young players were undervalued for a long time. Nasri was the last hot talent we probably snapped up back in 08 - but it took us years to get him those days are over now - look at the price tag on Havertz
Not really. During that time the only player purchased who really fits this description was Nasri. Kos and Vermaelen came a little later, but for the most part we were buying u20s or over 25s. That's why we made so little money from selling players for so long. We didn't have any developing talent in the prime range to sell.
Yeah Wenger was more good at cashing out the squad but somehow retaining top 4, because he was always bringing on more players to top 4 level. Look at trash like Song who could do a job, and we got paid for him. The market is quite different now. The arbitrage seems to be more in signing up all these mindless drones to play in your system
I also think the league is stronger in terms of teams competing for top 4. Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester who were nearly there last year, they weren't there in the late 2000 and early the next decade when Wenger managed to keep us in top 4.
Oxlade Chamberlain in 2011. He was right before the price jumped and that 16 million did feel like a lot at the time.
I think this is also true because of the rise of system managers - not just that so many teams have more money. Back in the day, to be in the top 5, you needed a lot of high quality players who were expensive. Now it seems like you can be a force if you recruit a bunch of hardworking drones who fit your system perfectly, even if you don't have any truly elite players I also definitely think the quality of management improved hugely in the last 10 years We've seen the arrival of the very top managers like Klopp, Pep, Jose, Poch, Conte, Ancelotti, Benitez ....
True, definitely some good managers have come in. I always thought Pep would come to Arsenal, I realise now why that wouldl never have happened. I did hope for Klopp, but he went to Pool...
The funny thing is Wenger discovered this loophole before everyone else. I remember clubs would get mad at Arsenal for turning young players heads by giving them big raises. Four years after Oxlade was signed, United spent 36 million on Martial, and the floodgates opened.
Why isn't the FA investigating the videotape of the Pepe incident to see if Alioski may have provoked him into that soft-looking more-of-a-nudge rather than a "headbutt" (shit talked him to provoke him, nudged him, gave him a "shot", etc.) and whether Alioski embellished it at all??? If that bastard did something he should get a ban too. No way he should get off scott-free. Diego Costa did not prevail when he provoked our boys in that match away to Chel$ki in 2014-15 (even though that cheap bastard referee Mike Dean gave Gabriel a red card and did nothing with Diego Costa and let him try and do his dirty work with Koscielny albeit unsuccessfully), he eventually got a 3-game ban too. Alioski should get something!!!
i might be remembering wrong but it at least felt like hazard had a few years of resume so it wasn't such a gambling "youth" buy where it felt like martial was much, much less experience (and more like when we gambled on walcott, ramsey, and oxlade-chamberlain). just more.
Yes - for all the criticism, Wenger's egalitarian pay structure did work to bring new talent through. It had it's own drawbacks, but seeing we didn't really have a pay structure with elite talent at the top like Man U in the SAF era, it made sense for us until around 2013 It seemed like we wasted money overpaying poor players but of course you can't predict in advance, which of the players would be the failures. I always remember how Flam became one of the best EPL midfielders in partnership with Fabregas in 07/08 - who saw that coming?
Yes the thing with Martial was about owning his peak years in the future. It was realised that these players were undervalued. Of course it is not without risk - see Draxler as a player with elite teenage data who went nowhere.
....and then after Wolves, and another short trip back to Europe, the DERBY at NEW SHITE HART LANE!!! I've ALWAYS wanted to talk about New Shite Hart Lane, as I prefer to call it, in which is located on the same shit football ground the old piece of crap used to stand upon where we clinched the League title twice before (1971 and 2004).
I know of someone who went to their new stadium and he said it is fantastic when your inside, much better than ours. He's a Saints fan an he's been to a few grounds.
And just a better design it seems. I've never been a big fan of our new stadium. I'd swap it for their design in a heartbeat.
They seemed to have done a better job with the seat grade/incline to make everything seem more on top of the pitch.
Well with you being an old timer who goes way back with this great football club and me being a traditionalist who has studied our great history (I used The Highbury Years DVD and various highlights on YouTube as a tutorial I'll admit that) I'll take good-old historic and tradition-rich Highbury over both any time!!! Liverpool knew how tradition-rich and historic Anfield was, that's why they never left, they only upgraded and improved it over time, the Cubs did the same with Wrigley, and the Red Sox with Fenway. Perhaps we would've still been a perennial Champions League and title favorite every year if we had stayed and done the same.
Yeah that's what I like the most about their new stadium. It was designed by someone who understands the value of fans being tight to the pitch. The second major factor for me is the great big single-tier stand for the home supporters a la Liverpool & Dortmund. As much as really miss Highbury, I accept that it was ill-suited for the modern "economics" of fans in stadia. And although I do respect Liverpool for having added onto Anfield rather than blowing it up, I think their new stand looks ungainly and out of proportion... but I'm willing to hold my final judgment until I watch us play there in person, which is one of my bucket list items. Fenway is also a slightly lesser bucket list item, which hasn't happened for me yet, partly because I'm not really a baseball guy.