Match Reaction vs Citeh (home).

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think there were some hopeful of a title challenge last season and thought we may have finally found the final pieces. If not a title challenge, at least a squad capable of getting Top 4 or winning the Europa League

Saying that, I still don't understand why you think we need major signings this season if you say you thought we were capable of challenging last season. On paper, we have a stronger team this year than we did last season.

Our defence has always been in bad shape and last year it was even worse. We didn't have competition for Cech. Kosienly and Mustafi were an aboslute shambles. Merts was semi retired. There was no competition for Bellerin, Monreal was our best defender by a clear distance. This season we've added Sokratis to the line up along with Lichsteiner and Leno as keeper. Emery is cla better coach than Wenger when it comes to organising a defence so we should be in a better position. Sceptics talk of the lack of pace from Lichsteiner and Sokratis on here but Lich definitely showed a few doubters that he's not finished at this level and despite being up against pace, he knew how to deal with it. He wasn't getting skinned or backing off leaving too much space like we saw from AMN.

In midfield we've added Guendouzi and Torreira. You can already see that they add a lot more to this midfield than players like Xhaka and Ramsey. They seem to understand their prime functions as CM players. That has to be a plus on last year.

The one downside is us losing Sanchez, Giroud and Theo. But all three players divided opinion on here and it was debatable whether they are suitable for the squad. On paper, you can't say Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan are downgrades in that department. It's debatable on how they will function as a unit but I think it should be easier getting them to function as unit over Giroud (slow), Theo (inconsistent, can't dribble) Sanchez (selfish). Not saying we won't miss what those players offered but last year, I guarantee people would have taken a swap deal for three we have now over the three we had then. You know I'm fan of Sanchez and Theo as well. But if you were leaning on the optimistic side last season, I'm not quite sure why it's as negative now when we have improved the squad on paper. I guess it boils down to how badly we performed last year under Wenger.

Which manager did you want instead of Emery? I think we've discussed the players you wanted but I didn't know you weren't swayed on Emery.

If this response times out I will kick my pc off my desk.

Ultimately I want us to have the best team possible, which means the best players in each position. That can't be achieved in one window but the sooner they come in the better in my view and unlike fans of other clubs, I don't think it should be necessary to spend yourself into oblivion in every window. So even if we spent 150 million this window, it wouldn't be necessary in every window. The sooner we are back in the CL...the sooner we can make more money and attract better players and watch better football.

I just think we were so far behind last season we should be doing as much as we can on and off the field to bridge the gap. A net spend of 100 to 150 million on signings of sure quality like Oblak is no bad thing when you seriously need it. Even if we can't win the league I still want us to be doing the most to gain the biggest improvement. I don't think we've had a world class and consistent keeper since Seaman, which is partly why I feel so strongly about that position in particular right now. I'd also argue we could not make a bigger improvement in another position. Perhaps CB..... but that's also why I'd have loved a Koulibaily, but I think bringing in a top class CB or GK that we were convinced of would have been acceptable.

I don't think Emery will get it together straight away which is also why I'd have liked another top player or two. Top players help a new manager out whilst he is fixing and undoing years of fundamental flaws. Also, if we fail to make top 4 and don't win the Europa which isn't impossible, the first thing that will be questioned is the summer recruitment rather than Emery himself as we are all trying to give him a chance. Even with the signings we've made we can't be sure we will finish top 4 and many of the pundits firmly expect us not to be. Not that what they say is gospel, but there are valid reasons for many of their thinking.

I am happy with Emery but no he wasn't my choice. I was not of the Simeone persuasion as I can't bare his style.....but my choice would have been Jardim. A record of working with young players and getting the best out of young plays as well as winning against the odds against teams with larger budgets and more talent. Allegri would have been up there too, but I like a lot of what I know about Emery and I don't expect the club's every decision to be to my exact choice and thinking.

[Özim]

Yes that's right. With newly promoted teams like Fulham, I believe they can increase their bill by a much higher threshold than others. It's way more than 7%. I think around 40% to 60%. The exact figure is in that second article somewhere.

That's true but what about West Ham and Everton though?

[Power n Glory]

That's true but what about West Ham and Everton though?

Come on man. Read the fair play link I shared. It's all there. You tell me? I can't spoon feed everything here.

[Özim]

Come on man. Read the fair play link I shared. It's all there. You tell me? I can't spoon feed everything here.

I read it, are you saying Everton and West Ham increased revenue from commercial income, player trading and Match Day income and we didn't? If so that's pretty poor from the club,

I don't think this stops club spending at all, Liverpool are a perfect example, huge spend, huge increase in wages, they must have some serious increase in commercial income.

I know we signed up Ozil/Auba etc but we took a lot of players off the wage bill last season so that would have probably more than made up for that. Also if that was the case we'd have sold more players to make space for new signings and we didn't really sell many (Perez was the only one and that was late on in the window), seems odd to me.

Like anything, clubs find ways round it if they really want to. Plus with salaries still skyrocketing comparing wages now to those in 2012-2013 or 2016-2017 just doesn't work.

[Power n Glory]

I read it, are you saying Everton and West Ham increased revenue from commercial income, player trading and Match Day income and we didn't? If so that's pretty poor from the club.

You tell me. Tell me why Chelsea's new manager only gets one new outfield player or why Man Utd have spent peanuts compared to what they usually would despite finishing so far behind City.

Everything is 'pretty poor' from the club in your eyes. But surpise, surprise.

[Power n Glory]

If this response times out I will kick my pc off my desk.

Ultimately I want us to have the best team possible, which means the best players in each position. That can't be achieved in one window but the sooner they come in the better in my view and unlike fans of other clubs, I don't think it should be necessary to spend yourself into oblivion in every window. So even if we spent 150 million this window, it wouldn't be necessary in every window. The sooner we are back in the CL...the sooner we can make more money and attract better players and watch better football.

I just think we were so far behind last season we should be doing as much as we can on and off the field to bridge the gap. A net spend of 100 to 150 million on signings of sure quality like Oblak is no bad thing when you seriously need it. Even if we can't win the league I still want us to be doing the most to gain the biggest improvement. I don't think we've had a world class and consistent keeper since Seaman, which is partly why I feel so strongly about that position in particular right now. I'd also argue we could not make a bigger improvement in another position. Perhaps CB..... but that's also why I'd have loved a Koulibaily, but I think bringing in a top class CB or GK that we were convinced of would have been acceptable.

I don't think Emery will get it together straight away which is also why I'd have liked another top player or two. Top players help a new manager out whilst he is fixing and undoing years of fundamental flaws. Also, if we fail to make top 4 and don't win the Europa which isn't impossible, the first thing that will be questioned is the summer recruitment rather than Emery himself as we are all trying to give him a chance. Even with the signings we've made we can't be sure we will finish top 4 and many of the pundits firmly expect us not to be. Not that what they say is gospel, but there are valid reasons for many of their thinking.

I am happy with Emery but no he wasn't my choice. I was not of the Simeone persuasion as I can't bare his style.....but my choice would have been Jardim. A record of working with young players and getting the best out of young plays as well as winning against the odds against teams with larger budgets and more talent. Allegri would have been up there too, but I like a lot of what I know about Emery and I don't expect the club's every decision to be to my exact choice and thinking.

I hear you. Just have to go with the flow on this one and 'trust the process'. I guess for me, the most important thing right now is the football and how we play. Not necessarily the end result in terms of league position or titles. Under Wenger, it wasn't just us dropping down the table and not winning trophies that turned things sour for. We totally lost our way under Wenger in terms of football style and direction. I couldn't work out what he was trying to do with the type of players he bought or what he was doing with our youth players. It was clear he couldn't coach young players anymore and he couldn't be trusted to spend money on players either. Didn't matter whether they were established players, experienced unknowns... same results.

That's why I think it's important Emery gets the foundation right first. If he can show what he can do with little, then trust him with more. That's what usually happens with most coaches. I'm in support of Emery but still say we exercise caution because I don't want to see a repeat of the last few years of Wenger where we have wasted talent and resources because the coaching was poor along with the tactics. Fans like Zim will call for the club to spend now but then have 20/20 hindsight and say we've planned badly if the spending route goes wrong. Let's see what Emery can do before we go nuts.

[Özim]

You tell me. Tell me why Chelsea's new manager only gets one new outfield player or why Man Utd have spent peanuts compared to what they usually would despite finishing so far behind City.

Everything is 'pretty poor' from the club in your eyes. But surpise, surprise.

I can't.

Chelsea spent a fair amount with the 71 million for the keeper and Jorginho, signed Kovacic on loan and bought a backup keeper in green and that's on top of the manager coming in very late so hardly surprising.

Man U went after several players (Godin being one) but got turned down for one reason or another, but they were 2nd last season but they still brought Dalot, Fred and Grant and that's on top of signings Alexis in January from us (yes I know we got Mhiki but let's face it he was a cast off and we had little choice), so actually it's not for want of trying.

We were absolute miles behind and yet invested less than those two and what's worse wasted money giving some duds new contracts and failed to sell our rejects so that we could spend more, last summer we actually made a profit, which did get wiped up in January I grant you (but we weren't far from break even), so that's pretty much 70-80 million in two summer windows. Pretty poor show.

[Power n Glory]

See my post to Blink. No need to respond to it. It's just a pointless conversation with you now. Everything is anti Arsenal.

[IBK]

I hear you. Just have to go with the flow on this one and 'trust the process'. I guess for me, the most important thing right now is the football and how we play. Not necessarily the end result in terms of league position or titles. Under Wenger, it wasn't just us dropping down the table and not winning trophies that turned things sour for. We totally lost our way under Wenger in terms of football style and direction. I couldn't work out what he was trying to do with the type of players he bought or what he was doing with our youth players. It was clear he couldn't coach young players anymore and he couldn't be trusted to spend money on players either. Didn't matter whether they were established players, experienced unknowns... same results.

That's why I think it's important Emery gets the foundation right first. If he can show what he can do with little, then trust him with more. That's what usually happens with most coaches. I'm in support of Emery but still say we exercise caution because I don't want to see a repeat of the last few years of Wenger where we have wasted talent and resources because the coaching was poor along with the tactics. Fans like Zim will call for the club to spend now but then have 20/20 hindsight and say we've planned badly if the spending route goes wrong. Let's see what Emery can do before we go nuts.

Couldn't agree more

[Power n Glory]

Couldn't agree more

Good to see you back.