Football The 2012 / 2013 Season Thread

[Everz]

He's so bad it makes my eyes bleed.

 

[Everz]

So are the quotes correct?

Wenger said he believe the team did a great effort.

 

[soze]

If he said that he is mental the only outfield player that started and gave 100% was Wilshere. There is a reason it took us 70 minutes to get a shot on target and that was a lack of fucking effort.

 

[Everz]

If he said that he is mental the only outfield player that started and gave 100% was Wilshere. There is a reason it took us 70 minutes to get a shot on target and that was a lack of fucking effort.

He did, was just on TalkSport.

Brilliant .

 

[caLLous]

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "We started on the front foot, made a good start. They defended well and we all know what happened on the penalties. We had many, many chances and their keeper had a good game."

"Whenever you go out it's not a good result for Arsenal. We lost on penalties to a team who played very well. I cannot fault the effort of my team - we gave everything for the 120 minutes and you have to give credit to Bradford. It's not a lack of quality - we couldn't convert our chances for different reasons. This was a real cup game. We'll get over this, it's part of our job. We'll focus on the next game."

If that was everything then oh dear.

 

[Everz]

Senile

 

[Scouse]

Senile

No.

The truth about Arsenal is this: They have sold their best players for the last few seasons to their competitors. They have transfer money but aren't spending it. The board won't sack Arsene because he is implementing their will.

Arsenal are in it for the cash at the moment. And their fans are mugs for putting up with it.

 

[soze]

He did, was just on TalkSport.

Brilliant .

I know he is only trying the build the team up again for the weekend. Saying "We just got beat by fucking Bradford. Some of my players earn in a week what they earn in a year but they still got out played it is fucking embarrassing" is bad for team spirit and all that. But saying the team gave 100%??? The phrase "Don't piss in my pocket and tell me it's raining springs to mind".

Arsenal are in it for the cash at the moment. And their fans are mugs for putting up with it.

If the money was being taken out of the club and given to the owners I would agree with you. But they money is still there year after year so i do not. If Wenger did not have the unlimited money the board says he has he would admit it. So I believe he has the funds but he decides not to use it. Over the last few years a fuck load has gone off our debts never into people pockets and the club has said the money is there and the figures back it up. We are not in the same position as you yet fortunately.

 

[Scouse]

Why sell the best players? And to your biggest rivals too! It negates your chances of winning...

We are not in the same position as you yet fortunately.

That's true tho.

 

[Aoami]

They seem to be banking on their rivals money problems spiralling out of control and them getting fucked over

 

[soze]

Why sell the best players? And to your biggest rivals too! It negates your chances of winning...

That's true tho.

RVP is simple business if we kept him he leaves for nothing in a year and its not like he would of won it for us. We can't or won't compete with City United or the Chavs on wages so players will always leave. Especially ones with no loyalty to the club. RVP and Theo are good examples they play for us for money not love so if there is more elsewhere then off the go.

 

[Everz]

TOP PREMIER LEAGUE WAGE BILLS 2010-11
Chelsea - £191m (up from £174m in 2009-10)
Manchester City - £174m (£133m)
Manchester United - £153m (£132m)
Liverpool - £135m (£121m)
Arsenal - £124m (£111m)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18248540

Hmmm.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Per Mertesacker has the best pass completion rate in the Premier League at 92.8%.

Fulham have not lost a PL game in which they were leading at half-time since April 2010.

Chris Baird has made more interceptions per game (3.8) than any other PL player this season.

All five of Liverpool's wins this season have come against teams currently in the bottom half of the PL table. The Reds have recorded back-to-back PL wins for the first time since December 2011.

Reading have the lowest possession (40.7%) and pass accurarcy (68.9%) stats in the Premier League.

Tottenham have thrown away a massive 16 points from winning positions this season. Those points would put them top of the table.

 

[Aoami]

Arsenal just lost to Bradford

HOW ABOUT THAT FACT

 

[Bahumat]

RVP is simple business if we kept him he leaves for nothing in a year and its not like he would of won it for us. We can't or won't compete with City United or the Chavs on wages so players will always leave. Especially ones with no loyalty to the club. RVP and Theo are good examples they play for us for money not love so if there is more elsewhere then off the go.

Rvp left to win trophies. He don't need money.

 

[rynnor]

If the money was being taken out of the club and given to the owners I would agree with you. But they money is still there year after year so i do not. If Wenger did not have the unlimited money the board says he has he would admit it. So I believe he has the funds but he decides not to use it. Over the last few years a fuck load has gone off our debts never into people pockets and the club has said the money is there and the figures back it up. We are not in the same position as you yet fortunately.

Yeah - my understanding is that Arsenal have been paying off their debts on the Emirates stadium with their spare cash - its not exciting but its very sensible.

 

[DaGaffer]

RVP is simple business if we kept him he leaves for nothing in a year and its not like he would of won it for us. We can't or won't compete with City United or the Chavs on wages so players will always leave. Especially ones with no loyalty to the club. RVP and Theo are good examples they play for us for money not love so if there is more elsewhere then off the go.

I got the impression RVP would have stayed for "love" if he thought Arsenal had a prayer of winning any trophies. No top class player wants to settle for fourth every year, which is the big failure in the Arsenal "business model". Let's be honest, your average French or African blow-in really doesn't want to live in rainy Manchester, they'd be much happier in London, but Manchester offers one thing sorely lacking in N5, ambition.

 

[soze]

I got the impression RVP would have stayed for "love" if he thought Arsenal had a prayer of winning any trophies. No top class player wants to settle for fourth every year, which is the big failure in the Arsenal "business model". Let's be honest, your average French or African blow-in really doesn't want to live in rainy Manchester, they'd be much happier in London, but Manchester offers one thing sorely lacking in N5, ambition.

You credit him too much. RVP was very happy to sign for Arsenal until one thing happened and that is a £250k a week offer which is £100k a week bump on what we were offering. As soon as that offer came in he released a statement making it impossible for him to stay at Arsenal.

I also don't get this whole Arsenal lack ambition. We are a self sustaining football club. There is 1 league title to win and 3 clubs with a much bigger War Chest giving them more ability to go after it. So you see ambition as arsenal borrowing £200m to buy in 4 players and pay them for four years? I see that as irresponsible.

 

[soze]

TOP PREMIER LEAGUE WAGE BILLS 2010-11
Chelsea - £191m (up from £174m in 2009-10)
Manchester City - £174m (£133m)
Manchester United - £153m (£132m)
Liverpool - £135m (£121m)
Arsenal - £124m (£111m)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18248540

Hmmm.

The Problem with Arsenal seems to be youths. You bring a kid in from another club and they are instantly wanting £10k - £15k a week. Then they get a pay rise when they break into the first team so £25 - £30k. They they have a good season ad rather than losing them we offer them a long term contract 5 or 6 years. Then they start playing like gash Then they go on loan to to a club in Brazil where we still pay them £20k+ a week to play for someone else. All this with 2 years still on the contract and no chance of selling them because no one is willing to meet the wages they want.

Unlike Man U who seem to pay the superstars big money but the squad players less than we do. If we could clear out some of the dead weight we could clear up hundreds of K a week for paying players that we could then buy with our War Chest.

I do not know who hands out these contracts but I think it is holding us back.

 

[Raven]

The thing is, 2-3 years ago you would have only needed to spend around 50 million or so to have probably won some trophies, in doing so you would have kept some of the talent that was around at the time and the success and earnings would have continued. All Arsenal seem to do now is buy quality youngsters, train them up and sell them on, they don't seem particularly interested in winning anything. That isn't just Wenger's fault, it is a problem with the club as a whole.

 

[soze]

The thing is, 2-3 years ago you would have only needed to spend around 50 million or so to have probably won some trophies, in doing so you would have kept some of the talent that was around at the time and the success and earnings would have continued. All Arsenal seem to do now is buy quality youngsters, train them up and sell them on, they don't seem particularly interested in winning anything. That isn't just Wenger's fault, it is a problem with the club as a whole.

It is not that simple. We are self sustaining. So we buy £50m of players like you say easy we have that cash ready to spend. But then comes the £250k a week we need to pay the superstar or the 3 good players. Over 5 years that is another £15m. The way Arsenal run is to currently make £20m profit a season so if we lose the CL money we survive. As we are not making £30m a year profit without players sales we can not afford that. And had we spent it 3 years ago and still been outspent by the big three we would face not making the CL this year and then starting to lose £5m - £10m a season and as we are self sustaining we can't do that.

 

[soze]

I wrote all the maths wrong. It is £12m a year or £60m over 5 years.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Arsenal just lost to Bradford

HOW ABOUT THAT FACT

Technically not true. We drew and got eliminated on penalties

 

[DaGaffer]

You credit him too much. RVP was very happy to sign for Arsenal until one thing happened and that is a £250k a week offer which is £100k a week bump on what we were offering. As soon as that offer came in he released a statement making it impossible for him to stay at Arsenal.

I also don't get this whole Arsenal lack ambition. We are a self sustaining football club. There is 1 league title to win and 3 clubs with a much bigger War Chest giving them more ability to go after it. So you see ambition as arsenal borrowing £200m to buy in 4 players and pay them for four years? I see that as irresponsible.

You can equally argue that the bet Arsenal make every year of coming in 3rd or 4th to get CL football to maintain the "self sustaining" balance sheet, is also irresponsible, because its a giant bet against a single outcome. Arsenal are actually flirting with financial disaster every year, and it only takes one bad year and then oh look, you're Liverpool. Its all very well having principles, but the EPL isn't the Bundesliga, its far more Darwinian, and Arsenal are in danger of becoming the league's giant Panda, only capable of thriving in one place. So personally I'd say yes, Arsenal need to set their sights higher (and lets not forget that the investment risk to Arsenal, with their 60K stadium, is actually rather less than a lot of other clubs).

 

[soze]

You can equally argue that the bet Arsenal make every year of coming in 3rd or 4th to get CL football to maintain the "self sustaining" balance sheet, is also irresponsible, because its a giant bet against a single outcome. Arsenal are actually flirting with financial disaster every year, and it only takes one bad year and then oh look, you're Liverpool. Its all very well having principles, but the EPL isn't the Bundesliga, its far more Darwinian, and Arsenal are in danger of becoming the league's giant Panda, only capable of thriving in one place. So personally I'd say yes, Arsenal need to set their sights higher (and lets not forget that the investment risk to Arsenal, with their 60K stadium, is actually rather less than a lot of other clubs).

No our business model aims to make a £20m profit which is the CL money. IE if we don't get CL we break even. So we are planning around running without it.

 

[DaGaffer]

No our business model aims to make a £20m profit which is the CL money. IE if we don't get CL we break even. So we are planning around running without it.

You don't get CL and you'll lose even more players and won't be able to attract new ones. Liverpool is a really good example of the swift decline that happens when the CL goes away.

 

[caLLous]

Yup, you can't just think "oh well, we didn't get in the CL this year, we'll just break even and get in again next year". Not getting in is the start of a very slippery slope.

 

[soze]

I know money is not the only thing. But we are hardly attracting the cream of the crop right now and we have been in the CL every year for over a decade so I dont see it really affecting the players we go after. Maybe Cazorla and Podolski both say no if we are not in the CL but other than that I think we still get everyone else over the last 5 years.

 

[Everz]

I know money is not the only thing. But we are hardly attracting the cream of the crop right now and we have been in the CL every year for over a decade so I dont see it really affecting the players we go after. Maybe Cazorla and Podolski both say no if we are not in the CL but other than that I think we still get everyone else over the last 5 years.

I'd say that is more down to their not being many suitors to your existing players. Especially towards matching their wage demands.

 

[soze]

I'd say that is more down to their not being many suitors to your existing players. Especially towards matching their wage demands.

I agree we need a massive clear out of squad players earning first team wages then we can go after better players.