Former Arsenal defender Frank McLintock has slammed Arsene Wenger’s recent transfer business, and compared his signings to that of his earlier years.
The Gunners have fallen swiftly out the title race this season, and are in danger of missing out on the top four for the first time in two decades.
Arsene Wenger is now being blamed for our recent failures, citing the manager’s transfer activity as reason for our fall from grace.
“When I look at some of the buys like Calum Chambers, Shkodran Mustafi, Gabriel Paulista and Granit Xhaka, they’re all decent players,” McLintock said.
“I’m not trying to knock them too much – but they are certainly not the standard that you would expect Arsenal to go for.
“When we first learned they would move from Highbury to the Emirates we were told it was so the club could compete with the best teams in the world.
“But they’re miles away from that. It’s just a fallacy.
“It looks like a business organisation, they’re going to get a lot more money out of it, don’t rock the boat too much.
“They’ve spent decent money in the last two seasons, but the buys have been very poor.
“When I used to watch Arsenal when Wenger first came, the team was fantastic.
“He started with six or seven terrific players and he added to it with [Mark] Overmars and [Thierry] Henry – I could go on and on.
“He did that for 10 years and then they moved the stadium. He was limited then in what he could do but he still kept us in the top four.
“You have to give him huge credit for that – but in the last three years when the money has been there, it’s not been good enough.”
Football has changed in a big way from when Wenger first took over the role, with Alan Shearer being the world’s most expensive football at £15 Million back then. That fee is regularly usurped nowadays, and the world record now sites at around six-times that figure.
Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi are being questioned here, but to be fair, they have shown glimpses of their talent, and the defender’s immediate arrival started a long unbeaten run.
The reality is that many of our problems in the market is the amount of strong rivals coming in for players, with as many as six clubs vying to win the Premier League this term, all with money to splash.
Is Mclintock completely right on his opinion? Do some allowances need to be made? Will Xhaka and Mustafi prove to be top players?
Pat J
lts not the players he brought in lts the tactics are of no use these days everyone and his dog know how to get round them outdated tactics and thats what needs to change otherwisw we will have the WBA of this world looking like barcelona breaking on us like were a sunday league team.
Shkodran Mustafi has been very good i think the defence has a lot to deal with over tactics so its not to bad for him Xhaka is different but its there 1st season so i expect much better next season.
So when they say there will be overhaul i hope tactics are one of the things changed tho by the way Wenger is trying to use different tactics like against Lfool even tho that didnt work least its a change and now he knows that wont work in games like that.
Bottom line if we become hard to beat our top players will always get us a chance or 2.
He maybe didn’t the past one: Xhaka will come good next season and has shown what he can do when given opportunity. Not only that Mustafi was having a great season until his injury can expect more from him and for Perez not exactly what we expected but when given a chance he either scored or assisted.
Where I will agree is that with Arsenal ressources we should do our dealings sooner…before pre-season anyone? But also be proactive and not wait for injuries to occur and go out and do deals (aka Mustafi) so much so that it becomes an urgency where more money has to be forked out!
Finally, some dealings sooner and in the same window. Ozil, Sanchez & Cech could’ve arrived in the same window for example that could’ve been an opportunity. As well because of all those failings (aka Suarez) we are one of those team that has a 1st XI of what could’ve been and as you may have guessed with a team like that we would’ve probably won too many trophies to count.
He has a point of course. The players he used to go for are night and day compared to every player he has gone for over the past five to six seasons except for Alexis. I think Bellerin will be up there with Lauren and Cole maybe not quite as tops but closely matched none the less. Koscielny could play in a Chelsea or an Atletico team and they’d be even stronger for it. Those two are still night and day when we talk about what made the old team so strong, the character and professionalism throughout. Xhaka I am hoping will be like that of old, he is strong minded and in time he may become a real talker. I liked a description of him someone in here said, they said he’s not a bully but nor can he be bullied, he holds his ground, that was a good also fair description. If he can start trimming the fat of this team and targets a few of the right types to mix with the better players of this team, I think some of us may be surprised by a few players. The truth is do, we are talking about a whole squad here, and yet I had to put a fair bit of thought into mentioning a few comments on only four current players. That in itself tells a tale.
I believe we have a strong team, the signings were good. The only problem is our tactics at tyms. If you give this same squad to another coach we can see some trophies trickling in at Emirates. The inconsistency of some Arsenal players like Walcot, Ramsey, Oxlade etc have let the coach down on several occasions.. looking at Cocqoulin’s previous season and his current form u can see what i am trying to say, we all thot we had his position covered only to be shocked by his form of late.
Not every body can come in and take the league by storm like Alexis. I think Xhaka in a few seasons will look like a great buy. I don’t know why he bought Perez if he had no intention off playing him, personally i think he is a great player and has looked great in the games he has played. Mustafi will come good as well he was awesome before his injury. I think we have the squad to win the league and go deep into the CL with 2 or 3 additions in the summer . Rodriguez or Jose Gaya left back Idrissa Gueye , Leon Goretzka or Bakayoko in midfield and Lacazette up top and we can win everything.
Even Naby Keita in the middle would be good
Obviously with Allegri or Sampali as manager. I forgot to say that in my last comment.
#WENGER OUT #NO NEQ CONTRACT