Perhaps one shouldn't blog at this time of night, especially on a day in which Arsenal seem to be in some sort of meltdown but since noone reads this stuff this is really about getting this off my chest. Excuse my french but frankly, I can't help wondering what the fuck is going on at the Emirates. I know that most of this is coming out via the media and not directly from the club itself and you could argue that maintaining a dignified silence while the real negotiations are taking place behind the scenes is a good policy. But it is starting to look as if our rivals are running rings round us both in the boardrooms and in the media and our silence is becoming deafening.
It is now true that we cannot compete financially with many of our rivals and after a relatively 'soft' season in the Premiership the likes of Chel$ki, Citeh and Man-U know that they have to spend big in order to compete next season. The difference is that they can spend big - they can shop in the Harrods of world football whereas we're looking for the sale in John Lewis. Where we have always been able to punch above our weight in the past is by bringing on younger players and putting them into a system that is more than a match for our rivals - we are (were) closer to the 'total football' displayed by Barca than anyone else in the Premiership last year. But if we cannot keep the top quality 'core' of that team and build upon it, especially by shoring up what was a woeful defense towards the end of the season, then we are not just looking at another season without a trophy, we're looking at a situation in which we'll have to let the big three (financially) go ahead and be left competing to be the best of the rest against the likes of Liverpool, Spuds, Villa et al.
We cannot go on building a young team for the future and then selling that future every time the big money men come calling. We've fucked up (again apologies, see previous) contractually with Nasri, we've not yet plugged the defense and it looks like we might have to (have to? why for god's sake) accept the departure of Cesc for less than the £45-75 million that he's worth (given the value of other transfers recently).
If we don't secure some big name players and quickly, we'll be seen by the world as a second rate team. A selling club. A training ground for the top clubs, rather than being a top club. I hope that our silence is an indication of quiet confidence with big news in the pipeline, but I fear that we're about to squander, again, the potential that has been so carefully nurtured by Wenger at the club.
Frustrating and worrying times to be a Gooner.
No comments:
Post a Comment