Arsenal vs Chelsea. Community Shield. 02/08/15, 15:00.

[Letters]

What do you see it as if we win? - as you've said in your previous posts, we beat City last year in this but that never resulted in us having a title crack. Proof needs evidence. The evidence that we can all see is that Wenger can't win the league.

Wenger's won the league 3 times. BUT, that was in an era when we had a better team than everyone else. For the last 10 years we haven't.
He's not a manager who can win the league with an inferiour team (IMO Fergie could, but managers like that don't grow on trees)
IMO we've got a team good enough again to have a crack at it - I'd be happier with a top striker but we should be good enough to challenge.
It is more difficult than it used to be though because there are now 4 sides who can realistically win it and the other 3 all have bigger resources than us.

If we win then I'll see it as a nice psychological boost - finally beating a Maureen side. But as we saw last year that doesn't mean we'll get off to a flier in the league.
I wouldn't see it as an indication that we'll win the title. It's better to win that not in games like this, I just don't think it has any bearing on where the trophies will end up come May, historically it hasn't been any guide to that at all.

[Dein-machine]

Wenger's won the league 3 times. BUT, that was in an era when we had a better team than everyone else. For the last 10 years we haven't.
He's not a manager who can win the league with an inferiour team (IMO Fergie could, but managers like that don't grow on trees)
IMO we've got a team good enough again to have a crack at it - I'd be happier with a top striker but we should be good enough to challenge.
It is more difficult than it used to be though because there are now 4 sides who can realistically win it and the other 3 all have bigger resources than us.

If we win then I'll see it as a nice psychological boost - finally beating a Maureen side. But as we saw last year that doesn't mean we'll get off to a flier in the league.
I wouldn't see it as an indication that we'll win the title. It's better to win that not in games like this, I just don't think it has any bearing on where the trophies will end up come May, historically it hasn't been any guide to that at all.

Agree with most of that but the problem lies in your sentence - "I'd be happier with a top striker but we should be good enough".
We cannot have players that are "good enough", not in key positions on the pitch - that's been our problem over the past decade. Good enough for what - 4th. When its blatantly obvious that we need a top striker, we have to get one. We can't continue with Giroud/Welbeck because they are "good enough", they are not good enough to win a title with, they are not good enough to win the C.L. with. Neither of them are good enough to get into any of the top teams we compete against, so why are they good enough for Arsenal. We have to have top quality to compete.

[Letters]

What mitigates our lack of an Aguero or a Suarez is we have players like Sanchez and (if he stays fit) Walcott who should chip in with plenty of goals.
But yes, I rate Giroud but he's not going to win you the league like a Suarez nearly did for Liverpool.

[Dein-machine]

If Sanchez was an out an out striker I would agree but he is not. He is not at his best with his back to goal. We need him picking up the ball in deeper positions & driving at defenses. Walcott is another player in the "good enough" mould - his composure infront of goal is awful & he's injury prone. We need a prolific striker, we create more chances than most but Giroud, Welbeck & Theo will miss far more than they will score. Someone like Lewandowski would do the trick.

[GP]

What mitigates our lack of an Aguero or a Suarez is we have players like Sanchez and (if he stays fit) Walcott who should chip in with plenty of goals.
But yes, I rate Giroud but he's not going to win you the league like a Suarez nearly did for Liverpool.

you're right of course, but how many of that kind of player are there? How many would be available?

Suarez, Aguero (when he's fit) Messi, Ronaldo...

These are probably the only set of players that can win you games on their own.

[Letters]

you're right of course, but how many of that kind of player are there? How many would be available?

Suarez, Aguero (when he's fit) Messi, Ronaldo...

These are probably the only set of players that can win you games on their own.

Agree, but we haven't really made a 'big' signing this summer, someone the fans can get excited about and makes a statement.
It's debatable whether we needed to, Cech is an upgrade and I think our squad is good enough to challenge.
Wenger does tend to favour stability and there is something in that. It is a shot in the arm for everyone when a big signing is made though.
I agree it would have been difficult to buy anyone at the level who would have made a big difference.

[Kano]

Interesting to read Ivanovic talking up the game, of the importance of keeping their record against us intact. Says a lot about the mentality of their team - apart from being utter degenerates of course.

[fakeyank]

I'm with Letters. Will winning this change anybody's opinion about where we are or our ability to win the league? Honest question....

It will change my thought based on what team Chelsea and Arsenal put out. If both put out a near full strength team and we win, I'll feel a lot more positive about our ability to challenge. However if both or one of the team fields toddlers from kindergarten, it'll not increase my optimism for this season. Though I must add... any win will be good to have over that cunt- Mou.

[AFC Leveller]

Jose is always in total control of his press conferences. He is brilliant in front of the camera and I’m a big fan, not just of Jose the manager, but the person too. I think he likes me, and likes our exchanges, but I’m never quite sure.

Yet on Friday, some might have said he looked dour. Moody even. He wasn’t. He was just controlling the agenda.

This journo is so far up maureens ass he can't breathe.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

And that's the big point - Mourinho. No one could care less about what the cup is but beating that guy has to start as soon as possible. It can't be underestimated, especially when our manager has never achieved it. That is a massive hurdle to overcome for the managers, players and the fans. If you have the chance to take the exact same test paper outside of test conditions you wouldn't take a lackadaisical approach, you'd want to nail it so it becomes easier next time. Chelsea will be the club to overcome if we are serious about the title and that begins by beating them in a competitive game. We need to believe we can beat every team in this league, that's how you win the title. And this will be a competitive game. Maureen will see to that, even if we don't.

How confident is any fan when we play Chelsea? We know the drill by now and the most likely outcome. Everyone in and around the team has to believe we can go for the title and that occurs through momentum and breaking through psychological barriers. This is the first one. Beat Mourinho and give him and Chelsea something to worry about when it comes to us because right now they are at the opposite end of the scale compared to us when we play these games. We have become their Tottenham.

I should say, I don't question the need for us as fans to utterly want to win, or the attitude of the team going into it.....only the weighting/ramifications of the result. The games result will simply tells us much less than a competitive game would and on the whole in any case, most of us concede we need a forward out of the top draw, win or lose.... to compete for the PL and CL...... and after all, that is what we want to win isn't it?

Mourinho will not want to do anything other than smear shi* in our faces, I've no delusions otherwise. We got lucky with signing Cech.