I watched the last 10 mins of the Bayern Munich v Juventus game

[Brentwood]

Stating the obvious here, but it is depressing how much more clinical they are than us in front of goal.

It scares me that he'll turn City into them. The only thing stopping him is the allure of City for attracting top players, but he'll just throw high wages at them to overcome that

[Billy Goat Sverige]

were more clinical in front of goal. Awful finishing.

Bayern should've been 3-0 down after half an hour. The linesman made a horrible offside call and Juve had a goal ruled out.

[Herbette Chapman - aged 15]

[Brentwood]

Such bad luck that Iwobi got tripped (although I think a penalty would have been harsh). He had another chance which he blazed over the bar, which a better player would have scored

Alexi missed that chance as well

[7evens]

Everyone's tripping over themselves to heap praise on Ranieri and yet when at Chelsea, with all of the resources available to him, he was soon f**ked off out the window with the words Clownio ringing in his ears.

It's abundantly clear that AW's a control freak with involvement in every aspect of the club. Delegation and confidence in everyone around a manager builds unity and a team spirit thats's obviously lacking at our place.

He cuts a very lonely figure on that bench.

[ghostlygunner]

so nothing to do with coming second in the group year after year then :rubchin:

doesnt explain monaco psv or any of the other average teams that have put us out over the last 18 years either.

doesnt he realise you cant draw wigan hull reading or villa in the c/l :shrug:

drawn at home every round of the fa cup this year against mickey mouse teams aswell but f**ked that up and lost to sheff wed in the league cup


arsene youre just making things worse coming out with this **** , please just go now with some dignity :banghead:

[Brentwood]

Every team who has won the league in the past 20 years has spent more on transfers and wages than most of the other teams, including I suppose, Blackburn

It's refreshing to see that trend broken, but I suspect it won't happen again for another 20 years

[Brentwood]

2nd in a league behind Bayern Munich, I might add. It is a bit unlucky to draw Barcelona compared with those two, but in any case, you probably have to play them at some point if you want to win it and they are the best team in the world.

Not sure you can criticise him for that tbh

[Pokster]

West Ham are seriously pushing for top 4...... spending does not guarantee success.... and we have spent huge emounts on wages for bang average players so it isn't all about transfer spending as well

[ghostlygunner]

in the group.

our stock is rapidly falling in the coefficient tables .

therefore the draw is part luck but part based on seedings aswell.

we have had it both ways good and bad for 18 years and its made no difference.

we also used to fail to get out of **** groups aswell and that was when we had a good side.

cup draws have been kind to him in the last couple of years and churning that out as an excuse given the current climate isnt going to help him imho :shrug:

[7evens]

a couple more decent signings over the summer, you'd have to back them for top 4 again.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Pokster]

[Brentwood]

...apart from this season, which is a bit of a freak with Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd all in a weird situation with their managers

[Luis Anaconda]

[Pokster]

we have loads of it and refuse to spend it, so we can then hide behind the notion that we aren't winning the title because we have fewer "resources"

[Pokster]

[Brentwood]

The assumption that we have money and Wenger won't spend it is an reason we haven't won it in the past, rather than an excuse

Nname a team who have ever won the league that haven't been in the top 4 spenders

[Pokster]

Net tfr spend? Spending including wages? Spending as a % of turnover? Spending over the season in question or over a number of seasons?

And if a side chooses not to spend and doesn't win then that rather changes the picture doesn't it?

[Brentwood]

Good wage bill data exists for the Premier League from 2000-01 up to last year. There have been 56 top-four places available over that time, and 47 of those (over 80 percent) have been won by the teams with the top four wage bills in the league. Only nine times in 14 seasons has a team outside of the top four in wage bill finished in the top four places; adding in the current season would almost certainly make nine in 15. Clubs without the economic power of the biggest clubs can win occasionally, but most of them fall well short year after year.

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/tactics-and-analysis/67/post/2476 622/premier-league-dominance-is-down-to-wages-but-can-be-bro ken (http://www.espnfc.com/blog/tactics-and-analysis/67/post/2476622/premier-league-dominance-is-down-to-wages-but-can-be-broken)