You read it in football columns and on sports talk shows, “It’s all about silverware”, “Arsenal are under pressure having not won anything for 5 years”. You’ve heard it, and you might even believe it, but the fact is, its wrong. Plain and simple, Rafa Benitez’s early success has papered over his gross negligence in the transfer market, and has blinded fans and pundits to his lack of long-term vision for Liverpool. What puts clubs under real pressure isn't the lack of silverware, so much as the lack of financial discipline, ballooning debts and poor transfer market decisions.

Trophies are only worth winning if your club will be around long enough to defend them. In the same timeframe as Liverpool won two trophies, Arsenal have ramped-up their academy, moved into one of the finest stadiums in Europe, maintained their financial independence, packaged their debt into a sustainable model, and became a modern super-club.