Colossal number of empty seats said everything about how we feel. by Konstantin Mitov
They say “silence can tell more than a thousand words” and it certainly has with our attendance for the Sunderland game. People are frustrated, sick and tired. A manager who is so past it, he should only be mentioned in history books is still the main man and he’s the man for the future too.
Pathetic and embarrassing are the only 2 words I can think of the situation. Missing the top 4 means the kind of signings we will make are unlikely to meet our expectations too. Honestly I am really tired of talking about this, but there is no real point of talking about games.
We have 72 points this season, one more than last when we finished second! This should tell you something about how we’ve not improved at all, but other teams around us have. It’s really depressing to hear Arsene speak about teams on vacation, when his victories against Southampton and Stoke and United came under the same circumstances.
Had Arsene done his job properly, we wouldn’t be here. He needs to be sacked. If he remains, don’t tell me I didn’t say what will happen. The way he deflects the bad results from him is the same way Mourinho did it at Chelsea, when he blamed doctors, refs, the pitch and everything but himself. Things are dead now, we need to move on.
Pep said, that Barca or Bayern would’ve sacked him with a season like the one he’s having at City. This is what ambition looks like, but here it’s Arsene FC. It’s not about the FA cup, not about the fans, not about the title or the top 4, it’s all Arsene. This club will only ever start to exist, once he is gone.
I agree with you on Wenger’s departure but it will make no sense if the squad is not cleaned of the deadwood players. Also new ambition has to be shown by the board in recruiting a world class replacement with new ideas and technical prowess during the games. The new man at the helm has to also be supported by the board during the transfer window to get us quality signings that will bring our hope and trust back to the stadium every fixtures. Lastly, I hope our Russian sultan is allowed a place on the board decision committee as he seems more passionate about the club than the Silent Stan. COYG
Wenger sadly already came out public saying this squad doesn’t need an overhaul and is big enough. Sound familiar? Stop dreaming about the deadwood being sold and replaced and start expecting a season full of Giroud, Ramsey, and Theo none of whom would even come off the bench for any of the top 6 teams.
Bright spot? Santi will be like a new signing for as long as he stays healthy.
I know that you are trying to manage your expectations but believe me every one with love for this club knows Thursday Ladies’ night football is not good enough for us. That alone gives me hope that things might be a little different in the forthcoming transfer window. The only concern is if our shirt 11 and shirt 7 find it good enough to stay plus the fact that a number of stars might find CL football a priority hence not joining us.
+1
True that. But it’s also the expectations that are set from the board. I don’t think they expect more than 75 points per season. And in that Wenger has been really consistent.
Encouraging thing is that the vacant seats are something that the lizardmen from the board might take into account when considering making Arsenal into a top 5 club. Because next season will prove that you can still make a lot of money with even less risk and lower wages, due to having no top players (yes I’m beyond sure Sanchez and Ozil will move out).
Good show of solidarity, fans having paid for seats and then not going. Will it have an effect? Who knows. Ok they still get the revenue for the seats but with 15-20,000 less fans in the stadium, revenue on food, drink and merchandise will be reduced. I don’t think that will bother Stan that much as he’s not really interested in taking a lot of money out of the club (taking 3 million a year when we have 200 million in cash is peanuts) as his shares have doubled in value since buying them. If the sponsors start getting itchy feet and the bad press both have an effect on the share value, then he will get worried and may do something about it. But he’s in this for the long term (like any serious investor in stocks and shares) and will only bale if the share price drops dramatically which I can’t really see happening. To be fair he has backed Wenger with cash for transfers but Wenger needs to be replaced with someone who will actually spend it!
Lets see how many of them give up the Everton seats. It should be a better game and people will be tuning into other games. I’d like if similar happened because I reckon at the least we would try harder in the transfer market come the window.
I did like Alexis sticking up for Wenger all the same and telling supporters off, I read that as a positive sign. He then said the ball is in our court, I think he’s willing to stay for another season but also willing to be sold.
Everton game will be full.
The football tourists and day trippers using non visiting season ticket holders tickets will come for a jolly old day and to take selfies in their half and half scarves.
Will be interesting to see how those who stay behind react to the AFC teams lap of ‘honour’!!
Stay tuned!!;)
Wenger said that no one turned up because they expected Arsenal to beat Sunderland. If we were a top club winning titles then fans would stop turning up because they expected Arsenal to win.
Wenger is a genius – he has made Arsenal mediocre so that fans don’t expect us to win and turn up. It’s money in the bank.
Why protest at the last min and when we are in crisis?
Where are the big protest for the last 7 years?
Where are the big protest to demand deadwoods to be sold and quality signings needed?
It is the fans fault for such failures…
This mega protest should be done at least 7 years ago
“Pep said, that Barca or Bayern would’ve sacked him with a season like the one he’s having at City. ”
Pep has stated all season that their “Failure” is down to him, and it’s his responsibility to fix things. He accepts that in some clubs he would be fired for having a season like this one.
Coming from a manager that currently sits above us in the league, and looks highly likely to collect a Wenger Trophy this season.
That’s why he’s more successful than Wenger will ever be, and why fans love him. If only Arsene could learn something from that.
Konstantin, you seem like a good guy and an Arsenal fan of old. However, it is time you face reality and join the new Arsenal fans who are all happy and don’t complain. Who are squarely in the camp of “4th place is a trophy” and “our balance sheet is better than yours” and “our manager is a genius we can find no better one”.
It is no longer reasonable for us old Arsenal fans to think in terms of major trophies. It is no longer reasonable to assume ambition to win the PL and to compare to the other top 6 clubs. Arsenal is not run in a manner that would allow it to win a PL or CL. It is not the objective of the owner or the board or the manager.
If Wenger really wanted to win major trophies do you think he would have stayed at Arsenal? No, there was a time he could have picked any team that had the ambition and financial balls to go for a title. Wenger wants a stress free job and wants to run the entire football organization. He even came out and flexed his muscles saying he would not tolerate a director of football.
You and I think in terms of “what does it take to get back to the top”? Well for years it was obvious we needed a world class striker to replace Henry and afterwards RVP. To our suprrise and frustration that didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because the people in charge are not in it to win it. You don’t need a WC striker to have a chance to finish in the top 4.
And so it will be for next season. Wenger will not look at his squad and ponder what is required to win the PL. He will go out and look for the cheapest way to replace Sanchez.
He makes a signing for the future here and there but doesn’t dream about Lacazette or Lukaku (although we will be told we came soon close to landing these type of players).
Next year is for the fans who hope Wenger can get us back to the top 4 and who will be able to celebrate that achievement as if it is a major trophy.
If you want your team to compete for major titles and show the ambition to do so Arsenal is only going to disappoint you because it is simply not what they are interested in.
For fans like you and me, Arsenal is not the team, we only come on here and express our frustration in the subconscious belief the club also want to win the PL whilst that is the furthest thing from the truth.
If Wenger stays and the fans support this I do my utmost not to come on here next year criticizing the club and manager as if they were trying to win the PL trophy. No, we should look at them as we would look and judge Everton and Southampton, that is a more reasonable comparison.
LOL …… COULDA WOULDA SHOULDA!!!!!!
I agree with every point you make, except for the comparison with Everton given that our minority shareholder is increasing his commitment to Everton. Having been rejected for a seat on the Arsenal board he may believe his financial input will allow Everton to be more ambitious than Arsenal!
Arsenal fan from downunder since 1962.
I feel you 100 percent.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve been sold a lie!.. and this by a club I love!
I’d prefer the club (and Wenger) make their true intentions/ambitions known so we can have realistic expectations.
But we have a major shareholder that could change all of that!
It’s so frustrating being so close to being a top European Football Club, but having a board that decided to wallow in 2nd-best instead.
“He makes a signing for the future here and there but doesn’t dream about Lacazette or Lukaku”
Just to show the stupidity of a lot of the dumb fans…
Wenger wanted Lacazette and we did put a bid in for him, it wasn’t enough but that is the boards fault, not Wengers.
Wenger has paid to get Alexis and Ozil, we also paid to get Xhaka deal done fast.
But ignore the facts and go from your ignorance!
Stupid fans!
Try thinking for yourself!!!!!
“Colossal number of empty seats …” yet not a single word about it in the actual post. “Pathetic”, “embarrassing”, “tired to talk about it” – you are such a clown, Konstantin. You call yourself an Arsenal fan. Are you, really? To me, a fan is someone who watches every single game. It’s someone who supports the club in good and bad days. It’s someone who can take criticism, and admit when he’s wrong. It’s someone who can see a bigger picture, and recognize areas for improvement. You’re NONE of that. You keep coming here, and spit out the same garbage day in and day out. You keep saying that if Arsene was doing his job, we wouldn’t be in this position. Guess what? If he wasn’t doing his job, he’d be fired just like any one of us. So what does that mean you ask? It means that he’s actually doing his job, and he’s doing it extremely well. He’s getting paid millions of dollars by a man who’s one of biggest tightwads I know. You think Kroenke would keep Wenger around if he wasn’t happy with him and the job he does? Not a chance. So I’ll leave you and the rest of you delusional lot with these thoughts. Oh, and as for the “colossal number of empty seats” that you didn’t even talk about. First of all, the weather was extremely crappy. Secondly, the game was against already relegated Sunderland, and everyone and their grandma pretty much knew the outcome. Thirdly, there wasn’t so many empty seats when the game started but you chose to ignore it. A lot of people decided to leave after Alexis scored the second goal, and sealed the win for us. So stop with all the negativity and conspiracy theories, and concentrate on what’s important – THE CLUB, not the manager.
You’re right Vlad, seeing articles from K makes me cringe and TBH it is driving me away from this site, it is disgusting how a supporter site can allow such vile bitterness to be published and then avoid the context of the title in the article.
Truly an article from kellogg’s special K… real special in this case.