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"There was another 'first' for Arsenal today..."

Sky Sports actually awarded the 'Man of the Match' champagne to the WHOLE TEAM.

Yes, we really are that good! :-)

I've always wanted to be a footballer and wouldn't mind getting paid £500. I think that if these foreigners in England wasn't here, then I would probably have a better chance.

I would even play for Kiiderminster, if given the chance.

I've just thought of something...

Arsenal, to me and many others, have always been seen as a rather boring and dull team, while they've have been succesfull at times.
Maybe it's because they've always been a team full-of hard-working players??

Ray Parlour's a great example of a 'good' English player.
He is very hard-working, I must admit. But he isn't the most skill-full and he is very far from being an Italian or Spaniard!

Beckham's the same, but his value is increased by his set-piece skill and accuracy from all-sorts of ranges. On the ball, he's nothing. He can't beat players all that well down the wing.
Giggs is a player who can beat them - and darn well too!
He'll also work hard in the big games, but he's still no Denílson when it comes to footwork - even if he is a great dribbler.

If our clubs were full-of hard-working 'dull' players like Parlour and the rest, the Premiership would just be a huge bore!
Foreigners bring style to the game.
And for some reason, today's managers seem to think you can beat style with even more style, rather than some plain old serious graft.

Ingenium Bartender wrote:
"In 5 years time, the england manager will be picking his squad from division 1."

You can also be he won't be an English Gaffer too after the impact of a foreigner in that Swede, Eriksson.

It is sad - but in defence of all the teams who buy foreign players, you have to look at it from the clubs' point of view.

As Neo says, English players always seem to be ridiculously expensive, both in terms of transfer fees and salary. And what are you getting? A player with - in most cases - half the ability and twice the hat size as a continental player.

It's a sad fact that English players, while they have the 'never give up' attitude, are usually lacking in any real skill or ability. Look at Ray Parlour at Arsenal - he will run and run and run, and you will never get anything but 100% from him. While I am a big fan of Parlour and wouldn't want to swap him for anyone, even I admit he is not the most talented midfielder. (Even though he has improved a lot due to the quality of players around him.)

You need people like Parlour in a team, because there is a tendency for many continental players' heads to drop when they're up against it. At times like that, the sheer desire and determination shown by the Parlour's in the game can and will lift the rest of the team.

At the end of the day, you need players who will win things for you. And you can get more of those with a £2.5m Pascal Cygan than a £30m Rio Ferdinand.

I think its to do with English players costing too much these days, Im happy Man Utd bought Rio Ferdinanad, but it cost them £30 mil to do so, only top clubs can afford them prices these days, However this aint always the case because there are a lot of young English players coming through who aren't getting the chances they deserve and are being replaced by foreigners and are having to move on to lower divisions to play their football, so I agree with what your saying.

I think it's sad that although we English like to think we have one of the best national teams in the world, we can't even populate our own clubs with local talent.

Pretty much the entire permiership is guilty of choosing foreign stars over english players.

In 5 years time, the england manager will be picking his squad from division 1.

Yes, we do seem to be on Chelsea's heels as the 2nd team to field 11 foreigners in a Premiership game.

Oh well... as long as we keep winning...

Arsenal: Seaman, Lauren, Campbell, Cygan, Cole, Toure (Luzhny 72), Vieira, Silva, Wiltord (Pennant 79), Henry, Kanu (Jeffers 88).

I'm sure they could stick some more foreigners in there somewhere.....

Sky Sports are just sucking up to them :D

But seriously, they are. It's seen as "cool" and "unique" if they do something like this, and it has the desired affect; people talking about it, posting in SR about it, etc :P