Take comfort in the fact that Manchester United is the only team ever to take the league title off Chelsea So there may be hope for you next season. 1955 Chelsea 1956 Man United 2005 Chelsea 2006 Chelsea 2007 Man United 2010 Chelsea 2011 Man United
Which will probably get broken anyway in a couple of years when we eventually lose our title to Arsenal
IF Arsenal buy well this summer then I think they will be favourites for the league next season. They're two players away from being a very good side. They're without doubt already the best footballing side in the league. They just need some steel in the heart of defence and midfield. Their first half performance against Hull the other night was the highest quality football any team has played all season.
I agree. But they still wont win. You could stick the best 11 players in the world in that team and they still wouldnt win the title. Purely because of the manager. I seem to remember a year ago or so (when you were known as No One Famous) us having a 3 day debate on Arsene Wenger, and you singing his praises and me calling him a useless piece of ****. So I know where you stand on that before we start....lets not open that up again
Arsenal start so poorly year in year out. By the time they get going they are already out of the race. Funny that LVG gets criticised for stumbling upon a good system (when we were playing Spurs and the RS) but Wenger did the same. He found Coquelin by accident. If Arteta had not been injured there was no way he would have been playing and he was the solid DM they had been looking for all along. Arsenal are now both solid defensively and good going forward. Based on the performances in the second half of the season, they are by a long way currently the best team in the premiership.
W Wenger is an exceptional manager. The only other manager who could have kept Arsenal in the top four on the budget they've had for the past ten years is Fergie. He has one major flaw as a manager of a club with title aspirations and it's his refusal to put winning at all costs over style. One day he'll retire and the Gooners will have a very painful awakening!
Nail on the head. A manager who refuses to win unless its on his terms is not a good manager imo. He lacks a certain ruthlessness which managers like SAF and Jose have in spades
I think that is rather unfair. He assesses the opposition and with a team like Arsenal he can play good football against most teams. I think Mourinho may be ruthlessly efficient and win trophies by getting the points. But most of us would disagree with Jose when he stated "Football is all about points". Like many millionaires, can only see pound signs, Jose can only see points. Wenger is different and I do not see this as a flaw. He just needs to get his team motoring as soon as the season starts not in December.
Arsenals title haul in the last ten years says different. Last season was shocking from them. Its not just the lack of tactical ruthlessness, its the training regime too, look at the amount of injuries they have had in the last decade, they lead by a country mile. Its all well and good having them prancing around smashing relegation fodder, but until he can temper Arsenal's qualities with some ruthlessness and pragmatism, he will never win back that elusive title.
I honestly don't think arsenal's performance in one season has any bearing on the next. They will finish 2nd this season and will more than likely finish 4th next. With Wenger in charge it's the same old story. As for being ruthless and going against his philosophy in order to win the league, I disagree completely. If ppl think that playing the Mourhino way would somehow have won Arsenal more success, I'm afraid not. The problem for Arsenal has never been about playing defensive, negative football to win at all costs. The problem for them has been having the personnel to offer the steel in defence needed to succeed over 38 games, irrespective of style of play. Whether Wenger chooses to play free flowing attacking football or chooses to park the bus, if you're sh1te at defending set pieces you will lose games, if you lack mobile defenders you will lose games, if you dont have a disciplined back 4 you will lose games. I get so frustrated when I hear the ill-thought out argument that somehow arsenal would be more successful if they played ugly. They wouldnt. No, carry on with your footballing philosophy Arsene, don't compromise your principles...but ffs add balance to your side, develop a good defence. It's worked for Barca, Bayern....heck it even worked for you 12 to 15 years ago!
All I think it really shows is how good Arsenal are when the pressure is off. Their 2 legger against Monaco is all you need to know about Arsenal wrapped up in a nice 180 minute bow.
I been saying this for years. Every ****ing season Arsenal bottle it when its crunch time, then every season, when all is lost, they start playing like world beaters, and every season people start creaming over Arsenal..."Oh next season they will.....blah blah" "I think Arsenal are now the best in......etc etc". Then next season will start, they will be out of the title race by Christmas, and i will be sat here saying....."I dun told ya.......I dun told ya....." The guy has no ability to instill a winning mentality in to his team, he rarely adapts his tactics to counter the oppositions strengths, and he just sends his players out to play his way, results be damned, then they get injured....and then the excuses come out as to why they are playing so badly. "We urrrrr contwolled tha game, but urrrr we had lots of injuries and urrrrr and it is difficult when tha refewee misses decisions at key moments and urrrrrrr"
No idea, who gives a ****? Arsenal won't win the league until Wenger tells his players that tackling IS allowed against them. That's not going to happen anytime soon as he's a moaning ****.
Pretty poor season overall but it appears we are going to crawl over the line and scrape fourth. Praying we sort out a centre back for next season.
I think LVG has done well, he had the world cup with the Netherlands and that finished in early July he had come into the club without knowing anything of the players maybe apart from watching them on TV. To get 4th with the players and Di Maria, Falcao and Shaw not performing is amazing and then put in all the injuries he had to contend with. Maybe another season and he might not have got away with it but now with this season nearly done, 85-90% knowing how his style is and a full pre-season and new players identified then maybe next season is the time to judge him.
I think he's a top manager personally. His record speaks for itself and didn't Jose say that success was inevitable due to your resources and the manager that you'd appointed?
That's my thought exactly. There is a point of view that we should have done better after spending £150 million in the summer, and over £200 million over the past two years. But then Chelsea spent £95 million in 12/13 then £110 million in 13/14 and finished 3rd. Everyone's response was "let's see how Mourinho does next year now he's had a chance to put his mark back on the team. Seems only fair to offer LVG the same courtesy. And of course give him another £120 million to spend
I don't disagree with you mate, but I look at moments in the season when we had the opportunity to kick on but stagnated...and sometimes even went backwards. If you look at the OP you'll see those games listed. Also you're right about injuries and I have no criticism of him for the first 3 months when injuries were horrendous. But later on, I expected the manager to be able to deal with specific injuries to key players e.g. Carrick. He used Wilson then never played him again persisting with combinations like RvP + Falcao that failed repeatedly. He didnt play Herrera and Mata for months which anyone can see now was just plum crazy. He persisted with 3 (which became 5) at the back. All this seemed unnecessary AND it is worrying bcos it suggests irrational thinking which will show itself in the future. Anyway I dont want to come across like I dont rate the guy. I am optomistic to be honest. But I'm not going to shy away from highlightinf where he came up short this season either.
