Wenger to sign a new deal

[Ollie the Optimist]

Been seeing all sorts of quotes and stories in last ten minutes on twitter, from evening standard to the sun where gazidas is saying he expects wenger to stay and sign a new long term contract. Haven't got the links right now but just google it and you will see the stories.

[Letters]

Zimm :pal:

[Joker]

Expected it tbh. He's achieved everything the board's asked of him so there's no reason why they won't give him another 5 year deal.

[GP]

Four More Years!

:woohoo:

[Ollie the Optimist]

I really don't believe ther has been money made available to wenger recently so what he has done has been incredible, and if money is now here and he does spend it then I believe he deserves a chance again with money after keeping us in the top four without it. If we make the right signings this summer and really go for it then keeping him is the best option IMO. If we fuck this summer up them he should go

[Seymour Butts]

Would seem strange without the old bastard at the helm to be honest! I mean what would we moan about?

[Marc Overmars]

Yay

[Kano]

oh fuck this club for a laugh

[milla]

Tis would be the best signing ever!!! :coffee:

[Joker]

Interesting reading this thread from 2 years ago:

http://www.goonersweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=46

A fair few people were hoping he'd turn things around but the same issues that we were bemoaning about them still exist in the main (although the defence has been tightened up).

[Özil's Panoramic View]

No....no....no! :crying:

Ffs, when will it end?

Our fate now sealed as we're consigned to at least another half o' decade of mediocrity and virtual trophies. :ilt:

[Xhaka Can’t]

Yeah, just had a look, the news is all over the place accompanied by Gassy dick statements on Wenger being here for the long haul.

[JonasTC]

I hope this is true. TBH i dont think any1 else can do what wenger does with Arsenal, im really afraid we will turn into Liverpool once he's gone :s

Plus, i really believe in the project we got going now, the last couple of years has been shit, but for the first time in years we are not going to lose our best players in the transfer window, so we'll come out with a team that is actually played together and dont need half a season to get to know eachother + our finances finally seems sorted out, new TV money and 2 new sponsor deals. Might just be me, but im really optimistic for the next couple of years and i hope wengers stays :)

[Syn]

Hello, Goonersweb here. I am delighted with the news and I think Wenger should stay as long as possible. Feel free to quote this as proof of how goonersweb feels. Regards, goonersweb.

[server too busy!]

It amazes me that people truely believe there has been money there for Wenger to spend...its quite clear he has had to make a profit to keep the club going and that required getting us into the top 4. No other manager could do it. Yes he has made mistakes but at least he's kept us competitive through the hard times. Now is the time we can spend more freely and now we will really see if Wenger has lost it.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Could be good news. Could be terrible news. At this point in time, I have no fucking idea.

[Gooner23]

Poor decision if true. Regardless of money spent or not spent, he has looked a shadow of the great manager he used to be. The players have lacked motivation which is a major issue.

Should be given to the end of his contract, and if we have an amazing year then consider offering a new contract.

[Munchies]

I'd have waited until the end of the season, but if he manages to fix our broken team after nearly a decade again and we win trophies, it could be good news as we can go into the next season without wondering if he'll leave or not.

[Letters]

I really don't believe ther has been money made available to wenger recently so what he has done has been incredible, and if money is now here and he does spend it then I believe he deserves a chance again with money after keeping us in the top four without it. If we make the right signings this summer and really go for it then keeping him is the best option IMO. If we fuck this summer up them he should go
Did you cut and paste that post from last summer, or the summer before, or the summer before that?

[GP]

Nah it was from your face lol

[Marc Overmars]

Last chance

One more year

This summer

etc

Same old buzzwords. Does anyone even trust him to get the team performing to a higher level anymore? I mean, on paper at least, most of us were somewhat satisfied with what we did last summer in the transfer market, yet nothing changed and arguably the quality of football declined even further.

Unless we sign some special players I can't see us doing anything beyond a 4th place cup challenge.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No more of this please:

http://i44.tinypic.com/5pogg7.jpg

Come on Wenger, reboot the old version. :pray:

[Globalgunner]

-United. head and shoulders above us even with Moyes at the helm.
-City better than us and now have a better manager than that twerp Mancini
-Chelsea. Now with added Mourinho, a machine that regularly eats Wenger`s for breakfast
-Us same shit as before
-Spuds, a sniff worse than us and could get better, or worse if the great ape leaves
-Liverpool. Can they stay crap for much longer?.

Face it chaps. The game is moving on rapidly, only at the Emirates does the shit stay the same. I will genuinely feel bereaved if the fool is given an extension.

[Letters]

-United. head and shoulders above us even with Moyes at the helm.
-City better than us and now have a better manager than that twerp Mancini
-Chelsea. Now with added Mourinho, a machine that regularly eats Wenger`s for breakfast
-Us same shit as before
-Spuds, a sniff worse than us and could get better, or worse if the great ape leaves
-Liverpool. Can they stay crap for much longer?.

Face it chaps. The game is moving on rapidly, only at the Emirates does the shit stay the same. I will genuinely feel bereaved if the fool is given an extension.
Chelsea and City both have more resources than us, Utd do too although don't have the infinite money cheat on the first two do.
Is it reasonable to expect us to do better than 4th in an era where money and success are so closely correlated?
Where we are failing though is we should be closer to Utd and further away from Spurs, there's no way they should be breathing down our neck.

[Globalgunner]

Chelsea and City both have more resources than us, Utd do too although don't have the infinite money cheat on the first two do.
Is it reasonable to expect us to do better than 4th in an era where money and success are so closely correlated?
Where we are failing though is we should be closer to Utd and further away from Spurs, there's no way they should be breathing down our neck.

What is reasonable is to expect improvement, year on year as at the end of the day it is a competition. Each year we have 4 opportunities to win something. 8 years we have failed miserably. That means 32 times we have failed. Or more appropriately. Wenger has failed. David CAN beat Goliath. Or Swansea would not be FA cup champions. The problem with keeping Wenger is that he kills all reasons for hope. Ragnarok will occur before that zealot wins anything again.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Difference is that we know for a fact that the next few years should be different with the new revenue streams and that should put us in a more reasonable position to compete with the likes of City, Chelsea and United.

As servertobusy stated it's incredibly naive to think that Wenger hasn't been inhibited the past few years in the transfer market. We've had to make a profit on transfers just to make a profit the last few seasons once the one off property money dried up, that's how laughably weak our commercial revenue streams have been.

Furthermore, I'm not for replacing Wenger unless there was a clear viable choice to bring in who would be better. There's no point replacing bread for gruel. At the moment I can't see anyone better that would come here, Klopp's committed to Dortmund, Pep and Mourinho have joined new clubs etc etc.

[Globalgunner]

Difference is that we know for a fact that the next few years should be different with the new revenue streams and that should put us in a more reasonable position to compete with the likes of City, Chelsea and United.

As servertobusy stated it's incredibly naive to think that Wenger hasn't been inhibited the past few years in the transfer market. We've had to make a profit on transfers just to make a profit the last few seasons once the one off property money dried up, that's how laughably weak our commercial revenue streams have been.

Furthermore, I'm not for replacing Wenger unless there was a clear viable choice to bring in who would be better. There's no point replacing bread for gruel. At the moment I can't see anyone better that would come here, Klopp's committed to Dortmund, Pep and Mourinho have joined new clubs etc etc.

You say that you know something for a fact SHOULD be different. Grammatically and logically incoherent. The future is unknown. 8 years of failure however is an undeniable fact and we haven't been poorer than Swansea, Blackpool or Birmingham in those years

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger is easily the best manager in the world, there's little doubt about that given what he's achieved.

But he's a mediocre football coach.

So, woohoo, for the board.

Meh, for the fans.

[fakeyank]

FFS! All the wages we have saved from getting rid of those 3 fucks is going to go this clowns extension!

Might as well rename the club Arsene FC!

[Cripps_orig]

Interesting this news has come out so soon after the season ticket deadline passed

[Letters]

What is reasonable is to expect improvement, year on year as at the end of the day it is a competition. Each year we have 4 opportunities to win something. 8 years we have failed miserably. That means 32 times we have failed. Or more appropriately. Wenger has failed. David CAN beat Goliath. Or Swansea would not be FA cup champions. The problem with keeping Wenger is that he kills all reasons for hope. Ragnarok will occur before that zealot wins anything again.
It's not realistic to expect a side to improve every year but I agree that from where we are we certainly should be looking to improve and we've been treading water for far too long. The lack of any trophies over the last 8 years is a major failing of Wenger.

Finishing top 4 every year shouldn't be dismissed as if any idiot could have achieved that, clubs like Spurs and Liverpool have thrown enough money around and failed to do it consistently, but we do seem as a club far too content to just hang in there and not try and push on and seriously challenge.
Maybe the new commercial deals and FFP will see us become more competitive. I'm not holding my breath though.

We could do a lot worse than Wenger but the main bit of your post I agree with is about hope. Most of us have lost faith in Wenger's ability to deliver trophies and if at the start of the season you feel you have no hope of that then what's the point? I don't feel we're that far away from a side that can seriously challenge, we just need to do the right things this summer. Trouble is I've thought that for the last 4 summers... :ilt:

[Kano]

I don't feel we're that far away from a side that can seriously challenge, we just need to do the right things this summer. Trouble is I've thought that for the last 4 summers... :ilt:
we HAVE a team and have HAD a team good enough to win trophies. failing against weak opposition once is fine because these things happen but when they happen 3/4 or more times - under different squads - then there is clearly one common denominator. the prem ain't happening for a long time for us but a cup or two wouldn't have gone amiss to keep tings ticking over but wenger gloriously fucked those up time after time.

[Master Splinter]

then there is clearly one common denominator

Pretty much.

GW :doh:.

[Syn]

Tomorrow's paper: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BMGpBcNCEAAVzfh.jpg:large

[LDG]

-United. head and shoulders above us even with Moyes at the helm.
.

See, this is why I didn't read the rest of your post.

He hasn't even managed one minute of football at utd.

Poor post.

[LDG]

Quite happy actually.

[GP]

Tomorrow's paper: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BMGpBcNCEAAVzfh.jpg:large

Dettori :bow:

[Niall_Quinn]

It's not realistic to expect a side to improve every year but I agree that from where we are we certainly should be looking to improve and we've been treading water for far too long. The lack of any trophies over the last 8 years is a major failing of Wenger.

Finishing top 4 every year shouldn't be dismissed as if any idiot could have achieved that, clubs like Spurs and Liverpool have thrown enough money around and failed to do it consistently, but we do seem as a club far too content to just hang in there and not try and push on and seriously challenge.
Maybe the new commercial deals and FFP will see us become more competitive. I'm not holding my breath though.

We could do a lot worse than Wenger but the main bit of your post I agree with is about hope. Most of us have lost faith in Wenger's ability to deliver trophies and if at the start of the season you feel you have no hope of that then what's the point? I don't feel we're that far away from a side that can seriously challenge, we just need to do the right things this summer. Trouble is I've thought that for the last 4 summers... :ilt:

We are miles away from having a team that can challenge. Think about it. The senior players now are Sagna (who wants out), Ramsey, Walcott - these were prospects not that long ago now they are top of the tree. Ludicrously we have a captain who can't get a game. A second rate striker to replace RvP. A joke of a winger in Gervinho. A shitarse like Chamakh still sucking money. We're talking about fighting to hold onto one of our "star" players - Koscielny FFS! A kid with prospects in goal. A couple of Germans who blow hot and cold. A tick-tock Spaniard trying to be a Vieria or Gilberto, and one genuinely class player in Cazorla if you rule Wilsher out as being a victim of that thing Wenger said he'd never allow, burnout. Gibbs is okay, maybe something there.

But all in all MOST of these players need to be replaced if we are going to build a team to challenge for the title. Even then you'd have to rely on Wenger playing then in the correct positions or not coming up with some bizarre match blowing tactics at the crucial points in the season. Worst team we've had in decade and the result of a steady drain that I guesstimate will take around £250mill (including wages) to fix. Probably more. You can't ever, ever let players like Fabregas and RvP go if you are serious about building a team. Those transfers were the clearest signal that the priorities of the club are entirely mismatched to those of the fans.

We finished top 4 every year because that's what the balance sheet required. The 4th place trophy is a financial trophy. This is why Wenger is spoken of so highly by the chief beneficiaries.

[Letters]

We are miles away from having a team that can challenge. Think about it. The senior players now are Sagna (who wants out), Ramsey, Walcott - these were prospects not that long ago now they are top of the tree. Ludicrously we have a captain who can't get a game. A second rate striker to replace RvP. A joke of a winger in Gervinho. A shitarse like Chamakh still sucking money. We're talking about fighting to hold onto one of our "star" players - Koscielny FFS! A kid with prospects in goal. A couple of Germans who blow hot and cold. A tick-tock Spaniard trying to be a Vieria or Gilberto, and one genuinely class player in Cazorla if you rule Wilsher out as being a victim of that thing Wenger said he'd never allow, burnout. Gibbs is okay, maybe something there.
And yet we finished 2 points off 3rd place, 5 points off 2nd. :shrug: And the sides who finished in 2nd and 3rd have the infinite money cheat turned on and neither significantly out-performed us in the league.
We're not that good, but we're not that bad either.
Utd were miles clear of everyone but only because of RvP and Fergie who manages to get squads who are decent but hardly world-beaters to win game after game. But he's gone now and while they're not going to suddenly be in mid-table I don't expect them to win the title next year. Moyes is decent enough but he's no Fergie, Chelsea and City will no doubt splash silly amounts of money around and that will make it difficult for us to challenge but we don't need to have a massive clear out and start again. This squad + a couple of marquee signings and we'd be right up there. Whether we'll make them...well, I'm sceptical because we've been here so many times before.

You're right about the Fabregas and RvP transfers, that showed what the aims and ambition of the club are about. Or have been about. Maybe there's some longer term masterplan behind it all and with better commercial deals and more of the stadium debt paid off we'll compete again, but we've been sold that story for years so who knows :shrug:

It's not just us who covets the 4th place trophy by the way, plenty of clubs have splashed out and tried and failed to achieve it. It shouldn't be all we're trying to achieve though and it seems it has been, or at best it's been the top priority for the club.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Wenger soaks up the criticism for years when the board gave him no money.

Redknapp spits his dummy when he can't get Wayne Bridge.

#Class

Saw that on twitter. It's very true, board admit there have been constraints on wenger yet he has never moaned.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Wenger soaks up the criticism for years when the board gave him no money.

Redknapp spits his dummy when he can't get Wayne Bridge.

#Class

Saw that on twitter. It's very true, board admit there have been constraints on wenger yet he has never moaned.

[GP]

He's a top man.

Deserves a ton of respect.

[Cripps_orig]

Saw that on twitter. It's very true, board admit there have been constraints on wenger yet he has never moaned.

He has 6 millions reasons not to moan tbh

[Cripps_orig]

Saw that on twitter. It's very true, board admit there have been constraints on wenger yet he has never moaned.

He has 6 millions reasons not to moan tbh

[Joker]

How do you know the board gave him no money? I don't disagree that we may not have had an enormous quantity available for transfers, but we definitely have had some money available. For example, this from 2010:

http://www.1000goals.com/chief-executive-gazidis-wenger-will-have-funds-to-spend

[Cripps_orig]

We've always had money.

[Niall_Quinn]

And yet we finished 2 points off 3rd place, 5 points off 2nd. :shrug: And the sides who finished in 2nd and 3rd have the infinite money cheat turned on and neither significantly out-performed us in the league.
We're not that good, but we're not that bad either.
Utd were miles clear of everyone but only because of RvP and Fergie who manages to get squads who are decent but hardly world-beaters to win game after game. But he's gone now and while they're not going to suddenly be in mid-table I don't expect them to win the title next year. Moyes is decent enough but he's no Fergie, Chelsea and City will no doubt splash silly amounts of money around and that will make it difficult for us to challenge but we don't need to have a massive clear out and start again. This squad + a couple of marquee signings and we'd be right up there. Whether we'll make them...well, I'm sceptical because we've been here so many times before.

You're right about the Fabregas and RvP transfers, that showed what the aims and ambition of the club are about. Or have been about. Maybe there's some longer term masterplan behind it all and with better commercial deals and more of the stadium debt paid off we'll compete again, but we've been sold that story for years so who knows :shrug:

It's not just us who covets the 4th place trophy by the way, plenty of clubs have splashed out and tried and failed to achieve it. It shouldn't be all we're trying to achieve though and it seems it has been, or at best it's been the top priority for the club.

Fair enough, if the rest continue to be average then we could out-average them with a couple more players. I'm talking about setting up a team you'd expect to be challenging each season regardless of what the others are up to. A team like we used to have, for instance. It'd be a laugh if we stumbled to a title because we were slightly less shite than our major rivals, but it would be a lot more satisfying if we had the right philosophy year on year and the resources of the club were focused on the football rather than the share price and the queue of raiders waiting for their turn at the trough. This Gazidis bloke reckons we have £70mill a year to spend? So we might do £200mill by 2016? Yeah right, they're going to bargain basement it again, maybe spend a bit more this time because the team really has fallen off a cliff and is in danger of being overhauled by powerhouses such as the spuds and Everton. Plus whatever they spend is only what the tight bastards held back over the last few years, listening to them you'd think they were doing us a favour.

[Niall_Quinn]

We've always had money.

"They've" always had money (ours)

[Niall_Quinn]

How do you know the board gave him no money? I don't disagree that we may not have had an enormous quantity available for transfers, but we definitely have had some money available. For example, this from 2010:

http://www.1000goals.com/chief-executive-gazidis-wenger-will-have-funds-to-spend

Because the board openly boasts about the finances and says pretty much fuck all about the lack of success in (what you'd think would be) the most important aspect of running a football club - football! Because they retain a manager who doesn't win and consistently fails in the one-off crunch matches. We had an embarrassing record against our (supposed) rivals this year and we got booted out of anything we could realistically win by pub teams.

Because the board members have all spent the last few years trading shares, stabbing each other up, stuffing cash in their wallets (at a ridiculous return on the insignificant investments made), doing property deals, any fucking thing except finding ways to invest in the football team.

They are quite clearly not bothered we don't win anything, except the pay day associated with limping home 4th. Even then they told Wenger, no worries, we'll be okay cash wise if we don't get 4th. Not, as you might imagine in a highly competitive sport, a winning message. Telling the manager it's fine to fail because they'll still have enough cash? Are these the sort of people we want anywhere near the club?

[Letters]

Because the board openly boasts about the finances and says pretty much fuck all about the lack of success in (what you'd think would be) the most important aspect of running a football club - football! Because they retain a manager who doesn't win and consistently fails in the one-off crunch matches. We had an embarrassing record against our (supposed) rivals this year and we got booted out of anything we could realistically win by pub teams.

Because the board members have all spent the last few years trading shares, stabbing each other up, stuffing cash in their wallets (at a ridiculous return on the insignificant investments made), doing property deals, any fucking thing except finding ways to invest in the football team.

They are quite clearly not bothered we don't win anything, except the pay day associated with limping home 4th. Even then they told Wenger, no worries, we'll be okay cash wise if we don't get 4th. Not, as you might imagine in a highly competitive sport, a winning message. Telling the manager it's fine to fail because they'll still have enough cash? Are these the sort of people we want anywhere near the club?
Which all rather begs the question if Wenger goes and the board doesn't will that not just make things worse still?
I don't think many managers in the world could have kept us in the top 4 the way Wenger has, spending so little.

[Letters]

Because the board openly boasts about the finances and says pretty much fuck all about the lack of success in (what you'd think would be) the most important aspect of running a football club - football! Because they retain a manager who doesn't win and consistently fails in the one-off crunch matches. We had an embarrassing record against our (supposed) rivals this year and we got booted out of anything we could realistically win by pub teams.

Because the board members have all spent the last few years trading shares, stabbing each other up, stuffing cash in their wallets (at a ridiculous return on the insignificant investments made), doing property deals, any fucking thing except finding ways to invest in the football team.

They are quite clearly not bothered we don't win anything, except the pay day associated with limping home 4th. Even then they told Wenger, no worries, we'll be okay cash wise if we don't get 4th. Not, as you might imagine in a highly competitive sport, a winning message. Telling the manager it's fine to fail because they'll still have enough cash? Are these the sort of people we want anywhere near the club?
Which all rather begs the question if Wenger goes and the board doesn't will that not just make things worse still?
I don't think many managers in the world could have kept us in the top 4 the way Wenger has, spending so little.

[Kano]

I don't think there are many managers in the world that we believe could have kept us in the top four. then again, no-one saw fergie tearing up the history books in the uk as he did; nobody saw wenger winning a thing coming from japan - so the people with the real insight into these things know far better than us sitting on the sidelines.

and the top four is great etc etc but what now? we all know what's going to happen, so that leaves 'financial' reasons as the most important thing to remain in the competition. only since the explosion of information on the internet has the money ever mattered to fans and it's hardly anything to get excited about it.

[Globalgunner]

The beauty of the internet is that we get to see people impose their own realities on the factual landscape. The club insists that there is money for Wenger to spend and the published accounts back this up. Yet the Wenger apologists insist that actually there IS no money and poor old Wenger is forced by circumstances beyond his control to buy poor players like Giroud and Gervinho. Financial paucity made him keep a shambolic keeper like Almunia his 1st keeper for 3 seasons and lavish generous wages on his orphans like JD and Squid who would almost certainly shrivel up and die if released before time or made to live on wages commensurate to their lack of talent. Not to mention him squelching along on wages of 7.5m pa. There is money there always has been money. It has in the main been wasted or squandered. We have a 50% higher overall budget than the Spuds and all we can show for it is 1 measly point (2 seasons in a row). Yet the mantra from many is that Wenger is a miracle worker and no one else in world football could have pulled of his gargantuan feat of keeping us ahead of the spuds.

Bottom line is that City have themselves now a proven manager and Chelsea are led by a zealot who knows only how to grind out results. United are a conundrum but i really cant see Ferguson while still alive and sentient allowing ManU slip miserably out of the top 3. There will surely be an intervention if by Xmas things are going awry.
I am sure the results at the end of next season will put them way above our old duffer, who came miserably bottom of the mini league amongst the top 5 clubs. Our only hope IMO is that the spuds continue to choke and the Pool malaise endures. Doing the same thing over and over again will eventually see us come a cropper.

PS Fabregas and Van persie did not leave because we HAD to sell them. They left because they did not want to stick with the program and lap up the BS from Wenger that success was just around the corner. Players know what works because they interact with other players that have had success. Coming back to the Emirates to be told that Ramsey, Eboue, Walcott, JD, Giroud etc are key ingredients to a winning team is only going to raise the hackles and a smirk. The Winners want out and the losers will stay. Simple.

[GP]

The beauty of the internet is that we get to see people impose their own realities on the factual landscape

:lol:

Indeed.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Spurs did not choke last season.

We Won 16, drew 4 and lost 3 after that home defeat against Swansea. Most of the play we saw was shite, but us finishing 4th had nothing at all to do with Spurs choking.

Consider that on your 'factual landscape' whatever the hell that is.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Tbf, they did somewhat choke last season - this after they beat us and went 7 points clear of us. Lots of Gooners, even on here, thought that was the end of our virtual trophy hopes.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Tbf, they did somewhat choke last season - this after they beat us and went 7 points clear of us. Lots of Gooners, even on here, thought that was the end of our virtual trophy hopes.

TBF - they really didn't. Nobody, myself included thought we'd put a run together good enough to catch them (we nearly caught Chelsea too). It wasn't pretty, but we did.

[Xhaka Can’t]

We've always had money.

Show me.

[GP]

TBF - they really didn't. Nobody, myself included thought we'd put a run together good enough to catch them (we nearly caught Chelsea too). It wasn't pretty, but we did.

I did

[Ollie the Optimist]

Tbf, they did somewhat choke last season - this after they beat us and went 7 points clear of us. Lots of Gooners, even on here, thought that was the end of our virtual trophy hopes.


They did choke to an extent, we have such a psychological advantage over them, they know they can be 7 points or 13 ahead and we still will beat them, it's the result of 18 years of finishing below us, however the main reason we beat the, is because of the superb run we put together. I think we took the most points of all the teams in the final ten games. 26 out of 30 I think. They didn't choke as much as we beat them through sheer will power to do it and winning the games

[Ollie the Optimist]

Tbf, they did somewhat choke last season - this after they beat us and went 7 points clear of us. Lots of Gooners, even on here, thought that was the end of our virtual trophy hopes.


They did choke to an extent, we have such a psychological advantage over them, they know they can be 7 points or 13 ahead and we still will beat them, it's the result of 18 years of finishing below us, however the main reason we beat the, is because of the superb run we put together. I think we took the most points of all the teams in the final ten games. 26 out of 30 I think. They didn't choke as much as we beat them through sheer will power to do it and winning the games

[Özil's Panoramic View]

TBF - they really didn't. Nobody, myself included thought we'd put a run together good enough to catch them (we nearly caught Chelsea too). It wasn't pretty, but we did.

Our run would have meant fuck all if they could have kept it together, so yea, a bit of choking on their part.

[Xhaka Can’t]

I did

Yeah, but you're always right.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Our run would have meant fuck all if they could have kept it together, so yea, a bit of choking on their part.

They kept it together and consequently achieved their highest ever EPL points total.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Our run would have meant fuck all if they could have kept it together, so yea, a bit of choking on their part.

They kept it together and consequently achieved their highest ever EPL points total.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

They kept it together and consequently achieved their highest ever EPL points total.

:lol:

Ok.

[Xhaka Can’t]

:lol:

Ok.
Last 8 matches Home & Away tables
P W D L Pts
1 Chelsea 8 6 2 0 20
2 Arsenal 8 6 2 0 20
3 Tottenham 8 5 3 0 18
4 Liverpool 8 4 4 0 16
5 Manchester City 8 5 1 2 16
6 Manchester Utd 8 3 3 2 12
7 Everton 8 3 3 2 12
8 Aston Villa 8 3 2 3 11
9 Norwich City 8 3 1 4 10
10 West Ham Utd 8 2 4 2 10
11 Southampton 8 2 4 2 10
12 Stoke City 8 2 2 4 8
13 Sunderland 8 2 2 4 8
14 Newcastle Utd 8 2 2 4 8
15 Wigan Athletic 8 1 3 4 6
16 Swansea City 8 1 3 4 6
17 West Bromwich 8 1 2 5 5
18 Reading 8 1 2 5 5
19 Fulham 8 1 1 6 4
20 QP Rangers 8 0 2 6 2

Laugh it up funny guy.

[Xhaka Can’t]

:lol:

Ok.
Last 8 matches Home & Away tables
P W D L Pts
1 Chelsea 8 6 2 0 20
2 Arsenal 8 6 2 0 20
3 Tottenham 8 5 3 0 18
4 Liverpool 8 4 4 0 16
5 Manchester City 8 5 1 2 16
6 Manchester Utd 8 3 3 2 12
7 Everton 8 3 3 2 12
8 Aston Villa 8 3 2 3 11
9 Norwich City 8 3 1 4 10
10 West Ham Utd 8 2 4 2 10
11 Southampton 8 2 4 2 10
12 Stoke City 8 2 2 4 8
13 Sunderland 8 2 2 4 8
14 Newcastle Utd 8 2 2 4 8
15 Wigan Athletic 8 1 3 4 6
16 Swansea City 8 1 3 4 6
17 West Bromwich 8 1 2 5 5
18 Reading 8 1 2 5 5
19 Fulham 8 1 1 6 4
20 QP Rangers 8 0 2 6 2

Laugh it up funny guy.

[Syn]

:lol:

[GP]

:lol:

[fakeyank]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HW0sDKSUXQ8/TmY2K0K_iqI/AAAAAAAABlo/ThWvTxZ52ag/s640/funny_owned.jpg

[Özil's Panoramic View]

No, no owning there. I saw it and just couldn't be bothered with another pointless debate. I'd already made my point.

What he did was select the last 8 games, where we managed to avoid defeat. Why didn't he give a rundown from the point where the scum defeated us and we fell 7 points behind them? That would have clearly shown their bit of choking. It's simple logic, our run would have meant fuck all hadn't they choked a bit.

Anyway, I've been on here long enough to know who finds what funny.

[Letters]

Spurs lost the 2 games after they played us. After that they'd still have been ahead of us by a point
The two games were Fulham at home which was a bad one for them to lose but every team gets those and Liverpool away which is never an easy place to go (for all their mediocrity Liverpool only lost 4 home league games last year)

After that Spurs' run in was far harder than ours and yet despite our excellent run-in we only finished a point above them.
Spurs had:
Swansea away (won, good result, we also won there in the run-in)
Everton at home (drew - we also drew with them in the run-in)
City at home (won, good result which I, for one, wasn't expecting)
Wigan away (drew - arguably a slip up but Wigan were scrapping for their survival),
Southampton home (won - you'd expect them to)
Chelsea away (drew - were behind twice, a point is never a bad result there, it's better than we did)
Stoke City away (won - not always an easy place to go, I'd say that was a good result for them)
Sunderland home (won - you'd expect them to)

If you look at our last 10 games they were all very winnable. Swansea away was a good win. Utd and Everton were our 2 other tough games and we drew both (although IMO we played well in both).

After Spurs lost the two games I mentioned we were breathing down their neck and they could have really fallen apart. With the run we put together in the last 10 games and Spurs' far harder run-in we could have finished way above them. As it was we only finished a point above them and they finished with their highest ever points total in the PL.

I'd guess they'd look back on those 2 games after they beat us, that's where they let us back in the race, but I don't know any Spurs fans who feel the side let them down or that they choked.

[Globalgunner]

Nah Spud fans dont feel like their team choked. They are all happy bunnies over in Gloryland. The greater issue of our inept manager being rewarded with more years to stupor us with his sleight of hand card tricks of making 4th place look like climbing K2 with one hand tied behind his back, has been distilled into back and forth over the meaning of choked. Lets look at this for the sake of semantics

7 seconds ahead of a runner in the 1500m and you lose by 1 second = choked
7 shots ahead on the last day of a major . Lose by 1 shot = choked
7 lengths ahead in the grand national, end 1 length behind......Choked

Either they choked or maybe we are just innately and naturally ordained to be better than them. So we dont even need Wenger.
I`m sure your Spud friends will much prefer the last explanation

[Power n Glory]

If we were 7 points ahead of Spurs and then fell behind them to finish 5th, wouldn't most people on here put that down to us chocking?

[Ollie the Optimist]

gazidas tonight has again confirmed that wenger was opperating on a limited budget. well that sorts that issue out. board didnt give him money despite saying they would

[Power n Glory]

Source.

If he's talking into relation to Chelsea and City then he's not wrong. Of course we're on a limited budget when compared to a club that has an unlimited budget. It shouldn't contradict his statement about us being able to afford Rooney.

[Ollie the Optimist]

from tonights q&a with him. check twitter all hte main blogs are living blogging it.


he isnt talking about now, he says we do have money, however he said last 8 years arsene has been operating on a limited budget and only able to get players within that budget

[Syn]

If we were 7 points ahead of Spurs and then fell behind them to finish 5th, wouldn't most people on here put that down to us chocking?

I can't and won't speak for 'most people on here' because I think most people on here are stupid. But I would try to use my head. We knew Tottenham had a tougher run in and we still had over a quarter of a season to go. I didn't think we would make it because it was hard to imagine us going on such a brilliant run over 10 games. I don't think some people understand what choking or bottling means. Its such a stupid thing to do to pick out, say, our qpr game and say we bottled it had we missed out. Tottenham were consistent in their performances throughout the season. Not brilliant but not bad either. Nobody saw us putting on that sort of run together - better than title winning form - given how disjointed we looked earlier, and luckily there were lots of games left to just about sneak it. If Tottenham's results fallen off a cliff over a run of games they were expected to win, and we stayed on our usual mediocre form, then you can call it choking.

[Syn]

Source. .

I guess Ollie's talking about his quote:


@Gingers4Limpar: Gazidis, re. AW signing non-super-top-quality players: "The paramaters he's operating in are the parameters of what the club could afford".

I'm not too bothered about crying over spilled milk. That's all in the past and what's more important is how we behave now. I think this sort of quote is more promising and it has even backed up by keeping Walcott. Lets hope the actions follow.

@Gingers4Limpar: Woah – Ivan says our wage structure "will have to evolve" as top players will keep seeing wages rise, why mid-players' wages could stagnate.

[Power n Glory]

I can't and won't speak for 'most people on here' because I think most people on here are stupid. But I would try to use my head. We knew Tottenham had a tougher run in and we still had over a quarter of a season to go. I didn't think we would make it because it was hard to imagine us going on such a brilliant run over 10 games. I don't think some people understand what choking or bottling means. Its such a stupid thing to do to pick out, say, our qpr game and say we bottled it had we missed out. Tottenham were consistent in their performances throughout the season. Not brilliant but not bad either. Nobody saw us putting on that sort of run together - better than title winning form - given how disjointed we looked earlier, and luckily there were lots of games left to just about sneak it. If Tottenham's results fallen off a cliff over a run of games they were expected to win, and we stayed on our usual mediocre form, then you can call it choking.

Looking at the points tally on paper is different to the actual season and build up during the weekend. On matchday, regardless of the opponent, if one match determined whether or not we stayed ahead of Spurs in the league and we lost or drew, I can't imagine anyone on here, including you, keeping calm about the result. If it was one of those games where we didn't kick into gear quick enough, switched off or failed to convert our chances, it would held up as the point where we chocked because the pressure was on and the players lost their nerve. Even if it's only by a small margin and we play well for the rest of the season, it's still a choke.

I hear what you're saying though, but I wouldn't be so forgiving if it were my team. Only in retrospect can we be so calm and because the results went our way. In most other sports, regardless of how well you play, you miss that last clutch shot and it's a choke. Screw up on the last lap and you lost your nerve, regardless of whose behind you. But it all depends on perspective when it comes to these things. Come out the winner and you think it was an excellent performance, come out with the lose and your critical of your performance.

[Power n Glory]

from tonights q&a with him. check twitter all hte main blogs are living blogging it.


he isnt talking about now, he says we do have money, however he said last 8 years arsene has been operating on a limited budget and only able to get players within that budget

It doesn't really change things though does it? It's simple maths. If you can afford two pairs of £60 Addidas, you can afford a pair of Nike's top of the range £110 trainers.

We operate within a budget but it's how you chop it up.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Personally i don't care if Wenger stays as long as
a) we actually prove we are not all talk and sign the players we clearly need
b) steve bould stays on as assistant manager, my belief is that in the last ten games (11 if you count Bayern Munich) conceeding five goals in that run in was not just laurent koscielny individually but bould drilling that team defensively and you look at the goals we conceeded most of which were individual errors rather than poor tactical set up.

[Ollie the Optimist]

It doesn't really change things though does it? It's simple maths. If you can afford two pairs of £60 Addidas, you can afford a pair of Nike's top of the range £110 trainers.

We operate within a budget but it's how you chop it up.

however just because you can spend the whole budget on one top player doesnt mean you should. one striker was never going to help us, so wenger had to buy several players at cheap prices.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

You see, while some will resort to use the ad hominem in a bid to aggrandise themselves and to look smart, I just stick to pointers that are relevant to what is being debated.

Now, it appears some might have mirepresented what I said - inadvertently or otherwise - making it seem I'm arguing that the scum had choked in a calamitous manner. They were 7 points clear after defeating us and with only 10 games to go, it is my view that it did take a bit of choking at some point on their part, for us to catch up, keep pace and nick them in the end.

And, both fixtures with 10 games to go were tricky. We had the league leaders, a team that were also then in CL spot contention and relegation threatened teams fighting for their prem lives to face.

They had the defending champs who had already surrendered their crown, an inconsistent chav team and maybe a few half decent teams to face. All this with an inform chimp banging in flukes left, right and centre ftw.

[Syn]

Looking at the points tally on paper is different to the actual season and build up during the weekend. On matchday, regardless of the opponent, if one match determined whether or not we stayed ahead of Spurs in the league and we lost or drew, I can't imagine anyone on here, including you, keeping calm about the result.

Yes, if one match determined that and it was a match we should win, then yes. Quite clearly, there was no such one match. Although if we did have to pick such a match, I'm guessing it would be our game with Tottenham - that they won. In no way can they be accused of choking.

And also, if your team loses (which doesn't mean they choked) of course you're not going to be 'calm'. We're going to highlight our crappy defence and our rubbish attack and our weak midfield and whatever else has been awful - just like it might've been all season. Not necessarily the bottle (or lack of) of our players.

[Power n Glory]

however just because you can spend the whole budget on one top player doesnt mean you should. one striker was never going to help us, so wenger had to buy several players at cheap prices.

But it makes sense to pay smaller fees on players that can't even get first team action and push up the wage bill?

Park cost us £3m and Santos £6m. Throw in the money we paid for Eisfield and Joe Campbell, we could have just bought a decent £10m plus player like a Merts, Podolski or Arteta. Someone that would do a job there and then, ready for the first team.

Or look at our bigger signings from that 11/12 window. £10m for Gervinho and £12 for Ox. Ox hardly played and Gervinho wasn't good enough plus was going to the AFCON. Why not just find a £20m winger that's ready there and then and we don't have to worry about developing Ox and waiting 3 years for him to become the £20m superstar we hope he'll be whilst putting up Gervinho's Bambi like antics?

That's an example of one season of spending. 9 players and all of them were above average to below but not one exceptional talent with the money spent! £50m!

[GP]

however just because you can spend the whole budget on one top player doesnt mean you should. one striker was never going to help us, so wenger had to buy several players at cheap prices.

:gp:

[Power n Glory]

Yes, if one match determined that and it was a match we should win, then yes. Quite clearly, there was no such one match. Although if we did have to pick such a match, I'm guessing it would be our game with Tottenham - that they won. In no way can they be accused of choking.

And also, if your team loses (which doesn't mean they choked) of course you're not going to be 'calm'. We're going to highlight our crappy defence and our rubbish attack and our weak midfield and whatever else has been awful - just like it might've been all season. Not necessarily the bottle (or lack of) of our players.

I'd actually say the Everton and Man Utd game. I remember a few comments about us choking in the big games, games that matter, players failing to turn up and the usual talk. But it's the same for the Spurs game. I remember some of the comments in the match reaction thread and failing to turn up when we need the results. I don't know if we'd be talking like this if we didn't qualify for the CL.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Spurs run in


Liverpool (a) Lost 3-2

- Never an easy team to play especially at Anfield, we won there earlier in the season but i still think they gave us a game until we scored the second goal, dodgy goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris and dodgy defending from both sides.


Fulham (h) Lost 1-0
- Three days after losing 4-1 at the San Siro, dominated the game but were sucker punched by their old friend Berbatov


Swansea (a) Won 2-1
- Never an easy place to go and win but they took a two goal lead and held on despite a late fightback


Everton (h) Drew 2-2
- Dominated possession and chances and again quite unlucky to come away with only a point, poor defending from Caulker and Vertonghen for the Jagielka header.


Man City (h) Won 3-1
- City wanted to win this game and keep the title race going for as long as possible, Spurs actually created very little for 70 minutes but controlled possession and invariably wore City down capatalising on poor marking for the equaliser and taking city apart on the counter attack for second and third goal.


Wigan (a) Drew 2-2
- Poor defending by Spurs but catastrophic defending from Wigan, Spurs controlled the game without ever really creating that much....both goals arguably gifted to them. Poor marking for Emerson Boyce's goal only a minute after them taking the lead.


Southampton (h) won 1-0
- Poor first half, took control of the game in the last twenty minutes and got the goal their dominance just about merited


Chelsea (a) drew 2-2
- Were outplayed by Chelsea for long periods of this game but took their chances and got back level twice and despite Gareth Bale having a poor game by his standards actually performed quite decently.


Stoke (a) won 2-1
Delicately poised at half-time, Spurs dominated possession as they would against most teams they would play but Stoke creating the better chances. After Charlie Adam got himself sent off was only a matter of time before Spurs broke through and got a winner with Adebayor duly obliging.


Sunderland (h) won 1-0
A very tense game with Spurs being kept at bay by Simon Mignolet, the tension was displayed by both players and the crowd........a rather dull affair settled by a wonder goal. Proved to be irrelevant as 4th place had been decided on Tyneside.



Arsenal run in


Swansea (a) 2-0
Didn't create much in the first half but apart from Michu Swansea created very little as well. The welsh side tired as the game went on, played much deeper and deeper and the pressure told. We soaked up whatever pressure they put on us in the last twenty minutes and put them to the sword on the counter.


Reading (h) 4-1
Stroll in the park with Gervinho and Cazorla having one of those fancy free games where they just ran at the defence for fun.


West Brom (a) 2-1
Not the best defensive performance in the world, Fabianski looking all at sea from set pieces....man of the match Tomas Rosicky providing brilliance in clearing off the line as well as taking his two goals superbly. Another shout out for Gervinho who proved that he could add a finishing touch to his technical talent.


Norwich (h) 3-1
Tense, Labored performance....the start of the dire midfield performances that would sum up the rest of our season. Conceding a cheap goal with lapse marking, looked like we would lose until we brought on podolski and walcott who opened up the canaries with their pace.


Everton (h) 0-0
Truly awful game which no side looked like they wanted to win, Everton shot their bolt within the first twenty minutes. And it wasn't until Wenger's clockwork efficiency with bringing on substitutes on 67 minutes that we actually looked dangerous and looked like we could win the game....too litttle...too late....Giroud's left foot.


Fulham (a) 1-0
Could have been punished, should have been punished....weren't punished. We were fortunate to play a Fulham side that couldn't buy a win....and had been completely savaged at home to Chelsea mid-week. Even despite the man advantage, couldn't keep possession....played deeper and deeper.....had to rely on Szczesny to bail us out with some decent saves. When Giroud was sent off it was frankly a relief......one of those games that illustrated why Aaron Ramsey should be no-where near the first 11.


Man United (h) 1-1
I thoroughly disagree with people that felt we played well in this game, we stunk up the place and deserved to be beaten against a side that were already champions and for the first half an hour clearly didn't even give a fuck. Half-hearted challenges, no pressure on us on the ball and we were only 1-0 up, Ramsey was giving away the ball at every single opportunity and Rosicky was forever trying to shoot when there wasn't a shot on. When United woke from their slumber it was only a matter of time before they equalized, so Sagna really didn't need to do them a favour. Second half even worse....constantly torn to shreds on the counter attack and wasn't for the fact that both Valencia and Rooney had poor games would have lost and resoundingly.


QPR (a) 1-0
One of the games that sums up why i hate watching Arsenal this season, reasonably nice passing football in the first twenty minutes but as soon as QPR realised they were playing a competitive match the team retreated into their shells. Arteta was ok, but Rosicky and Ramsey were an utter disgrace again....although neither of them managed to perform quite as badly as Monreal in that game.....you could tell we were playing a team that was already relegated any other side would have had us on toast.


Wigan (h) 4-1
Good opening fifteeen minutes, but after that retreated back further and further and invariably made to pay for our reticence to go for the jugular albeit with a little assistance from Mike Dean. Second half, we weathered a right old battering.....and took the game and premiership survival away from Wigan. Probably one of most accomplished second half performances of the season despite playing with a shackle round our leg in the form of Aaron Ramsey.


Newcastle (a) 1-0
Awful, Awful, Awful......whimpered our way to Champions League football....Walcott and Koscielny seemed to be the only players that had bothered to turn up at St James Park. Ramsey was a good pick for the neutral whose inept passing and inability to keep the ball kept the game in the balance despite Newcastle preferring not to have anyone go into the box (taking a leaf out of our own book no doubt)....Walcott was slightly unlucky not to put the game to bed. Was just glad when it was over and not just because we secured 4th, no more awful football to watch for another two and a half months....phew.

[Injury Time]

So to summarise we got 4th playing ugly little bit, drab little bit, lucky little bit, plucky little bit, clucky little bit, =Spurs :pal: however our chances of the title next year if groundhog day happens again :ilt:

[LDG]

You can tell it's summer :doh:

[Injury Time]

You can tell it's summer :doh:
Uhuh must've run out of belly button fluff to argue with :blink:

[Xhaka Can’t]

If we were 7 points ahead of Spurs and then fell behind them to finish 5th, wouldn't most people on here put that down to us chocking?

People don't understand what choking means if they think Spurs choked. Even allowing for every game played since the match against us, they lost 1 game that they shouldn't have. One game from that point until the end of the season.

That is not choking.

[Ollie the Optimist]

why dont we stop arguing about wether spurs choked or not, and just laugh at them for finishing below us. again


spurs :haha:

[Özil's Panoramic View]

why dont we stop arguing about wether spurs choked or not, and just laugh at them for finishing below us. again


spurs :haha:

:goodpost:

The scum. :haha:

Their best season ever as it relates to points haul, and still they dwell in our shadow.

[Xhaka Can’t]

why dont we stop arguing about wether spurs choked or not, and just laugh at them for finishing below us. again


spurs :haha:

Why don't you just shut up.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

To prevent groundhog day we need to stop the February/March collapse that causes us to go out of every competition each season in a matter of a few weeks.

2007 - LC Cup 25th Feb, FA Cup 28th Feb, Champions League 7th March.....out of three competitions within 10 days
2008 - FA Cup 16th Feb plus 1 win from next six league games (CL exit happened in April)
2011 - LC Cup 27th Feb, Champions League 8th March, FA Cup 12th March
2012 - FA Cup 18th Feb (following on from 4-0 drubbing by AC Milan) Champions League 6th March
2013 - FA Cup 16th Feb, Champions League 13th March (although tie effectively ended on 19th Feb)

[Ollie the Optimist]

Why don't you just shut up.

why don't you just fuck off :good:

[Xhaka Can’t]

It was a joke.

[Ollie the Optimist]

It was a joke.


didnt come acrros that way. apologies

[Xhaka Can’t]

didnt come acrros that way. apologies

I thought of writing, "why don't you just fuck off" but figured I'd tame it down a bit in case you didn't get it and flew off on one.

[Injury Time]

This how the fights started in the crowd :rose:

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

calm it ladies.... this is exactly the reason why atmosphere at home matches is so dire!

[GP]

I'm just happy that everyone is in agreement that Wenger is a great man and deserves our respect.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

I'm just happy that everyone is in agreement that Wenger is a great man and deserves our respect.
Why don't you just shut up.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Why don't you just shut up.

Why don't you just fuck off. :good:

[GP]

Yes, eat ALL of our shirts.

[Power n Glory]

People don't understand what choking means if they think Spurs choked. Even allowing for every game played since the match against us, they lost 1 game that they shouldn't have. One game from that point until the end of the season.

That is not choking.

Again, if you look at Spurs and their run, you'd say they didn't choke. But if it were us...:lol:

Not all teams are equal.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Again, if you look at Spurs and their run, you'd say they didn't choke. But if it were us...:lol:

Not all teams are equal.

I know what you are getting at, but no, I wouldn't.

But I'd be pissed off.

[Power n Glory]

Even if it's must win 3 pointer game, media hyping and Wenger saying he's confident the team will deliver and the usual media narrative building up the importance of a particular game? A game where we just fail to turn up and totally bottle the occasion. You wouldn't call it choking?

[Kano]

expectation levels of the two clubs count for a lot. 8 years without a trophy but 17 in the cl keeps those levels far higher than spurs, added to the weight of history between the two clubs and respective managers. we are 'expected' in a sense to remain among the elite whilst if spurs achieve it, they are breaking not only the establishment but their own threshold. and that goes back far longer than wenger's reign.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Even if it's must win 3 pointer game, media hyping and Wenger saying he's confident the team will deliver and the usual media narrative building up the importance of a particular game? A game where we just fail to turn up and totally bottle the occasion. You wouldn't call it choking?

Sorry - I don't follow.

[Letters]

You can tell it's summer :doh:
Not by going outside you can't :cold:

[Letters]

Now, it appears some might have mirepresented what I said - inadvertently or otherwise - making it seem I'm arguing that the scum had choked in a calamitous manner. They were 7 points clear after defeating us and with only 10 games to go, it is my view that it did take a bit of choking at some point on their part, for us to catch up, keep pace and nick them in the end.

After they played us they only lost one game you'd expect them to win though, and they won games which I thought they'd drop points in. Overall I don't see how that's choking. It was the 2 games after we played them that let us back in but even then despite the run we were on and their tougher run-in they pushed us hard and we had to scrape a win on the last day of the season to stay ahead of them.


And, both fixtures with 10 games to go were tricky. We had the league leaders, a team that were also then in CL spot contention and relegation threatened teams fighting for their prem lives to face.

We did, and we dropped points in both. As for the relegation-threatened teams, we put Wigan down although it was a few days after the Cup Final when we'd had a break. QPR were already down, Newcastle were safe, Fulham weren't in serious danger. West Brom and Swansea weren't in any danger. Norwich were in trouble but we were at home and they'd only won one of their previous 15 games! Even then we wobbled. Reading were rock bottom and we were at home, they lost 15 out of 19 away games and had lost their previous 5 games when we played them.


They had the defending champs who had already surrendered their crown, an inconsistent chav team and maybe a few half decent teams to face. All this with an inform chimp banging in flukes left, right and centre ftw.
City had already surrendered? They'd won the 3 previous games before they played Spurs, including away at Utd. It was all over bar the shouting by then anyway but the results hardly suggest they weren't bothering any more at that stage. As for Chelsea, they certainly had a poor league season but they did win 6 of their last 8 league games, the only 2 they dropped points in were Liverpool away and Spurs at home - it was the first time they'd dropped at home since the Reading game at the end of January

After the Spurs game I didn't think we had a chance of catching them. I fully expected them to drop points - 6 of their last 10 games were potentially tricky - but I had no confidence in Arsenal's ability to put the kind of run together we needed to in order to put serious pressure on. We rather stumbled through a lot of games but by hook or by crook we did it.

End of the day I'd expect Spurs fans to be more emotional about this than us, they'd surely be more likely to feel the team choked or let them down. None of the Spurs fans I know do feel that.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Top analysis.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

spurs did not choke this season.

they choked last season. even their own fans admit it.

but this season they got their highest ever points tally and had a great run towards the end. that is not choking.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Spot on.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Points taken. Nothing wrong with us agreeing to disagree on matters providing we keep it civil.

Think we can all agree, though, that spuds have well and truly developed and embraced an inferiority complex to us. Trying to usurp us is pretty much the highlight of their seasons. Keeping them in their place over many seasons has one common denominator, that is Arsene Wenger, to whom due credit should be given and respect must be shown for this litlle bit remarkable fete.

[Kano]

Trying to usurp us is pretty much the highlight of their seasons.
This is fasting becoming the highlight of ours too.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Points taken. Nothing wrong with us agreeing to disagree on matters providing we keep it civil.

Think we can all agree, though, that spuds have well and truly developed and embraced an inferiority complex to us. Trying to usurp us is pretty much the highlight of their seasons. Keeping them in their place over many seasons has one common denominator, that is Arsene Wenger, to whom due credit should be given and respect must be shown for this litlle bit remarkable fete.

:lol: you must be from goonersworld.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

:lol: you must be from goonersworld.

:lol:

Don't really fancy that place, tbh.

Will visit every now and then and peruse a bit. That's about it.

[Globalgunner]

:lol:

Don't really fancy that place, tbh.

Will visit every now and then and peruse a bit. That's about it.

You should try Le-grove.co.uk they hate Wenger's guts, mostly.

[tjmill]

Do we want Wenger to stay though
Maybe need to start looking at his future replacement now so can look to freshen up the club with new ideas?

[Boss]

Best news this summer.

[Syn]

You've changed your tune. Seen many go from loving Wenger to hating Wenger but havent seen many jump to the opposite extremes.

[Letters]

Do we want Wenger to stay though
Maybe need to start looking at his future replacement now so can look to freshen up the club with new ideas?
*sigh*.

We definitely need to do something to get out of this Groundhog Day of scraping into the top 4 every year and being far too content to do that and nothing more. Whether that something is to get rid of Wenger or change our transfer policy or both...

If Wenger refuses to invest where he needs to in order to make us competitive then he should go. No more excuses. The money is there. Spend it.

Some have said they don't trust him to spend money in the right way anyway. There's something in that. But you don't sell your best player every year and still keep us top 4 without having some ability, we could do a lot worse than Wenger, so if he spends money this summer then...well...oh, I don't know any more!

[Syn]

Gazidis has set it all up now. He has defended Wenger by saying some of his dud signings were because 'he was operating under what the club could afford'. But Gazidis is also sick of the criticism that he is getting so he's distancing himself from the firing line.

There is a lot of talk - much, much more than usual - about how he is able to give Wenger more money now. He says we can afford elite players like Rooney. There is the puma sponsorship deals. The massive TV revenues from BT. We are getting rid of our overpaid garbage like the bendtners and Arshavin. There's not much ambiguity any more. We're set up for the big summer where we push on and strengthen in a big way.

I don't think Wenger will bring in 3 £25m players or anything, but I do think he'll smash the club record on an elite player and then get 2 or so other good £10-15m players. And that's good enough to kick on IMO.

[GP]

Gotta be the Higgs boson. Nothing else will do.

[Syn]

:gp:

[Power n Glory]

Gazidis has set it all up now. He has defended Wenger by saying some of his dud signings were because 'he was operating under what the club could afford'. But Gazidis is also sick of the criticism that he is getting so he's distancing himself from the firing line.

There is a lot of talk - much, much more than usual - about how he is able to give Wenger more money now. He says we can afford elite players like Rooney. There is the puma sponsorship deals. The massive TV revenues from BT. We are getting rid of our overpaid garbage like the bendtners and Arshavin. There's not much ambiguity any more. We're set up for the big summer where we push on and strengthen in a big way.

I don't think Wenger will bring in 3 £25m players or anything, but I do think he'll smash the club record on an elite player and then get 2 or so other good £10-15m players. And that's good enough to kick on IMO.

The attention is firmly on Wenger this summer. There is no ambiguity about our finances and Gazidis is aware of the criticism of him and Stan. I never quite got why they get so much attention becaus they're new to this set up. That Arseblog article you posted has made a good point about the way fans avoid openly criticising Wenger by directing everything towards Ivan and Stan. Wenger has always maintained that this club is held back because of our resources and done so without criticising the clubs policy. That's put the Board under pressure from the fans and now they've delivered a clear message about our state and the focus now swings back to good coaching and good football.

[Letters]

Yeah. There's no hiding place for Wenger now. I think most of us recognise that he's got ability, we'd have been in mid-table long ago if he didn't, but this constant asset stripping and perennial targeting of scraping into the top 4 at the expense of everything else as tested the patience of his most loyal apologist. It's clear there's money now which can make us challenge. I don't expect us to sweep all aside next year but I expect us to be doing what we need to in order to push on and start seriously challenging.

[fakeyank]

Yeah. There's no hiding place for Wenger now. I think most of us recognise that he's got ability, we'd have been in mid-table long ago if he didn't, but this constant asset stripping and perennial targeting of scraping into the top 4 at the expense of everything else as tested the patience of his most loyal apologist. It's clear there's money now which can make us challenge. I don't expect us to sweep all aside next year but I expect us to be doing what we need to in order to push on and start seriously challenging.

His hiding place was gone 2 seasons back! :lol:

He should just resign in February if we are out of all competitions this season as well.

[Letters]

There is a difference though, FY. New commercial deals are in place, we're getting rid of some dead wood. There is a far clearer message that we've got serious money to spend. There'a always been mutterings about 'war chests' but not like this.

You seem to massively underestimate how hard it is to keep a team in the top 4, if Wenger was as incompetent as you make out there's no way he'd have done it again. But it shouldn't be all we're aiming to achieve - I don't think it is actually but Wenger and the board seem to make it our top priority. We need to be far more serious about challenging.

[Penguin]

Look at whats happened to Liverpool. There are far worse scenarios than finishing in the top four every year, even if we haven't challenged the top teams. It has been massively important to stay in the champions league ever since we switched over to the Emirates stadium.

Now that we've got a bit more revenue coming in I hope we can push on. We've weathered the storm and achieved our first priority these last few years (in terms of achieving the minimum of a top four finish), now lets bring some silverware back to the club.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

Of course, so long as you get yourself sorted off the pitch as far as commercially (and the revenue from a big stadium... provided the attendances don't plummet... further) doesn't mean you can't rebuild.

We are slowly rebuilding, with lower revenue [thanks to our much smaller stadium, I think we're still ahead commercially for now at least] that you would have at first. Though I do believe an announcement on our stadium is due shortly, but we still have to go through it. And pay for it.

It might take something drastic for Wenger to leave, but it would obviously depend on not appointing a fucking Hodgson in his place.

[-Xs-]

Haven't they all been saying that we have had money for years?

Each season they come out spouting the normal rubbish about having a 70mil war chest, the media go crazy linking us with everyone, Wenger does the usual only super super quality nonsense, the summer ends, we sign no one really of note, the season starts and we are where we were. SSDS.
The only difference this year is that we don't really have anyone left to sell. Ergo we probably won't buy anyone

Don't mean to be overly negative but talk is cheap. And that is all we are currently getting. Still.

[GP]

Haven't they all been saying that we have had money for years?



Not exactly. They've said they'd back the manager, but the accounts don't really support it. We've HAD to sell players just to turn a profit. There's a LOT more money coming in now, so there's every reason to believe things could be different.

You'd have to be some sort of Sun reader not to see it.

[Cripps_orig]

Haven't they all been saying that we have had money for years?

Each season they come out spouting the normal rubbish about having a 70mil war chest, the media go crazy linking us with everyone, Wenger does the usual only super super quality nonsense, the summer ends, we sign no one really of note, the season starts and we are where we were. SSDS.
The only difference this year is that we don't really have anyone left to sell. Ergo we probably won't buy anyone

Don't mean to be overly negative but talk is cheap. And that is all we are currently getting. Still.

Pretty much. We've had money plus the money we got from selling the ****s, nasri, ade etc and Wenger failed to spend it.

See nothing different this summer

[Joker]

If this summer goes the way of the others I still think you'll get people coming up with some sort of excuse for Wenger and/or the board.

[Ollie the Optimist]

The board admitted in last few weeks wenger has been operating on a tight budget with limited funds. End of discussion really. He hasn't had the money

[Özil's Panoramic View]

And they're saying he has it now, so let's he what he does or doesn't do with it.

Gazidis and the Board have well and truly left him out on a limb here, as he'll have no excuse for failure come next February by which time we're normally out of all competitions.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

'This summer, Arsenal are talking themselves up as approaching Super Club status with the financial muscle now available to them. There still some who, out of fierce loyalty and, I think, confirmation bias, have chosen to interpret Gazidis’ bullish proclamations as proof that the board have been hamstringing Wenger all along and are only making money available to him now. Personally, I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s a distinction to be made between “we have a bit more money now” and “we didn’t have any before.”

The manager has made some mistakes with that money and had some successes with it too. I see little evidence that the board have been holding back on what’s available to him. Leaving aside the deals we have done in the last few years, we have bid big for players we’ve not subsequently acquired such as Mata, Goetze, Reina and even Felipe Melo some five years ago. I think the truth is that, if Wenger doesn’t get exactly who he wants then he puts his wallet away.'

http://arseblog.com/2013/06/ivans-era/

spot on again. anyone using the 'we havent had money line' is clearly an undercover charlie.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Charlie. :lol:

Heard it was a head shot right between the eyes. He didn't suffer.

:rose:

[Power n Glory]

'This summer, Arsenal are talking themselves up as approaching Super Club status with the financial muscle now available to them. There still some who, out of fierce loyalty and, I think, confirmation bias, have chosen to interpret Gazidis’ bullish proclamations as proof that the board have been hamstringing Wenger all along and are only making money available to him now. Personally, I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s a distinction to be made between “we have a bit more money now” and “we didn’t have any before.”

The manager has made some mistakes with that money and had some successes with it too. I see little evidence that the board have been holding back on what’s available to him. Leaving aside the deals we have done in the last few years, we have bid big for players we’ve not subsequently acquired such as Mata, Goetze, Reina and even Felipe Melo some five years ago. I think the truth is that, if Wenger doesn’t get exactly who he wants then he puts his wallet away.'

http://arseblog.com/2013/06/ivans-era/

spot on again. anyone using the 'we havent had money line' is clearly an undercover charlie.

:gp:

We haven't spent wisely over the past two seasons.

[Globalgunner]

:gp:

We haven't spent wisely over the past two seasons.

It's been a lot longer than that. Ever since le-Prof was given the keys to the kingdom to do as he likes. Such as signing Squillacci and paying Bendtner 50k pw

[Power n Glory]

I agree put the past two seasons really highly the problem because we've been more active. 13 players bought, over £100m spent and not one world class talent amongst them. Only Merts and Cazorla have stamped them selves into the first team 'must start' braket. That's just awful.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

i think thats harsh. i actually think he's spent much better over the past 2 seasons when he hasnt pissed around with kids but thats probably because of my deep-rooted hatred for project youth, which i believe was fundamentally flawed from the start. but i suppose if you take the spent money:league success ratio then over the past 2 years it's worse than any purely because of the voluminous amount we've spent compared to the past 8. wenger finally had enough of project youth so upped the spending. but if you look at the quality of players they've been much better.

podolski - first season 16 goals. doesnt seem to fit into the system but lets at least give him a second season? you dont bang in goals left right and centre for germany without being a little bit good.
giroud - first season 17 goals. for all the piss taking i make of him its not his fault he's number 1 when clearly he would be a much better no2, when our plan A is not working.
cazorla - player of the season.
mertesacker - solid defensive partnership with kos.
monreal - decent back up. needs to bulk up.
arteta - quality first season. not his fault he was playing in the wrong position last year.
cafu - pretty bad first season. but excellent since.

if we keep spending like we did last summer we'll see improvements. it was a very good summer but selling RVC was 1 step forward and 4 back. now we have more money we need to up the spending into the top bracket to get the world class players in to supplement the current lot. there's still underlying issues that need to be addressed though. why it took wenger 6 months to realise he needs to train the defence is one, for instance.

[Cripps_orig]

Where's all this Cafu stuff from?

[Power n Glory]

Not a chance! We played better during the project youth years and the kids playing in reserves could be trusted to play cup games and dispatch of Prem league teams with ease. We can't even trust the first team to do that now and forget trusting our bench to win cup games! If we spent anywhere near as much as we did then now, we'd have won something without a doubt. It was too far and between for £10m plus first team signings. Ade, Eduardo, Sagna, Rosicky, Vermaelen, Hleb, Nasri, Arshavin....all quality but came in drips and drabs.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

you've completely missed the point. you said the last 2 transfer windows have been poor. my argument was that after a few years of spending on dirt last years transfer window was better because we spent on quality players.

nothing to do with how we play football, how our reserves do in the carling cup or whether we can trust our bench. purely on individual transfers and returns: cazorla, podolski and giroud are good signings. you cant argue with that. if we had signed those type of players in project youth we would have won something.

[Power n Glory]

you've completely missed the point. you said the last 2 transfer windows have been poor. my argument was that after a few years of spending on dirt last years transfer window was better because we spent on quality players.

nothing to do with how we play football, how our reserves do in the carling cup or whether we can trust our bench. purely on individual transfers and returns: cazorla, podolski and giroud are good signings. you cant argue with that. if we had signed those type of players in project youth we would have won something.

I get what your saying but a few seasons back we were hardly spending at all but when we did we spent on real quality like the players I mentioned. That was the main problem with signings. Too little being spent on experience. Pod and Giroud are step down from players like Ade, Eduardo, Rosicky and Nasri.

I'd say we wasted money on wages but not on player signings for the first team in those years. If Wenger bought an experienced player they were often really good signings. The recent slate of experienced players are step down and guys like Gervinho are already on the bench.

[Niall_Quinn]

We signed the players we needed to scrape 4th and get the CL cash. Everything has gone according to plan I would say. Some great profits from selling our star players to rivals and some mediocre players in to stop everything completely collapsing. Downside is if we ever get a management team that wants to compete on the field it'll take either a sugar war criminal or a decade of honest effort to turn our rep as an owned bitch around.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

@png

i hate comparing recent transfers to ones a few years back. cazorla, giroud and podolski arguably had to settle into the worst arsenal team under wenger's reign while players like ade, hleb, eduardo, rosicky had the luxury of growing into a free flowing, dynamic arsenal team that were pretty effective at the time. and we had a conveyor belt of talent coming through to make the transition process easier, going out and thrashing teams 6-0 in the carling cup every month. they came into the team when we were on an upwards curve and looked like we were going places.

the current lot know they are coming into a completely depleted squad. the core of the squad is much worse, they have less quality players around them, and as you say, we dont even play scintillating football anymore. its all been completely eroded. we dont go out with the mentality of 'score as many goals as possible'. now the mentality is 'win at all costs'. hence why when we score we're pretty decent at shutting up shop to see the games out tbf. not many 4-0's but more of the 1-0's nowadays.

its much harder to score and look good in this team than in the previous teams. different era and brand of football. put cazorla or even giroud in the 07-08 team and they might double their figures (if ade got 30 in a season giroud could have got 100).

the wages bit of your last paragraph is a good point.

[Power n Glory]

@png

i hate comparing recent transfers to ones a few years back. cazorla, giroud and podolski arguably had to settle into the worst arsenal team under wenger's reign while players like ade, hleb, eduardo, rosicky had the luxury of growing into a free flowing, dynamic arsenal team that were pretty effective at the time. and we had a conveyor belt of talent coming through to make the transition process easier, going out and thrashing teams 6-0 in the carling cup every month. they came into the team when we were on an upwards curve and looked like we were going places.

the current lot know they are coming into a completely depleted squad. the core of the squad is much worse, they have less quality players around them, and as you say, we dont even play scintillating football anymore. its all been completely eroded. we dont go out with the mentality of 'score as many goals as possible'. now the mentality is 'win at all costs'. hence why when we score we're pretty decent at shutting up shop to see the games out tbf. not many 4-0's but more of the 1-0's nowadays.

its much harder to score and look good in this team than in the previous teams. different era and brand of football. put cazorla or even giroud in the 07-08 team and they might double their figures (if ade got 30 in a season giroud could have got 100).

the wages bit of your last paragraph is a good point.

I don't want to knit pick over certain players but to sign 13 players in two seasons and we have one or two genuine classy players to show for it is pretty shoddy.

[selassie]

I don't want to knit pick over certain players but to sign 13 players in two seasons and we have one or two genuine classy players to show for it is pretty shoddy.

yep, Arsene has done his few share of panic buying over the past few seasons, not so much last season but the season before was an absolute disaster, he gutted the team midway through the summer, sat on hands for months and then went shopping in the "bargain bin" on the last day of the window.

arsene has bought some truly awful players over the past few years and what makes it worse is these players are supposed to be relatively experienced.

[Cripps_orig]

arsene has bought some truly awful players over the past few years and what makes it worse is these players are supposed to be relatively experienced.
This

Santos, Arteta, Squillaci, Benayoun were shocking. Thankfully Benayoun was just on loan. Still stuck with the other 3 and all are "experienced"

[Power n Glory]

yep, Arsene has done his few share of panic buying over the past few seasons, not so much last season but the season before was an absolute disaster, he gutted the team midway through the summer, sat on hands for months and then went shopping in the "bargain bin" on the last day of the window.

arsene has bought some truly awful players over the past few years and what makes it worse is these players are supposed to be relatively experienced.

It's a worry and not just the panic buys that are questionable. We were scouting Chamakh for ages. Gervinho was a target and we moved for him early. After one season he's on the bench. Podolski was a target but I'd never imagine we'd play him on the wing. I thought he was a replacement for RVP. The stats are good on his part but I'm not sure he'll be starting for us next season. Too anonymous on the wings, struggles to defend and just isn't an out and out winger. Why he'd move for someone that's not a good dribbler is a mystery especially when Gervinho was so good at it but his end product is poor. They're complete opposites in that sense. If he ends up benching Pod, playing Cazorla on the left instead then you really have to wonder what's going on in his mind. Maybe it's the pressure for results and he's not weighing players up as much as he used to.

[Munchies]

Usual BS

PSG already have an agreement with Arsene Wenger to become the new manager in 2014 (Sky Italy)

[Cripps_orig]

Please let that be true

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Usual BS

PSG already have an agreement with Arsene Wenger to become the new manager in 2014 (Sky Italy)

:pray:

[Injury Time]

Usual BS

PSG already have an agreement with Arsene Wenger to become the new manager in 2014 (Sky Italy)
The disloyal ****, after all the cash we put in his pocket, expect us to sign less than no one now :sulk:

[Cripps_orig]

Arsenal are ready to offer Arsene Wenger a new contract as they fear French side Paris St-Germain are interested in taking their manager.

Full story: Sunday Mirror


This can't happen

[Cripps_orig]

Arsenal have begun talks with manager Arsene Wenger, 63, over a new contract as the board look to secure the Frenchman's long-term future.
Full story: Sunday Mirror



http://youtu.be/WWaLxFIVX1s

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Ambition. :rose:

Competing. :rose:

Trophies. :rose:

Mediocrity. :bow:

4th Place Trophy. :bow:

One Arsene Wenger, There's Only One Arsene Wenger. :scarf:

[Xhaka Can’t]

If true, this proves Wenger is meeting the objectives set for him by the Board.

[Master Splinter]

Great news.

Wenfer 4 life.

[GP]

Great news.

Wenfer 8 life.

[Master Splinter]

I'd 8 2 to be a 5pur3 fan right now. 1-0.

[Niall_Quinn]

If true, this proves Wenger is meeting the objectives set for him by the Board.

We know he is. If he gets a pay rise for consistently losing then it sums up the whole philosophy of the club.