The Arsenal Thread XXV

Nope, they'll just say they'll be proved right in the end. Only takes one injury for the crumble to begin

First half especially was scintillating. Watch us finish top and draw Bayern though lol.

cant stay up for CL matches this year.. seems like a good reuslt. Especially coupled with city finally not winning a game.*

Makes you so pissed at wenger for the transfer market though. If we were not so un-prepared for the start of the season, would be up there in 2nd, close behind city right now.

Topping the group a real possibility, outscore a weak PSG, and then hold them to a draw at home.. but then we will still probably find a way of ****ing it up *

Would lol so much if Sanchez wants to go back to Barca.

The circle of life.

Basically unless you do a United and offer them 300k a week, it is possible.

Thing is though that you can get replacements. Isco e.g.

Ozil is replaceable and to be honest it would not really hurt if he left as we would get a tonne of money (not that we need it) and there are more than able replacements out there.

What would hurt would be if a guy like Iwobi or Wilshere left, local guys from the academy who are Arsenal through and through. Idgaf about Ramsey personally, think it got to his head that he was Barca quality in his rich vein of form a few seasons back and I get the sense that he does not give a damn about Arsenal and would jump at the chance of Real or Barca so that he can be seen like Bale.

Think Bellerin may as well be odds on for a Barca move in the future, but hopefully we sell him when his pace weans off.

TLDR: we're a selling club and so are every club in the league bar Man City when it come to keeping star players from Real and Barca. Fwiw, I think if Hazard became good enough he would go to Real Madrid or Barca , they always get their man. City I think will pull away from the rest of the league in terms of prestige.

In all honesty every team is a selling club to Madrid or Barcelona. Bayern sold Toni Kroos to them reluctantly. Chelsea are good at selling for a good price to big teams(see Luiz and Mata deals).

I don't think City are that good personally and United will throw as much money as needed to get their players. Fact is they just bought Paul Pogba, the most expensive player in the world and they prevented Real from getting De Gea.

I think if any star Chelsea player was likely to leave in the next year or two it would be Thibaut Courtois. He'll probably end up at Madrid but there are young GKs of his level around (like Oblak or Leno). Worst comes to worst we could just buy Handanovic.

If Madrid came in for Courtois and I was a Chelsea fan, I would honestly opt to sell him and then buy Oblak.

City need to replace a few older players in certain positions, but Pep imo will cement a ruthless consistency in the league and then with regards to the CL it still remains to be seen how far they can go over the next few years. I think they will dominate the league over the next few years but taking that extra step or two in the CL will require a bit of luck and a more complete team.

I actually think that United could win the CL again before City do , given that the CL is a cup competition and Mourinho has a better record in it imo than Pep all things considered. That is the funny thing, United may not win the league for years and years from now, but they could win the CL because they could just mentally devote themselves to the CL knowing that they are no match for City's consistency in the league.

So that is what I predict, I predict that Pep's team's results will be reminiscent of the old Man Utd. Hugely consistent in the league but just short in Europe.

Pep has a better record than Mourinho although you need account the strength of the teams. The Chelsea side Mourinho had and the Real Madrid side (closest sides he's managed in quality to Peps Barca and Bayern sides) didn't make a single final and Mourinho has also been knocked out in the second round three times while Pep has made a semi final appearance every year he's been in the CL.

That being said the Inter side and the Porto side were very weak sides in the context of europe and he got them to win a treble at each club so go figure.

Also why is it that whenever people question Theo's qualities and whether he should really play for Arsenal he starts producing? He is an enigma. Limited player regardless of his goalscoring attributes.