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Is The Premier League Tougher Than It Used To Be?

Is It?


  • Total voters
    148

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
What are the European results then? lol.
I agree with you I just can’t be bothered to go into the details because people are taking it as a defence of Arteta or an insult to Wenger. It seems to be a 50/50 split so best to just leave others to their opinion.

I think everyone agrees that the football being played is of higher quality, athleticism and so on. I also think the gap between the top four and the rest of the league is wider than it used to be but that’s a more recent thing.
 

Oxeki

Match Day Thread Merchant
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Country: Nigeria

Player:Saliba
Of course they are in a different stratosphere. They have won the Champions league & titles recently Chelsea have been much stronger than us for a very long time.
Geez they won the ECL last season & have now added Lukaku ffs its crazy.


Arteta beat them twice last year tbf & won the FA cup by dispatching them the year b4 👍😁


We are still however miles away from them & the other teams in the top 4 imho.
Best we can realistically expect at the moment is top 6th & a cup run & that is regardless of who we employ as manager.
In 2016/2017 at height off the fans trying to hound out Wenger and them calling him "finished" he still beat Conte's Chelsea 2 out of 3 times, one in the FA cup final and the other in the league. Those two victories were so convincing that if we'd played that game 10 times Wenger would win 9 out of them. The one we won against them in league could easily have ended 8-1. They were extremely lucky to lose 3-1 to us tbh. The other one in the FA cup final, just a week after Chelsea just ran away with league with 93 points and everyone was expecting them to batter us, guess what? We did the battering. We absolutely pummeled the 2-1 flattered them. Not like Mikel "10 men behind the ball defending for their life" and beating Lampard's Chelsea in a FA cup final :lol:







And we're not Miles away, a competent coach could get us competing for top four. Whether we'd make top four is another matter entirely. In last 3 or 4 years, the teams finishing in the top four have largely been inconsistent and still made top four because majority of the other teams were poor for the whole season.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Football is a dying sport, the quality of the talent pool has been getting worse and worse every year since about 20 years ago. Guys like Sancho and Pepe would have been considered no better than Shaun Wright-Phillips if they were playing 15 years ago, yet now they are worth 70-80 million. Kids simply no longer invest many thousands of hours of their lives playing the sport like they used to 20 years ago. Nowadays they would rather invest those time into Fortnite instead.
This is mind-blowing.
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
Football is a dying sport, the quality of the talent pool has been getting worse and worse every year since about 20 years ago. Guys like Sancho and Pepe would have been considered no better than Shaun Wright-Phillips if they were playing 15 years ago, yet now they are worth 70-80 million. Kids simply no longer invest many thousands of hours of their lives playing the sport like they used to 20 years ago. Nowadays they would rather invest those time into Fortnite instead.

Ok, boomer.
 

Blankety Blank

emoji merchant
In 2016/2017 at height off the fans trying to hound out Wenger and them calling him "finished" he still beat Conte's Chelsea 2 out of 3 times, one in the FA cup final and the other in the league. Those two victories were so convincing that if we'd played that game 10 times Wenger would win 9 out of them. The one we won against them in league could easily have ended 8-1. They were extremely lucky to lose 3-1 to us tbh. The other one in the FA cup final, just a week after Chelsea just ran away with league with 93 points and everyone was expecting them to batter us, guess what? We did the battering. We absolutely pummeled the 2-1 flattered them. Not like Mikel "10 men behind the ball defending for their life" and beating Lampard's Chelsea in a FA cup final :lol:






🤔
When he took over he won the Fa cup & maintained league position Last season was a freak because of the pandemic We were awful in spells but only finished 6 points of top 4.
100% Fact is our squad is not top 4 quality right now. It may be in a couple of years with a 'competent' coach or Arteta 😂 .
Arteta is a very competent coach btw, It remains to be seen tbf if he is a good manager.

Our squad hasnt been good enough for 5 years
 

Makingtrax

Worships in the house of Wenger 🙏
Trusted ⭐

Country: England

Player:Saliba
In 2016/2017 at height off the fans trying to hound out Wenger and them calling him "finished" he still beat Conte's Chelsea 2 out of 3 times, one in the FA cup final and the other in the league. Those two victories were so convincing that if we'd played that game 10 times Wenger would win 9 out of them. The one we won against them in league could easily have ended 8-1. They were extremely lucky to lose 3-1 to us tbh. The other one in the FA cup final, just a week after Chelsea just ran away with league with 93 points and everyone was expecting them to batter us, guess what? We did the battering. We absolutely pummeled the 2-1 flattered them. Not like Mikel "10 men behind the ball defending for their life" and beating Lampard's Chelsea in a FA cup final :lol:







And we're not Miles away, a competent coach could get us competing for top four. Whether we'd make top four is another matter entirely. In last 3 or 4 years, the teams finishing in the top four have largely been inconsistent and still made top four because majority of the other teams were poor for the whole season.
Your murdering Arteta simps. Have a bit of compassion bro. :lol:
 

vantoure

Well-Known Member
Totally pointless comparing us to Chelsea who operate on a different stratosphere & have far better players.
Mourinho lost the dressing room, cracked up, caused a toxic atmosphere & Chelsea turned to ****. We all know it had nothing to do with the squad. It was Black & White.

The difference here is our squad is simply not good enough due to decline in the quality, some poor purchases & other EPL teams improving.

As for Lampard he was potted well into the season as Abramovich had spent massive money expecting an already top 4 club with a great squad to mount a title challenge & it didnt happen.

Lampard was underperforming but maybe it does show how hard the EPL is as i dont think he lost a game in the Champions league tbf.
Tuchel a recognised top level manager was available so they decided to replace him as he looked like a great fit with the German connection
As said they operate on a different level to us & the squad is light years ahead.
Lol you've missed your own argument.

You argued that a manager wasn't going to come in and turn a midtable side into champions like Wenger did in 97. You used that as an indicator of the league being weak at the time.

I pointed to you that given that that happened as recent as 5-6 years ago in the league and even more recently in the UCL, your argument was weak. Your argument wasn't specific to arsenal.

However if you're claiming it was specific to arsenal, are you saying the league only got more difficult for arsenal?
 

Blankety Blank

emoji merchant
Lol you've missed your own argument.

You argued that a manager wasn't going to come in and turn a midtable side into champions like Wenger did in 97. You used that as an indicator of the league being weak at the time.

I pointed to you that given that that happened as recent as 5-6 years ago in the league and even more recently in the UCL, your argument was weak. Your argument wasn't specific to arsenal.

However if you're claiming it was specific to arsenal, are you saying the league only got more difficult for arsenal?
Lol your whole point didnt stand tbh as you compared Mega billions rich mans plaything Chelski to a 'normal' club in Arsenal.
Its like apples & oranges.
If you cant see the MAJOR difference there is little i can do.
What Arsène did when he arrived Nowadays its more like Carlo coming in at Everton last year & winning the league (top manager & didnt get close)
Closest thing in recent times tbf was klopp at Liverpool but it took him a few years and a number of top level players in key positions to be able to win the league. Unlike us in recent years they sold well.

As said at Chelsea Mourinho had a meltdown & Lamps after spending over £200m on an already top 4 squad looked to be not taking them forward.

If Arteta doesnt take us forward this year he will be sacked tbf.
 
Last edited:

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
Ah yes, Artete last season had to deal with the "importation" of the likes of Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche, Steve Bruce, David Moyes, Roy Hodgson, Dean Smith, Chris Wilder, Scott Parker and Frank Lampard. Truly the peak of the "importation of superior foreign managers" in the PL.....

Do you actually process the drivel you post before hitting send or is it just an uncontrollable, ignorant stream of consciousness simply to try and defend Arteta at any cost?
His point still stands... look at the names you posted:

Sam Allardyce - Relegated and sacked

Sean Dyche - still in the PL, performing reasonably well

Steve Bruce - Hated by Newcastle fans, what do you think will happen if Ashley is ever bought out?

David Moyes - Performing really well

Roy Hodgson - Literally phased out to bring in a foreign coach with a hopefully more progressive style of play

Dean Smith - Performing really well

Chris Wilder - Relegated and sacked

Scott Parker - Relegated and sckaed

Frank Lampard - Sacked

Out of 9 British managers in the PL last season only two can be seen as unqualified successes - David Moyes and Dean Smith. I'm making the point here that @AbouCuéllar has a valid point with his post. I'm not particularly Arteta in or out. Feels weird that I even have to say that but you agenda merchants have been running rampant in this thread.
 

myoldarsenal

Active Member
My biggest gripe is the fact that no one was saying the PL was tough when Emery was here. All of a sudden the likes of Everton, Aston Villa and west Ham are now better than us despite the fact that we've comfortably outspent those teams?

PL being tough and Arteta being garbage are two different things and both can be true, not sure why that is so hard to understand.

Just because people like me say PL is harder now doesn't mean we are giving excuses for Arteta or Emery. Both were not good enough for us, esp Arteta. Even if PL was the easiest league in the world we'd still end up 8th under Arteta, he's barely capable of winning at home properly, never mind anything else we aspire to be under him. The board has to recognise that every team has more money now, better managers now and then has to analyse which manager can give us a better chance to do well facing the new challenges today.

The board's solution is the clown we have now masquerading as Arteta. THAT is the problem. Under Wenger, who was poor at the end as well, we could still get away with it as top talent would still sign only because it was Wenger. No player will sign for Arteta especially after the disgusting treatment he has meted out to our younger talent so we are forced to sign mediocre midtable calibre players because its hard to sell Arsenal as a top project when you have a joker as manager.
 

boonthegoon

Arteta In by November

Country: USA

Player:Smith-Rowe
Just read last few pages. This thread has gone ****.

Can we please stop talking about Arsène? We just have to cherish his good memories now.

League tougher debate doesn't have to include Arsène.
 

Makingtrax

Worships in the house of Wenger 🙏
Trusted ⭐

Country: England

Player:Saliba
Just read last few pages. This thread has gone ****.

Can we please stop talking about Arsène? We just have to cherish his good memories now.

League tougher debate doesn't have to include Arsène.
That debate is going to rumble on, in this forum and others. It’s a unique situation. Never in the history of English football have fans cut a manager off at the knees whose come second. Those who loved his brand of football and incredible consistency are struggling to get over it. And those who did it are still trying to justify what they did with excuses or look complete idiots now the club has been ruined and we’re a laughing stock.
 

Blood on the Tracks

AG's best friend, role model and mentor.
Trusted ⭐

Country: England

Player:Rice
That debate is going to rumble on, in this forum and others. It’s a unique situation. Never in the history of English football have fans cut a manager off at the knees whose come second. Those who loved his brand of football and incredible consistency are struggling to get over it. And those who did it are still trying to justify what they did with excuses or look complete idiots now the club has been ruined and we’re a laughing stock.

At some point mate you've just got to let the past go.

Wenger was declining in league positions the last couple of years. He was removed / left. The next two incoming managers have performed even worse.

That's not necessarily evidence that it was wrong for Arsène to leave. It could well be that we just followed him up with 2 poor appointments.
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
All those planes, rants, memes, boycotts and stadium protests had nothing to do with his downfall. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Not sure why you keep reversing the cause and effect here. The club was doing poorly already before the planes and boycotts started. We were battered by Bayern and not doing well in the Premier League too. His downfall had already started when the planes came out.
Anyway, I am not an Arteta supporter too. It was time for Wenger to leave. But we replaced him with poor choices. And I don't think Arteta fans have any rights to blame Wenger for the current mess.
 

Makingtrax

Worships in the house of Wenger 🙏
Trusted ⭐

Country: England

Player:Saliba
Not sure why you keep reversing the cause and effect here. The club was doing poorly already before the planes and boycotts started. We were battered by Bayern and not doing well in the Premier League too. His downfall had already started when the planes came out.
Anyway, I am not an Arteta supporter too. It was time for Wenger to leave. But we replaced him with poor choices. And I don't think Arteta fans have any rights to blame Wenger for the current mess.
The club was doing well. The purse strings had been released slightly and we won 2 cups, came 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd in 2015/16. Beat Klopp, Poch, LVG, Pelligrini, and Mourinho. Most clean sheets, best xG against, best xG for. To say that’s poor takes some verbal gymnastics and a lot of untruths, particularly when we had the most injuries in the league.
 

CaseUteinberger

Established Member

Country: Sweden
The club was doing well. The purse strings had been released slightly and we won 2 cups, came 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd in 2015/16. Beat Klopp, Poch, LVG, Pelligrini, and Mourinho. Most clean sheets, best xG against, best xG for. To say that’s poor takes some verbal gymnastics and a lot of untruths, particularly when we had the most injuries in the league.
Why do you leave out our 2016/17 5th place and 2017/18 6th place finishes under Wenger in that list of placements? I have seen several posts of yours where you use that exact placement row 4, 3 and 2. If you want to show Wengers last seasons it should really be 4, 3, 2, 5 and 6.

It can be argued that this isn’t much of a downwards trajectory and not enough to get rid of Wenger. But I leave you to make that argument. ;)
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
The club was doing well. The purse strings had been released slightly and we won 2 cups, came 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd in 2015/16. Beat Klopp, Poch, LVG, Pelligrini, and Mourinho. Most clean sheets, best xG against, best xG for. To say that’s poor takes some verbal gymnastics and a lot of untruths, particularly when we had the most injuries in the league.
We finished 2nd in the League when everyone else was on a rebuild. It was a golden chance for us to win the league and we decided to go in with only Cech as our new signing. It was clear that our squad was not performing that well and in the next season it was proven true by our horrible performances once all the other clubs got their footing. Now you seem to value FA cup win. Will you also value Arteta's FA cup win then?
 

Camus

Active Member
Trusted ⭐
His point still stands... look at the names you posted:

Sam Allardyce - Relegated and sacked

Sean Dyche - still in the PL, performing reasonably well

Steve Bruce - Hated by Newcastle fans, what do you think will happen if Ashley is ever bought out?

David Moyes - Performing really well

Roy Hodgson - Literally phased out to bring in a foreign coach with a hopefully more progressive style of play

Dean Smith - Performing really well

Chris Wilder - Relegated and sacked

Scott Parker - Relegated and sckaed

Frank Lampard - Sacked

Out of 9 British managers in the PL last season only two can be seen as unqualified successes - David Moyes and Dean Smith. I'm making the point here that @AbouCuéllar has a valid point with his post. I'm not particularly Arteta in or out. Feels weird that I even have to say that but you agenda merchants have been running rampant in this thread.
No his point doesn’t stand since his point that we need to contextualise the tactical battles Arteta was competing in in league with a “importation of superior foreign managers”. How is that true when last season, when he finished 8th, effectively half the league was managed by bum British managers? So what was his excuse then? Nada.

Further more he compares this with Emery’s 1st season who he posits faced inferior managers when Emery actually managed in a league with MORE “superior foreign managers”, lmao

And it’s laughable that you defend Dean Smith and David Moyes as good British managers yet are implicitly defending his point that someone like Harry Redknapp is bum when Redknapp has won an FA Cup and finished 4th twice, something either of them have achieved. So where is the logical consistency in assessing which British managers are bums and which aren’t? It’s nowhere to be found in this moronic point.

It’s clear you haven’t understood the point being made so I have no idea why you interjected since you’ve just made yourself look like a mug.
 
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