Claudius 2) players get injured. Transfers aren’t measured over 6 months. They’re long term investments. Two years ago Rice looked like an expensive boy. Today he looks possibly the best £100m+ purchase ever.
They aren't measured individually - but as a wider package and approach to squad building they absolutely are.
As Coombs says the CL run is somewhat masking a poor league campaign, and I'd add further to that, the referee issues also give us a convenient excuse. I've said elsewhere that Arteta has done fairly well considering what he had to work with, but that he left himself in that position in the first place smacks of Wenger's handbrake.
