Quote Originally Posted by Alpha View Post
But if you look at the players he has bought after Vierra-era , they were good enough to win something . A team with Rosicky , Fabregas , Van Persie , Flamini , Adebayor , Hleb , Gallas ,Clichy , Sagna , Arshavin , Eduardo ..etc.. is good enough to win something . When players failed to win trophies they always blame the manager for not buying more " good" players .
This is a key point - and one I've made a few times.

I think the only thing the manager should do is build a squad of players that are capable of winning trophies. Fill the team with quality players that could, over the course of 38 games, rack up 85-95 points. Then it is up to the players to 'earn' the trophies. Trophies mean nothing if you're merely a sideshow/afterthought in a title-winning squad. That team would've won the title without you. If you played a key part in that then you will be remembered for being the great player that won x,y,z. I hardly think Silvestre or John O'Shea will be thought of as particularly memorable players. (Well, in our case, Silvestre certainly will be memorable).

I think for the two seasons 2009-2011, talent-wise we were able to win the title or a trophy but the stumbling block was more a mental problem. Of course you portion a lot of the blame to the manager as well. But the players should also be blaming themselves if they're unhappy with not being the best. Nobody can go on the pitch and do their work for them.

Last season we weren't close to having a squad capable of challenging. Van Persie was at the required level but not many others were and I can understand him being pissed off at that. You can't tell him "You didn't win anything because you weren't good enough" - the rest of the squad/manager weren't good enough. That hasn't been the case all the time, however, and that can easily change with a couple of players that hit the ground running along with special talent like Oxlade/Wilshere 'doing a Rooney'.