I think part of the problem we have is that we have difficulty attracting top players.
In the 80's we were the club players wanted to play for.
Now there's United and City and Chelsea pay big money.
Also if you are a young player you would go to Arsenal every time because you know you will get a chance there.
I think we were in for Young but he made it clear he was going to United. The next logical choice was Downing without the benefit of hindsight.
Sure mistakes have been made, but we are restricted in our choice of target now and that was never a problem when we were in the ascendancy.