As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
People need to remember we're not only 'skint' but also mid table now, for those intimating it is unlikely we'd lose so many of our best players as posted above, exactly what is going to keep them here if they are determined to go.....Arteta? The Clubs famous name? Prospect of getting in ECL? Buying improved players around them? Honouring their contracts?
Reality may actually begin to bite this summer and open more eyes to exactly how bad things have become at the club in the last 5 years. A complete reboot may be what is needed but will it be successful under Kroenke? Fucking unlikely! A reboot without major investment is likely to see us remain midtable at best for the foreseeable future because as has been seen money mostly rules these days.
In my opinion the idea that you can build a competitive team to challenge for the league and ECL from youngsters or Championship level players is a naive pipedream, even Leicester had a few semi decent players when they did it, and they benefited hugely from the top teams including us having a woeful season, if any of the richer teams had got their shit together they would never have won it.
Kroenke has killed any chance of the Arsenal rising back to the top any time soon because whilst other teams are investing trying to move forward we are treading water to save money under him and that will never change. I'd go so far as to say any money raised in the summer from player sales will not all be reinvested into the squad but will be set aside to mitigate the losses we've sustained through the loss of ECL football over the last few seasons, that is the reality of the self sustaining model which our club loves
Great post Muzz. Sums up the dismal reality of the situation.
The highlighted parts are the painful truth and yet there are people calling for an end to the negativity on here. Unfortunately the misery is not going to cease anytime soon and certainly not just for the sake of those who want to feel more hopeful.
People need to remember we're not only 'skint' but also mid table now, for those intimating it is unlikely we'd lose so many of our best players as posted above, exactly what is going to keep them here if they are determined to go.....Arteta? The Clubs famous name? Prospect of getting in ECL? Buying improved players around them? Honouring their contracts?
Reality may actually begin to bite this summer and open more eyes to exactly how bad things have become at the club in the last 5 years. A complete reboot may be what is needed but will it be successful under Kroenke? Fucking unlikely! A reboot without major investment is likely to see us remain midtable at best for the foreseeable future because as has been seen money mostly rules these days.
In my opinion the idea that you can build a competitive team to challenge for the league and ECL from youngsters or Championship level players is a naive pipedream, even Leicester had a few semi decent players when they did it, and they benefited hugely from the top teams including us having a woeful season, if any of the richer teams had got their shit together they would never have won it.
Kroenke has killed any chance of the Arsenal rising back to the top any time soon because whilst other teams are investing trying to move forward we are treading water to save money under him and that will never change. I'd go so far as to say any money raised in the summer from player sales will not all be reinvested into the squad but will be set aside to mitigate the losses we've sustained through the loss of ECL football over the last few seasons, that is the reality of the self sustaining model which our club loves
Great post Muzz. Sums up the dismal reality of the situation.
The highlighted parts are the painful truth and yet there are people calling for an end to the negativity on here. Unfortunately the misery is not going to cease anytime soon and certainly not just for the sake of those who want to feel more hopeful.
I think some people confuse negativity and realism, I understand the realism of where Kroenke has put us and at the moment it is hard not to be negative but on the other hand there are some who are excessively negative about everything right now.
For me it's a bitter pill to swallow that getting rid of Wenger hasn't really seen an improvement overall, and if anything it's worse because Kroenke now has complete control as well. I'm also of the opinion that there has been small improvements defensively under Arteta but I just cant see him doing much better than he is without serious amounts of both squad investment on one hand but also sacrificing some financial return to get rid of people like Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka, the problem is I just cant see it from our club. Look at the structuring of the Pepe deal and you'll see whoever is controlling the finances is hedging their bets massively and I cant see that changing, so further financial losses on players is a definite no go.
As I said we need to remove the rose tints and stop living in the past glories, Arsenal of the 2020s has little relationship to the earlier trophy winning club except the name. Im gradually coming to terms with it but I think others cant get their heads around it and this is where the bitter disappointment of lacklustre performances, poor transfer dealings and under par manager appointments comes from.
I look at the history of club and there isn't a time when we have gone big in the transfer of getting players in and having a entire starting eleven that didn't have a player that had come through the ranks, and it has worked for us. May be that isn't the way Arsenal operate successfully. Even under wenger our most important signing Sol Campbell, was free. Vieira, Henry, Pires were relatively cheap. Wiltord cost us more than Henry. I just don't think we could ever do a chelski, man city or Liverpool and buy a squad of player to win us the league.
Along with Man Utd, we are a club that thrives and prospers on developing players through the ranks aided by the one or two great value signings.
The great Liverpool sides throughout the '80's had one or two home grown. Chelski only had John Terry and City haven't had a home grown player establish themselves in the squad since micah Richards. They've bought the league. Arsenal haven't and don't tend to buy a squad of players and win the league.
A case in point Aubameyang £54m, Lacazette £52m, Pepe £72m, Ozil £48m and how close have we got to the title? No where near, in fact, we've got further away.
In late '80's we bought Alan Smith for £750,000. The best strikers around were Lineker, Cottee, McAvennie, Saunders all went for over £1m, even Paul Stewart went to Spurds for £2m. The transfer market wasn't as disjointed as it is nowadays. But even then we didn't go big in the market yet 2 league titles and two golden boots later Smudger, alongside Merson (home grown) was more successful. Smudger replaced our £1,5m striker Charlie Nicholas. We simple don't do well when we go big in the transfer market. This is the reason I think our current financial situation suits our future success down to the ground.
People need to remember we're not only 'skint' but also mid table now, for those intimating it is unlikely we'd lose so many of our best players as posted above, exactly what is going to keep them here if they are determined to go.....Arteta? The Clubs famous name? Prospect of getting in ECL? Buying improved players around them? Honouring their contracts?
Reality may actually begin to bite this summer and open more eyes to exactly how bad things have become at the club in the last 5 years. A complete reboot may be what is needed but will it be successful under Kroenke? Fucking unlikely! A reboot without major investment is likely to see us remain midtable at best for the foreseeable future because as has been seen money mostly rules these days.
In my opinion the idea that you can build a competitive team to challenge for the league and ECL from youngsters or Championship level players is a naive pipedream, even Leicester had a few semi decent players when they did it, and they benefited hugely from the top teams including us having a woeful season, if any of the richer teams had got their shit together they would never have won it.
Kroenke has killed any chance of the Arsenal rising back to the top any time soon because whilst other teams are investing trying to move forward we are treading water to save money under him and that will never change. I'd go so far as to say any money raised in the summer from player sales will not all be reinvested into the squad but will be set aside to mitigate the losses we've sustained through the loss of ECL football over the last few seasons, that is the reality of the self sustaining model which our club loves
Good post.
Self sustaining "mediocrity" should be the club motto.
Ndidi should be a given considering he seems agitated at Leicester City. Im also for giving increased chances to Martinelli & Saka.
I pretty sick of Ozil. We may as well sign Pele who is almost 80 if we want to have a 'big name' in the squad.
All players brought in will be secondary to the tempo Arteta sets. Doesnt matter who we sign unless Arteta really erases the casual complacent attitude that exist sin our squad.
People need to remember we're not only 'skint' but also mid table now, for those intimating it is unlikely we'd lose so many of our best players as posted above, exactly what is going to keep them here if they are determined to go.....Arteta? The Clubs famous name? Prospect of getting in ECL? Buying improved players around them? Honouring their contracts?
Reality may actually begin to bite this summer and open more eyes to exactly how bad things have become at the club in the last 5 years. A complete reboot may be what is needed but will it be successful under Kroenke? Fucking unlikely! A reboot without major investment is likely to see us remain midtable at best for the foreseeable future because as has been seen money mostly rules these days.
In my opinion the idea that you can build a competitive team to challenge for the league and ECL from youngsters or Championship level players is a naive pipedream, even Leicester had a few semi decent players when they did it, and they benefited hugely from the top teams including us having a woeful season, if any of the richer teams had got their shit together they would never have won it.
Kroenke has killed any chance of the Arsenal rising back to the top any time soon because whilst other teams are investing trying to move forward we are treading water to save money under him and that will never change. I'd go so far as to say any money raised in the summer from player sales will not all be reinvested into the squad but will be set aside to mitigate the losses we've sustained through the loss of ECL football over the last few seasons, that is the reality of the self sustaining model which our club loves
Good post.
Self sustaining "mediocrity" should be the club motto.
Or Victory through Non-Investment and Not Giving a Flying Fuckk.
According to @Jeunesfooteux, #Arsenal are very close to an agreement with Le Havre to sign midfielder Pape Gueye for around €6m. His contract expires in June 2021. https://t.co/jbJcJJu0GW
According to @Jeunesfooteux, #Arsenal are very close to an agreement with Le Havre to sign midfielder Pape Gueye for around €6m. His contract expires in June 2021. https://t.co/jbJcJJu0GW
I look at the history of club and there isn't a time when we have gone big in the transfer of getting players in and having a entire starting eleven that didn't have a player that had come through the ranks, and it has worked for us. May be that isn't the way Arsenal operate successfully. Even under wenger our most important signing Sol Campbell, was free. Vieira, Henry, Pires were relatively cheap. Wiltord cost us more than Henry. I just don't think we could ever do a chelski, man city or Liverpool and buy a squad of player to win us the league. Along with Man Utd, we are a club that thrives and prospers on developing players through the ranks aided by the one or two great value signings.
The great Liverpool sides throughout the '80's had one or two home grown. Chelski only had John Terry and City haven't had a home grown player establish themselves in the squad since micah Richards. They've bought the league. Arsenal haven't and don't tend to buy a squad of players and win the league.
A case in point Aubameyang £54m, Lacazette £52m, Pepe £72m, Ozil £48m and how close have we got to the title? No where near, in fact, we've got further away.
In late '80's we bought Alan Smith for £750,000. The best strikers around were Lineker, Cottee, McAvennie, Saunders all went for over £1m, even Paul Stewart went to Spurds for £2m. The transfer market wasn't as disjointed as it is nowadays. But even then we didn't go big in the market yet 2 league titles and two golden boots later Smudger, alongside Merson (home grown) was more successful. Smudger replaced our £1,5m striker Charlie Nicholas. We simple don't do well when we go big in the transfer market. This is the reason I think our current financial situation suits our future success down to the ground.
And that I could live with mate, but just where is our Rashford or Kane? This wonderful academy of ours has barely produced a striker worthy of the name for a good decade or more. I'm actually struggling to think of the last "worldie" who came out of our academy in any position......Cashley Hole maybe? Wilshere looked like he had a chance for a while. Bellerin might be in the "half decent" category. Honestly its fucking woeful.
Rebuilding the defence has been a priority for years but who is finally going to emerge from the youth set up to fill a void or there too - its so fucking bad we spunked 8m on David Luiz. Is there not a single defender from the academy capable of making the step up?
I look at the history of club and there isn't a time when we have gone big in the transfer of getting players in and having a entire starting eleven that didn't have a player that had come through the ranks, and it has worked for us. May be that isn't the way Arsenal operate successfully. Even under wenger our most important signing Sol Campbell, was free. Vieira, Henry, Pires were relatively cheap. Wiltord cost us more than Henry. I just don't think we could ever do a chelski, man city or Liverpool and buy a squad of player to win us the league. Along with Man Utd, we are a club that thrives and prospers on developing players through the ranks aided by the one or two great value signings.
The great Liverpool sides throughout the '80's had one or two home grown. Chelski only had John Terry and City haven't had a home grown player establish themselves in the squad since micah Richards. They've bought the league. Arsenal haven't and don't tend to buy a squad of players and win the league.
A case in point Aubameyang £54m, Lacazette £52m, Pepe £72m, Ozil £48m and how close have we got to the title? No where near, in fact, we've got further away.
In late '80's we bought Alan Smith for £750,000. The best strikers around were Lineker, Cottee, McAvennie, Saunders all went for over £1m, even Paul Stewart went to Spurds for £2m. The transfer market wasn't as disjointed as it is nowadays. But even then we didn't go big in the market yet 2 league titles and two golden boots later Smudger, alongside Merson (home grown) was more successful. Smudger replaced our £1,5m striker Charlie Nicholas. We simple don't do well when we go big in the transfer market. This is the reason I think our current financial situation suits our future success down to the ground.
And that I could live with mate, but just where is our Rashford or Kane? This wonderful academy of ours has barely produced a striker worthy of the name for a good decade or more. I'm actually struggling to think of the last "worldie" who came out of our academy in any position......Cashley Hole maybe? Wilshere looked like he had a chance for a while. Bellerin might be in the "half decent" category. Honestly its fucking woeful.
Rebuilding the defence has been a priority for years but who is finally going to emerge from the youth set up to fill a void or there too - its so fucking bad we spunked 8m on David Luiz. Is there not a single defender from the academy capable of making the step up?
This is what i dont get, how many first team regulars has academy produced in the last 20 years, not brought in at 16-17 and promoted but actually produced through the academy system?
Its a fable that we develop good young players, the few we've managed we've off loaded too early and they've actually become very good players elsewhere.... even Gnabry who some quote as ours only spent about 2 seasons with the academy/youth team before playing what 10 times for us then being sent packing to come good elsewhere
Torres is supposed to be a good young centre back, so when cazorla says that he isn't ready yet for barca or city, shouldn't that read as he is ready for a club like us though ?
If we can get £70 million for Auba in the summer we should jump at the chance as long as the money is invested back into the squad rather than Stinky-Stan's trousers.