I think a strong possibility for a domestic cup and finishing in the top four wouldn't be a bad season
We can compete with City/ Chelsea/United. We just have to stop selling our best players. Wengers signings are still great - and im sure Podolski/Giroud will be quality additions also. The board have factored in the regular selling of first team players because they know our youth set up will constantly churn out more. Thus making us a 'selling club' like Ajax and Marseille. The moment we stop doing this is the moment we will push forward again. Consider we have NEVER gone over £15 Million on a player, then consider what our squad would look like if we had kept our best players of the last few years ..AND continued strengthening. Our squad COULD look like this. --------------------Sczezney--------------------- Sagna------Kos/Mert------Vermaelen-----Clichy ---------------Diarra------Wilshere-------------- --------------------Fabregas---------------------- Nasri--------------VanPersie-------------Podolski Bench: Adebayor, Arteta, Flamini, Song, Toure, Walcott. Now that would be a squad strong enough to challenge without ever having spent 'BIG Bucks' People need to stop reading the tabloids. Our signings have always been good - IT'S THE SELLING OF PLAYERS THAT HURTS US.
Bored Newcastle fan chipping in here as its pre-season and i've got nothing better to talk about i guess. Of course Arsenal can win something next year but you're simply probably not going to, there's no shame in that. You want your team to go out and play as well as they can, if they do that then i think you've got about the 4th best team in the country. The concern is that you are slowly but surely slipping backwards, from challenging for top spot, to challenging for top 2/3 you are now challenging for 4th and there's not much between yourselves and Tottenham (we are way behind and simply had an awesome season). The slow decline is always harder to take as you can feel that gradually year on year your sights are set lower and there is a genuine risk that in a few years more you could be a 5/6th placed team who simply look to qualify for "european competition" each year (note Liverpool). With Man City, Chelsea and somehow Tottenham (Where do they magic money from?) throwing money around to a higher level than Arsenal I don't see any quick fixes.
tbh i agree with all you've said but i don't believe in thrwoing money to acheive success..its just boring! I would much rather spend money like our two clubs with prudence and achieve a respectable league position and decent season. However i am quietly confident BOTH our clubs will be able to beat the odds and at least fight for top four which is nothing to be ashamed of.
If we sign cazorla and Sahin, then the FA Cup is manageable, providing le boss takes it seriously this year. Playing the kids against a rejuvinated Sunderland wasn't the wisest of moves last season.
On any given season it can all come down to poor refereeing or simply poor Performance on the day, amongst a million other things. I think personally if the deals for players we are after go through, we have a good chance of claiming a cup I think the league is beyond us, purely based on the size of the squads that teams like Chelsea and Man city have. The players they have on their average bench come match day is astonishing. Not to mention the fact that they can just invest heavily in January if need be. It's probably a whole different topic but until there is proper financial regulations in place I feel it is highly unlikely that us or several other teams will be able to challenge again, regardless of managerial ability or our own squad, there's simply too much of a chasm! To summarise though, yes our chances of a trophy have significantly improved, and we do have hopes for silverware, providing these rumours are done deals.
I actually think our chances in the league might be better than in a cup to be honest. First of all I think everyone is way too negative. As I said elsewhere, if we finished 3rd last year, which I think everyone agrees was a crap year, then this year has to be better. That will mean, probably we will be going deep into all 4 competitions and I think it is going to be difficult to put out the strongst team in the cups, or play with the same intensity, if we are pushing on in the PL and CL. This season we will have a lot of depth in our squad, if we get all the players we hope for, but that makes it harder not to give some players a rest and other a chance in the cup competitions.
Haha ill check.the subsequenr odds mate but i hate getting my hopes up though i like whats going on within the club!
If we sign Carzorla and Sahin I think we will win the league. How many Top International players does it take to turn a 3rd placed squad into title contenders?? Well if you count Wilshere we would have added 5.
We have to also consider though that manu and especially chelsea have made major improvements. In comparison to them we havent really broke the bank.
Chelsea have made a lot of great signings but not sure if they have made so many improvements as they all seem to play in the same or similar positions.
I don't get what chelsea are doing, signing wise. Why sign so many CAM's and wingers? They need a striker, they need a RB, they need a CB etc.
