GoonerMagik said:
The fact is this season weve played the best football in the league,...
Thats bullshit. Chelsea have been the best team by a mile. Not only can they show some entertaining football at times, but they also defend which is one thing Arsenal cant do.
GoonerMagik said:
...finished second,not lost to the champions,weve got some decent young players who from there experiance are only going to be better next year and weve got some silverwear in the cabinet... more then what any Manc can say
Yes we finished 3rd but the champions have broken our all time points record so technically we would have only won the title if the current season was the best season we had in over a decade, which isnt easy if you consider 1999. We also had TONS of injuries (more than any other team in the country) at the start of the season which cost us valuable points. So theres no shame in losing out on the title to Chelsea.
In the Carling Cup, we lost in the semis to Chelsea in another close encounter (without our full first team BTW). So again, no shame in losing there either.
In the FA Cup, we lost in the final where we definately should have won but were unlucky. After seeing replays of Rio's early goal which was ruled out, you can clearly see that he was ONSIDE but cuz Ruud was offside, it didnt count. According to FIFA's new Offside rule, Ruud wasnt interfering with the play and didnt make any contact with the ball so really that goal should have counted. I'm not gonna bitch about it but my point is, again we were robbed and shouldnt be ashamed of anything there either.
And finally, we lost to AC Milan who look favourites to win the European Cup. Losing to the eventual champions isnt a bad thing cuz if you cant beat them, you dont deserve to win the trophy anyway. Its better to lose early than to make it to the semis and lose. Of course theres the financial benefits but the more games you play, the tighter the fixture list is gonna be. Its not worth staying in the CL unless you're gonna make some serious progress like making it to the final.
So really looking back at our season, you cant really blame us for our performances cuz we were either unlucky or simply lost to the eventual champions.
Looking ahead to next season, we already have a transfer budget but Glazer is promising a further £20million.
We also start our Pre-season a few weeks earlier than the rest of you so we're gonna get some valuable match practice before the big season.
We will also be completely injury free.
We have IMO the best reserve team in the country (4 trophies out of 5 including the reserve league title) so there will definately be some great players coming through that are just as good as the likes of Fabregas and Van Persie.
Other positives from this season is that we signed Smith, Rooney and Heinze who have been outstanding.
Ronaldo and Fletcher have also have improved significantly.
I wrote so much, I think I'll have to quote the post again just to remind you of my point.
GoonerMagik said:
...finished second,not lost to the champions,weve got some decent young players who from there experiance are only going to be better next year and weve got some silverwear in the cabinet... more then what any Manc can say