Will we ever get our title back???

[namliam]

long as the **** dont buy robinho, adriano, ferdinand, ballack and kaka.....we should be fine i reckon!

To be honest as strange as this sounds I am hoping that Chelsea go on a spending spree and buy a lot of players, particularly midfielders. I'd love to see what happens when Ballack, Gerrard, Lampard, Robben, Duff, Cole and Makelele must compete for at most 5 spots. Chelsea will be most dangerous if they retain the current team with the only addition of a half decent striker. The defense is superb, the midfiled is well balanced (although a tendency to rely on Lamaprd too much for creativity) and it is only the attack that could be worked on. If Jose really is such a great manager I'm sure he won't be purchasing too many new players and possibly dewstroy all the good work that he has done.

 

[Kum_Arsenal]

Yes Arsenal will win again with Wenger around.

he has already proved without money and its not a tough job for him to do with some money in his transfer KIT.

I'm pleased the Next Season will be ours.

 

[galaxyheight]

we are not a bad team overnight. it's because of reasons like injuries, lack of depth in squad and the psychological effect of losing the unbeaten record that we lose the title this season. don't get me worng. i think chelsea has done a great job this season but if not because of those reasons we might still be on top or at least a few points behind them. if we have more depth in squad and plus the experiences the young players gained this season we would be able to challenge chelsea all the way to the end

 

[Gunner Ossie]

Man U = equal squad+superior dosh +Inferior manager
Chelsea= superior squad +superior dosh +Equal (even superior) manager

Wenger is going to have to do something exceptional for us to succeed next season and is going to have to start looking at new ways to improve the team other than by merely hoping that cesc, senderos, flamini, van persie reyes, etc all improve because the reality is some of them may not.

In other words, its not the quality, or quantity, of players that matters, but what wenger will choose to do with them that will be the biggest factor in deciding whether we can win anything. All three sides have quality squads so even if wenger adds 1 or 2 players, those players will (as usual) take time to adjust and wont necessarilly make our squad better than man u or chelsea.

I think wenger has to work smarter with the players he has (and any others he might get), which for me means him doing whatever it takes to get best out of the whole squad.

For example,
-Ignoring in form fringe players (like van persie) over out of form regulars (like bergkamp) just does not help us.
-Wierdo decisons like playing cesc on the wing, cygan in midfield, cole in midfield seem so uncalled for.
-Making Substitutions at 84 minutes is fine when wenger wants to waste time but is questionable when u need a goal.

I just think that buying new players and improving young players is only part of the solution. Wenger has to try to improve those things (as above)that he himself is responsible for, in short try to improve himself as a manager too.

Of course we can win if man u and chelsea fall apart, but its more likely that both of them will also improve too. The question is can Arsène do enough to improve himself and arsenal by a larger margin than them, despite our obvious disadvantages.

 

[patrick42uk]

i do recognise now wenger has to do something spectacular to win the league. when we went unbeaten, many called it a one-off but the interesting thing is chelsea might surpass our points total. even more worrying is that it isnt inconceivable that they can match or even better this season next year because they are in this unusual financial situation. i think over the next 5-10 years, the points total record will be broken 3 or 4 times because undoubtedly chelsea have raised the bar. to win this league now you might need a 100 points, minimum. you wont see that anywhere else in europe. an unprecedented level of consistency will now be required and i dont know if wenger or ferguson can produce that sort of consistency with their teams and resources. even united are constrained financially compared to chelsea.

if wenger and ferguson do manage to match up to chelsea to any extent on the pitch, it will make the league very interesting although i feel the gap with the rest will widen. however, the competition with chelsea could strengthen this league's representation in europe.

 

[asajoseph]

i do recognise now wenger has to do something spectacular to win the league

Couldn't disagree more. Indeed, this season if we hadn't dropped easy points at Southampton (twice), Palace and WBA, we'd be three points behind. From there, we'd be 3 points behind Chelsea, and there's no telling how they'd perform with the extra pressure at the end of the season, but it'd hardly have been miraculous for us to win it from there?

Something spectacular required to win the league? Not at all. Perhaps just be a bit more clinical in easier matches.

And that's been with major injury worries all year, and our one major signing from the last few seasons being a relative flop. This summer, and from now onwards, we won't be matching chelsea, but we'll be competing with almost every other club in the transfer market. And however much money Chelsea have, we have things they can't buy. They're called Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Ashley Cole. We have world class players. They're able to compete. We just need to plug the gaps, and we've got the money to do so. Like Arsène said, there are plenty of players in the world - Chelsea can sign anyone they want, and there'll be plenty of good players left to go around.

Again, if it wasn't for dropping simple, easy points against teams we should be beating, we'd have matched them this season. And this year they've certainly had their fare share of luck - Terry and Lampard both almost made of steel, lucky deflections. In footballing terms, I don't believe our first team is behind theres at all.

 

[Gunner Ossie]

i do recognise now wenger has to do something spectacular to win the league

Couldn't disagree more. Indeed, this season if we hadn't dropped easy points at Southampton (twice), Palace and WBA, we'd be three points behind. From there, we'd be 3 points behind Chelsea, and there's no telling how they'd perform with the extra pressure at the end of the season, but it'd hardly have been miraculous for us to win it from there?

Something spectacular required to win the league? Not at all. Perhaps just be a bit more clinical in easier matches.

And that's been with major injury worries all year, and our one major signing from the last few seasons being a relative flop. This summer, and from now onwards, we won't be matching chelsea, but we'll be competing with almost every other club in the transfer market. And however much money Chelsea have, we have things they can't buy. They're called Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Ashley Cole. We have world class players. They're able to compete. We just need to plug the gaps, and we've got the money to do so. Like Arsène said, there are plenty of players in the world - Chelsea can sign anyone they want, and there'll be plenty of good players left to go around.

Again, if it wasn't for dropping simple, easy points against teams we should be beating, we'd have matched them this season. And this year they've certainly had their fare share of luck - Terry and Lampard both almost made of steel, lucky deflections. In footballing terms, I don't believe our first team is behind theres at all.

Please tell everyone why you are so certain that chelsea (or man u) wont get even better next season?, while only arsenal will?

 

[asajoseph]

Certainly. Just as soon as you explain to me where I claimed that only we will improve.

If you just highlight exactly what it is that I've actually said that you disagree with, we can move this discussion on from there.

 

[JazzG]

when we went unbeaten, many called it a one-off but the interesting thing is chelsea might surpass our points total.

Our points total didn't tell the true story, we drew 4 of our last 7 games and imo if we hadn't been so far ahead we would of won those 4 games but at that point we were more concerned with remaining unbeaten. Chelsea again this season once they win the title will start dropping their players for the CL and make sure everyone is fully rested but they will end up with about 94 points which is pretty damn impressive.

I am not totally convinced either Chelsea can have another season like this as the teams around them will be much stronger and when you champions there is a very different kind of pressure on you, teams stop trying to attack you but instead try to contain you. I'm not saying it won't as it can happen but just like I didn't expect us to have as good a season I think next season the points tally that wins it won't be as high as this season. In the last 3 seasons we twice with 88 or above points so I think we can do it again. In both seasons as well there was room for improvement so even if Chelsea go above 90 I think we can catch them. The squad will have to be much stronger though, we have to be in a position where even with 3 or 4 injuries we can still compete.

 

[Gunner Ossie]

If you just highlight exactly what it is that I've actually said that you disagree with.

ill try to explain.

you disagreed with the idea that wenger will have to do something exceptional next season for us to win the title back, and stated that we would have been competeing this season but for us throwing away so many points.

My point is that, if, as you say, we had not have thrown away all those points this season would you not consider our points tally EXCEPTIONAL?

So to say that arsenal wont need anything exceptional is to assume that chelsea are actually not going to improve on an already exceptional season, which seems highly unlikely.

If chelsea are consistant or even improve next season arsenal are going to have to suprise us all to win it.

 

[asajoseph]

Perhaps it's just a simple misunderstanding. If by doing something exceptional, you want to include playing the 'exceptional' football that Arsenal have played for a few years, finish 'exceptionally high' in the premiership as we have done for the last few years, and have an 'exceptionally high' points tally, which by Arsenal's historical standards, we have had every year for the last few years. In fact, some might describe OUR points tally this season as 'exceptional', especially were it not for Chelsea's 'exceptional' points tally.

If however you mean that Arsenal have to do anything 'exceptionally different' on the football pitch, I'd say you were very wrong. We'll have to play 'exceptionally' well to win the premiership next season. We'll have to improve on the 'exceptional' level off football we've played this season, but the level of improvement won't need to be 'exceptional'.

Hope that clears it up

If chelsea are consistant or even improve next season arsenal are going to have to suprise us all to win it.

Again, completely disagree. As I've said before, the points tally difference, I believe would easily be cut, simply by beating relegation-fodder teams that we should thrash. It's not hard ask.

Not only that, I'd say that Arsenal have a much wider margin for improvement - our defence for much of the season has been dire. It'll be a lot easier to spend a little money improving the Arsenal team than it will be to spend a lot of money to improve the Chelsea team.

Not that I don't expect them to improve. I just expect our level of improvement to be significantly higher. We've been a lot stronger defensively over the last few months, and currently have a better form record than Chelsea. If you want to consider that 'exceptional', so be it.

Asa

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

You can only control your part. If we play the same way we have been playing for the past 3 weeks or so..we very much will be in a position to win the title regardless of what Chelsea/Manure do. We are finishing off the season on a very high note and if we beat Manure in the FA cup finals..that just adds to our momentum for next year. Believe me.its more difficult defending a title then winning the title. I believe next year we don't need any thing exceptional. Just hope we stay off injuries and have good backups when form dips. Teams like Liverpool will also have a say for next year.

 

[Gunner Ossie]

It'll be a lot easier to spend a little money improving the Arsenal team than it will be to spend a lot of money to improve the Chelsea team.

according to many

Arsenal need

2 new strikers (if reyes leaves)
1 Right winger
1 Left winger (if reyes leaves)
1 centre back

Chelsea need

1 centre back

I think chelsea have far LESS work to do in order to create an experienced squad capable of challenging and dealing with injuries.

Our campaign fell apart because of injuries, but injuries never really affected chelsea half as much.

 

[asajoseph]

Ossie - Spot on, apart from the fact that you missed a GK, that's exactly my point (the one you quoted).

We've played well this season, despite missing a reliable GK, our star CB for most of the season, our star signing being under par for almost the entire time since he signed, and Bergkamp and Pires beginning to sucumbing to age. Next season, the majority of the players who helped us this season will still be here, only Edu seems sure to leave and he's hardly played well this season. Of the players staying, only Pires and Campbell have concerns with there age.

We've got a great team already next season, and a large margin to improve over the summer.

Chelsea sign their one CB, how much better will they be?

 

[quattro]

^agreed.

improving chelsea any further will be an exercise in diminishing marginal returns.

 

[asajoseph]

Diminishing marginal returns - that's the term I was looking for.

Good man