We are pretty much a cash cow for Kroenke. This whole Sven/Raul/Gazidis thing is a pile of shit. They’ve brought us a 34 year old full back, whereas Liverpool are assembling an absolute beast at Anfield.
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We are pretty much a cash cow for Kroenke. This whole Sven/Raul/Gazidis thing is a pile of shit. They’ve brought us a 34 year old full back, whereas Liverpool are assembling an absolute beast at Anfield.
Most people on here think the 34 year old full back is a good acquisition. I think he's too old, but never mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralpheroo72
You're deluded if you think we're at Liverpool's level currently.
Pires wants us to sign Fellaini :lol:
He also wanted Wenger to stay :lol:
Hope he stays well away from the club.
Pires lost his mind about 5 years ago. Sad for an otherwise beautiful man.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
Completely wengerised :rose:
I'm surprised at Pires, didn't he leave because he wanted a two year contract and Wenger would only give him one?Quote:
Originally Posted by Globalgunner
I actually think it makes sense to keep Le Bob on in some (non-critical) capacity - he's been training with the squad for the last 2 years, and he speaks fluent Spanish, so he could be just what Emery needs while he's learning himself the good ol' Queen's cockerney?
Wenger damaged our rep mate. We got away with it initially as we always finished top 4 but the minute we dropped out of top 4 that was it, curtains!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralpheroo72
We should never have been in this position, if Wenger would have done his job properly he would have left us with a competitive squad to work with. As it happens, he's left us with a mess of a squad and an owner that won't release proper funds because Wenger has blown it on duds.
We're in a mess but for me, it would be an even bigger mistake to trust Emery with everything in the bank straight away. Let's see what he can do and how far he can get with little before we give him everything we have. If he were to spend a shit load and turn out to be flop, we'd be in an even worse position.Quote:
Originally Posted by selassie
Stop being knee jerk :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by selassie
:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
Aye, I see your point PnG and I知 fully behind Emery. I知 excited for this upcoming season for the simple fact that I have no idea what we are going to achieve with Emery in charge of this squad of players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power n Glory
I personally can稚 see him doing any worse than last season and genuinely expect a fair bit of improvement, enough for us to be in the mix for top 4 or dare I say some sort of title challenge? Not sure....
I値l say one thing though, 3 seasons out of CL and we値l have to have a serious summer next year putting together a competitive squad.
It took Liverpool years to recover after they fell out of the top 4. Look up their signings from when Benitez left, apart from Suarez it reads like a who's who of shite. I'm genuinely worried we could be in the wilderness for at least another year or 2 and that's being compounded by the type of player we've been linked with this summer so far.
I'm just praying that Emery is the real deal.
Supposedly, we've opened talks with Sampdoria about Torreira - some say we're still negotiating, others say the clubs have reached an agreement but high agent fees are causing problems?
It'll take some time to get back into the top 4 but as Arseblog said, I'd rather go for experienced players that can hit the ground running and know how to get a job done rather than young & potential where the risk is bigger.
I'm already ruling out a title challenge. It's rare for a new manager to win it in their first season so I'm not expecting it. I just want to see what ideas he has and what he can pull from the current squad.Quote:
Originally Posted by selassie
The competition is tough. The teams above us have top players, top managers and we will find it hard to get back into the Top 4. We'll need a couple of teams to go through their own internal turmoil and disruption to get back to the top. I'm banking on Man Utd and Chelsea stutter next year. Maybe Spurs if Pott gets dragged into departure rumours.
We've got a lot of work to do but it also depends on our rivals being stable or making the right choices if key people leave. We'll have to capitalise off those moments. I think people now see the massive opportunities we blew when Fergie left and the season Leicester won.
I'm not sure what you mean "after they fell out of the top 4"?Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Since they won the title they have been bobbed around all over the place, never lower than 8th but never consistently inside or outside the top 4.
They have never had more than 4 seasons in a row either inside or outside the top 4.
https://image.ibb.co/jdJW8T/Liverpool.jpg
The problem with being top 4 now and challenging is simply there are more clubs capable of doing so. It's a myth that we "dropped out of the top 2" after the glory years, there simply wasn't a "top 2" any more. Chelsea and City bought their way in, now Spurs and Liverpool have sorted themselves out (although historically Liverpool have never done so consistently, neither have Spurs so it remains to be seen whether they are in it for the long haul). It is more of a top 6 these days and while we finished rock bottom of it last year I don't think it would take that much to do better. A better away record last year (and I honestly can't remember the last time it was that bad) and we'd have been challenging last season.
Which is why I've never given Wenger much credit for keeping us in the top 4. There weren't enough good teams around to truly challenge us. That has now all changed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
That's a bit of a weird argument. Chelsea and City have usurped us by spending a shit ton of money, so have Liverpool actually.
Only Spurs have sorted themselves out with good management.
All the other teams were trying to get into the top 4, none of them consistently succeeded till the money men came along.
Wenger was far too proud of just keeping our top 4 status, but the fact no other teams managed it shows it wasn't an easy task to be that consistent for that long, we weren't spending big in the transfer market to do it.
I was more referring to their period under Benitez when they had a strong team. After he failed it took them 4 seasons to qualify again and their signings at the time were a reason for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
We don't spend as much as Chelsea, City and Utd, but we've spent a shit load more than those outside of the top 4 to stay in that position. We're a much bigger club than those that were outside of it, hence why they could never get in, hence why I don't go overboard with the praise for Wenger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Yeah, I agree. Even if we're 100% confident that Emery is the real deal, I still don't think it would be unreasonable to expect him to spend a bit of time with the existing group before we go on a mega spend up. Bring in an immediate handful of trusted players who can help him to quickly transmit his ideas and the professional standards he expects - that makes sense - but I'd hold off on the total tear-down until he's a) done a thorough assessment of what he has, b) gone some way to addressing the culture at the club, and c) made sure his authority is established.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power n Glory
Not much point in bringing in 100m players until the attitude in the group has started to change and the players are fully behind the coach - we'll just end up ruining them...
Very true. We need to address the culture first and he needs to see what players can do what before we start with the sweeping changes. Set the foundations first and then start building.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Our wage bill was huge as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power n Glory
The wage bill, the stadium, facilities such as our training ground, scouts, medical team, revenue generated... it all counts. We have a huge advantage over a lot of teams which is why we were able to stay in the top 4 for so long.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
I think it comes down to expectations. If they expect him to win a trophy and challenge for the title straight away then not giving him the personnel he thinks he needs to do that is a little daft.
Realistically though the aim is probably to get us back into the top 4, which they can hide behind for why his funds may be limited.
I haven't been delighted by the transfer dealings so far but in spite of that I thought the squad was good enough to get into the top 4 last season anyway, so the fact we didn't hows an enormous level of underachievement with needs to be addressed in the training field first and foremost.
There were times when Liverpool and Spurs were spending loads more than us to try and leapfrog us and failed till very recently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power n Glory
I don't think we should go overboard about the top 4 thing but I don't think it should be dismissed as though any idiot could have done it, especially during the period when the stadium move was hampering our spending.
Other big clubs have changed managers and failed to keep them in the top 4 despite spending loads of money.
I think we're well placed to push on, we have the infrastructure and fanbase to push us on. I don't think any manager could take us over and we'd be sweeping all before us, too many clubs have too much money now.
Rubbish! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by selassie
I realise that is not a very intelligent reply but this is nonsense. We have the infrastructure and fanbase to compete. I don't think our squad is a million miles away.
The owner is a certainly a problem though.
Liverpool and Spurs were behind us in terms of how much was being spent on wages, infrastructure, stadium and resources. But Liverpool have finished above us on quite a few occasions. Now it looks like Spurs have finally caught up. It's not about any idiot being able to keep us top 4, it's just a club of our size and resources had more of an advantage over the majority.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Don't disagree about our advantage, but Utd had the same advantage and post Fergie were outside the top 4 a bit, it's not as easy as it looks.
And that advantage did come about for a reason...
Fekir staying at Lyon, apparently.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44425961
Oh dear. :lol:
Aulas is such a bastard!
We take the piss out of Moyes for a reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
We take the piss out of Moyes for a reason. He's a sub par coach. Wenger was average and then slipped into sub par with his last few league results.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Who was worse, Moyes or Wenger? It's a tough one
This Fekir thing, what has actually happened?
I've read Fekir has a bad knee, Liverpool therefore asked Lyon for this price to be moved down and then promptly told to jog on.
However I've also read due to the bad knee, Liverpool told Lyon to fuck off, Lyon tried to re-negotiate but then that failed?
Apparently it had got as far as Fekir taking photos in a Liverpool shirt. :unsure:
Oh come on, you're joking right? Wenger won things even recently, Moyes has never even won a raffleQuote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
Looks like Fekir's a fakerQuote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
John W Henry,Quote:
What do you think they're smoking over there at Emirates Anfield?
Bellend
Yes, he is joking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76