FA Cup: Arsenal v Watford - 13/3/16, 13:30 - BT Sport

[Iceko]

on the team news…
We had a few injuries at Hull - Gabriel, Mertesacker and Ramsey. Mertesacker and Gabriel are very positive, there is nothing wrong there, they are both good.

on Ramsey…
There is a small alert, we don’t know how bad it is.

on Laurent Koscielny…
He is not far, he will have tests until Sunday, but it could come too soon. He has a little chance.

on Cech, Wilshere, Cazorla…
They are all progressing nicely, but this week and next week they have no chance.

 

[RandyMarsh]

Pretty good news in all fairness. Was expecting worse, especially about the CB's.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

Perhaps we need a change of song that we walk out to. Difficult to imagine a limp performance after this.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

Then again it would be the perfect selection for Stoke.

 

[alboots101]

I'm actually looking forward to this as I'm interested to see
A; How the players react.
B; who Arsène Wenger picks.
C; how the fans react.
D; what bollox the group of four in the commentary box say.

 

[Lancelot]

REDaction Gooners ‏@REDactionAFC 7h7 hours ago
So (and I can't say this enough) we SUPPORT THE TEAM, NOT THE REGIME.


REDaction Gooners ‏@REDactionAFC 7h7 hours ago
On the opt out - a boycott has an incredible effect, and there will never be a better time than now (given short notice to resell tickets).

Discuss :bounce:

After reading your post somehow I was fairly urged to find out more about our ticket price development through the years because I truly feel sorry that a lot of UK-based fans have to pay obnoxious amount of money to watch us play.

After digging around a bit, I stumbled upon this article that has comprehensive info on the history of our ticket price and, f**k me, maybe we weren't getting enough player in because we've hit the ceiling on the players' wages after all.

Part of me wants to take back some of the criticisms I made, but Wenger's faith in some of the underperforming players who are being paid like galácticos and in some who are being paid to enjoy afternoon tea in the physioroom might just be the actual cause of his failings and that is still failure all the same.

To touch a bit more on the subject of boycott I suppose if it is done because you no longer believe that you get what you paid for then I think that they have the right to do it, although with the level of impact it will actually make towards our bigger financial picture, it's highly doubtful that the owners would even budge.

Credit - thearsenalhistory.com & Andy Kelly

 

[US_Gooner]

After reading your post somehow I was fairly urged to find out more about our ticket price development through the years because I truly feel sorry that a lot of UK-based fans have to pay obnoxious amount of money to watch us play.

After digging around a bit, I stumbled upon this article that has comprehensive info on the history of our ticket price and, f**k me, maybe we weren't getting enough player in because we've hit the ceiling on the players' wages after all.

Part of me wants to take back some of the criticisms I made, but Wenger's faith in some of the underperforming players who are being paid like galácticos and in some who are being paid to enjoy afternoon tea in the physioroom might just be the actual cause of his failings and that is still failure all the same.

To touch a bit more on the subject of boycott I suppose if it is done because you no longer believe that the you get what you paid for then I think that they have the right to do it, although with the level of impact it will actually make towards our bigger financial picture, it's highly doubtful that the owners would even budge.

Credit - thearsenalhistory.com & Andy Kelly

Thanks for that; I had been looking for info on historical tix prices but without much luck.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Our wages are a big issue nowadays. They've ballooned from £166M to £190M in the past year - a 16% increase.

Our average wage growth per year from 2011 has been 12% - that's incredible to me considering the little success we've had.

Our wage bill is now thereabouts to Chelsea's who were last season's Champions. We have too much dross or over the hill players on fat salaries.

 

[Iceko]

Its true. And then we read about Wilshere getting a wage bump. Ridiculous. He should get a decrease until he maintains full fitness. Give that extra wage to Özil and Sanchez because if we dont win something big we're losing them to other clubs who're willing to pay them whatever they want.

 

[alboots101]

I don't like Watford, never have really, bar one brief moment when they beat Manu at the old toilet back in the late seventies. They'll come and try and stifle us or "get in our faces" as the pundicks like to say and then hit us on the break. Our opponents are as predictable as we are.
I'd really like to smash 'em but I think an odd goal might win this one.

The thought of Flamini and Elneny as our central midfield worries me a bit. Hopefully Elneny will continue his progression in this game and Alexis gets his goal..........fingers crossed.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

The thing with wages is that high wage bills correlate very strongly with success. The teams that pay their players the most end up being the most successful over time (one year wonders such as Leicester notwithstanding).

Of course, the reason for this is not that players play better when they are paid more, but that better players will join and remain on your team if you offer them more money.

So we do have to pay big wages if we want success, but we have to make sure we are using them to attract and keep top players, not over pay players who aren't good enough for how much they are making.

 

[Highbury Rock City]

Discuss :bounce:

I think it's really scary and extraordinary that you have to come up with ways to "beat the system" to protest against the board. This modern times, yeesch. Anyway, good on them Redaction Gooners! It's couraging that someone's starting to pull up their sleeves and takes a stand against this madness.

 

[Nyctophobia]

Come on, let's get on a roll now!

 

[Gooner Zig]

The thing with wages is that high wage bills correlate very strongly with success. The teams that pay their players the most end up being the most successful over time (one year wonders such as Leicester notwithstanding).

Of course, the reason for this is not that players play better when they are paid more, but that better players will join and remain on your team if you offer them more money.

So we do have to pay big wages if we want success, but we have to make sure we are using them to attract and keep top players, not over pay players who aren't good enough for how much they are making.

@blaze_of_glory

Yep - that's precisely my point. Our wage bill has increased by 34% since 2012 (£143M - 2012 -> £192M - 2015)...we've won two FA Cups in this period but have never truly challenged for the Premier League - it's just not good enough for the outlay.

We've added 3 WC players since 2012 -> Özil, Alexis and Cech, if you take into account that Cech's wages aren't factored into the £192M, it's startling how over-paid our squad is.

We've got a raft of senior players who are on far too much money for what they contribute on the pitch. It's madness that they're kept here sucking up wages. I know for a fact Gazidis has mentioned that Arsenal always look to keep our wage bill just slightly below 60% turnover (we hover around 55-56% for the past 3 years) which just reinforces my belief that we pay players based on a seniority structure in combination with talent/output.

Theo at £140K makes me want to vomit.

 

[SuperGoon]

The one time I'm actually looking forward to international break. Need a few key players back.

 

[bojed]

1-0 to us.
Ospina.

 

[Bould14]

Our wages are a big issue nowadays. They've ballooned from £166M to £190M in the past year - a 16% increase.

Our average wage growth per year from 2011 has been 12% - that's incredible to me considering the little success we've had.

Our wage bill is now thereabouts to Chelsea's who were last season's Champions. We have too much dross or over the hill players on fat salaries.

Wenger gives out contracts like candy. He's only tight ass as he wants to be.

 

[Gooner n Proud]

@blaze_of_glory

Yep - that's precisely my point. Our wage bill has increased by 34% since 2012 (£143M - 2012 -> £192M - 2015)...we've won two FA Cups in this period but have never truly challenged for the Premier League - it's just not good enough for the outlay.

We've added 3 WC players since 2012 -> Özil, Alexis and Cech, if you take into account that Cech's wages aren't factored into the £192M, it's startling how over-paid our squad is.

We've got a raft of senior players who are on far too much money for what they contribute on the pitch. It's madness that they're kept here sucking up wages. I know for a fact Gazidis has mentioned that Arsenal always look to keep our wage bill just slightly below 60% turnover (we hover around 55-56% for the past 3 years) which just reinforces my belief that we pay players based on a seniority structure in combination with talent/output.

Theo at £140K makes me want to vomit.

I dont think the team not sustaining a serious league challenge is linked with the talent of the squad, its just injuries have let us down. In 2014/2015 we had the 2nd highest injury frequency Chelsea had the lowest and the season before we had a higher injury frequency above everyones whilst the eventual champions City had the lowest average amount of injuries.

 

[alboots101]

I dont think the team not sustaining a serious league challenge is linked with the talent of the squad, its just injuries have let us down. In 2014/2015 we had the 2nd highest injury frequency Chelsea had the lowest and the season before we had a higher injury frequency above everyones whilst the eventual champions City had the lowest average amount of injuries.

Nothing new then!

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

It simply goes to show what damage injury prone players can deal to you. I wouldn't complain about injuries, knowing that in 9/10 cases, it's always the usual suspects that suffer from them.