No Signings & Small Club Mentality Mean Arsenal Will Finish 6th This Season

Here is how the top of the Premier League will finish next season:

1. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Chelsea
4. Tottenham Hotspur
5. Liverpool
6. Arsenal

We’ve seen the rest of the big guns from the Premier League learn from last season and strengthen their squads – realising that after the shock triumph of Leicester City that they need to spend big to compete this season – apart from Arsenal that is.

We’ve signed two players so far this summer, Rob Holding from Bolton Wanderers and Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach.

After 12 barren seasons having to carry out our business on a show-string we’re finally in a position to spend big and really compete for the title – yet the whole ideology of the club is wrong.

We’ve spent big on Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez but apart from that shown no ambition whatsoever to do better than finish in the Top Four. We might have the money to buy the best players yet we still have that “small club” mentality. We have no ambition to actually compete at the very top.

Take players like Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez for example, two world class forwards we were seriously in for a couple of summers ago.

In 2013, Arsenal were looking for that world class striker (and typically, we’re still “looking”) and Higuain was available as Real Madrid wanted to recoup some money for the Gareth Bale signing. Arsenal were willing to bid up to £32 million but no more, and after a long long summer the Argentine striker ended up going to Napoli for £35 million.

In that same summer, Luis Suarez was desperate to leave Liverpool and Arsenal bid £40 million and £1 to trigger his release clause. Arsenal wouldn’t go any higher and the striker would end up staying another season at Anfield and then move to Barcelona a year later.

And that pretty much sums up Arsenal. We could have signed Higuain for £35 million (£40 million tops) and signed Luis Suarez for around £50 million. And look at those same players now.

Gonzalo Higuain has just moved to Juventus for £76 million and Luis Suarez went to Barcelona in 2014 for £75 million. If you’re talking about Luis Suarez in 2016, you would find it hard to argue that he wouldn’t command a fee of less than £100 million.

So that’s where we are. We are a club that loves missed opportunities, always finishing second (well fourth, it’s a figure of speech) and never risking anything to win a major trophy.

For me, this just sums up how I feel about Arsenal:

 

12 thoughts on “No Signings & Small Club Mentality Mean Arsenal Will Finish 6th This Season

  1. wow didn’t realise you were mystic meg as well as a so called Arsenal blogger
    lol at another doom gloom merchant
    why does every blogger seems to know better then the mangers and coaches that run the club
    i suppose you must have extensive experience on coaching, tactics and knowledge about players that you can so confidently write of our chances yet big up the teams that you put above us who were all below us but that was luck right? i mean it had nothing to with we were better then all of them last year yes even spuds who folded spectacularly and pool who were so inconsistent you could call the great British weather better then how pool would perform each week.
    in any case there are more of us who are optimistic and say we can win the title but you know better as you read it in the anti Arsenal media that we are rubbish why not say we will get relegated as you seem to have little faith
    by the way try writing something different and insightful istead of being another me me to get the negative fans to come and give a few pathetic clicks
    COYG

     
  2. gutless, toothless and clueless in the market. i’d like to think it will end when aw leaves but the board are as big a dinosaur as he is. pathetic. still, at 5 to midnight on the 31st we can stick a token bid in for lewandoski and say we tried.

     
  3. This is no more than a collection of rumours and supposition, put together and peddled as “facts” to support the narrative that you’re trying to sell.

    “Arsenal were willing to bid up to £32 million but no more”
    “Arsenal bid £40 million and £1 to trigger his release clause. Arsenal wouldn’t go any higher”

    Nonsense.
    There’s no evidence of either of these claims.
    A more logical supposition to make regarding both these incidents, is that Higuain wanted to go to, (and latterly stay in), Italy, and that after all the noise made by the Liverpool board at the time, there was no way on earth they were going to sell to Arsenal, no matter the price.
    If you honestly believe that Arsenal missed out on Higuain because they were unwilling to pay an extra 10%, then you’re an idiot.
    If you think for one second that the Liverpool board would have sold Suarez to a (then) top 4 rival for anything less than a king’s ransom following everything they said in the press, you are an even bigger idiot.

    Irrational and illogical; the only way anyone would believe any of this tripe, is if they desperately wanted it to be true.

     
  4. Some of the responses to this blog are just as pathetic as the current Arsenal transfer strategy.No Arsenal supporter wants the Club to fail.At the same time we are very frustrated.Its not a matter of dandies trophies or spending stupid amounts of money.Its s matter of a club like Arsenal competing properly.Anyone who watched Arsenal play last year knows that they underachieved.At
    no point did they look like winning the League.A couple if decent performances against Leicester and at home to Man Utd suggested that they were capable of much more.The Manager failed to consistently motivate the team and in particular the “squad players”.There were times that the side went on to the pitch without any idea whatsoever of what to expect from the opposition.It was clear that the Club required back-up to the spine of the team . Xhaka’s recruitment or his like is at least 5 years too late.To start this Season with a CB partnership of two 21 year old in nothing short of a disgrace.Whilst the injuries to Mertesacker and Gabriel could not be predicted..their lack of ability could be seen throughout most of last year.The really frustrating thing is…Arsenal do have the players capable of winning the PL and achieving greater success in the CL….This,however,requires some degree of investment in players who for the most part are subject to inflationary fees.Mustafi would undoubtedly be a good addition although why Arsenal never made an enquiry for Hummels. ..I’ve no idea..He has stated that he was interested!!…Admittedly a decent forward to compete with Giroud is a different matter and again it looks like it’s a case of “too late”.That said if Wenger rates Lacazzette then he should buy him…We have the money!!..If Troy Deeley is worth £40m and Benteke still £32m then Wenger needs to go with his gut feel as a season with Akpom and Theo as back-up to the sporadic Giroud is likely to end in tears…particularly given Wenger ‘ s determination to stick to 4-3-3 and nit try 4-4-2 with Alexis or Rambo playing in the supporting role.

     
  5. While I agree with the sentiments, I think your claim that Arsenal will finish 6th is strong indication that you have let your anger at Wenger’s piss-poor transfer activity cloud your judgement.

    Wenger pisses me off to no end as well. He is a stubborn, arrogant prick. He refuses to spend the amounts required to bring in top talent, and evaluates players based on prices from 5 years ago. I expect that once again this year, we will make 1 or 2 panic-driven last minute buys of sub-par players (such as Bony & Evans). He is excessively loyal to players who then often show no loyalty in return (Van Douche & Fabredick immediately come to mind). And he runs the club from a point of fear. Instead of trying to win the league, he plays cautiously to guarantee a top 4 finish. In the CL, he habitually plays for 2nd (which guarantees a round of 16 elimination). I’d rather we finished 3rd, because at least then we’d have a shot in the Europa League. 2nd is a death sentence! You can see his fear when we’re subbing on defenders for wingers in home games against bottom half teams as we desperately try to hang on to a 1-goal lead, rather than attacking and putting them away like champions would. His arrogance is shown by the fact that he completely and utterly ignores all feedback. He simply does not care about your opinion, my opinion, or anyone’s. He considers himself above criticism and gets angry when his moronic choices are questioned (such as dropping Campbell in favor of an out-of-form Walcott at the end of last season despite Campbell’s impressive showings).

    However, for all of his frustrating qualities, he still has some amazing ones. Who even heard of Granit Xhaka before the Euros? Wenger had, and signed him before he could showcase his talent to the world in France. He already made Pogba his bitch in the Euros and I look forward to him doing so again this season. While Wenger’s refusal to splash big cash on players is frustrating to no end, his eye for talent is without equal. Compare the cost of Giroud and his goal tally to those of Torres for Chelsea, Benteke for Liverpool, Carroll for Liverpool, or Ballotelli for Liverpool (jesus, I’m glad I’m not a Liverpool supporter). From what I’ve seen of Rob Holding, he’s going to be an absolute super star. We got him for 2M and I like him for 2M a hell of a lot more than 47.5M for John Stones. Price does not correlate well with quality. Raheem Sterling cost 10M more than Sanchez did. Last year was a poor year for Sanchez…and he still netted 13 goals and made 4 assists in the BPL (compared to 6 & 2 from Sterling). Sanchez playing like shit is still better than Sterling at his best…and Sanchez cost us less! Kevin de Bruyne is a quality signing by Man. City. But at 10M more than Ozil, he scored 2 more goals, but 10 less assists. And don’t even get me started on Mangala!

    Every year Wenger refuses to splash cash in the transfer market, but the players he does bring in tend to have real quality. Sure, he makes mistakes (Santos, Arshavin, etc.), but most of our signings tend not to get sold at a loss within 1-2 years. Consider Andy Carroll, Mangala, Di Maria, and all of the other big name signings that were absolute busts.

    Have you been watching any of the Olympic soccer? Gnabry is quite possibly the star of the tournament, and our new Japanese signing is banging in and setting up goals as well.

    I share your frustration. Without a world-class striker, we are highly unlikely to win the league this year. And although I have faith in Holding’s future, he’s not there yet, and neither Gabriel, Chambers, nor an aging Mertesacker are of the quality required to shore up our back line. That said, there is no way we finish as low as 6th. ManU have spent in excess of 120M each of the past two years, and finished below us both times. While it’s possible that this year’s massive spending spree will be different, history is not on their side.

    With Wenger, there are two things you can bet on:
    1) a frustrating transfer window
    2) a top 4 finish

     
  6. hahahahahahahahahahahaha……
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha….

    let me take a break and just try and understand how a grown man can be so petty and let his hatred for one man take him to such lengths that he would become just like that man and write such ignorant things. I mean really now?

    All these teams have spent money before and will spend next season and the season after and the season after. But yet Arsenal is still here standing. We might not win the league but give Arsenal fans a bit more credit, we are not as stupid as to believe teams spending more than us automatically makes them better than us. Let the football talk for itself, not the transfer market. And the football says Arsenal finished above ALL those teams before even with their spending.

    So be negative man, I hope it makes you feel better inside because I cant wait for us to do what I love Arsenal for, playing football.

     

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