So what do we do to improve our prospects of mounting a challenge for the league and other competitions.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Another similarly titled thread as so many others has moved from it's original and interesting topic to the 'lets all whinge at why there is no point doing anything because Man City spend hundreds of millions of pounds' topic.

Even if you think we face an insurmountable object, surely there are things we as a Club can do to improve our lot, unless you think we have become as competitive as possible with no room for improving our:

-management
-coaching
-players
-tactics
-approach to investment
-utilisation of resources
-ownership structure
-competition prioritisation
-salary structure
-star player retention

Or any of another multitude of things we should be considering. Just whinging at other Clubs spending hundreds of millions will get us nowhere and has become drearily repetitive on far too many potentially good topics on this board.

[Letters]

Utilisation of resources is the main one IMO. The frustrating thing for me in the last few years is that Wenger has done brilliantly to keep us 'up there' but really poorly in terms of finishing the job or delivering trophies. Too many times we've had promising sides who didn't need £100m spent on them to push them to the next level, just some sensible investment and instead we've sold our best players and gone backwards or sideways. We're in the same position now. After last summer's car crash we got it together and finished strongly (well, we didn't finish that strongly but we got ourselves in a position where we could stumble over the line). Do the right things in the summer and while I don't think we can win the league next year we can at least push the top 2 harder and maybe challenge more strongly in the cups. The early signing of Podolski gives me some hope that maybe, just maybe, we're going to get it right this year. But we need to sign up RvP too and maybe the signings are as much for him as for the club, to show that we are trying to go somewhere. If Podolski is a replacement for RvP then we might as well all go home.

[Marc Overmars]

Look at the Chavs for example, the Old Boys may be on their last legs but you cannot deny there are some incredibly driven players in that squad.

We don't have enough players with the right "minerals" so to speak. The truth is, a lot of our squad has minimal experience of winning trophies and their naiveity always bites them in the arse when it's business time. As I mentioned in the other thread, we need to start getting some hungry players into the squad, ones with a point to prove. Podolski is most certainly a step in the right direction but we need more. Keeping our core players together would also be a good idea this time, Fabregas has stated many times since he joined Barca how hard it was to gain some continuity at Arsenal because everyone kept leaving around him.

Also, it would be nice if we stopped handing out hefty contracts to players who haven't achieved anything with the club - although I guess this is more a football problem than Arsenal specific.

Personally I think it's unrealistic to expect Arsenal under Wenger to challenge for the title again, and I mean really challenge, none of this fall away in March shit.

[Flavs]

Just on the star player retention thing, are there any players who have left who we should really have kept? Seems to me they (or at least their "people") had already decided they were going and they did all they could to engineer a move away.

Ade, Nasri, Clichy, Toure, Fabregas and so on all wanted out so i don't see it as a loss. If they are lured away with money there is nothing we can do but get rid.

[AKBapologist]

Oh yes, ooooh, ooooh, I know, lets just replace the manager...

What another pointless thread.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Are we allowed to have a laugh in this thread or is it only for very serious discussion that, in the grand scheme of things, we have absolutetly no control over what-so-ever?

[Xhaka Can’t]

Are we allowed to have a laugh in this thread or is it only for very serious discussion that, in the grand scheme of things, we have absolutetly no control over what-so-ever?

Of course we have no control, but there is plenty of scope for discussion - there are many areas to look at. For instance I have strong views over our wage structure. People are of the opinion that we are very parsimonious in our approach to the transfer market - and they are right. But I feel that a major part of why we are like that is not because our Manager is afraid to spend money - he is spending shedloads of it - on player contracts. We have an awful wage structure that does little to award brilliance but throws an obscene amount of money at mediocrity without merit.

[Kano]

Oh yes, ooooh, ooooh, I know, lets just replace the manager...

What another pointless thread.

yes, let’s just cry about the money being spent by the big bad boys and sit on our arse complaining why we never win anything and nothing can ever be done about it

dropping a manager that doesn’t give a shit about cups would at least increase our chances of winning something, or giving them a realistic shot

[AKBapologist]

yes, let’s just cry about the money being spent by the big bad boys and sit on our arse complaining why we never win anything and nothing can ever be done about it

dropping a manager that doesn’t give a shit about cups would at least increase our chances of winning something, or giving them a realistic shot

I'm not the one crying about SAF not being our manager.

I wonder what chelsea supporters would say about there manager switch last season.

[Letters]

yes, let’s just cry about the money being spent by the big bad boys and sit on our arse complaining why we never win anything and nothing can ever be done about it

Shall we instead sit on our arses complaining about other stuff which we can't do anything about?