Do we expect too much??

[Skillz]

No need for the bitchy tone AFII, i was merely stating that Kewell and Morientes werent top players - and the whole point of my argument is that we should sign top players.

that's a ridiculous post made with the benefit of hindsight.

[Skillz]

So, at the start of this season, you werent expecting a title challenge?

No. Hopefull but realistically knew that the Champions had just added 70M GBP worth of talent to their squad meant that a title challenge this season was unrealistic.

[Skillz]

I'm not questioning whether they're worth the money. I'm saying that collectively, their contribution is far less than that of a top class player, who we could've bought with the £20m.

****ing hell. Your assuming that player is

- not injured
- is not a flop

20M GBP does not = Torres at every turn.

Be thankful that it appears Rafa knows how to spend 20M when he gets it

[bigfooty]

No. Hopefull but realistically knew that the Champions had just added 70M GBP worth of talent to their squad meant that a title challenge this season was unrealistic.

Can you explain then how Chelsea have challenged for the league title despite spending a fraction of 70M (which is an inflated figure anyway, it's more like 50M) in the Summer and losing a guy considered to be one of the Premier managers in the game at the moment?

If it all boiled down to money Chelsea would win the title every season since their Russian owner arrived. They haven't because the game is not as simple as that.

If I'd told you when Rafa arrived that, four years in, we'd not remotely have challenged for the title then I think most people would have considered that a huge disappointment, perhaps even failure. The Champions League success and his work in other areas of the club have mitigated the disappointments in the league, when you consider that in one season we failed to finish in the Top 4 and had there been more stability at certain clubs that might have been the case again this time around.

We stand on the cusp of greatness again in Europe but better is required in the league - and is possible.

[barnes10]

Can you explain then how Chelsea have challenged for the league title despite spending a fraction of 70M (which is an inflated figure anyway, it's more like 50M) in the Summer and losing a guy considered to be one of the Premier managers in the game at the moment?

If it all boiled down to money Chelsea would win the title every season since their Russian owner arrived. They haven't because the game is not as simple as that.

If I'd told you when Rafa arrived that, four years in, we'd not remotely have challenged for the title then I think most people would have considered that a huge disappointment, perhaps even failure. The Champions League success and his work in other areas of the club have mitigated the disappointments in the league, when you consider that in one season we failed to finish in the Top 4 and had there been more stability at certain clubs that might have been the case again this time around.

We stand on the cusp of greatness again in Europe but better is required in the league - and is possible.

ermm they've spend 4 years and half a BILLION pounds on their squad. you'd expect to be able to last a couple of summers without signing big. their average is 100 mil in each of roman's seasons. it is exactly because of this that avram is looking good and mourinho not missed.

the league is all about the strength in depth of the whole squad and a cup competition is all about the first team and detailed tactics. everyone knows this and the results bear this out. simple as that really.

[Parm]

Insha-Allah.

same here man

[red g]

ermm they've spend 4 years and half a BILLION pounds on their squad. you'd expect to be able to last a couple of summers without signing big. their average is 100 mil in each of roman's seasons. it is exactly because of this that avram is looking good and mourinho not missed.

the league is all about the strength in depth of the whole squad and a cup competition is all about the first team and detailed tactics. everyone knows this and the results bear this out. simple as that really.

you only have to look at the dip that arsenal, everton, villa, man city have all suffered through lack of a small squad.

I dont think Rafa has ever believed we could win the league with the squad we have had, so he is concentrated on europe with fantastic results

I mean what good is arsenals season now? **** all good!! when Rafa feels he can challenge, we will and we will win the ****er as well !!

[Skillz]

Can you explain then how Chelsea have challenged for the league title despite spending a fraction of 70M (which is an inflated figure anyway, it's more like 50M) in the Summer and losing a guy considered to be one of the Premier managers in the game at the moment?

If it all boiled down to money Chelsea would win the title every season since their Russian owner arrived. They haven't because the game is not as simple as that.

If I'd told you when Rafa arrived that, four years in, we'd not remotely have challenged for the title then I think most people would have considered that a huge disappointment, perhaps even failure. The Champions League success and his work in other areas of the club have mitigated the disappointments in the league, when you consider that in one season we failed to finish in the Top 4 and had there been more stability at certain clubs that might have been the case again this time around.

We stand on the cusp of greatness again in Europe but better is required in the league - and is possible.

The best guide to a squad's strength is the wage bill, IMO

I admit that Chelsea are an anomoly here because they are not as superior as is their wage bill

[bigfooty]

ermm they've spend 4 years and half a BILLION pounds on their squad. you'd expect to be able to last a couple of summers without signing big. their average is 100 mil in each of roman's seasons. it is exactly because of this that avram is looking good and mourinho not missed.

the league is all about the strength in depth of the whole squad and a cup competition is all about the first team and detailed tactics. everyone knows this and the results bear this out. simple as that really.

Yet in 2005-2006 we finished a point behind Man Utd which, if you take your view, means our squad strength in depth was pretty much on a par with them. We also outspent them in that Summer. The difference being the players we bought were mostly rubbish and whilst economic circumstances may have dictated certain buys I think it's fair to say that none of the people we bought that Summer look like good deals on our part in terms of what we paid and what they produced.

[dww]

you only have to look at the dip that arsenal, everton, villa, man city have all suffered through lack of a small squad.

I dont think Rafa has ever believed we could win the league with the squad we have had, so he is concentrated on europe with fantastic results

I mean what good is arsenals season now? **** all good!! when Rafa feels he can challenge, we will and we will win the ****er as well !!

I think Rafa though he could win the league this year and in many ways I think it would have been the easiest year to do so in quite a while. Basically what killed us was a combination of loosing momentum and focus due to the CL (particularly the Reading game springs to mind) and then an abject failure to score around the Christmas period.

This year none of the top 4 teams have excelled in my opinion. United have dropped more points than they should have and have over relied on the goals of one player to come through a lot of games. Chelsea have only performed in fits and starts and as a consequence have drawn some key games. Arsenal had too small a squad and couldn't compete on the number of fronts they tried too and failed to strengthen in January despite selling Diarra. United deserve it this year as they have been the only team with the right mentality to battle through hard periods and games.

The big difference between ourselves and Arsenal when compared to United and Chelsea is in mentality. The later too are much more mentally tough in games and over the season, dragging great results out and not letting bad ones get them down. We had a couple of extended periods where we looked like players had no idea where the next goal would come from, United in particular always assume that no matter how tough it is something will come their way. Arsenal crumbled after the Birmingham game and have now undergone their worst run under Wenger just as they came to the crunch in the title race.

[barnes10]

Yet in 2005-2006 we finished a point behind Man Utd which, if you take your view, means our squad strength in depth was pretty much on a par with them. We also outspent them in that Summer. The difference being the players we bought were mostly rubbish and whilst economic circumstances may have dictated certain buys I think it's fair to say that none of the people we bought that Summer look like good deals on our part in terms of what we paid and what they produced.

2005 - 2006 we had nothing but the league to play for so put everything into that. Utd also had a relatively poor year for them so they underperformed at the same time we over performed in the league.

my point is that we cannot focus on both as we don't have the squad to compete.

if we wanted to focus on the league i believe we could. i believe we did this season as the first 3 months showed. but at the risk of not doing well in the CL. this wasn't acceptable so priorities changed and the league was back in second place for us.