I'm not biased (well I am, obviously) and it's clear that we didn't spend the Bale money wisely. Not addressing the LB problem is not worth going over again. I can't agree that Wenger knows how to spend big money, it's obvious that he is uncomfortable doing so, I think he sees it a slur on his ability, Ozil looks like a knee jerk signing in a position where they had plenty of cover and it hasn't worked out over the course of a season. What they needed was a striker, and signing Henry is ancient history. Yes we need an experienced manager, I'm just trying to point out that other clubs will have problems.
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I'm not biased (well I am, obviously) and it's clear that we didn't spend the Bale money wisely. Not addressing the LB problem is not worth going over again. I can't agree that Wenger knows how to spend big money, it's obvious that he is uncomfortable doing so, I think he sees it a slur on his ability, Ozil looks like a knee jerk signing in a position where they had plenty of cover and it hasn't worked out over the course of a season. What they needed was a striker, and signing Henry is ancient history. Yes we need an experienced manager, I'm just trying to point out that other clubs will have problems.
Well obviously all football fans are biased. Should've worded it better.
Wenger is uncomfortable spending big money I agree but he will do it if required. He was going to spend £25m on Higuain until Napoli came in with a ridiculous offer. Tried to get Suarez off Liverpool but they held on. Özil isn't a knee jerk signing. I'm glad you said that actually. I knew you would say it. The difference between us and the top clubs is that they sign the best players in Europe regardless of whether they are apparently stocked in such a position. Bayern bought Thiago and Goetze even though they were stacked in midfield. Mourinho bought Willian, Schurrle and Salah even though they already had Hazard, Mata, Moses and De Bruyne. Woolwich signed Özil because he was a world class player on the market. They've improved and will most likely win their first trophy in 9 years. It isn't coincidence.
As an example, we have Eriksen right now but if Fabregas was available in the market, we'd be absolutely mad not try and get him. He's a step above Eriksen and therefore improves us. He's a player a title challenger would have. That's the difference between us and the big boys atm. We just don't sign better players than we have.
I'm sorry, woolwich just don't fit the profile of the other clubs you mention. They don't automatically join the club just because of one expensive signing in an overloaded position. If the season was 19 games you would be right. How have they improved? If Everton hadn't bottled it they would be scuffing about for 5th.
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Maybe not improved but they've hardly gone backwards.
I like the cut of your jib Darth Vader.
The midi-chlorians fair course through your blood
The main problem with all threads like this that I can see is one of expectation.
All clubs expect to improve having spent money (they wouldn't do it otherwise). But they can't all be right, having seven (if you count martinez opinion before the campaign) clubs who "expect" to break into the top four means that three will inevitably be 'dissappointed'.
The problem is when expectation from the club attracts expectations from the fans that will always end in disappointment from some parties.
I know a great many will analyze (and over analyze) each element of the squad / every game but the fact remains that post-rationalization doesn't change a single thing. A team can still be 'lucky' over such a small (relatively) number of games in one season, and the margins between 4th and 7th are equally so small that sometimes that is the difference in any one season.
We played well enough on some days to beat some teams we didn't (goon at home for me being a good example) and didn't play well enough but still took the points on others. With such a statically small number of games it doesn't even out over the season.
So any disappointment is as much to do with expectation and luck. Arry proved that more than anyone with Pompey when he won the FA cup, and Bruce has had the same in getting to the final this year, 'Sometimes in life you don't have to have a good team / manager just a lucky one'.
All clubs expect to improve having spent money (they wouldn't do it otherwise). But they can't all be right, having seven (if you count martinez opinion before the campaign) clubs who "expect" to break into the top four means that three will inevitably be 'dissappointed'.
The problem is when expectation from the club attracts expectations from the fans that will always end in disappointment from some parties.
I know a great many will analyze (and over analyze) each element of the squad / every game but the fact remains that post-rationalization doesn't change a single thing. A team can still be 'lucky' over such a small (relatively) number of games in one season, and the margins between 4th and 7th are equally so small that sometimes that is the difference in any one season.
We played well enough on some days to beat some teams we didn't (goon at home for me being a good example) and didn't play well enough but still took the points on others. With such a statically small number of games it doesn't even out over the season.
So any disappointment is as much to do with expectation and luck. Arry proved that more than anyone with Pompey when he won the FA cup, and Bruce has had the same in getting to the final this year, 'Sometimes in life you don't have to have a good team / manager just a lucky one'.
If you can't see that they've improved, then I think bias is getting in the way. Do you think Liverpool haven't improved? What about Everton? Southampton? They've all improved and I'm pretty certain you will concede that 3 of them have but refuse to acknowledge the other has because of rivalry.
They don't entirely fit the profile but they're probably far closer to the likes of City, Chelsea, Bayern, Atletico, Madrid, Barca etc. than the likes of us, Everton, Man Utd, Bilbao etc.
And again, I've already pointed out why signing in overloaded positions is something which big clubs do. It's what separates them from others. We need to start doing similar when class players are available regardless whether we already have that position covered.
I really hope that the people working on the future of our club aren't as blind as some of our fans. When we start accepting that other clubs are improving more than we are, then we can finally do something about it. Until then, we'll continue to fall further and further from our lofty heights under Redknapp.
i don't think its necessarily that at all. Some idiots do say stupid shit like
"if we don't get champions league Levys gotta go" blah blah
thats bullshit, i don't give a fuck about champions league. What i do care about though, is having the club i love become a fucking laughing stock, hiring a nobody to be our manager, in fighting, a chairman that never tells us whats going on, players that evidently don't give a shit, travelling to Norwich and watching the worst display of football I've ever seen, not having players even bother to come and clap the fans, tactical problems that i can see from watching on TV but sherwood can't seem to sort out (Eriksen on the left, leaving us weak and exposed, etc)
i don't care if we aim high and miss (echoes of glory etc) i just care that we give a shit. because if we don't, what is the point of there being a tottenham hotspur......
Oh... to make some people some money.
Ok, but wouldn't it be more sensible to buy players for positions where you don't have adequate cover? Did you think we should have signed Ozil as well? Simply stating that 'big clubs' sign players in overloaded positions seems a bit simplistic, as if taking a hard look at where you could strengthen a squad is a quaint, old fashioned principle.
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Yes it would be but what happens if those players aren't actually better than what you have? The scum could've spent their money on Soldado instead because they "needed" a striker but in hindsight, that would've been an extremely stupid thing for them to have done and they probably wouldn't be in the position they are now.
Like I said, it's about signing players better than you have even if you seem well stocked in that position.
And, yes we should've signed Özil if we had the chance. He was arguably the best no.10 in the world at Madrid. Imagine the sheer stupidity of rejecting the opportunity to sign a world class player like that.
Again, you aren't understanding my point. What is the point of strengthening a position in your squad when that player is hardly any better than what you have? It is a waste. That's what we done with Soldado, Chadli and Capoue. They aren't any better than Adebayor, Lennon/Lamela, Sandro/Paulinho. We spent £45m (can't quite remember the fees so I'm estimating) on squad players.
You're arguing from a position of 20/20 hindsight. When we signed those players we thought they were better. If you can honestly say that you thought we had wasted the £110 mill last August I probably wouldn't believe you.
I definitely didn't want Chadli or Capoue. Chadli was always a massive risk and we should never look to buy more than 2 players from non-top 5 league teams. Capoue hadn't been great last season and therefore bought a player for his performances in 2011-2012 (which he hasn't replicated).
Soldado I was definitely unsure about. I had watched Valencia and I knew that he was always a passenger if we didn't create. A friend had told me that Negredo was the far better striker and that's probably why City bought him. Why do you think no other big club (to my knowledge) went for Soldado?
Finally, I'm a fan. I'm not paid to scout these players and form extensive portfolios on how they'd integrate into the team and the Premier league. That's what our manager and scouting system is for. If they get it massively wrong as they have done last summer, they should be blamed. They are required to have the knowledge that allows them to operate without hindsight.
Absolutely they should be blamed. But our club, in a normal transfer window (last summer was exceptional) is not in a position to buy proven world beaters in all positions, I wish we were. If you think we are then I admit I've misunderstood your point.
Yes I know that and that's what made last summer so disappointing. We had the opportunity to really transition this club from a top 6 team to a top 4 team and failed to take it. We got extremely lucky with how desperate Madrid were and got double the value for Bale. If we had spent at least half of our money more responsibly on players that would actually work in our system, we wouldn't be in half of the mess we're in right now.
Now with future summers we will need to buy the cheaper players as we don't have the finances to compete with the bigger clubs anymore until we move stadium. It will be an extremely difficult task to achieve but we've done it before.
The rule seems to be at the moment that teams that want to enter the top 4 have 2 world class attacking players. We had Bale and Modric when we did it (twice). Scum had Fabregas and Van Persie for the majority of their time in the top 4 after the stadium move. Liverpool have Suarez and Sturridge as their two world class players. We've got Eriksen and Lamela as potential world class players but it is always extremely unlikely that any young player with promise actually becomes world class. We'd need to scout more promising players and add them to our squad if we are to get those two world class attacking players that we need to get back into the top 4.
You miss AVB a lot dont you.
Last seasons AVB yes, this season not so much. Just fed up of feeling like the clubs being run by clowns.
AVB has now won 6 out of 6 games in charge at Zenit. I certainly do miss him and still feel it was the wrong decision to not give him more time.
