Originally Posted by Letters
When our own manager puts finishing 4th ahead of the FA Cup, that should be enough indication.
I love that we're record holders and Wenger's legacy is strongly linked to success in the competition, but it's hard to classify the FA Cup as a major honour anymore. There's just too much money in the game now, not only from the CL but the PL as well. Even pub teams tend to play weaker sides because staying up and earning big bucks is what's going to sustain them, not a cup win. I read Cardiff earned over 80m for finishing bottom the other year FFS.
CL qualification is a necessary evil if we do harbour any hopes of building a team strong enough to win the league or even CL itself.
As far as progress goes, I suppose a cup win can breed a winning mentality and make the players hungrier for more, but I wouldn't say it particularly demonstrates the strength of the team, not when the fixtures can be quite straight forward if you're fortunate enough.
Once upon a time when the game wasn't awash with dirty money the FA Cup was the big one, but it will never be the same again. It's just icing on the cake to a season now, but the trouble is, the cake doesn't need icing to be eaten.
Last edited by Marc Overmars; 04-06-2015 at 11:11 PM.
I just can't agree with your opinion here, all decent cakes need icing. Or jam and cream at least. Or maybe syrup at a push. Dry cakes are the pits.
Für eure Sicherheit
We're had a marginally better season but are much better as a team. You're not going to tell me that adding Sanchez, Bellerin and Coq doesn't equate to a better team.
Also, I am of the opinion the FA cup is a major trophy. It may not be one of the big two or be where the smart money is....... but it is still a major trophy in my eyes and I'm delighted we retained it and in doing so matched/broke all sorts of records. The FA cup hasn't been so devalued that it has vacated out of prestigiousness into obsoleteness.
If we sustained a title challenge to the last day of the season next season.....but didn't win anything in the end, you'd be hard pressed to say the season was more successful than this one now objectively, though you could argue we'd improved as a team.
That is merely an indication of the sad reality that in a business sense - and football is merely a business these days - it makes more financial sense to finish top 4 than win the Cup. I'm sure Wenger would be far more proud of the fact that we've won a record 12 FA Cups now and half of those have been under his tenure than the fact he's qualified for the CL a bazillion years in a row.
That said, both are pretty impressive achievements.
Wenger will say the words that fans will want to hear but how can he devalue the FA cup when its really the only competition we enter that we stand a chance of winning. We put a 2nd string out for the league cup & our lack of quality in key areas on the pitch means we haven't a hope in the P.L. or C.L. - in my opinion we could give the FA cup more value by offering the winners a C.L. place rather than reward a team for finishing 4th - it is fairly ridiculous to be playing in the CHAMPIONS league when you've won nothing all season but managed to finished 3rd or 4th in your league.
You can't be sure of what he's more proud of.
Below, I think he's talking about the Carling Cup, but considering he ranks both domestic cups below CL qualification,he may be talking about both. No doubts about what he thinks is harder to achieve.
Arsène Wenger believes it is harder to finish in the top three of the Premier League than win a domestic cup competition.
The Arsenal manager has scooped seven major trophies during his time with the Club – and been a whisker away from many more – and he would like to end his career with as much silverware as possible.
But Wenger insists that success cannot be measured by trophies alone and is just as proud of his team’s consistency in the Champions League over the past decade.
"It's very important that we win something, we're here to win trophies, but it depends on what you call trophies,” he explained.
“Is it the Champions League, the Premier League, the League Cup? If you win the League Cup you cannot say you win trophies for me.
“Of course [finishing third is better than winning a domestic cup]. It's much more difficult.
“I want to win trophies and, like the fans, I'm frustrated if I don't. But a season does not go from fantastic to zero. A season in the English league, when you fight with Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa, to finish in the top three is still not a disaster.
"It's not enough because you want to win trophies. But it doesn’t say: 'oh what a terrible season that was.' We've just qualified from the group stage in the Champions League for the tenth consecutive season.
"That is, for me, three times as difficult as winning the League Cup five times. I know what's difficult and what's not difficult.
"But I know people want to parade with a trophy and if you don't win a trophy you can't do that. But it doesn't mean the rest of the season has been completely useless."
Well no, nor can any of us really (which doesn't stop others pontificating about what Wenger thinks).
But while it is probably harder to finish top 4 year on year than win the Cup, ultimately the history books record trophies.
We don't have a "We Finished Top 4 Again" parade every year.
Again, Letter's, you have Wenger's words right in front of you and what he's said in public. That's not speculation, just facts.
Yes, said in a time when he was under pressure to deliver trophies having gone years without one.
But he repeatedly highlights the importance of winning trophies, he's merely making the point that a trophyless season isn't necessarily a complete failure.
And he belittles the League Cup in those quotes, not the FA Cup.
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