Remember this gem last year from Gazidas? This was said after we had sold the top scorer in the league, who scored goal of the season last night to secure the Championship for Man Utd. His replacement is simply not good enough and represents an attempt to do things on the cheap. Every time we come into competition with any club of note for a top player we immediately withdraw our interest. A good example of this is our pathetic, half-hearted pursuit of Juan Mata, another top player who would have undoubtedly improved our team. How can this behavior in the transfer market in any way be described as ambitious? Gazidas saying this was an insult to the fans and is pure spin to secure season ticket revenue without investing properly in the team. The team the fans are paying through the nose to watch. This policy, that has continued for so long, has resulted in the biggest humiliation yet. On Sunday the Arsenal supporters who have constantly been disrespected, deceived and insulted by the board will be compelled to applaud the opposition player whose departure was the direct result of this club's lack of ambition. I've heard many on this forum attempt to argue that it was greed, selfishness or disrespect that led to RVP's transfer but if we're honest with ourselves, there is no changing this immutable fact of life: TOP PLAYERS WANT TO WIN THINGS. He left because his ambition was greater than Arsenal's. It wasn't an unreasonably unrealistic demand. He wanted us to buy the players necessary to compete; there was no guarantee of winning the Premiership at United, just a good chance because of the players and manager they have. He wasn't wrong to question Arsenal's ambition. We face a fight to get in the top four and there is a real possibility that the supporter's greatest humiliation is yet to come: failure to qualify for the Champion's League and having to watch our bitterest rivals do so at our expense. This summer Arsenal have the opportunity to break this depressing cycle. We need to invest properly. No gambles on potential. No cheap options. Real, established top quality is the only thing that can stop this downward trajectory. Failure to do this and I fear that we could share the fate of Liverpool and dwell in mid-table mediocrity for years to come.
100+ Caps for Germany and highlt experienced near the top of the assists in the league despite not playing that many games= Second Tier Top Scorer in the French League; 17 Goals and a good deal of assists in his first season in a new league= Second Tier
Yep, both 2nd tier. Name another top club who was in for them. No-one. 2nd tier. As proved by their underwhelming first seasons. Are you seriously suggesting that these signings offset what we lost when we sold RVP?
How many clubs were in for Henry? Yep defo second tier. Or RvP? Only 1 club made a bid. Second tier right. Only 1 club bid for Goetze this time, surely he's second tier. OMG they didn't get 20+ goals in their first season they must be second tier right? I'll trust the judgement of the International and Club coaches on who's first and second tier over mine or yours. And if you look at stats the signings combined trump RvP's stats so yes we did advance without him, we just missed that extra bit of quality to get us past certain points which is what cost us and yes the players are at fault for that but next season we'll bring in more guys and then we'll see from there.
You think we'll win trophies with Podolski and Giroud as starters? Actually to be fair, I'm a fan of Podolski and think he could actually do a job for us and given a run to show what he can do he could be awesome. But come on, Giroud is a donkey. For him to be the replacement for RVP was a depressing moment for Arsenal.
Yet that Donkey is highly rated by the French national coach, top scorer in Ligue 1, and is rated by many club coaches. I tryst their opinion over yours. I also remember RvP being referred to as a glass-legged pony by many on the original 6006, many who are probably rimming him ATM.
I thin we're getting off the main subject here. The main point is that the preceding trophyless near-decade at Arsenal has been characterised by a distinct lack of ambition. Does anyone disagree?
'Gazidis in Positive PR Spin Shock' I agree with you that Arsenal aren't the most ambitious team in the league, certainly regarding transfer expenditure. Even though the club don't have the clout that three other clubs in the league do (and have a wage cap the other three don't have to worry about), there are times when you wonder why more isn't done. Then again, there are great amounts of info on the subject that we'll never be told about. As for squad ambition I doubt that Wenger is telling the players to hope for 4th, however.
Giroud has scored 3 goals in 17 appearances for France. Wow. He was joint top with a player now plying his trade Al-Gharafa in Qatar. Impressive. Gervinho also managed a credible scoring rate in Ligue 1 proving that means squat. Just like having a scoring rate in the dutch league (Afonso Alves) means squat. None of these things make him poor, but conversely, none of them are points you can possibly use to portray him as someone special like you're trying. He's merely a 7 out of 10 player. He's just pretty good. He's the sort of player that should be playing for Everton, Liverpool or Fulham. "Rated by many club coaches"? Hmm... you got some sources? I'm intrigued...
I think the true measure of ambition will come over the next couple of transfer windows. It's been pretty clear that we've not been able to spend like those around us over the last few years and personally I'd rather we did it this way than saddled the club with a load of debt . But the board are now saying that we can spend, and match wages of those around us, so the proverbial proof is in the pudding. Let's see what they do. We might not get it all done in one transfer window, but this summer will be a litmus test of the ambition that the board have.
FFS people this has been done to death, yes in an ideal world we would have kept most of these players, but what more do you want, get a tardus to go back in time? Nasri and RVP had one year left and refused to sign, if they had been offered 200k a week they would both have stayed. As for cesc, we had 2 years of constant pish from him and barca, cesc should have told barca players straight to stop being disrespectful to the club. Get over it, what's done is done. Let's not forget we won **** all with these players in the team anyway.
The 'we only sing when we're winning' crew always crawl out of the shadows when the team is under a spot of pressure. We have had a few weeks respite from them, but it was inevitable that they would be back at some point. Rather than hit back this time, I am going to simply laugh at them and try to enjoy their twattedness
I brought the subject up because I think RVP winning the PL with United represented some kind of milestone that displayed the disparity between the ambitions of the two teams and highlighted the reasons why RVP left. It had nothing to do with the pressure we're under at the moment, the subject of this thread stretches out over many seasons.
