Match reaction v Saints 3-3

[HCZ_Reborn]

Check the bit in bold. And reflect on it. OR, explain to me why Partey is "no doubt a top player". That's every bit as ridiculous as anything Mandela is claiming.

And at least Mandela had the grace to call out the ludicrous bullshit that has been going on here up until the last few games. You all wanked over the Bournemouth farce, didn't you?

Other people may have done but I was a mixture of relieved and angry that put ourselves in the position to begin with

It’s all relative at the end of the day, when you’re judging a player you can only judge them against the quality of players in the game presently. And in that regard yes Partey is a top player

Also in respect of your other post, it feels a bit contradictory. You blame the club for its mentality by citing the whole Top 4 Trophy thing but then start by conceding that in a shit league city win by 90% chequebook.

You can argue that to explicitly state Top 4 is a trophy breeds a mentality that doesn’t even try to win. But ultimately the 90% chequebook will always override the 10% mentality/culture in the long term.

This idea that we’ve not achieved because the fans weren’t ambitious enough and didn’t demand it more…Is lovely and everything. But believing I should be a Doctor won’t bridge the intellectual gap to make it happen

[IBK]

Other people may have done but I was a mixture of relieved and angry that put ourselves in the position to begin with

It’s all relative at the end of the day, when you’re judging a player you can only judge them against the quality of players in the game presently. And in that regard yes Partey is a top player

Also in respect of your other post, it feels a bit contradictory. You blame the club for its mentality by citing the whole Top 4 Trophy thing but then start by conceding that in a shit league city win by 90% chequebook.

You can argue that to explicitly state Top 4 is a trophy breeds a mentality that doesn’t even try to win. But ultimately the 90% chequebook will always override the 10% mentality/culture in the long term.

This idea that we’ve not achieved because the fans weren’t ambitious enough and didn’t demand it more…Is lovely and everything. But believing I should be a Doctor won’t bridge the intellectual gap to make it happen

In fairness, I don't think NQ was saying that the club currently accepts that top four is a trophy, but arguing that this was the case during the late Wenger years, and created a mentality that has taken a lot to shift...

I read his post as supportive of what Arteta has achieved, and as calling out fans who think that he should have made the leap from a team outside the European places to league winners by now.

[HCZ_Reborn]

In fairness, I don't think NQ was saying that the club currently accepts that top four is a trophy, but arguing that this was the case during the late Wenger years, and created a mentality that has taken a lot to shift...

I read his post as supportive of what Arteta has achieved, and as calling out fans who think that he should have made the leap from a team outside the European places to league winners by now.

I got what he was saying my argument is more aimed at this demonisation of Wenger as being the spokesman for the clubs lack of ambition. Whether he should have explicitly stated that top 4 was a trophy, it’s abundantly clear there’s a difference in what the club was able to spend then and now.

And when he accepts that Man City’s victories are 90% chequebook based, it seems no less so for Chelsea and United at a time where finishing in the top four and finishing above spurs appeared to be the zenith of our ambition. Wenger could have walked away earlier of course but he stated that he didn’t like being the coach when we were at the Emirates because he felt he did not have the chance to make the kind of title challenging sides that he’d made in the past. But equally it was those consistent top four finishes that put us in reasonable good stead for someone like Arteta to build a title winning side now.

Granted Arteta does deserve credit for the big leap he’s made from last year to this year, but he equally deserves scrutiny for his failure to adapt under the heat of City creeping up on us, which they were always going to do.