The Arsenal Thread XXIV

What you lol'ing about bro

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To be fair there hasn't been any times really where we have been in for a player which other top 8 clubs are too. Maybe in the next few windows we'll see some progress on that front

Don't be too sure. It's very rare for only one club to be interested in a big name player when they're unsettled, especially when that player leaves Madrid/Barcelona. Just because it isn't reported it doesn't mean the interest isn't there. I highly doubt only Arsenal were interested in Ozil, I even remember seeing PSG/United links a couple of days before he moved. In the end Ozil confirmed he came here because of one hugely important factor: Arsene Wenger, which brings me on to my next point.

I also have to agree with PimpedButterfly on this, you're highly underestimating Arsenal's attractiveness as a football club, especially to foreign players. London status, CL football every season, to play under one of footballs most successful managers in Arsene Wenger who has a great track record in getting the best out of his players, huge wages, to play alongside world class players like Ozil, Sanchez and Cech. Arsenal literally have everything a top talent would want right now, it really is an exciting project when you think about it. Arsenal have gone through their rough patch and can only go up from here on out.

Yeah but come on the"Wenger appeal" is diminishing. Anyone signing now knows there is a very good chance they'll only be managed by him for 18 months

I also have to agree with PimpedButterfly on this, you're highly underestimating Arsenal's attractiveness as a football club, especially to foreign players. London status, CL football every season, to play under one of footballs most successful managers in Arsene Wenger

It will be significant for Arsenal if they can capitalise on Chelsea's blip and establish themselves as the best team in the capital in the next few years.

London is on the radar of Europe's top players as a city to live in in a way that Manchester isn't, and certainly Liverpool isn't. Being the prime London club will be a big draw.

I think the only limiting factor for Arsenal will be money - if they say had Chelsea's money they could easily have out-Chelsea'd Chelsea.

Could be interesting times ahead whatever happens this season. I'm sure there will be a lot of gnashing of teeth if Arsenal finish the season trophyless (quite feasible) and people will say that's it Arsenal will NEVER win the league if they can't do it this year. But I'm old enough to remember that being said about Man U in 1992 after they stuttered to 2nd place blowing a great chance of the league in the run-in against Leeds.

Agreed, Chelsea's embarrassing demise this season has done us a massive favor and shows that it's not easy to be in the top 4 every year. I also agree that not winning the league this year will help the popular opinion that Arsenal just aren't capable of winning the big trophies when it matters.

I don't think money is limiting us anymore. Between 04-13 it was definitely a huge hindrance and as a result we not only lost some of our key players but we were also unable to compete in the transfer market. I have a feeling Hazard would have been ours if that saga were to occur today. Arsenal are now financially stable and should be able to compete with the big boys, although wages in excess of 200k a week is a barrier we are still yet to break.

The last thing we need now to confirm our presence as a big club is to do well in Europe. Embarrassing results like those against Olympiacos, Zagreb, and even the 5-1 against Bayern doesn't help our image. Need to break that last 16 hoodoo and we'll be set, although I don't think that will be happening this year.

People used to mock Arsenal for talking up "staying in the top four every year" but this isn't something Man Utd, Liverpool or likely now Chelsea have been able to sustain and those clubs have thrown more money around than Arsenal during their financially constrained period.

You mean by one season where we had a joke of a manager in charge? When we were comparable to Arsenal (e.g. After the Glazers bought us, didn't allow us to spend millions on players to the extent we sold Ronaldo and lost Tevez to be replaced by Obertan and Owen), and an experienced manager, we won titles and challenged on all fronts, whereas Arsenal haven't bar the last few seasons when they've spent more money.

I mean the whole post-Ferguson era. United have started to resemble Arsenal of recent years. Trophyless, unhappy fans and playing only for trying to make the top four. The difference is United have been shelling out a lot of money compared to Arsenal.

Now I'm not going to criticise SAF's record at United as I regard him as the greatest manager of all time and his record is superior to Wenger's, there's no argument about that. SAF and Wenger are the only real managers who had a long term plan for their clubs but SAF was better. The difference between the two for me was Wenger developed his hallmark style and for a while dominated the game with brilliant football but when times got hard he retreated in to a caricature of that style, continuing to sign attacking midfielders and not addressing the point that Arsenal had become soft at the back and centre of the park. SAF had a couple of fallow spells where United dropped off but he always rebuilt better and also I felt he was a more open-minded manager to different formations and styles. His sides always played to win but he evolved with the game moving from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 with inside forwards. He didn't go like Wenger just stubbornly trying to prove the merits of a particular philosophy.

However I think you're exaggerating a bit when you say "when United were comparable to Arsenal" in terms of not having funds to spend under the Glazers. The Glazers were never the tight fists that were feared in fact they backed SAF in the transfer market more than Martin Edwards had. If you read "Managing My Life" SAF was frustrated at United's reluctance to back him in the 1990s when he was trying to sign players like Batistuta, Desailly, Ronaldo (Brazilian one).

Berbatov was £27m, Anderson was £22m, Carrick, Nani and Hargreaves were all close to £20m. That year you talk about Ronaldo and Tevez leaving and Obertan and Owen coming in they also signed Valencia from Wigan for £13m, the next year they brought De Gea, Jones and Young in and the year after that signed Van Persie from Arsenal for £22m and Kagawa for £11m so it's not as though money was constrained over a long period of time like it was at Arsenal.

I don't think there's an argument that SAF was the greatest manager but what will be interesting now is the post SAF era: how will his successors compare with Wenger's record.

The Glazers were tightfists to an extent. You mentioned the players we bought post-Ronaldo but our net spend (I do see the irony here) was still fairly low. Between 2005 and Fergie's retirement, how many marquee signings did we make? Tevez, Berbatov, RvP, a soon to be out of contract RvP are the only ones that comes to mind, the rest were prospects. I can't comment on Edwards, but on a success:money spent ratio, we're very close to Arsenal in that period (that is to say we actually won trophies so naturally had a higher budget).

Wenger's glory days were a bit too early on for me, but seems like he's betrayed his own success when you look at the players he used to have, big nasty men like Paddy and Bergkamp obviously differ to his current personnel.

I want to hear Zurich's thoughts on Mohamed Elneny

He's so ****ing good.

One day they will debate, was Bergkamp as good as Özil?

Bergkamp retired 10 years ago. 10 years ffs. Now I feel old.

How old are you? I am 24 lol.