@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Yet we are coming up short

Bullshiter

Allow the window to close before passing judgment.

est wrote:

"Leicester identified players from the French second division, so maybe there's talent that we've been overlooking. They did their talent identification [well], they had great unity within the group, as well as quality.

"It wasn't built on money. It was built on the great fitness work they did. It was built on all of these other elements. I think that's going to be a continuing trend within the Premier League.

Fucking bullshit. They beat us because their manager actually had a plan and the players knew it and all worked for it. It wasn't because they unveiled some super quality players from the French second division. Our two best players are miles better than anything they had in their squad. Overall the quality of our players is higher as well.

If there's a continuing trend within the PL, it's us not winning the League with Wenger in charge.

He added: "We're making progress

Fuck off!

Savz wrote:

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Yet we are coming up short

Bullshiter

Allow the window to close before passing judgment.

goon wrote:

The overall message there isn't a bad one, he's probably spot on, but we don't execute any of it particularly well. The issue is our core philosophy and values isn't one that the players buy into and it's not one that the fans are proud of, largely due to one key missing ingredient and that is the massive lack of ambition.

Being disciplined and spending money where it makes a difference is also great, but that doesn't mean spending no money at all and going nowhere. Giving a chance to youth is also great, but not when it becomes evident that they'll never be good enough.

I think more importantly than that, it's not one that Wenger himself seems to fully buy into. Without going over old ground, we know he never completely follows his vision, or when times get tough he often compromises or contradicts what we know and understand of his beliefs. When the manager isn't buying into that, then you've got the issue of how that translates to the players but the initial problem with implementing the philosophy lies with Wenger. 

Now, to go off on a tangent somewhat and caveat that, I would say that does not absolve the players of much of the blame for what we see throughout the season. We can rightly debate about how the philosophy and systems affect their confidence and provides a less than productive environment or otherwise, but too often we've sat and watched the players being less than committed. There's no excuse for that. 

Not the most positive of statements was it LOL. We are fucked while these guys are in charge.

Fuck off Wenger, fuck off Gadzooks fuck off Kronk.

No, it is not too early in the window to make that assessment. We have been here many times before so ... the evidence is against any new change in direction.

We are made for 4th. "It's inssstttiiinnncccct" as Al Pub Landlord would say.

Gazidis doesn't understand football.

they need to go a tiny bit more than him. i hate all 3, but at least wenger has done something useful for the club in the past. those two don't have one good thing to claim. gazidis can't point to commercial deals because those are an embarassment.

I lost respect for this guy with this season ending statement. The way he sorta admitted that we faltered on behalf of Wenger was prime cuckoldery

I remember the euphoria surrounding him when he was appointed. People were taken in by this corporate robot and were convinced he was the final jigsaw in turning us into a financial powerhouse. I have nothing against him however because Wenger is such a dominant force behind the scenes and his influence was always going to be curtailed. They are all in awe of him and will do as he says. The constant mention of 'philosophy' is a Wenger disease and it is clear Gazidis has caught this.

In the end, it will always come down to the ambition of the club. We meet our minimum target every year and I'm sure behind the scenes, they believe last season was a success considering the money we spent and where we finished compared to some of our rivals who spent hundreds of millions. Adopting a more aggressive strategy (to give us a better chance of winning major trophies) is too risky and probably less viable financially compared to the current approach. They will pursue this conservative approach for as long as they can as long as they can keep a lid on the growing discontent amongst the fans.

I opened the thread not paying attention to the date and genuinely didn't realise the quotes in the opening post weren't recent until Biggus mentioned lagos

The eggman changes his tune every summer to say "aaah that's what we need to do". Never ahead of the game

jones wrote:

I opened the thread not paying attention to the date and genuinely didn't realise the quotes in the opening post weren't recent until Biggus mentioned lagos

Just realised that after you mentioned it. Groundhog statements each year, faltering and not being able to close out games 5 years gone and no difference at all.

jones wrote:

I opened the thread not paying attention to the date and genuinely didn't realise the quotes in the opening post weren't recent until Biggus mentioned lagos

Same here, except I realized when I saw a post by Volante (he was DaGunners, if I remember correctly?).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36901943

Stating the obvious.

Ray wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36901943

Stating the obvious.

'The club have made one major signing this summer, buying Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach for £35m.'

I wouldn't class him as a major signing, I'd never heard of him, I can't believe we paid that much for him. I don't watch foreign football so maybe some of you had and think the fee is justified. And if winning the PL not about 'pure finances' , why didn't we win it when all of the other 'top' clubs just fell away?

I don't understand the messaging from the club at all. Till a few years ago, it was "We will back Wenger to sign whatever player he wants at any price", which then changed to "we want to be like Bayern Munich and we have the capability to sign any player we want if he adds value to the team" and now changed to "we need to be careful in the transfer market since we don't have as much money as our competitors". The messaging to the fans, agents, selling clubs, the fans and the outside world is so mixed up it's unbelievable.

He has a point that spending 100m on Pogba isn't going to win the league, but he doesn't mention that not spending on 2 or 3 30m signings isn't a bad idea either. A lot of hot air from Gazidis and he ignores how we are excessively risk averse.

BWoolley wrote:

I don't understand the messaging from the club at all. Till a few years ago, it was "We will back Wenger to sign whatever player he wants at any price", which then changed to "we want to be like Bayern Munich and we have the capability to sign any player we want if he adds value to the team" and now changed to "we need to be careful in the transfer market since we don't have as much money as our competitors". The messaging to the fans, agents, selling clubs, the fans and the outside world is so mixed up it's unbelievable.

It's just before and after FFP, we can't compete with financial doping. With FFP we can have a chunk less money but still be in the same ball park.