All of us on this board has predicted it. All of us on this board had no doubts that AFC without RvP will be a shadow of the team that it was from the middle of last season. They were a one-man team, pure and simple. Yes, Whinger has made a couple of decent signings, but those players are not in RvP's class, and there is absolutely no guarantee that they will make an impact in the EPL. AFC without RvP will be like watching a turkey-shoot. Sure, we'll laugh at them for a while, but later I am sure that some of us might stop laughing and even feel a small degree of pity for them. I don't know. All I am saying is be prepared, lads, for quite possibly one of the greatest declines in the history of any sport, any where, at any time.
Did you actually watch the match HAIG? The goons actually played rather well, had more shots on goal and looked the stronger at the end. Admittedly they were against an under strength Citeh side, but it included Yaya, Augero and a pretty slow overweight Tevez so you couldn't describe it as a Citeh reserve team. The goons problem seemed to be that they had no one to finish, shots came in from distance but were easily dealt with by the Citeh reserve keeper. Providing they make a few more signings I don't think relegation will bother them, not for a couple of years anyway.
The thing is though that City struggled to score in their previous matches and then score 2 against Arsenal.......not good. BlastOff,at 0819 a thread is started on our board and 13 minutes later here you are an Arsenal supporter on our board mocking. Now you can mock as much as you like but what brings so many gooners on to our board so regularly and so quickly? Are you cheesed off and bored with your own board or something that you find ours more interesting? You have to admit that without RVP you have a huge gap in your team and the coming season will be interesting to see what you do.
Yeah they did actually play quite well but didnt really create any clear cut chances although they were shooting from distance which some Arsenal fans on here were pleased to see instead of the pass pass pass routine, City took the 2 chances they had in the 1st half and then Aguero missed a golden chance to kill the game off properly in the 2nd half but Arsenal dominated possesion.
I love HIAG's predictions. They always come back to bite him on the Arsenal. Too many to mention from last season, but one that sticks out was this: 'I'll be disappointed if we don't beat you by two clear goals' - right before the NLD at Emirates Keep em coming HIAG
That was 12 points though. And United had games in hand (I think). The biggest collapses are Spurs 11/12, Arsenal 02/03, United 97/98 and Arsenal 07/08
So was Spurs', wasn't it? http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...ate=1328054399999&tableView=CURRENT_STANDINGS
The biggest collapse was Sunderland in 2002/3 - they had 18 points by the end of December, before finishing the season with the grand total of...wait for it...19 points.
Yeah but it was the media hype that made it worse. The media claimed Spurs were title contenders, playing the best football the world had ever seen and Arsenal (as well as Chelsea) were woeful sides. Arry went from being the most wanted manager in the country with both Spurs and England pining for him to being wanted by neither and ultimately sacked
Not trying to deny that the end of last season was one almighty **** up but Newcastle had a clear 12 point lead at the same stage of the season as us with no games in hand to United or Liverpool. http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...Date=822268799999&tableView=CURRENT_STANDINGS Wasn't exactly a great finish to the season from us back then either
But sometimes it's not who is being chased its the chaser that is looked at. Newcastle hadn't won a title in donkeys years. They were being chased by Manchester United - The Winners of 2 of the precious 3 titles and close runners up in the season before. Everybody rated United but just thought the gap was too much to claw back. Spurs on the other hand were supposedly a far superior side and better than Arsenal or Chelsea could ever hope to be, the media took great pleasure in reminding us of that. When Chelsea lost the first leg to Napoli I'd bet some small bookies would probably have paid out for Spurs for CL there and then.
You're basing Newcastle's chances on past seasons and by that logic you could say Spurs weren't expected to finish above Arsenal as we hadn't done so for aaaages. Your point about us seen as favourites after you lost to Napoli is down to your lot looking like you were heading out of the CL. Your turnaround in the competition and run to lifting the trophy there after has nothing to do with us flopping. Finishing without CL football was bad luck, no finishing above Arsenal and garunteeing CL football was the flop.
Our collapse last season was down to two very important factors:- (1) RvP had what is likely to be the best game of his career. Had that not been the case, AFC would have struggled to finish in the first half of the table. (2) Redknapp had his head turned by all the "cry Harry for England!" bollocks that our media was spouting. It's the coincidence of those two factors that lead to our collapse, since one improved AFC and the other weakened us. Either one of them would not have been sufficient to undo us, in my view.
