The only approach left is to sign young, develop, and resist the overtures of the bigger clubs. It seems to get tougher as the number of super-rich continues to increase, both in our league and abroad.

But I don’t think we’re a million miles off – we need to imitate Barca’s work ethic though. Credit to the players for never giving in, but Barcelona are in a league of their own because they are a ferocity of team spirit to individual talent. That’s pretty rare.

Agreed on Eduardo and Vela, and a shame in both cases.

In the first game Song essentially marked Messi out of the game; he had his moments but for the most part Song was very effective. Without him Messi was able to roam much more freely and we paid for that. I think we would have been able to hold that lead and perhaps add to it if Song had been healthy, he was definitely the man we missed the most, in my opinion.

We obviously missed our Captain as well; missed his heart and desire and leadership.

It looks like Arsene is now willing to shell out the cash to bring in some developed talent to support our large cast of developing talent. If we buy wisely this summer and can avoid the injury bug this team can truly rival the Barcelonas and ManUres of the world in the coming years, and for a long time to come because the system is in place and will keep pumping out the talent.

Let’s crush Sp*rs and knock them out of contention for Champs league!!

Keep the Faith

Diaby has come on this season, Denilson recently too.

It’s strange – the press, and bloggers, keep banging on about the lack of experience, yet for me it is our most experienced players that are often those at fault. The ones we are seeing as our future are developing nicely (granted that, as you say, some still lack positional discipline and responsibility).

Whilst we continue to have wide midfield players allowing opposing fullbacks to go past them and having a reliance on Song as the only defensive midfield option, we will always be ripe for picking by a tactically astute manager.

Arsene seems to have the right idea in developing a unity between the players by growing them together but as it stands it just doesn’t look like they all understand what is expected of them.

It also increases the likelihood that players want to leave. It wouldn’t of gone unnoticed that Clichy and Nasri both vented their frustration at other players when their efforts to close down weren’t matched. And that’s not even taking into account the likes of Arshavin and Cesc who are both in demand and will be desperate to add some silverware to their collection.

The only approach left is to sign young, develop, and resist the overtures of the bigger clubs. It seems to get tougher as the number of super-rich continues to increase, both in our league and abroad.

But I don’t think we’re a million miles off – we need to imitate Barca’s work ethic though. Credit to the players for never giving in, but Barcelona are in a league of their own because they are a ferocity of team spirit to individual talent. That’s pretty rare.

Agreed on Eduardo and Vela, and a shame in both cases.