From Simon Hill : top 4 tussle
Huge seven days looming for Arsenal.
They play 3 EPL games before Spurs face City on the 21st.
On paper they could be 7 points clear but all Gooners are fearful of the fragility of this team which again nearly went on Saturday and are mindful that in these same six games last year they managed just one win (over Everton) and two draws.
Wenger’s persistence in playing Monreal over Gibbs and Gervinho over the Ox makes me nervous ahead of two home games against carbon-copy teams who are well organised, crossing experts and good in the air at the back post.
So Arsenal go first, if they drop more than two points against Norwich, Everton and Fulham, then Spurs and Chelsea will be favourites for the top 4 in my book, despite the fixture list, because momentum is everything with Wenger teams.
From Raphael Jones : success breeds success
I have just heard that Man Utd have pulled off their latest commercial coup – selling off the naming rights to their training ground for £15m a season.
This follows a reputed £50+m a season shirt deal with Chevrolet with them having bought out the training kit deal as the club reckoned they could do better than the paltry £10m a season they were receiving. Hats off to their commercial team as they certainly have been earning their wages.
Arsenal’s £30m a season for shirt and stadium is pathetic in comparison.
But then who would want to pay top dollar for a team that never wins anything? What is concerning is that we are not realistic contenders at the moment and the financial gap between us and the top is fast becoming a chasm.
Does this mean that in future 4th place will be all we can realistically aim for?
The rumours that we are after Jovetic (who seems quite handy) are evidence that we cannot compete with the best.
Cavani, Falcao (let alone Neymar) would not consider Arsenal while we are not winners or contenders, unless we offer PSG-type salaries.
Form nowadays largely follows money (if you spend enough you will get to eat at the top table, not immediately bbut it will happen).
It is unimaginable that a Nottingham Forest scenario would happen now. After all Cinderella is a fairy story.
From KLV : fourth
Hi Myles,
Every year we are mesmerized by our late charge to finish in Champions League places.
So far, we have never failed. Some see that as a successful season.
My take is, then again, why are we so pre-occupied with finishing 3rd or 4th, when we know we would habitually fail to get beyond the first KO round of the Champions League?
Are we so blind that we can’t see that we don’t have a squad big enough nor good enough to seriously and sincerely challenge for the Champions League?
We are once again glossing over the lack of ability to challenge for the Premier League.
Seventeen consecutive seasons qualifying for the Champions League, so what?
Bottom line is, we still do not have a big enough or good enough squad to challenge for anything.
And each time we get a decent run going in one of the domestic cups, we chuck them away when we smell something in the Premier League or Champions League.
Like you said, deja vu. Same next season.