To be honest, John, I've been hoping for that for a long time. Even now it continues... This is for several reasons; I think he has always overplayed the intellectual card; I think he puts his own beliefs above those of Arsenal (e.g the Arshavin signing and financial fair play) and some of the things that he comes out with really piss me off (e.g. finishing in fourth place is an achievement - how can that possibly send out the right message to the players?????).
However, I am optimistic for several reasons.
1) Manchester City's signings do not look to be as good as people thought. Also, Samir Nasri plays for them. To be entirely honest, him leaving Arsenal pissed me off more than Fabregas leaving. I thought he had big potential and Fabregas believed his own hype too much. However, the same problem seems to affect him at Man City. Sometimes he plays brilliantly. Other times, he seemingly just can’t be bothered. What’s more, the times when he can’t be bothered, it’s written across his face. How good would he be if he always applied himself? Will we ever know? What’s more, this attitude seems to have affected the rest of the Man City squad.
2) I’m not sure Mourinho is as affective now as he was. The first Chelsea team he took over hadn’t known success before. The Inter Milan team had not achieved success at Champions League level. His methods did not really work at Real Madrid, a team full of players who had already reached the highest levels. Chelsea have now won the league and Champions League. I’m not sure his methods will work again. Also, his mandate seems to be to play an attacking brand of football. This seems to go against his nature. This was even the case at Real Madrid.
3) Man Utd look like a team in need of rebuilding. I also think Moyes has made wrong decisions. I think he should have made more effort to get rid of Rooney. He definitely should not have said he was second choice to Van Persie and then kept him. Unbelievable! His reluctance to play Kagawa I also find odd; I think he’s their most effective player in the no 10 role. I don’t think Rooney is actually technically a no.10. I also think he should be playing Jones and Smalling more. Ferdinand seems to have suddenly past his peak and I am unsure what has happened to Vidic, but his form is now terrible.
4) Spurs seem to have invested in quantity rather than quality. I know this may seem dubious, coming from a gunner. But the players they have invested in do not appear to be top level players (maybe apart for Erikssen). If so, with financial fair play coming in, this season may be the make or break season for Spurs. Their revenue streams, for example. Do not appear to be among the highest.
I also wondered what you think about a couple of other points?
1) Everton seem to have improved since Martinez took over. I am becoming increasingly of the opinion that Moyes is not as good a manager as people made out. Do you rate Moyes as a manager?
2) Aston Villa appear to be a very good team now. Are they just a top half side or will they be challenging for the Europa League places? Do you think Paul Lambert is a good manager, after everyone was saying how rubbish he was last season?
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