How they have loved to poke fun and laugh at Arsenal in recent years as we failed to win any major piece of silverware from the 2005 FA cup win over Manchester United on penalties until that dramatic fightback from 2-0 down to beat Hull City at Wembley last May.
The media just loved to bang on about our annual `Wenger trophy´ and the fans of rival clubs took up the call gleefully, conveniently forgetting that Arsene Wenger actually achieved amazing things by keeping us in the elite European competition with some heavy financial shackles and serious pressure to deal with.
As well as the kudos of being in the Champions League and the attraction it holds for current players or transfer targets, the money the Gunners earned every season was a big help in getting us out of debt quicker and allowing Wenger to now spend big money on players like Alexis and Ozil.
Of course we all love a trophy but the league is the real test of a club´s standing and the Premier League is as tough as they come. Once again Arsenal are heading for the Champions League and the Daily Mail have reported that the benefits are set to increase significantly.
UEFA are set to increase their prize money by nearly 50 percent next season and that is not to be sniffed at. English clubs will also share a bigger portion of the increased TV money because of the BT sport deal and the difference between what the Champions League and Europa League clubs receive will get bigger as well. Anyone fancy another Wenger trophy?
Looks like we’re not the only team fightin fot that trophy this season…
Forget about the internet idiots for one moment.
3 to 5 seasons ago Arsenal had 80% of the firepower that Chelsea, Man U and Man City had. We were destined for 4th place.
Since then Santi, Giroud, Ozil, Sanchez , the emergence of Le Coq and the Ox, Ospina, Debuchy, Bellerin has brought us up to 95% of Chelsea and City.
We are almost there; I estimate we are 95% of the firepower of Chelsea. Two good additions in the summer and we are there. Top of the league.
Have faith Gooners; ignore the shite from the likes of Adrian Durham, and the Wenger Out MORONS. We have been on a constant climb on performance and class.
Injuries however are your Kryptonite; Arsenal hired more fitness folks than the Olympic team but we still are ravaged by muscle injuries. Mystery!!
I think we’re gonna beat Brenda. I have a good feeling about the game.
I’d love to repay 5-1, and some more. An Alexis hat-trick to really rub it in. Sick of the abuse Liverpool fans gave us, and still give us from that day. You’d think they won the Champions League. Then we can repay 6-0 later this month.
I really believe that the main thing is to not get beaten. Remember last year we had a six or seven point gap on them and instead of playing counter we played invisible. They not only closed the gap last season but we gave them a huge injection of confidence whilst losing our own at same time. Any type of loss will give them that confidence so i think we need to play very carefully, hopefully we will have had enough time on the training ground to work out a way of finding weaknesses within that 353.
At times liv can have seven midfielders so i think it is important for Sanchez and other side to oftenly get in the space near corner flag as the wing backs will have to retreat from midfield making five at back but giving us space in the centre of park… Sanchez and hopefully Welbeck/Ox will have to be totally on there game.
343 i mean.
I agree I think there weakness is with the outside cb’s. If Sanchez can run at can with pace I think he can wreak havoc
Arsernal blackburn for final
We’ll get second.
Bigger money than forth you know
Phil Neville has predicted Man Utd will finish 2nd and Arsenal will not quality for Champ league for the first time….
Ha ha ha.
Neville will be wrong.
hes world class and he can 2 foot tackle
give up the Champ league and concentrate on the FA cup….
We have been trying for 60 years
to win the ECL and never won it.
The players obscene wages
is the real reason it’s necessary to play ECL
and thats why FIFA extended the
England’s qualification from 1 to 4 teams.
Its a fake qualification where once
only the Champion qualified but today
even the 4th place dummy can qualify
all this just to pay for player wages.
Do players really need 90 k a week
to pay for food power and rent? Really?
@David
Seriously what is with your comments lately
hahahahaha ok so now capitalism’s to blame??
you constantly complain about the clubs ambition but yet now the players aren’t allowed to aspire to earn as much as they possibly can?
Yep it’s all revenue, nothing to do with elite players playing in an elite tournament…
David, david, david you never cease to amaze me!! i seriously don’t know what would make you happy
Winning Josh winning 🙂
Coming first. Not this we
are happy to make top 4.
More money but all the teams in the EPL get more money.
Spurs, Everton Stoke players get huge wages.
Arsenal is no better than Spurs Stoke or Swansea
because we never win anything important.
If you like lining the players pockets
but never winning anything fair enough
but I want the over paid sods to actually win.
Can you format an actual paragraph when you comment, you write like you’re submitting a poem.
It’s not really the need to pay wages that drove the expansion. It was the TV money that could be made. UEFA wanted more money. The players – well, their agents really – just took advantage of the extra money the clubs gained from it. This big increase in TV money will lead to further wage increases, not because clubs need to pay higher wages, but because the clubs will be able to pay higher wages, and the players know it.
On a side note, I’d rather see 4 teams from England, Spain and Germany than teams from unheard of leagues with much less quality.
We aren’t there yet. We need to play each match like it’s an FA Cup final. Starting with Liverpool
It’s still tight and Liverpool aren’t out of it.
But a win is a MUST imo
We don’t need another Wenger.
We don’t need another 3rd place
We don’t need more excuses.
Thunderdooom.
Who cares about the money.
We just buy more Podolskis + Ateta’s
pay Diaby + Wilshere when their injured
and pay Podolski Ryo Sanogo and Campbell
to go out on loan and sit on some one else’s bench.
Just win the EPL and we will all be happy 🙂
i seriously don’t think it would… if we win the PL you’ll still whinge and moan until we win the CL.
You focus more on the players who aren’t on the pitch than the ones who actually are.
Heck, half of this comment is focused on players who aren’t even currently playing for the club!!!
That guy Coquelin was a real waste of space on loan last season.. Can’t possibly comprehend why we kept him on the books while not actually playing on the pitch for us!! beats me!!
Or maybe that other guy Wellington Silva, who’s finally breaking out this season.. But damn, loan moves? what a waste of time, if they’re not producing immediately what’s the point right?
I’m going to break down our transfer dealings in the last 3 seasons.. just to prove how much of a minority you focus on…
Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla, Monreal, Sanogo, Ozil, Flamini, Debuchy, Ospina, Sanchez, Ospina, Chambers, Welbeck a handful of youngsters including Bielik, the most sizeable investment of those by some margin.
Giroud, Cazorla, Monreal, Ozil, Flamini, Debuchy, Ospina, Sanchez, Podolski – have all been regulars in the first-team.
Chambers, Welbeck, Sanogo have had staggered appearances but are all pretty young and brought in with the future in mind.
That’s 12 players… 6 of which are now integral to the first-team, 1 of which has had 2 freakish injuries in his first season (debuchy), two squad players (IMO), that have played a role but are very likely to leave soon and three players still at the start of their Arsenal career.
So by my count that’s half that have had a sizeable impact, three players who have not lived up to their investment (one due to injury) and three that could have a major role to play in the future.
50% successful transfers – moving forward would be hard to picture a squad without them
25% sub-par transfers – I’m being generous here as debuchy has been very unlucky
25% transfers for the future –
Sanogo’s your whipping boy, haha but just looked it up and 540 minutes this season two goals and one assist so his goal contribution per minute actually beats Balotelli and Cavani!!
Welbz and Chambers, whatevs you seem to have a hard comprehension of investment for the future so say what you will about them.
But david based on this, do you agree with me that over the past three seasons Wenger has been more successful in the transfer market than not?
Pennies compared to the Premier League now. Those pennies will make a difference, but it’s the prestige of the Champions League that’s the biggest reward for qualifying. That’s what really attracts the top players. Everyone wants to play in the Champions League.
I keep looking up at Man City, but a quick peek down and we’re just as close to Man United. We cannot afford any slip ups. Liverpool, United and Chelsea are three games where we could easily drop points. If we drop points in all of those games we’re back in fifth. We have the advantage but it’s not over yet. It’s still very close. We have to beat Liverpool. That would pretty much secure a top 4 finish. They’d be 9 points behind us then.
We need more left footed players.
Paulo Dybala and Nabil Fekir