Reconstruction Season - Revisited.

[COYS]

Can't really be arsed to find the old thread and to be honest it's history. Merge if you feel necessary.

At the beginning of the season we all thought this was a season to rebuild. People thought we had to expect disappointment. Last season was meant to be our make or break season. We thought if we got in to this year's Champions League then we've made it and would benefit us hugely in the long term, whereas if we didn't make it we'd lose all of our star players and we'd collapse as a club. Not saying you all said that, but that seemed to be the general feeling.

However we got lucky. We only sold Modric, who seemed to be a bit inconsistent, and VDV who was looking quite shaky. We kept Bale. We made great new signings (though not a new striker) and AVB seemed to impress. We started the season with some disappointing performances, however we were winning games and we begun to see we weren't doomed yet. Bale left everyone with an open mouth. In my opinion, thisis our make or break season, not our 'reconstruction season'. If we don't finish in the top 4 season then what? The big difference is we'll lose Bale, despite what AVB's been saying. I don't even need to remind you where we'd be without Bale this season. If Arsenal don't get Champions League football, then their club is doomed, and this eliminates a lot of competition for next season.

This is a season we can't afford to screw up now. If we finish in the top 4 at the expense of Arsenal then we're in a great position next season. We'll probably have Bale. We'll have the finance and the prestige to sign a brilliant new striker.

Everyone who thought this would be a season to rebuild was wrong. This could be our last chance.

 

[jimmyb]

Can't really be arsed to find the old thread and to be honest it's history. Merge if you feel necessary.

At the beginning of the season we all thought this was a season to rebuild. People thought we had to expect disappointment. Last season was meant to be our make or break season. We thought if we got in to this year's Champions League then we've made it and would benefit us hugely in the long term, whereas if we didn't make it we'd lose all of our star players and we'd collapse as a club. Not saying you all said that, but that seemed to be the general feeling.

However we got lucky. We only sold Modric, who seemed to be a bit inconsistent, and VDV who was looking quite shaky. We kept Bale. We made great new signings (though not a new striker) and AVB seemed to impress. We started the season with some disappointing performances, however we were winning games and we begun to see we weren't doomed yet. Bale left everyone with an open mouth. In my opinion, thisis our make or break season, not our 'reconstruction season'. If we don't finish in the top 4 season then what? The big difference is we'll lose Bale, despite what AVB's been saying. I don't even need to remind you where we'd be without Bale this season. If Arsenal don't get Champions League football, then their club is doomed, and this eliminates a lot of competition for next season.

This is a season we can't afford to screw up now. If we finish in the top 4 at the expense of Arsenal then we're in a great position next season. We'll probably have Bale. We'll have the finance and the prestige to sign a brilliant new striker.

Everyone who thought this would be a season to rebuild was wrong. This could be our last chance.

I don't think anything's set in stone.

Quite possible that we don't finish top four but still hold on to Bale. Quite possible that we do finish top four but still sell Bale (if some financially doped club offers us an insane amount - say, £100 million).

People have been saying that "this is our last chance" for twenty years. But it isn't. It never is. Short of the end of the world, there's no such thing as the last chance.

If we don't make CL this time around, we try again next year. And every year after that. We'll have plenty more chances.

 

[Modric THFC]

Can't really be arsed to find the old thread and to be honest it's history. Merge if you feel necessary.

At the beginning of the season we all thought this was a season to rebuild. People thought we had to expect disappointment. Last season was meant to be our make or break season. We thought if we got in to this year's Champions League then we've made it and would benefit us hugely in the long term, whereas if we didn't make it we'd lose all of our star players and we'd collapse as a club. Not saying you all said that, but that seemed to be the general feeling.

However we got lucky. We only sold Modric, who seemed to be a bit inconsistent, and VDV who was looking quite shaky. We kept Bale. We made great new signings (though not a new striker) and AVB seemed to impress. We started the season with some disappointing performances, however we were winning games and we begun to see we weren't doomed yet. Bale left everyone with an open mouth. In my opinion, thisis our make or break season, not our 'reconstruction season'. If we don't finish in the top 4 season then what? The big difference is we'll lose Bale, despite what AVB's been saying. I don't even need to remind you where we'd be without Bale this season. If Arsenal don't get Champions League football, then their club is doomed, and this eliminates a lot of competition for next season.

This is a season we can't afford to screw up now. If we finish in the top 4 at the expense of Arsenal then we're in a great position next season. We'll probably have Bale. We'll have the finance and the prestige to sign a brilliant new striker.

Everyone who thought this would be a season to rebuild was wrong. This could be our last chance.

Arsenal are fine now without Champion's League.
This isnt 5 years ago.
They have a huge amount of money in the bank http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ncial-figures-123m-bank-17m-month-profit.html

 

[Raziel]

I don't think anything's set in stone.

Quite possible that we don't finish top four but still hold on to Bale. Quite possible that we do finish top four but still sell Bale (if some financially doped club offers us an insane amount - say, £100 million).

People have been saying that "this is our last chance" for twenty years. But it isn't. It never is. Short of the end of the world, there's no such thing as the last chance.

If we don't make CL this time around, we try again next year. And every year after that. We'll have plenty more chances.

This ... we have missed a few very good opportunities, but have also proven that we will still be there to challenge the next time around.

 

[Armchair Expert]

It wouldn't be cataclysmic for Arsenal to miss out. They wouldn't attract the worlds biggest players, but they have never been in the market for them anyway.

They also don't have any huge stars left who will clamour for the exists, should they not qualify.

 

[COYS]

The point with Arsenal is that it will be very difficult for them to improve. If they don't finish in the top 4 this season and don't improve their squad adequately then how are they supposed to finish in the top 4 next season?

Obviously everything I'm saying is mainly predictions and nothing is guaranteed to happen, but things are very much likely to go our way more if we finish in the top 4.

 

[braineclipse]

I don't think anything's set in stone.

Quite possible that we don't finish top four but still hold on to Bale. Quite possible that we do finish top four but still sell Bale (if some financially doped club offers us an insane amount - say, £100 million).

People have been saying that "this is our last chance" for twenty years. But it isn't. It never is. Short of the end of the world, there's no such thing as the last chance.

If we don't make CL this time around, we try again next year. And every year after that. We'll have plenty more chances.

Very good post.

Last summer did pose a lot of problems for the club and for our new manager. Losing Modric, VdV and King in one summer was tough and there were some issues with the squad in addition to that. That's ignoring the problems that there will always be when bringing in a new manager.

AVB and the club dealt with those problems really well, primarily by making some very good signings in the transfer window. Lloris, Vertonghen and Dembele have all been excellent. It's not just about what happens at the end of this season, it's about how the club and our rivals react to what happens. "Its not how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."

 

[Yermiyahu]

I really like the way Daniel Levy runs the club and up until now have been delighted that we haven't gone for an Abramovich style sugar daddy.

That said, I really feel that the club needs serious investment esp in light of the need to retain Gareth Bale and bring in 2 or 3 quality new faces, esp up front. I feel the reason we have performed poorly in the last two games is the lack of quality fresh legs as it were.

Lets hope that Daniel can persuade Joe Lewis to make a one off big investment and attract the real quality we need to mount a serious title challenge next year

As Jimmy b said, nothing is set in stone though, and even if we fail to make the CL this season I think we'll be able to do some rebuilding, without a big injection of capital.

However if we really want to challenge, Mr. Lewis it is over to you.

 

[AdamB]

I feel the reason we have performed poorly in the last two games is the lack of quality fresh legs as it were.

I like AVB but we would have had fresher legs had he rotated the squad more in Europa League games. Granted there's a risk that we might not have got so far and there's no guarantee we'd be playing better now however we'd have given ourselves the best chance in the league. There's decent players like Caulker and Thudd who could have played a lot more and have been vastly under-used this year and we could have used say one youngster such as Ceballos per game as well

 

[demotw]

I don't think we would deffinetly lose Bale either way. In fact couple of weeks back reading another forum, was stated Bale would stay regardless providing we showed intent in the transfer market and bought some players in early. Funnily enough that was echoed in the papers a couple of days back, and apparently we are already discussing Damio again.

Of course, we could just make champ league and then not worry either way ^^

 

[onlyme]

Every season is reconstruction. Life goes on, players come and go. We have more points than last season.
But it is weird. Nobody can take away from Harry that great run we had after the Manc games but we blew it big style afterwards. This season we have been more consistent but not as good???
I dunno.