Former Liverpool midfielder, Graeme Souness has urged Arsenal to focus on winning the Cup competitions this season.
The Gunners won the last FA Cup and Community Shield and they were also impressive in the Europa League last season.
However, they have started this season very well and there has been talk among some Arsenal fans that they can challenge for the Premier League.
However, Souness who won several trophies with Liverpool as a player claims that the gap between the Reds and the Gunners is just too big and claimed that the signing of a player like Thiago Alcantara shows the gap in quality between both teams.
He claimed that Liverpool was strong enough to defend their league title and now that they have added Thiago, they have become even stronger and that makes it unrealistic for Arsenal to try to win this Premier League.
He urged Mikel Arteta’s side to instead focus on retaining the FA Cup and to do well in other cup competitions.
Souness wrote in The Times: “If Thiago is a signing to top off a team that was already strong enough to retain the Premier League, then Arsenal are nowhere near challenging for it.
“They finished eighth, 43 points behind Liverpool, last season, and that’s not a gap that you close in one transfer window.
“The knockout tournaments are again their best chance of success this season. Trying to retain the FA Cup, a decent run in Europe and maybe the Carabao Cup.”
Sake of Thiago, it is unrealistic for Arsenal to pursue the EPL? silly reason…very stupid.
@jo-Gunz. It baffles me to hear such reasons too. Out of all the other top teams, arsenal should be the ones not to pursue the EPL ?? Just cos of one thiago of a player ??,, we shall see in the last analysis,, we will be waiting for them tonight to begin with.
No, thats not what he’s saying.
The gulf in quality between us and Liverpool is really high before they signed Thiago.
Now that they have him it is even bigger.
If anyone says wholeheartedly that we are in with a realistic chance of winning this seasons Premier league title is a tad deluded.
43 points last season, if we can use that as a benchmark for this season and see if we can claw back 20+ points and maybe a top 4 finish then that will be a massive step forward for us.
Lets just wait and see where we are come the winter window, we should be able to judge by then where we’re at as a team and how far we can go this season
The instability suffered by our team last season was so much. I can’t remember the last time we had 3 different coaches for just a season.
This is what has changed so far after the 43 point gap;
1. We now have a good coach who is hungry and ambitious, knows what he wants and will go for it. A coach not stubborn with his tactics and philosophy even when it is outmoded and lacking the prerequisite.
2. We have properly sorted our defends which needed fixing for only God knows how long now
3. I now see players who are ready to sweat their socks out and play for success and for the coach.
I know there is more room for improvement, but that room is not a 43 point gap.
It is going to be a game for the coaches and the one with the right tactics will come out victorious.
People should not sound like the Pools have always been ahead of us with a 43 point gap for like the last 5 seasons. Its just one season, what makes the scenario permanent? How did Liecester win the EPL a few years back? and after yesterdays game who can rule them out.
Its not cast in stone the Pools will win again this season.
Smells like fear to me !
Come on this is the third article on interviews given by Souness, one yesterday and now two today. Surely there are other things to concentrate on rather than write lies saying he urged us to focus on the cups, which he didn’t.