Not sure about that. There is a limiting factor in our decline and that is our resources are so much bigger than most other clubs outside the top 4.
Burnley may leapfrog us and it would be embarrassing to finish below them but we almost can't drop lower than 7th this year no matter what we do.
However poorly we are set up our players are generally better than most other teams and so will win enough games to keep us in the top half of the table.
Prove me wrong, Arsene!
There is zero evidence to support the view expressed that our resources are a limiting factor.
Our regression has accelerated at a time when we have vastly increased the level of resources expended.
We have bought and changed players in every position and we continue to decline faster and more visibly by the year. This is the case against teams we used to compete against, teams that have had resources ploughed into them from dubious sources and, most worrying of all, those teams with far fewer resources than us.
I’m fucked if I can think of the reason for that.
If you don’t send this signature to ten people, you will become a Spurs fan.
There has been no year on year regression over the last few years. I posted the points and final positions over the last 5 years in another thread, the few seasons prior to this one we've been pretty consistent, last year we got 75 points which is the same as the year prior to that. We finished 5th rather than 3rd as we did 2 years back because of Spurs and Liverpool's improvement, not because we regressed. Even then we won the FA Cup beating City in the semi-finals and Chelsea in the final.
This year has been a car crash in the league, mostly because of our away form. It will be our worst points total under Wenger and a massive decline from last year. Let's say we end up with about 60 points, that would be 15 points worse off than last year. Are you suggesting that we will regress by another 15 points and end up with around 45 next year? I don't believe that will happen.
Edit: I should add there is pretty much zero evidence for what happens next because under Wenger we haven't been this bad before. I am skeptical we'll fall lower because I reckon there's only so badly a group of players this good can fall, but there's no excuse for them being as poor as they have been this season so I guess time will tell.
Did you believe at the end of last season we'd be 15 points worse off now? So what's stopping you believing Wenger can hit a new record low next season? Far more likely he'll drag us down lower than any other possibility.
Wenger does best when he has NO options. When he has a massive injury crisis and can't fuck with the team. Give him resources, options, and he's a complete disaster. So the resources could well be the factor that opens the floodgates for a Wenger baked calamity, rather than any limiting factor. Yes, Wenger can buy more and better players. But so what? He still doesn't have a clue how to use them, as we saw again today.
The bloke's the anchor that will drag us deeper with every day he's permitted to stay.
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No, I didn't think we'd be 15 points worse off and this season has been embarrassing, especially away from home.
I've explained why I think there is a limiting factor to how low we can sink. I may be wrong.
We just can’t defend. This has been our problem for years now and it is clear as daylight that wenger or his coaching staff can’t organise a team or set them up properly. It is the main reason we won’t get past Atletico.
Wenger our, coaching staff out.
Wenger explained that last week. We're an attacking team (apparently) so that's why we don't have a defence. A big club like Arsenal can't reasonably expect to have a balanced, well coached team. We just can't. It's unrealistic. Ask Wenger. He'll tell you.Originally Posted by AFC Leveller
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I wouldn't say we were throwing the game today really, we still have over £100m strike force more than the entire Newcastle team. Even if we were at full strength, Mustafi would still have played and Xhaka so we are still likely to have conceded goals.
In terms of why away form so bad. think it has been said before. it must be the way the opposition sets up. The odd thing is that we are under more pressure to perform at home and yet seem to be able to manage it, but again as has been said only Spurs of the top 7 we have beaten at home this year with Burnley still to play.
Regression is more than just the positing of numbers without consideration of relative factors. If your company is flatlining relative to its competitors with the result that they improve to catch you and surpass you, you are regressing.
This has happened progressively through the years. From occasional top dogs to top 2, down to top 4, out of the top 4 and now in a dogfight with Burnley, that’s right, Burnley, to stay in the top 6. That is regression. And it is snowballing.
As for your point of the players being poor. They have come and gone, but one thing has remained and that one thing has led to the regression which is getting progressively worse.
Other teams are cottoning on to this and regard us not as a side they hope to effectively limit damage against, but as an opportunity to win 3 points against when playing them at home. This, left unchecked will spread to playing us as an opportunity for them to win points wherever they play us.
We are regressing and the regression is clearly accelerating. It can sometimes be difficult to see until you pass the tipping point. I am pretty sure we’ve skipped past that point.
If you don’t send this signature to ten people, you will become a Spurs fan.
And all of it has happened behind a shield of snowballing revenues and ridiculous levels of TV cash pouring into the game. That's had the effect of allowing the club to spin failure as success and it has also cushioned the blow as we've dropped down the league. It dulled the alarm bells that ought to have been on full blast years ago. The money meant Wenger was actually praised for turning us into a top 4 club rather than focusing on the football and title challenges.
I mean what the hell is a "top 4" club anyway? It can only mean the money. No sport lauds 4th place in sporting terms. What sort of a goal is that? A pure money goal and no secret was made about it. Now we're saying winning the second rate (literally a competition for losers) cup is redemption. Just bullshit. The best it could ever be is a step on the road to redemption - not the finishing line. If it was progression, instead of a sideshow on this slow bleed regression, then great. But nobody believes it for a second. Not any more.
If Wenger was sacked today (and he should be sacked after today btw) and a new guy came in and said let's win the Europa League and then push on, full steam ahead, it would be well worth getting behind that. But let's win the EL so Wenger can keep his job and we can get back on the road to claiming that top 4 spot? Fuck that.
It's why the game and the result and the performance was important today. Not just a thing to be thrown away or dismissed. Clubs with ambition plan for tomorrow. They don't lock themselves into a cycle of failure, which is exactly what we've done.
There's no excuse for Wenger. He has no business being at this club.
There's no possible excuse left for him or his fucked up idea of what represents success. So what if we made money? Everyone made money. The money is pouring out of the Sky. Where's the great achievement in picking it off the ground and stuffing it in your pocket? Top 4, top 4, top 4. Bullshit.
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