
Originally Posted by
Ice Berg Kamping
Mate - you perhaps misunderstand my point. I think that we have had, and still have a good group of players. But nothing has ignited the blue touch paper and really got them believing in themselves, believing in the club. There is a general negativity around the place that is visibly affecting our players. The main reason, IMO? its that nothing really exciting has happened for so long. A stadium project is exciting momentarily, but what football fans and players need a vibe to generate a sense of progress.
For years now, every time a Wenger project player has come through, he has left shortly afterwards. There has been a constant drain, that this Summer became too much to contend with.
Going in for Mata would have shown that we are still a big club that expects to win things - to counteract the Cesc and Nasri effect. The fact that we were pussies, and then caught with our pants down so late in the Summer is the main reason we are so bereft of confidence now.
Second, the reason I agree with Letters that the manager has lost the players is that this Summer saw him fail, almost embarrasingly, at what he is famous for being best at. I think they no longer trust him to win anything. A Mata type signing would have helped here.