why did Citeh and Arsenal finish ahead of ManUre and Sperz?

[highburyJD]

ManCiteh pretty conclusively had the best squad in the league
and so they should: twelvety bazillion quid spent + by far the highest wage bill
yet ManUre had only Rooney,
their team was carried last year by Vidic,
year before Fletcher (and his yellow card cloak of invisibility) was huge for them
Despite a totally inferior group of players (who bar Shrek makes a combo XI?) they finished level top
I attribute that to two things
1- MeatFace is an absolutely awesome manager
2- any team in a title race with ManUre finds EVERY decision going amazing favouring one team

So who has a better squad out of Sperz and the Arsenal?
I've read a lot of criticism of our squad, here and elsewhere, read that Wenger has lost it and accumulated mediocre players, heard a lot about twitchers superiority in the transfer market and how 5per2 have far better players
(I remember suggesting a good few Arsenal players in a combo XI and being dismissed as a rosetinting nutter)

so which is it?

Wenger isnt a tactical/strategic manager, he gives the players a lot of responsibility
what were all the naysayers wrong about? how have we finished as the third best team in the country?
is it that the players are better than you thought
or the manager?
or that you massively over-rated the teams fighting us
(presumably the true answer is all of the above, some of the 'realists' were just wrong on all three counts)

[goonersid]

wtf you on about jd

[flash gunner]

wtf you on jd

I voted for acid

I think the whole 'arry for England and his trial interupted them. Its not as simple as we have better players although there isnt much between the 2 sets of players, there was a lot of outside of football problems for sp*rs at the wrong time of the season . . . . .

[highburyJD]

I think ManUre's joint top finish has to be ascribed to Slur Alex - a great manager (and *word censored*)
why did we come ahead of everyone else?

I think its amazing how little credits being given here...
in the end our squad and manager got us over the line. 3rd is one over par, in a season when only a 'birdy' for us guaranteed CL football.

Many on here wanted us to do a Liverpool and rebuild the whole squad investing heavily
or do a Chelski and buy some real big names stars
we did neither, stuck with the managers principals and finished ahead of those two (and 5per2)

a good season.
Yes this is a huge summer - we need to sell a lot of players
buy a few and use the difference to retain RVP (and IMO Walcott)

[g88ner]

is it that the players are better than you thought
or the manager?
or that you massively over-rated the teams fighting us

I'm fairly sure the third option will be most popular with most posters, as it's the one option that allows them to maintain that Arsenal's players are shit and the manager must go

As for me...

I don't think the squad is better or worse than I thought. It's chugged along with ups and downs, but has hardly looked anything other than average for much of the season. I think it's the worst team in Wenger's 16yrs.... and for a team of that level, I think 3rd is rather impressive considering where we were in August.

I don't think the manager is any better or worse than I thought, either. He looks out of ideas and has been totally unable to stop the flow of goals hitting the back of our net (a whopping 49 this season!). And if you include the transfer windows, I'd say his performance has been fairly poor, to be honest.

I also don't think there's any doubt that we've been lucky with the patchy/terrible form of Chelsea, Liverpool and Sp*rs which has allowed us to stumble our way through the crowd

But, the table doesn't lie... and we finished 3rd, which is respectable (and a complete surprise) at the very least.

I'm glad the season is over, but delighted we finished 3rd. It could - and perhaps should - have been much worse. So credit to Arteta, RvP, Koscielny and co. for that!

[flash gunner]

is it that the players are better than you thought
or the manager?
or that you massively over-rated the teams fighting us

I'm fairly sure the third option will be most popular with most posters, as it's the one option that allows them to maintain that Arsenal's players are shit and the manager must go

As for me...

I don't think the squad is better or worse than I thought. It's chugged along with ups and downs, but has hardly looked anything other than average for much of the season. I think it's the worst team in Wenger's 16yrs.... and for a team of that level, I think 3rd is rather impressive considering where we were in August.

I don't think the manager is any better or worse than I thought, either. He looks out of ideas and has been totally unable to stop the flow of goals hitting the back of our net (a whopping 49 this season!). And if you include the transfer windows, I'd say his performance has been fairly poor, to be honest.

I also don't think there's any doubt that we've been lucky with the patchy/terrible form of Chelsea, Liverpool and Sp*rs which has allowed us to stumble our way through the crowd

But, the table doesn't lie... and we finished 3rd, which is respectable (and a complete surprise) at the very least.

I'm glad the season is over, but delighted we finished 3rd. It could - and perhaps should - have been much worse. So credit to Arteta, RvP, Koscielny and co. for that!

Great post and JD because liverpool spent a lot and failed it doesnt mean that us spending money would end up the same way. We have glaring holes within our squad and they must be addressed if we are to get a 'birdy' of 2nd next season (thats how it works isnt it?) Personally i want us to spend and go for the title lets face it if this united team can do it with the right money spent (and a new manager preferably) we could too

[kiwomya]

But, the table doesn't lie... and we finished 3rd, which is respectable (and a complete surprise) at the very least.
)

That's the bottom line for me.

[highburyJD]

my 'birdy' concept was based on wage bill
ManShitty, ManUre and Chelski on that basis should finish ahead of us so the birdy was beating one of them

on this basis a 'birdy' next year might be 4th - Liverpools new recruits are prob quite well paid..?
I think teams like 5per2 + Chelski were ridiculously over-rated

we've done well coming 3rd (and getting though our playoff and tough CL group)
from then the CL is a cup - with a bit of luck you can win it,
admittedly most of the flukes have been defensive teams
but we're back in it, with some dosh + a chance to win it

manager and players pulled us back from the brink, all clubs had issues, we dealt with ours best of the London clubs

[flash gunner]

my 'birdy' concept was based on wage bill
ManShitty, ManUre and Chelski on that basis should finish ahead of us so the birdy was beating one of them

on this basis a 'birdy' next year might be 4th - Liverpools new recruits are prob quite well paid..?
I think teams like 5per2 + Chelski were ridiculously over-rated

we've done well coming 3rd (and getting though our playoff and tough CL group)
from then the CL is a cup - with a bit of luck you can win it,
admittedly most of the flukes have been defensive teams
but we're back in it, with some dosh + a chance to win it

manager and players pulled us back from the brink, all clubs had issues, we dealt with ours best of the London clubs

but the manager was the one who took us to the brink. Its like a murderer giving his victim the kiss of life and being praised for doing so when they pull through...... The European Cup isnt just any old cup comp. and as you said you have to be defensively strong to win it or even compete to an acceptable level and defending is our achilles heal year after year after year

[Red Member]

well said Highbury JD.

certainly a lot of the so called media experts look a bit silly today.
all that stuff earlier in the season about how Spurs had the better team this season - what a load of rubbish that proved to be

I would maybe put Bale and Van der Vaart into the Arsenal team, possibly Modric even but the rest no way. They have shown themselves to be bottlers once again.

[Henry Norris 1913]

The obvious vote is none of them, these are stupid options.

The fact is we have a team spirit far better than theirs, experience in adjusting expectations from 1st down to 4th, a more epxerienced squad on the whole, and when we were 12 points behind in January our fanbase didn't let them sit on their arse and accept 5th, we drove them on.

With more of a pedigree, a more vocal , expectant fanbase and a better team spirit spuds would have safely secured third. Lets not forget the Muamba incident gave us a huge advantage. Them still being in the FA cup helped too.

[highburyJD]

Lets not forget the Muamba incident gave us a huge advantage. Them still being in the FA cup helped too.

how? I don't accept that Muamba statement at all
he wasn't a Sperz player, in fact he's far better known to the Arsenal playing and coaching staff...
we were hurt at the start of the season by having vital CL play-off between Liverpool and ManUre games (insane scheduling that would never have happened in any Latin league)
Chelski, 5per2, Liverpool and Arsenal all had issues
some unlucky, some self inflicted, some where contingency planning could have been better
in the end we dealt with ours far better than our rivals

and deserve credit for that

[SteveO 35]

I think that having more points helped us to finish above Spurs, and that Man City's goal difference was a bit of an advantage for them

[donaldo]

We finished 1 pt ahead of the Spuds.Can anyone tell us the difference between the two clubs wage bills?

[Red Member]

I think that having more points helped us to finish above Spurs, and that Man City's goal difference was a bit of an advantage for them

so is that down to the players or the manager ?
your comment admits that we were obviously better than Spurs, you are nearly there, you just have to say why.