- Jan 15, 2017
- 1,740
- 8,651
December 2003 - A run of defeats ending with a loss at home to Charlton meant we ended the calendar year in the bottom three. An absolute shambles of a squad left by Hoddle being managed by David Pleat featuring a complete lack of pace, players like Anderton, Poyet, Redknapp and Ziege all way past their prime and players like Doherty and Postiga were clearly nowhere near good enough. We only just avoided relegation this season and finished with literally half the number of points Arsenal did. But we did have Ledley King and Robbie Keane to build a team around. We added Jermain Defoe and Paul Robinson. We overhauled our management structure in 2004 with Arnesen and Jol and brought a fresh approach to the team. We then signed Michael Carrick, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and finally Edgar Davids, and suddenly we had a hungry young side, full of talented players with a couple of experienced heads to lead the way. Within two years of that disaster of a season we were competing for a Champions League place and would have even finished above that Arsenal side who doubled our points tally had we not eaten that dodgy lasagne.
October 2008 - Two points from eight games. We'd lost at home to Hull and Sunderland, and away to Middlesbrough and Stoke. We'd sold Berbatov, Keane and Defoe to replace them with Bent, Pavyluchenko and Frazier Campbell and had scored just five goals in those opening eight games. Out of our other new summer signings, David Bentley appeared to be an expensive showpony, Luka Modric looked too lightweight for English football and Heurelho Gomes was the laughing stock of the league. King couldn't stay fit. Dawson and Lennon on a major decline and not living up to their potential, nor was Bale who looked completely lost at left-back. Zokora, O'Hara, Hutton, Gunter - clearly nowhere near good enough. We'd been top five regulars for the last few seasons but now people thought we'd fucked it, and with Manchester City now becoming the next oil rich club our chances of getting back to where we were looked bleak. Then Redknapp came in and immediately our fortunes turned around - once he figured out how to get the best out of Modric, Lennon and Dawson and how to manage King's fitness, he brought back Keane and Defoe before adding a bit of steel to the midfield with Palacios and a bit of flair with Kranjcar. Finally, Bale then stepped up to the plate, and within two years - we were playing Champions League football for the first time.
March 2014 - After coming 4th, 5th, 4th in the previous three seasons, we'd fallen apart. Modric was gone. King was gone. Van Der Vaart was gone. Now even Bale was gone. And we'd spent the money on Paulinho, Capoue, Chiriches, Soldado and Chadli. Lamela couldn't even get onto subs bench, nobody knew where he was or what had happened to our record signing. We lost twice to Arsenal, 4-0 to Chelsea, 5-1 to Man City, 4-0 to Liverpool and 3-1 at home to Benfica in a short space of time - it felt like every single big game we got completely outclassed. Arsenal and Liverpool were rejuvenated and playing great football near the top of the league and we had Tim fucking Sherwood. Vertonghen and Lloris looked like they didn't want to be there. Rose and Walker looked like rabbits in the headlights. Lennon, Dawson, Kaboul and Sandro's careers were all nosediving. It didn't look good - even Everton were doing better than us and it felt like we needed an entirely new side. Then this awkward looking striker from our youth team started scoring goals and this young "out of his depth" manager at Southampton was brought in. He initiated a high pressing game, gave young players like Kane, Bentaleb and Mason a chance whilst developing Rose, Walker and Eriksen into some of the best players in the league. We then made a couple of subtle additions in Alli, Alderweireld, Son and Wanyama, and once again, within two years, we were better than ever before - challenging for the title for the first time in decades.
Levy has overseen three turnarounds from what looked like a position of no hope. Maybe he got lucky, that's a discussion for another day, but can it be done a fourth time? Are the raw materials there that, with the right manager, coaching and acquisitions, we could turn ourselves back into title challengers again within two years? What would need to happen and who do we need to build our team around? Even Mourinho himself said upon his appointment that he felt we could win the league next season. Bearing in mind the current football landscape and available budgets, is there a way back for us now?
October 2008 - Two points from eight games. We'd lost at home to Hull and Sunderland, and away to Middlesbrough and Stoke. We'd sold Berbatov, Keane and Defoe to replace them with Bent, Pavyluchenko and Frazier Campbell and had scored just five goals in those opening eight games. Out of our other new summer signings, David Bentley appeared to be an expensive showpony, Luka Modric looked too lightweight for English football and Heurelho Gomes was the laughing stock of the league. King couldn't stay fit. Dawson and Lennon on a major decline and not living up to their potential, nor was Bale who looked completely lost at left-back. Zokora, O'Hara, Hutton, Gunter - clearly nowhere near good enough. We'd been top five regulars for the last few seasons but now people thought we'd fucked it, and with Manchester City now becoming the next oil rich club our chances of getting back to where we were looked bleak. Then Redknapp came in and immediately our fortunes turned around - once he figured out how to get the best out of Modric, Lennon and Dawson and how to manage King's fitness, he brought back Keane and Defoe before adding a bit of steel to the midfield with Palacios and a bit of flair with Kranjcar. Finally, Bale then stepped up to the plate, and within two years - we were playing Champions League football for the first time.
March 2014 - After coming 4th, 5th, 4th in the previous three seasons, we'd fallen apart. Modric was gone. King was gone. Van Der Vaart was gone. Now even Bale was gone. And we'd spent the money on Paulinho, Capoue, Chiriches, Soldado and Chadli. Lamela couldn't even get onto subs bench, nobody knew where he was or what had happened to our record signing. We lost twice to Arsenal, 4-0 to Chelsea, 5-1 to Man City, 4-0 to Liverpool and 3-1 at home to Benfica in a short space of time - it felt like every single big game we got completely outclassed. Arsenal and Liverpool were rejuvenated and playing great football near the top of the league and we had Tim fucking Sherwood. Vertonghen and Lloris looked like they didn't want to be there. Rose and Walker looked like rabbits in the headlights. Lennon, Dawson, Kaboul and Sandro's careers were all nosediving. It didn't look good - even Everton were doing better than us and it felt like we needed an entirely new side. Then this awkward looking striker from our youth team started scoring goals and this young "out of his depth" manager at Southampton was brought in. He initiated a high pressing game, gave young players like Kane, Bentaleb and Mason a chance whilst developing Rose, Walker and Eriksen into some of the best players in the league. We then made a couple of subtle additions in Alli, Alderweireld, Son and Wanyama, and once again, within two years, we were better than ever before - challenging for the title for the first time in decades.
Levy has overseen three turnarounds from what looked like a position of no hope. Maybe he got lucky, that's a discussion for another day, but can it be done a fourth time? Are the raw materials there that, with the right manager, coaching and acquisitions, we could turn ourselves back into title challengers again within two years? What would need to happen and who do we need to build our team around? Even Mourinho himself said upon his appointment that he felt we could win the league next season. Bearing in mind the current football landscape and available budgets, is there a way back for us now?
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