huge amount on whether we will be playing in the champions league next year. And i have seen nothing from chelsea and liverpool to suggest that we are not good enough to finish above them in the league and i expect newcastle to fall away come mid-march if not before that. Just looking at the fixtures now and we have 2 very important weeks where we play spurs at home then liverpool away then milan in the second leg and then newcastle at home, people say that its the lesser games that make the difference, but lets face it if we lose all of those games then we can basically say good bye to 4th place.
Another muppet !!! Read the thread dick head ! The conversation is about catching Chelsea and some of us think it is a realistic goal because Chelsea are ****e Who is moaning about injuries ??
Typical Gooner moaning about injuries; United have far more and destroyed you. Arsenal's injuries are mental not physical: they are bottlers
Lol. We have our best team playing and we are playing good football, just not scoring. Or did you fail to read that? You said in a later post 'who is moaning about injuries' well...clearly YOU. Absolute tool. Fed up of you goons complaining about injuries, as District said, United have had more injuries than you and are still streaks ahead, you have a 21 man squad and it's your own fault if the replacements for 3 or 4 injured players are absolutely ****. . Only problem we have is Torres/our strikers not finishing teams off, if we are ****e, you are a different level of ****e. As is your clueless manager who can't sign more than 11 good players according to your logic.
Agree, Drogs. Chelsea + RVP = title contenders AW has assembled a finishing school for Europeans, who do not care about their club one bit and turn it in or leave at the first sign of adversity. AFC is a university for footballers
