I find this hilarious, I just clarified that I had said that I never said ManU were reckless spenders yet you claim I said it once again. ManU are much bigger spenders than Arsenal because a)they're a much bigger club with a much, much broader global fanbase, and b)they didn't build a new stadium. Two totally different clubs and situations. ManCity and Chelsea simply are built on loads foreign money (basically FMRTE). Liverpool has also had a good deal too and now with KD at the helm and the good feelings there right now they'll definitely get top four. Simply tough luck for Arsenal.
My point is that ManU is a much bigger club with a much larger revenue stream and they're not paying off debt for a new stadium. They can afford to be much bigger spenders. Arsenal shouldn't be expected to compete with them, until they pay off their debts and change their transfer policy their goal is top 4 and competing in all competitions. Should have won trophies last year but things went wrong and then they got rid of too many players this transfer window. We'll see if they make up for it.
I really think you're overestimating Arsenal's financial situation. Why else is Wenger so cheap? For the principal of it? Do you guys think he likes working on a lower transfer budget than other teams, having to constantly sell his best players? I trust his and the board's assessment of their financial situation more than ours. If they think they can afford to spend they will. If not, they won't.
Oh and as far as Plan B goes, they could have bunkered down and defended deep like other teams and kept the score reasonably close. This is what ****** me off about the reaction to the game. They had no chance going in to the game but at least they went out attacking. They were losing and rather than simply cut their losses and go for a respectable loss they went out attacking. But after it was 4-1 and they took of Coquelin they were absolutely screwed and they simply gave up, which allowed ManU to run up the score. They scored two goals and missed a penalty and had a lot of shots. They just left themselves wide open in their attacking. In retrospect they should have simply played not to lose by too much and kept the score to 2 or 3 goals, that way the media couldn't have roasted them so much. The real impact of this of course is psychological. Can the players recover? Are they confident enough in the team to win consistently? I think their starting XI is very good, good enough to finish in the top 4, but they have no depth and if they don't make some buys they'll probably slip out of the top 4. It's just near impossible to compete with the spending of the other big 4 right now.
Yet he did that most of last season and did a decent job at it. One awful game doesn't mean he's useless. Traore was even worse and I'd much rather have Djorou than Traore actually starting games for them.
And what happens when Song and Frimpong and Diaby aren't available, like today? They're absolutely screwed. Diaby isn't very good defensively and Wilshere definitely isn't a DM (and he needs to rotate playing the CAM with Ramsey). They need a DM and an LB desperately.