Originally Posted by
Synti Claus
I don't think there's much point looking at the gap at this stage. Stoke are 4 points off 3rd place, and we would think there is absolutely no way we can finish in the top 4.
It's all about the perceived level of quality in the team. Our competition will probably be: Everton, Newcastle, Swansea, Tottenham, Liverpool. While it is clear that the likes of Cazorla, Wilshere, Arteta, Podolski, Sagna, Vermaelen etc. won't be good enough to compete against the top 3 teams, I think we're playing well below the potential of the players. But at the moment the issue isn't about quality (we could do with more, but, obviously this team is better than 10th place in the league). I think Wenger is having a very hard time motivating players and getting them to do what he wants because they've lost faith in him.
Slightly off-topic:
For all we mock Wenger's interviews, he's right when he keeps saying there is a 'lack of confidence'. Confidence is absolutely crucial to a team that wants to play good football. Confidence isn't about taking players on and having a crack from 20 yards. It's about playing passes first time and passing it to your teammate in impossible situations because you know he'll get you out of this mess. Right now, players take 20 touches because if they pass it first time, they're worried: 1) they'll misplace the pass themselves. 2) their teammates won't be able to trap it.
When Wenger tells Cazorla or Wilshere or whoever that this is a good team and you will be able to pass it forward quickly, they don't believe him. Each one of them thinks they're playing with fairly average players. And you can see that lack of trust every time you watch us play now.