So you would take Otamendin at Chelsea. He would get no where the subs bench let alone the first team. You blame Pellegrini but Kompany has done fine in years before. I bet if they signed someone like Williams instead they would of been a lot better off. I agree Pelligrini doesn't help putting Toure in CM where my nan runs faster.

I hear everyone on the telly and media saying Arsenal need a forward for years now but he never signs one. He only signed Cech because Chelsea let Arsenal have him otherwise they would still have Ospina in goal. I wasn't talking about big signings anyway was I, I said when media etc say Arsenal need a certain player, normally in the January transfer window and he never signs one.

And Man Utd have signed and spent loads of money the last few years and still went out the group stages of the champions league.

Otamendi is a very good CB, you must not have watched him much at Valencia and when he plays for Argentina. Pellegrini's poor tactics and probably not having a grasp of the english game is making him look average. I believe he would be much much better under Pep next season.

We're saying same thing. Arsene has always believed his team is good enough, will only delve into the market when quality players become available. He's rumored to have a stubborn personality, no him not listening to tv ,media etc is no surprise.

£103,600,000 2015/2016

£145,500,000 2014/2015 ( Adidas/Chevrolet took effect)

£63,000,000 2013/2014 (Adidas/Chevrolet deals signed)

£63,000,000 2012/2013

£52,900,000 2011/2012

£27,200,000 2010/2011

£21,000,000 2009/2010

£35,750,000 2008/2009

£61,750,000 2007/2008

£18,600,000 2006/2007

£19,500,000 2005/2006

£27,200,000 2004/2005

This is Utd spending since Roman took over in '04 and Sheik in '08. The last two yrs have been when they have gone past 100million.

But the quality of the top teams has dropped even though Utd have spent loads of money, Arsenal have signed big players for big amounts of money (these players where not needed by there own clubs anymore) and City signing unproven players for the prem when there are good enough players in the prem.

Slightly off topic but is anyone else thinking that we could have been real contenders this year if Mourinho's hadn't thrown his toys out of the pram earlier in the season?

Yes. Its really annoying.

Thinking about it, the 'Golden Generation' thing that was thrown around a few years ago may have been absolutely correct. United lost Ronaldo, the class of'92 and even Ferdinand, Vidic and Rooney, Liverpool lost Gerrard, Carragher and Torres, we lost Lamps, Cole, Drogba and JT (soon) and Arsenal lost their bottle....and Henry, Vieira etc.

 

None of us have done a great job replacing these players and that might just be because they aren't being developed or aren't available and that suggests maybe it is cyclical. So does that mean Barcelona are going to suffer the same fate? They won't replace Messi in a few years because he is the greatest of his generation, but they seem to have moved on from Puyol and Xavi without missing a beat. They seem to have a knack for replacing or developing players almost yearly which is absolutely incredible.

 

Is the level of competition in the Premier League an impediment to us doing the same? Is the need for instant success an obstacle we can't overcome? Bear in mind Loftus-Cheek is the great hope for us, and he's got just 75 minutes in the league this season.

Various reasons IMO, talent is spread thinner, talent is not what it was and I honestly believe modern day footballers are to designed to play one position.

Although I am excited about the future as now everyone can splash the cash I think we're gonna see more home grown/youth products integrating into teams more than ever before.

I don't think it's just the Premier League that has lost quality, it is football in general. It wasn't that long ago that we were seeing world class players spread out across Europe and up and coming talents waiting to be found, we ain't seeing that anymore. In my opinion, it's only Barcelona that have exceptional talent across their team, all of the other top teams are quite evenly matched.

 

Look at the world class players we had 10-15 years ago compared to now, they were everywhere. 

 

Defenders - Terry, Gallas, Carvalho, Cole, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Nesta, Maldini, Zanetti, Lucio, Puyol, Roberto Carlos, Thuram, Evra, Desailly, Cafu

 

There isn't a defender in the game right now at the quality of most of these players at their best.

 

Midfielders / Wingers - Lampard, Ballack, Makelele, Essien, Ronaldo, Robben, Xavi, Deco, Pirlo, Gerrard, Zidane, Viera, Pires, Scholes, Seedorf, Iniesta, Keane, Figo, Zola, Nedved, Gattuso, Kaka, Giggs, Ronaldinho.

 

There is probably many i have missed but i don't see many midfielders at all that have reached the levels these players reached at their best.

 

Stikers - Drogba, Shevchenko, Henry, Villa, Torres, Eto'o, Van Nistelrooy, Vieri, Inzaghi, Trezeguet, Adriano, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Owen, Crespo, Del Piero

 

Again, you won't find many strikers coming through these days at the levels these players were when they were at their best.

 

The quality isn't as good anymore, i also think footballers are too similar these days. The list of players i have written above had tons of different qualities. To be classed as the best players these days you need to be the type of player that can dribble past players with quick feet and close control of the ball. I miss the strong strikers like Drogba, the deadly finishing of players like Henry, the movement of players like Shevchenko, the strong defending from players like Terry, Desailly and Cannavaro, the goal poachers like Van Nistelrooy and Inzaghi, the midfield goalscorers like Lampard, Ballack and Gerrard, and the geniuses with the football like Zidane and Ronaldinho.

 

Football today compared to 10-15 years ago is so scrappy. I can't remember the last Premier League game i watched that i thought was high in quality. We get entertaining games, but not many of them are high quality. I can't stand Barcelona but they are one of the only teams that you see true high quality football. They are well ahead of any team on the planet right now, this is because most of the best talent in the world is at that club, that would never have been the case 10 years ago. The talent was more spread out.

Slightly off topic but is anyone else thinking that we could have been real contenders this year if Mourinho's hadn't thrown his toys out of the pram earlier in the season?

100000%

In 2006. Me and 3 other mates religiously used to play Pro Evolution soccer tournaments every Friday picking 2 teams each out of:

Chelsea, Arsenal, Utd, Milan, Inter, Juve, Real & Barca.

All had quality players and the overall strength of those 8 were very similar.

Now it's just Barca Real and Bayern with a small pool of quality players.