The players who are brought in should be measured on what they bring to the team.

The players should be judged on how well they play and how they act in relation to the club.

At the end of the day, managers are given a budget and they spend it.

.
And after they've spent it they must aim to have assembled or retained a full team and a full squad that gets results on the pitch and in the trophy cabinet. Which is how managers are judged.

I actually think this over-emphasis on transfer fees is one of the reasons that Wenger has escaped more stringent scrutiny. Wenger has brought in a lot of shit players. People just don't complain about it as much because we did not spend 30 million pounds on them.

It is indubitably true that overall we have had less to spend than all of our major rivals over the entire course of Wenger's tenure. His budgets have been lower, so his task in assembling a winning squad has been harder. If we have money now it's only because we've put it aside earlier.

I no longer think Wenger is the right person to lead the club but let's not pretend he hasn't made us richer.

Caligula wrote:

Wenger has brought in a lot of shit players. People just don't complain about it as much because we did not spend 30 million pounds on them. But at the end of the day, a shit player is just as unlikely to win you a trophy whether you bought him for £500,000 or £50 million

This is nonsense. People are just attacking Wenger for absolutely everything at this stage whether its true or not.

Caligula wrote:

People make too much of the price at which players are signed when determining who belongs on best and worst lists. At the end of the day, managers are given a budget and they spend it. The players who are brought in should be measured on what they bring to the team. I would agree that despite his high transfer price and wages, Toure has easily been one of the best buys in the league this season. Don't penalize him for being a good player to start with.

So what if they have a budget?

It's like me spending 100 grand on a vauxhall corsa and trying to claim it's a good buy because I wanted a car and it's within my budget

Toure has not done just about the minimum of what you'd expect a £30m player to do, at a club like City. He's not done anything remotely special, and was infact a far better player a couple of years ago at Barca.

I think Toure's been more than fine and has been dynamite for them. He's the best two-way midfielder in the league right now ahead of even a Michael Essien.

As for Wenger, I still maintain that he has shielded himself from extra scrutiny by not spending big on players. We highlight his triumphs in bringing in a Fabregas (as we should), but not enough attention is given to the fact that sometimes we would be better of bringing in one good player rather than saving money and buying one or more average players.

Don't be ridiculous.

So you favor his current model for building out the squad then?

He isn't shielding himself from anything.

I think van der vaarts been one of the worst signings of the season. Spurs' attack is weaker than last years and they changed to squeeze him in

Captain wrote:

He isn't shielding himself from anything.

He constantly tries to shield himself from criticism by claiming our season is a success for achieving CL status. He did it recently after Stoke.

And the infamous, "It depends what you mean by success".

"They are 23"

Really? Piss off.

qs! wrote:

Caligula wrote:

Wenger has brought in a lot of shit players. People just don't complain about it as much because we did not spend 30 million pounds on them. But at the end of the day, a shit player is just as unlikely to win you a trophy whether you bought him for £500,000 or £50 million

This is nonsense. People are just attacking Wenger for absolutely everything at this stage whether its true or not.

Not really.

All the attacks are genuine and we know when we are saying things tongue in cheek because we've known each other for years.

Wenger has brought in a lot of shit players.

If you think that's nonsense you should at least agree that he's brought in a lot of average players otherwise you haven't been watching the same teams. And when you look at what Caligula has said in that bit you quoted then actually, it's not nonsense.

I think there's some truth that Wenger's policy of using youth and/or budget players is also a tool for manipulating expectations.

After all if he had a squad of galacticos and was still failing people would certainly say with even greater venom that his tactics, training and match-day skills are wanting.

I see what you lads are saying, but I dont buy it. I think Wenger just genuinely feels , that with a limited budget, he can generally get more value working to get the best out of cheaper players than spending loads on proven talent.

I don't think at all that Wenger signs youth to limit the expectations on his own performance.

I think he does for the following reasons in decreasing order of importance:

1. Cheaper on fee and wages
2. Easier to reshape to what he perceives as his method
3. He prefers man-managing younger players

However I also think he'd be deeply uncomfortable at the helm of a squad of superstars because of the heightened expectations. That's the real reason he'd never go to Madrid for example. Over the years I sense a certain habit of mind has formed at Arsenal.

So he likes em cheap easy and young eh? Nice

Tony Montana wrote:

Captain wrote:

He isn't shielding himself from anything.

He constantly tries to shield himself from criticism by claiming our season is a success for achieving CL status. He did it recently after Stoke.

And the infamous, "It depends what you mean by success".

"They are 23"

Really? Piss off.

No mate, he constantly takes all of the flack that is thrown in the clubs direction.

He's bound to. He's the figurehead