i saw a stat that said if season started on october 1st, we would be top level on points with united and city (i saw this last week so dont know what it would be like now but was before qpr game) i think we were second but by gd. i cant quite remember but that says a lot about hte quality of this squad taht once they gelled together which they did in october, they are good enough to challenge for the title imo.Originally Posted by AFCFTW
Don't be fooled guys, this is another false dawn because the overall direction of the club is still pointing in the wrong direction. When no one expects much of the team, out of every competition, trounced by Milan, embarrasingly lose to Sunderland in the F.A. Cup with a terrible performance, things pick up again, suddenly there is a new 'fighting spirit' team is playing for each other, working hard and getting stuck in, 'this summer will be the most important one ever' yadda yadda broken record padda.
Been here before a million times. There is no pressure. 4th place was sewn up last year and they went on holidays early, losing the carling cup, season over, terrible run. Now they were at risk of losing 4th due to a resurgent Spurs, they play well enough to get back in contention, sprinting to a 4th place finish, now possibly 3rd due to Spurs collapse.
Playing for 4th has not been real pressure, just a PR campaign to keep up the status quo, so the soundbites and interviews can keep rolling without mass egg on faces. Now City collapsing in their first title race in yonks and imploding within with the amount of cash spent, that's real pressure when something tangible was at stake. Podolski may look like a done deal, but do you trust a manager who has consistently shown us how tactically clueless he is and who cannot seem to motivate players when the real pressure is on? New signings only go so far. When the direction of the club through the manager and board remains the same, this will always happen. Sprinting to a 3rd/4th place finish, running on the spot, no real ambition to maximise the most of the clubs resources or use it in a better way than unproven young players' expensive contracts eating up resources, promising that next year will be better, next year we will strengthen, improve as a team, grow as a team, gain more experience, challenge higher, yeah right
I don't buy it and I didn't buy it earlier in the season when the experienced players were brought in and steadied the ship for a while. It was a temporary phase then, and a temporary phase now.
I didn't buy it last season when we suddenly found ourselves the nearest challengers to man u due the poor state of chelsea/spurs/man city, it was incidental and not earned. We we never capable of winning the title, we just stumbled into a "title race" as the default challenger only to collapse predictably toward the crunch, embarrassingly going from 2nd to 4th and having to enter a CL qualifier despite being 2nd most of the season.
We are still going nowhere with this manager and board. Without the 4 spots allocated for English teams where would we be? Complacency has become the goal at Arsenal. We don't have a divine right to win everything, but as one of the biggest clubs in England, the least we should be doing is trying to push ourselves as high as possible, not to be patronized by "beautiful entertaining football" which is not really very "beautiful" at all these days.
We want to play at the highest level, but don't really take necessary measures to stay there. I don't want to play in the CL to make up the numbers, meet a decent team, collapse and crumble predictably. I want investment to me made into the squad to try and win it. Man U and City went out bizarrely early, but they'll keep trying and improving to win it, not rest on their cosy 3rd/4th place laurels and be content with merely qualifying. In fact stuff the CL, can we go back to being to be the best club in our own league first before taking on Europe please? Are we really making the effort to be the best that we could be? To start off the season as actual contenders and maintain that push till the end, like we used to? Before that really happens the board need to be replaced and so does the manager. If that doesn't happen anytime soon, these false dawns and collapses and false dawns and collapses will just keep happening over and over again.
Last edited by Tipsychubbs; 11-04-2012 at 08:07 PM.
Spot onDon't be fooled guys, this is another false dawn because the overall direction of the club is still pointing in the wrong direction. When no one expects much of the team, out of every competition, trounced by Milan, embarrasingly lose to Sunderland in the F.A. Cup with a terrible performance, things pick up again, suddenly there is a new 'fighting spirit' team is playing for each other, working hard and getting stuck in, 'this summer will be the most important one ever' yadda yadda broken record padda.
Been here before a million times. There is no pressure. 4th place was sewn up last year and they went on holidays early, losing the carling cup, season over, terrible run. Now they were at risk of losing 4th due to a resurgent Spurs, they play well enough to get back in contention, sprinting to a 4th place finish, now possibly 3rd due to Spurs collapse.
Playing for 4th has not been real pressure, just a PR campaign to keep up the status quo, so the soundbites and interviews can keep rolling without mass egg on faces. Now City collapsing in their first title race in yonks and imploding within with the amount of cash spent, that's real pressure when something tangible was at stake. Podolski may look like a done deal, but do you trust a manager who has consistently shown us how tactically clueless he is and who cannot seem to motivate players when the real pressure is on? New signings only go so far. When the direction of the club through the manager and board remains the same, this will always happen. Sprinting to a 3rd/4th place finish, running on the spot, no real ambition to maximise the most of the clubs resources or use it in a better way than unproven young players' expensive contracts eating up resources, promising that next year will be better, next year we will strengthen, improve as a team, grow as a team, gain more experience, challenge higher, yeah right
I don't buy it and I didn't buy it earlier in the season when the experienced players were brought in and steadied the ship for a while. It was a temporary phase then, and a temporary phase now.
I didn't buy it last season when we suddenly found ourselves the nearest challengers to man u due the poor state of chelsea/spurs/man city, it was incidental and not earned. We we never capable of winning the title, we just stumbled into a "title race" as the default chhallenger only to collapse predictably toward the crunch.
We are still going nowhere with this manager and board. Without the 4 spots allocated for English teams where would we be? Complacency has become the goal at Arsenal. We don't have a divine right to win everything, but as one of the biggest clubs in England, the least we should be doing is trying to push ourselves as high as possible, not to be patronized by "beautiful entertaining football" which is not really very
"beautiful" at all these days.
We want to play at the highest level, but don't really take necessary measures to stay there. I don't want to play in the CL to make up the numbers, meet a decent team, collapse and crumble predictably. I want investment to me made into the squad to try and win it. Man U and City went out bizarrely early, but they'll keep trying and improving to win it, not rest on their cosy 3rd/4th place laurels and be content with merely qualifying. In fact stuff the CL, can we go back to being to be the best club in our own league first before taking on Europe please? Are we really making the effort to be the best that we could be? To start off the season as actual contenders and maintain that push till the end, like we used to? Before that really happens the board need to be replaced and so does the manager. If that doesn't happen anytime soon, these false dawns and collapses and false dawns and collapses will just keep happening over and over again.
It's like what people have said before. A group of people keep pushing you into a well and then pulling you out of it. It's like feeling grateful at being pulled out, only sooner or later to be pushed back in again, and pulled out and pushed in etc.
The people that keep pushing you into the well need to be removed from the situation otherwise nothing changes.
Who pushed you down a well?
Are you a jew?
I think that analogy works better for Spuds than us.
Year after year of spending big to try and unseat us and failing. This year it finally looked like they'd done it. 10 points clear of us. And now look.
Spuds
But at least Spurs are making the effort to move up a level. The same can't be said for us.
We're expected to fork out hard-earned cash for very expensive tickets, but the current set-up at Arsenal seems to be happy with the lowest common denominator outcome, as long as the money keeps rolling in. Wenger comes out like a sore loser, but even he has sort of accepted the low expectations and doesn't seem to be maximising the resources (those youth contracts I spoke about) in the way that will moves us up a level back into challenging for the top honours; or he's incapable of doing so in this current climate and has become a has-been at the top level. Probably both.
That's why these false dawns work. They get fans believing in the team again, next year, this summer, an opportunity to improve, change things, finally reach potential etc. But it hasn't happened yet. If the effort was clearly being made then I'd have no complaints even if we failed, because we really went for it.
As with most things, the answer to this is more complex as to whether this is a false dawn or not. There are a number of reasons to be cheerful.
We have finally got a potential great goalkeeper in Sir Chesney, in my opinion potentially the best keeper we have had since Seaman, if not earlier.
Our defence is taking on a more formiddable look, albeit Kieron Gibbs still seems to spend an Andertonesque amount of time in the treatment room.
The three man midfield is finally looking more convincing. Arteta is offering more support for Song than he has had for ages, and we have a battery of young defensive midfielders ready to come in in Coquelin and Frimpong. The thought of a midfield 3 of Song, and Arteta, with Wilshere unleashed further forward is very exciting. Rosicky has also signed on, and has returned to being a footballer following his career break.
Walcott is finally starting to look like a footballer with a brain. We also have the mercurial talents of Gervinho, and the young guns Myiachi and Oxlaide Chamberlain pushing to start next year.
RVP is a footballing god.
What we now need to do is to sign up some quality to push the first 11 for their places. If we have a patented injury crisis in key positions, we will crumble again, so agressive action is called for in the transfer market. I would love it if we could get in Cissokho, Hazard, Ben Arfa, Podolski and possibly one more striker to complement what is already a strong team. Surely Wenger has the funds at his disposal to do this, and if not, the imminent departures of a number of high earners will help.
It will only be a false dawn if we fail to strengthen in these key areas, then leave ourselves vulnerable to early season injuries and hangovers from Euro 2012.
If we invest like a normal football club with our resources would do, and don't lose our best players then we can go a long way.
Otherwise, it will be the same as always.
Formerly known as Cygan's Mother
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