Gooner Spy

4 Above. Anelka scored in the Cup QF at West Ham, Wreh in the Cup SF and Anelka in the FA Cup Final. My apologies about the 8th, I had remembered Anelka scoring more in the Blackburn game. My bad.

For the record, It wasnt me who brought Arsenal into this:

The people having the discussion, surely?

Is not true i'm afraid. Wright got injured in the FA Cup 3rd round in January, and didnt play again after that. Anelka and Christopher Wreh (both Wenger signings) shared the attacking duties. IN January - May, one of the 2 of them scored clinching goals in 8 games in the run in, including the FA Cup SF and FA Cup final. His goalkeeper (Manninger) also played a massive role in the title run in. It wasnt his defence, but it sure as hell was his team.

Yes, but the 3 players he named (and the one I adfded) were, Bergkamp aprt, the stars of that double team. The Vieira-Petit midfield, Overmars burning full backs for fun, and Anelka scoring when Wright got injured in January, were what transformed the team. Therefore, yes, I would happily call that double winning team the first of his great teams.

Compensation for the time spent training him. No sactions taken against the club or player, as no rules broken. A loophole in Spanish law exploited.

You bet your ass it was. And not a solitary rule broken.

So if Chelsea had won the league and/or the CL, would Mourinho or Avram Grant have won it? Bit harsh on Houllier that Benitez took all the credit for his side winning the Champions League in 2005, no?

But then in the case of, say, Reyes, whose deal could have cost 17 million, however, he left only 3 years n and therefore barely cost us half of that. Its therefore factually incorrect to say that Wenger paid £17million for him.

2005.

He's also won a long list of honours, has allowed the construction of the new stadium whilst maintaining our position in the top 4 consistently over his entire reign. He is well on his way to biulding his third great team. As we have discussed many times on here, he has decided to take the long term approach to achieving this, without spending Chelsea/Man U money.

And because i'm more than usually bored today, I used soccerbase.com to work out the past 10 years - they make Wenger's total outlay as Arsenal manager to be £183.6million, whilst recouping £139.67m over the same period. Thats a net spend of 44.02million, or 3.6m per year since he joined. I'd be surprised if any other manager came close to that, especially whilst maintaining the levels of success he has.

Whereas the scousers just seem to randomly throw numbers around as if playing bingo.

Three Premier League medals in there mate, all of which achieved in an unbeaten season.

Blimey, you guys like talking about Arsenal on here! Once again, I would draw attention to the some of the above prices as being the full and complete proce dependent on a player hitting all of the targets set. Some of the prices are, however, just plain wrong. Eduardo - 8million, not 12 Sagna - 6m Reyes - cost 8 million, which was just higher than we got back for him. Hleb looks about right. Walcott - Southampton settled at 8.5m as they needed the cash now rather than waiting. Rosicky was a proven international, i dont think anyone in their right minds would have described him as a 'find'. Adebayor, Toure, Sagna, Clichy, Flamini, Senderos, Denilson, Diaby are players I would describe as Wenger classics -= rough diamonds nicely polished (or in some cases still in need of some polishing).

Blimey, I dont believe in superstition, but booking a hotel room a year out before a draw has even been considered in that years competition....pushing it surely?? Besides, I'd almost certainly forget to cancel my booking after our inevitable QF defeat, and end up paying for the fecker.

I'm really stuck on the first one?????

say what now?

Johann Djorou seems well established in the squad, and can play right back fairly well.

I thought he only had one year on his contract? And I would also say his stock has cerainly fallen. He hinted at Birmingham that he could do something at a bigger club, and Liverpool paid for that potential. He has done very little in his time there to siggest he will ever be the player that people thought he might be. I dont see who's gonna pay 6m+ for him. His questionable attitude is also worth bearing in mind in terms of his desirability.

Are you not the fans who have most vehemently opposed the Chelsea way? If any manager could spend 20-30 million in each position, theres a very good chance he will find the winning formula. Unfortunately thats not realistic, so there has to be a combination of big names and shrewd signings that improve key areas without costing the earth.

I didnt mention prospects, I'm just bewildered by the common consensus around here that a player can't improve your team if he doesnt cost a million squillion pounds.

So would you rather spend all your money one one established star, or share it between 2-3 lesser known players?