Arsenal are at a dead end. We need to restart the system… by KM
Hello fellow bored-to-death Gooners. I will once again, though ever so rarely, share the sad truth about Arsenal and where we are heading with our suicide management. But first I’d like to talk about a club that dominates Europe in the past 10 years – Barcelona.
I am in the city on a summer vacation and I decided it would be worth seeing one of worlds most talented football clubs of all time and I regret nothing. The difference is just staggering. We are so far behind it’s ridiculous.
Their team is just sensational. Their philosophy of pressing is so good, if you don’t constantly move the ball, you’ll be closed down immediately. The defense starts from the attack and their attack is simply sensational.
Messi is just out of this world. His touch is like the ball is glued to his feet. The weight of his passes is so precise it just looks easy, but it isn’t. I’ve never seen such brilliant passes. I watched Ronaldo and Real Madrid live last year, but Messi is just brilliant, and more of a team player.
Neymar was missing due to the Olympic duties with Brazil but Suarez was here and he scored a hat-trick, including a brilliant free kick from over 30 yards. Just take a minute and think what could’ve been if we coughed 20 more million and actually bought him 2 years back…
Everything around Barcelona is based on success and breaths football. Ambition here is enormous. Anything but titles is not good enough. Fans would literally kill the players in their cars if they finished 7th said Iniesta in an interview after Mata spoke to him about how United fans applauded the team at the end of one season, despite finishing out of the European places.
Arsenal fans are divided among themselves about Arsene even though it’s clear he is dragging us backwards. He’s doing it since 2008 and still people couldn’t care less. If we finish 9th, people would still think he’s good… To finish the laughable comparison, there is one thing Arsenal have that’s better than Barcelona and that’s the stadium.
Which raises the question of whether it was worth leaving Highbury for the Emirates? Yes we have a lovely venue, but it hosts a team managed by a self destructing dictator. Worst is, the board does nothing to help. Ambition is something we are unable to implement, because we talk more about managing the books, than we do about buying players…
Unjted bought 4, City 5 or 6, Dortmund brought in 4 or 5, Bayern brought a few in, even Barcelona added more than 2. We will eventually pay the price of this and then the bad guy that I am, always being negative, will turn out to be right. The other big teams are not average anymore. United look a different beast, City do too and Chelsea also improved. We are becoming Liverpool #2. It’s harder to repair what’s broken, than it is to add to a platform, but Arsene and Silent Stan are like the two Sith lords of the empire, who are blind and will lead the empire to its destruction…
Look at the players expressions. No desire in their eyes. No fire… There is not a single new face to get excited about. At 35 Ibrahimovic is 10 times better than Giroud. The players no longer believe Arsene’s bull, because they’ve been long enough at the club to realise the truth. We are stuck with an owner whose basketball team is one of the worst in the USA… All he cares about is money and as long as Arsene delivers it’s all good. The fans couldn’t care less if we win titles or not. We accept anything coming our way and turbulent years are coming.
Arsenal is steadily turning average. Accept it if you want, but until the wheel breaks and Arsene, Ivan and silent Stan leave the club, this is how it’s going to be. Ozil and Sanchez will leave next year and we’ll struggle to bring in any good player. We allowed this to happen and we’ll reap what we sow. Last year was the time to protest loud and make our voices count. Instead against Norwich, when the whole stadium was supposed to explode, Arsene had more supporters than protesters…
Years of ignoring the truth are now going to pay their price. Enjoy it.
Konstantin
atleast we have the ambition of being top in the rich league
Arsenal aren’t a football club. They are a corporate business.
@rvp
AFC has been a business since 1893. Why you and a few gettin all butthurt about it now?
@NY_Gunner.
Do you derive pleasure from this stuff???? ?
@szhm
You do derive pleasure from being ignorant to facts? Or do you just avoid the ones that don’t fit your fake narrative?
Anyways, I’m never gonna be getting “butthurt” about anything Arsenal no more, ‘cos they don’t deserve it.
Until they do, then we can talk about it.?
For now I am adopting ur passive style approach. Cheers to a new beginning!! ?
NY_gunner is right, Arsenal has always been run like business… English clubs are killing football by overspending on average players. I want to ask everyone here. Have English team been half as successful as the German, Italian or Spanish teams in Europe? English teams spend big money buying crappy players while the bayern pay almost same amount to buy the best quality players. Personally, I agree with Wenger. It’s best you wait and buy the best quality that buy hyped average players. Even if I agree he should have signed players by now, I don’t agree with the stick he is getting. Whether we like it or not Wenger is right. Remember Tottenham spending 150mil on average players in one window? Or Liverpool, or Manu? Money doesn’t buy success
Bang on Konstantin.
When success is making a board happy and the books look good instead of what you achieve on the football field then you afc in big trouble.
The manager and board do not have the win at all costs mentality and therefore they will ensure that we dwindle as a football power at the expense of monetary gain.
That’s why Barcelona and other clubs are great. Everything is geared towards winning including investment and board and coach selection/removal (based on performance).
I told every one on this site that
bellerin is not the best rightback in the league and not yet barca quality.
Elneny coquelin xhaxa and monreal are only good squad players.
Mahrez and hazard are both better than Sanchez.
holdinh and chambers are too far away from being considered world class players.
Sanchez and Cazorla are B+ players.
When Sanchez was linked to bayern their fans said they don’t need him.
Every one was thumbing me down when I said that.
We had the referee to thank yesterday.
I feel you are just paranoid. The fact that you see highlights of hazard or mahrez doesn’t make them better than Sanchez. Bellerin and monreal are not average. Say the names of the better options in the league. The price of a player will never guarantee his quality. I miss the days when signing players was about price tags….
Good article. Totally agree. Barcelona will soon have a ground that is better than ours as well. They know how football should be played and will not sacifice that for anything. Their attitude towards winning titles and trophies is second to none and is drilled into every played right through the club from youth to 1st team and new arrivals are brought up to speed quickly, if they don’t follow or adjust then they are quickly shipped out again. This is the way it should be at Arsenal but we have to understand that we play a much faster brand of football in England and so the passing game is more difficult to constantly produce when we only have mainly average players.
@big g
Not hard to be top team in a 3 team league…
is if your aim is 4th place!!!!!
@NY_Gunner – Not hard to be top team in a 3 team league… but it’s a lot harder to be top team in Europe every year.
NY_Gunner, every-time I read your comments I wonder what time of s**t you smoke! delusional fans like you are the reason for our decline as a club. No other club in the world can charge the highest ticket prices on earth then complain about the prices of top-quality players. especially not when their manager gets one of the highest salaries in the world. this is called daring hypocrisy and only delusional fans would accept it.
@tayyeb
So, because I don’t agree with you and a good part of the posters here. That means I’m be smokin something or must be delusional.
You seem more delusional, if you can’t understand that your opinion is not gospel. Get off the internet dude. Real time will show you how reality works…
@NY_Gunner
Mate, we all here love Arsenal FC and want our team to be successful. However, you and some fellow fans seem to fail to distinguish between Arsenal FC and Arsen FC. success in football is demonstrated first and foremost by trophies. Are you satisfied with what AFC has achieved in the last 20 years? and when you link Barcelona’s success to the weakness of their league how do you explain their success in Europe? and how do explain why they knock us out everytime we play them? how do you explain the fact that our best two players are the rejects of Barca and Madrid? and most importantly, if their league is an easy ride then why do they spend a lot of money to get the best players in the world? will their fans accept selling their best players everyyear and buying the like of Welbeck and Flamini? now if you cant see the point we are making here then stop following football and try the Stock market 🙂
We are 7 to 8 world class players away from glory.
The players we have at the present are not good enough.
They should be on the bench and should not be relied upon.
Only reliable coming on as substitutes and playing just a few games
Barcelona is owned by the fans for the benefit of the fans.
Arsenal is owned by a businessman who is not a fan and is involved to make money. Fans are customers who are very loyal to the “brand”.
@jonm
AFC has been owned by businessmen since1893. And despite the fans owning stakes in FCB, they’re still run by corporate businessmen…
we are learning the hard way that there are differences in corporate culture …. and a privately owned football club is a very different proposition than a private business that provides a football service
@rkw
They’re both one and the same…
dont tell me you have an MBA … learning the hard way
As I understand it, at barcelona the president has huge influence over hiring of the coach, ticket prices, transfers etc. The president is elected by the socios. There are about 60 000 socios or fans.
it may be the case that barcelona is run by corporate businessmen but it seems to me that the fans can change the top man at barcelona, we cannot change kroenke.
I tell you km that not even simeone wouod win the league with this squad.
Maybe Ferguson but very few managers out there would.
This squad is only capable of making top 4 and play some tikitaka crap.
But to win titles no not at all.
We are definitely a shadow of the Invincibles or the team we aspire to be. I can not wait for the season to be over already because l don’t see us getting even in the top four.
I am however looking forward to be humiliated by Man U, l want Zlatan to score and Mourinho to taunt Wenger. I foresee a great revolt from the Arsenal fans if this is to happen. I personally don’t see us getting points from either Man U, Man City or Chelsea this season and they’re already 5 points. Despite their loss, Liverpool look sharper than us, Tottenham is grinding the results. What’s the worst that could happen?
@zimbo
WoW!!!
When a supposed fan comes out and gleefully states that he wants his team to be humiliated. Then goes on to praise every other team but his, only reveals a troll in the midst…
Zimbo I am going to bookmark this – and am looking forward to YOU being humiliated when Arsenal beat Man United, Chelsea and City this season and I repost your comment as an example of a plastic glory hunting “supporter”
@Admin and NY_Gunner, l love my team to bits but l am also a realist. Do you honestly believe that with the current squad we can stand up to Man U or Man City with the way they are playing now? l want transformation in our club and if it means that the transformation will come by us being humiliated at Old Trafford then l will take that any day. Its going to take a lot more than us protesting at matches or boycotting matches for Wenger and the board to realize how frustrated we are as the fans and that the club is moving backward. If you have better ideas to knock some sense into Wengers’ head please share….
Sorry but I still want Arsenal to win! Would you not prefer to see Mourinho exposed as a mercenary that can only win titles by spending billions in the transfer window?
It didn’t work for Van Gaal in the slightest and I want to see Mourinho to fail even more.
I reiterate. I NEVER want to see Arsenal lose.
So, by your own logic, if Wenger DOES beat Mourinho, the club is progressing and we wouldn’t have any need for protests?
@Admin
Thank You
l also want Arsenal to win but l just don’t see it happening. l would love Mourinho to be exposed and or humiliated for the fraud that he is. If it so happens that we beat Man U, City and Chelsea then Wenger would have proved us (All those that want him to strengthen our squad) wrong and l don’t see the need for protests. If we beat Man U, the majority of fans will back Wenger. l can take you up on that and l will remind you on that day.
And for the last time its not like l want us to loose to just any team, l just think that if Mourinho was to taunt Wenger he will want to take some action. l am more fore transformation than anything else.
Well, if that is why you want us to lose then you are wasting your time. Whatever the result against ANY team this season will have absolutely no effect on the board. Wenger will be here until the end of the season, and only he will decide if its time for him to leave or not. Whether we like it or not, it is a fact of life!
I have watched the Man Utd and Man City games and believe me those 2 teams are nothing special. Their opponents simply seemed to be taken over by some sort of fear factor because they froze on the day as if totally overawed by a few big names (as you seem to be) and did not play to their normal standards. When they start playing teams with guts who do not let the novelty of such as Ibra and Pogba stifle their play they will find it a lot tougher.
I like Walcott, but to be honest, he does not deserve to start games. He should be used as a sub. Campbell is sharper, more determined and keeps the ball better – he should be getting a place in the starting lineup instead of Walcott.
Arsenal are not average.
Arsenal is the King of top 4.
In 2004 Wenger became God of the EPL.
In 2005/6 Mourinho destroyed God.
Wenger’s response was to retreat into a world of his own claiming
that the EPL winners were heathens and he was above such rabble.
Ferguson’s response was to destroy Morurinho and God 3 seasons in a row.
After that Ancelotti Ferguson Mancini Ferguson
Pelegrini Mourinho Ranieri played God too.
But Wenger never became God of the EPL again.
He lost the will to fight and instead collected a huge pile of deadwood.
In 2009 new owner Kroenke invited Wenger to become the God of Top 4.
Wenger accepted with alacrity glowing when Kroenke
assured him that “top 4 is the greatest trophy”.
Kroenke rewarded Wenger with a job for a life and a 7 mill salary.
As was quoted on JA recently, “Arsenal over the last decade can be seen in 2 ways”.
1. Kroenke and Wenger are heroes for keeping Arsenal in the top 4.
2. Kroenke and Wenger are greedy cowards for not competing for the title.
game no.38 when are u coming so that Wenger leaves. I used to want to forward days so I can see my beloved club play but nowadays, I just want to rewind to the days we striked fear on opposition teams…
and don’t be surprised if we go down the path of AC Milan or Liverpool but at least those two won the champions league
Very good article. It is so true. When we finished second to Barcelona in the Champions League some years ago, the ambition should naturally have been to catch them. In stead we moved backwards. Last year we were second in the PL, and the natural ambition should have been to make a clear plan to become no. 1. But what we are seeing in stead is a joke. The comparison to Liverpool is spot on.
After this endless debate, I finally have a new perception about this whole club saga. What if the problem with Arsenal is us, the fans? Have you guys ever thought about it that way? Clearly, Arsenal is not run like any other top club we know and Wenger, Hill-Wood, Gazidis and Kroenke have been telling us this for years. Arsenal is like that pet dog that has been domesticated and sold to new owners. It looks like a hunting dog but refuses to hunt. The new owners are furious as hell but their beloved dog just stays home calmly and refuses to be anything other than a pet. Are we Arsenal fans guilty of trying to convert Arsenal into the ambitious, trophy chasing club it refuses to be? I think it is worth looking into. This club won’t change and neither will the fans. Perhaps we need to turn our attention elsewhere. Honestly. This no longer makes sense and I fear for Wenger’s life. Sooner or later a passionate fan might try to hurt him and probably succeed. Fan anger has boiled over big time and we are in dangerous territory now.
Uche,
Wonderful perspective right there -one which I am seriously considering at the moment!!
It starts with every fan. If the club won’t change for the fans, then the fans must change for the club for the good of our lives/health.
@uche edochie
Sad state of affairs, when someone is willing to go to such lengths for something that is not his…
@ Uche, yes we the fans are guilty of wanting Arsenal to be ambitious and chase trophies and why shouldn’t we when we pay the highest prices and paid for a new stadium. I wouldn’t however want Wenger or Kroenke or anyone else for that matter to die at the hands of an irate fan although natural causes is something we can all hope for as far as Kroenke is concerned. Hii-Wood should keep quiet as he is nothing compared to his family’s chain of rule before him.
No guys that’s waaaay over da limit 🙂
I just can’t comprehend why AW/the board/whoever is responsible, refuse to bring in new recruits?!! Every other team in the world does, we are the only team (probably in history) to bring in 1 player (a keeper at that) during a whole transfer window! Now we’re pretty much doing the same thing lol only brought in Xhaka so far, it’s ridiculous! If we end up with 1 or 2 more guys then maybe we will be able to get excited and hope that we are actually showing ambition (to an extent).
Let’s also hope that Holding, Chambers, Iwobi all for a Bellerin this year. Ox appears lively, let’s also hope he steps up and fulfils his potential as well. One can hope!