Does landmark win show Wenger CAN take Arsenal forward?

Last season seemed to be a bit of a tipping point for the Arsenal fanbase, as many of us including myself finally changed our minds about Arsene Wenger. For years I had supported the Frenchman and pointed to the lack of money available for years and how well he had performed to keep us in the Champions League.

As more and more AKB’s joined the Wenger Out Brigade it looked as though the club would have to act, and even when they decided to stick with him we were told that there would still be changes made. The summer proved our worst fears right, though, and the start of the season gave us all that horrible sense of deja vu, but perhaps the pessimism was a bit presumptious because things have improved.

In fact, today saw Arsenal go level on points with the Chelsea team of Antonio Conte who won the title last season and who the football pundits have been heaping praise on. The fact we also beat the Blues in the FA cup final and then again at Wembley in the Community Shield in August should not be taken lightly either.

For me though, today was about more than just getting three points off newly promoted Brighton. It felt to me as though it was an obstacle, because it is in games like this when Arsenal are expected to win easily that we have often slipped up, and it was the 21st anniversary of Wenger taking over as manager.

These landmark days have not gone well for the Gunners in recent years so to get over this one and mark it with a very professional win says a lot, to me anyway, about Wenger and the squad. They are playing for him and he does seem to have given them a new focus and drive, as well as a more disciplined style which I think we need if we are to challenge.

Beating Brighton also gave Wenger the record for teams beaten in the Premier League, which he previously tied with Man United’s Ferguson on 44, which is some record, so has Wenger got over the glitch and is he still the right man to take Arsenal forward and on to glory?

Sam P.

63 Comments

  1. Forward to 4th possibly, genuine EPL and Champions League title contenders……

    NO.

    In the big scheme of things if Kroenke acquires the
    Russians shares it doesn’t matter who is the manager @ AFC

    1. can someone please explain to me or help me understand why Wenger keeps subbing Lacazette? The likes of Lukaku, Moratta, and Aguero all complete 90 minutes when fit.

      can someone please do an article about it. We know that strikers can strike at an moment within the 90 minutes.

      Dies Wenger have something up his sleeve with these substitutions? Coz I read somewhere that taking him off is affecting his confidence.

      1. Morata is injured now… hammy.

        They need to get to game strength. They are not robots, you know, like on Playstation.

      2. Good question. Could it be because Lukaku and Aguero have a better understanding of the league and do not require a bedding in period? Morata has only played in two league games from start to finish; Lacazette, just one. It’s important to give the new players to the league a chance to play without keeping them too long as to kill their confidence.

        Some were unhappy he was taken off in the WBA game because he was chasing his hat-trick, forgetting the TEAM didn’t really need another goal as much as it needed 3 points; when you leave a player on for the potential of the hat trick and this doesn’t come, it builds up a new kind of pressure. But take him off and pat him for his two goals and he thinks “I don’t have to beat myself when I miss so long as the TEAM wins because of my all-round play and when the goals come, they come”.

      3. its a psychological tactic to make Lacazette feel uneasy that Giroud is right behind him.

        Makes Lacazette think that he cannot afford to have a poor game or go a game without a goal.

        1. …get out of here! Ha! Ha!

          (You then saying that Wenger is a genius?)

          I like Wenger, but he is not that kind of coach. If anything, it is about letting Giroud have playing time.

  2. No. Of course he can’t take us forward. Kroenke and Wenger are not ambitious enough. Wenger is extremely stubborn and set in his ways. He is resistant to change and both of them are more interested in Profit.

    If anything the last 21 yeara shows that we have gone from a Top club to being very comfortable with Top 4 finishes and now we are declining (strong possibility of losing Alexis and Ozil) next summer. We also can’t conclude signings peoperly. We bungled the Lemar transfer

    My opinion on Wenger and Kroenke has not changed and will not change on the basis of a few matches or a landmark.

    Also, he has reached this landmark because the board has been too willing to renew his contract. Even Sir Alex said he have been fired if he had gone for a couple of years without a major trophy let alone a decde

    1. BTW. I am not ungrateful or hate Wenger. I appreciate the 2 PL trophies, Invincibles and 7 FA Cups (Fantastic achievements) but we need a more ambitious open minded manager. We have give Wenger plenty of chances and 13 years to win the Premier League. I don’t see us winning the Premier League or Champions League trophies under Wenger and Kroenke. All of Kroenke’s teams are underachieving. At this rate Spurs will win them before us.

      1. We need to get used to the idea of the power of spending in the EPL. If Wenger leaves it will fall apart as he just hold it together with the money he can spend to try to target the league cup.

        This team can beat most teams in the EPL. Except the top five… To move from top six to top four is very difficult. We might make it them year, if there are no serious injuries to the back three.

        The middle might get some returning reinforcements hopefully, and there are several young players capable of contributions.

        Number 10: Ozil, Rambo and Jack. (Mid-season these players need to be really fit.)

        The front will be really good as long as Sanchez or Lacazette start. There is also Giroud for some games and as a super sub. We are still short at RW. Maybe January will see a top player? Iwobi, can he come up? Another young player? Use Rambo?

        I think we get 5th behind City, Chelsea, United and Spurs. Anything more will be amazing.

    2. Fergie said that? A man who did go more than a “couple of years” without any trophy (not to speak of a “major” one) and while the fans bayed for blood and for him to be sacked, the club waited patiently till he delivered something in his 4th year.

      Had Fergie been about in this era where it is no longer a 2 horse race between Wenger and he, there will be many trophyless years, that’s for sure. The club’s which spend money won’t hang about waiting to pick up only the league cup…

    3. Wenger has held us back for some 10 years – for most of which he has clung to his impossible dream of beating top teams thru beautiful football … and never mind tactics. Even when we have changed tactics it has sometimes been because senior players have gone to Wenger to say we must change. Kroenke would not begin to understand … other than the cash flow numbers ! We are stuck with the two of them … and don’t be surprised if Wenger gets yet another 2 years.

  3. Hahaha i can only laugh. Nice win and i dont want to downrate it anyway. I still feel our target is top four and to be honest wenger is still yet to convince me about anything. I still feel he should retire and go home. Now boring week of international football ?

    1. He is capable of challenging for 4th spot if that is Arsenal’s remit, No where near challenging for league, Team and manager and board not good enough, Most of Arsenal fans happy with challenging for 4th spot.

      1. Wrong. Everyone wants to win it.

        The difference is that many also understand that the EPL has been for sale for the past decade, ever since ManCity became a perennial contender with ill-gotten oil money, and other teams had to compete…

  4. I’m not sure about that. But I sense some seriousness in our boys and the gaffer this season. They haven’t been celebrating goals like seasons gone. I hope they are this serious till the end of this one.

  5. We have city than spuds
    Watch and see how far forward …he’s ‘taken us’

    Scraping games. Another flat win.
    IL take that happily if we can turn up for big teams.

    But we have been a Europa league team for years. Just other teams under performed.

    Until the hierarchy changes…nothing really changes

    1. Landmark win because…. “Beating Brighton also gave Wenger the record for teams beaten in the Premier League, which he previously tied with Man United’s Ferguson on 44, which is some record, …” because Brighton is the 45th different club Wenger has beaten in the EPL.

      Read the article fully.

      1. No matter that, the title ended with Wenger to take us forward, really? The same Wenger we know? Just beating Brighton by 2 goals now Wenger will take us forward? Funny article

      2. Segun, A manager who has, disgracefully, been kept many years too long by an amateur board, CEO and “couldn’t care less about anything but money owner” will obviously set records. How about this one for your private collection: The most unsuitable man ever to manage a huge club for a decade too long and getting longer. Groan! Beating 44 or 45 clubs over 21 years is irrelevant; what matters is how many top sides in Prem or abroad we have beaten in recent years. And that is a record too. A record low!

        1. Funny, you bring that up because there’s NO top side in Europe that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal has not beaten. FACT!

          Name them: AC Milan? Inter? Bayern? Juventus? Real Madrid (at their home; still the only English side to do so)? Barcelona? Dortmund? Don’t even get me started with the domestic scene.

        1. GB, it could have been Preston Northend, for all I care. The EPL/FA keeps these records and thought it was worth noting that Wenger had surpassed Ferguson for most teams beaten in the league! Recall that Fergie spent what, 25years + to achieve 44 different clubs.

          It doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things, but someone keeps these records for a reason.

  6. Don’t be too quick to praise.

    We shall see how we match up to the big boys.

    One win one draw, plenty are still up in the air.

    By if Kroenke gets control, only divine’s help can save Arsenal FC.

  7. What is the achievement? One win over a promoted team?
    Don’t get me wrong. I cherish the victory.
    Wenger has passed his prime and we need to move on. He doesn’t belong to the present time. He is part of the reason why we stagnate.
    We were the first to go to Monaco and price a player, others went later to the same market and got what they wanted and we were left to rue at the end even when we offered double over what we refused to pay earlier.
    No one can convince me that he is not part of our problems now.
    I will be happy if he goes by the end of the season. No ill feelings please towards him. He really did well when he was good.

    1. It is astonishing that Wenger’s rating rises after we adopt disciplined tactics to draw with Chelski. Why don’t his fans think …. what about the scores of key matches he has thrown over the years by sending Arsenal out to play top teams off their own pitch – with no clue about necessary tactics and variable formation ?

    2. Judging by the amount of dislikes the many anti Wenger comments receive on this site, it is clear to me that many of these fans are not typical of the wider fan base. In various fan polls a sizeable majority of around 80% actively want him out. Yet the comment immediately above this one has at present, five out of thirteen who disagree with the post which correctly thinks he has “passed his “prime”. Others have a sililar ratio but the wider fan base is clearly an overwhelming Wenger out majority

  8. No doubt these are good results and decent performances and that is what it will take for the rest of the season IMO. If Wenger wants to prove he is still the man to take us forward I think he will have to prove that also in the head-to-head games against other top 6 teams. This season we need to take more points from those games than we drop. ATM we have dropped 5 points out of 2 games against top 6 teams. Work to be done but no denying for the moment we are looking more solid.

    Xhaka ???? What to make of him?? Is there anyway we can reasonably say he is a starter?

    1. Xhaka, after a rank bad start for much of last season , then had a shortish good spell towards seasons end and the usual chorus of “he’s world class” people made themselves look foolish by posting nonsense. This season he has been widely regarded as our worst player by most fans. The truth is he has been a rank bad buy. We play him as,supposedly, a holding player who can pass, Santi style. But unlike Santi, he is clumsy, slow, immobile, one footed and positionally unsound. All he has is a hard shot, not much for his huge fee. He is nowhere near good enough and I was so sorry for Wilshere sat there on the bench , uncalled on against Brighton , while Xhaka stood out like a sore thumb, so awful was he. He should be sold but with Wenger as manager he will probably get a long service award at Arsenal. We could and should have bought Kante or Carvalho but we bought XHAKA. TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY.

  9. Be real about this win ……..it was against Brighton. They won’t be setting the league on fire and neither will we. 3 points is good but on the wider view of things 2 nil wouldn’t be the most convincing of wins. It hurts me to say this but we are just a mediocre premiership team. I wish I was wrong.

    1. 2-0 isn’t convincing? Maybe you should take note of the fact that no team has beaten Brighton by more than 2 goals. We got the 3 points in a dominant performance and for me, that’s all that matters. Those teams scoring 4 and 5 goals won’t do them for very much longer, when crunch time starts.

  10. You all need some data, financial data, that is, for the past five years. I cannot see Arsenal win the EPL, unless there is good luck. By not spending now the Spurs are throwing away their golden generation.

    Basically, the contest is between United, City and Chelsea. (Note the Chelsea owes hundreds of millions to the owner.)

    # Net Spend last 5 Years Purchased Gross Sold Nett Per Season
    1 Manchester City £723,850,000 £184,000,000 £539,850,000 £107,970,000
    2 Manchester U £611,800,000 £174,550,000 £437,250,000 £87,450,000
    4 Arsenal FC £298,740,000 £116,850,000 £181,890,000 £36,378,000
    3 Liverpool FC £396,300,000 £251,080,000 £145,220,000 £29,044,000
    5 Chelsea FC £544,459,000 £410,450,000 £134,009,000 £26,801,800
    6 Leicester FC £179,750,000 £62,750,000 £117,000,000 £23,400,000
    7 Crystal Palace £166,035,000 £56,700,000 £109,335,000 £21,867,000
    8 West Ham FC £188,450,000 £81,870,000 £106,580,000 £21,316,000
    9 Watford £144,200,000 £51,650,000 £92,550,000 £18,510,000
    14 Everton £277,600,000 £200,100,000 £77,500,000 £15,500,000
    10 Brighton & HA £75,805,000 £12,000,000 £63,805,000 £12,761,000
    11 Bournemouth £88,450,000 £24,830,000 £63,620,000 £12,724,000
    15 West Brom £117,850,000 £62,209,000 £55,641,000 £11,128,200
    12 Newcastle U £200,300,000 £145,150,000 £55,150,000 £11,030,000
    15 Stoke City £101,700,000 £53,250,000 £48,450,000 £9,690,000
    16 Huddersfield £41,615,000 £14,400,000 £27,215,000 £5,443,000
    17 Burnley £85,150,000 £61,450,000 £23,700,000 £4,740,000
    18 Southampton £222,800,000 £210,550,000 £12,250,000 £2,450,000
    19 Swansea £133,325,000 £138,060,000 -£4,735,000 -£947,000
    20 Tottenham £329,450,000 £339,400,000 -£9,950,000 -£1,990,000

    1. JJPawn, nice bit of info. I must note that net spend is very deceptive for some teams like say, Liverpool or Chelsea, because it doesn’t show how many players were sold to bump up the figures for outgoings (Sold); this distorts the spend per season average.

      Liverpool sold Suarez for £75m, when that was a huge fee, and brought in a few players. Chelsea sold David Luis, Torres, Mata, Lukaku, etc., for relatively ridiculous sums, at the time. So, a more useful figure will be the actual sums used for player purchases, which will show that the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea spent much more, with the likes of Everton and Southampton not too far behind us.

      1. Thanks.

        I love this team. The money hurts us. We need to be successful with our purchases more than the other top teams to win.

        1. Many of our recent big money buys are no good. Xhaka, for example. I did not know which team he was playing for against Brighton. He is one paced, immobile and positionally suspect. All he has is a hard shot and that is not worth the huge fee we wasted on him. Mustafi too, looks raw and clumsy. Ozil has always been a luxury player and over his time he has beeen a failure, despite his huge talent on the odd occasions he applies himself.

          1. “Many of our recent big money buys are no good.”

            Implies that over 50% of these players are “no good.”

            Alexandre Lacazette Lyon £46,500,000 05 Jul, 2017
            ShkodranMustafi Valencia £35,000,000 29 Aug, 2016
            Granit Xhaka Mgladbach £35,000,000 25 May, 2016
            Alexis Sanchez Barcelona £30,000,000 10 Jul, 2014
            Mesut Ozil Real Madrid £42,500,000 02 Sep, 2013

            So, these players are “no good”?

    2. why are we so concerned about finances. just give us d EPL and champions league. I don’t care to know how much it cost. asene pls get us world class players this January we need the EPL not Money

  11. Admin, is there any reason my comments usually take hours of being moderated before it is allowed to appear on the site?

    1. I have no idea mate. Maybe s9me thing wrong with my spam filter? I’ll investigate in the morning. …

  12. The achievement is 45 wins over different prem. teams for those who dont know.
    O.T. just like to lol at the Ox.

  13. It is sad but true that finances are what it’s all about. Since the start of the Prem league the winners have always been one of the 2 or 3 wealthiest clubs during that season. The one exception was Leicester. Back in 96,97 and 98 Wenger could buy players like Vierra and Henry with little competition for their signature from other English or European teams. Now if he wants a Draxler or Mbappe they choose PSG. Player’s agents wouldn’t even have known the phone numbers for City, Chelsea and PSG back in the nineties. The pool of quality players that we can afford or would choose Arsenal as a first choice is now drastically reduced compared to the early Wenger years. A sizeable majority of players will be led by their agent and go to the club paying the most money. Those clubs are naturally also more likely to challenge for trophies. For Arsenal to consistently challenge for the title they need a new billionaire owner like Usmanov or a massive change in the financial strategy of the club. Neither is likely to happen any time soon. Wenger achieves what you would expect a club of Arsenal’s financial clout to achieve.

    1. “Back in 96,97 and 98 Wenger could buy players like Vierra and Henry with little competition for their signature from other English or European teams. Now if he wants a Draxler or Mbappe they choose PSG.”

      Agreed.

      “…agents”

      Agreed. The agents are killing teams just below the top three when it comes to great talent.

      1. “For Arsenal to consistently challenge for the title they need a new billionaire owner like Usmanov or a massive change in the financial strategy of the club. Neither is likely to happen any time soon. Wenger achieves what you would expect a club of Arsenal’s financial clout to achieve.”

        This. We need to make sure that we get behind our team. There is possibility with a 12th man at home and in the media to try to get into the top four and more.

  14. Of course financials are a big part of it.
    But the only way clubs with less spending power than Man C and Chelsea (& maybe Man U) can challenge is to have teams that are working their a….. off, are extremely organized and are constantly playing wit a winning attitude.
    Unfortunately those habits don’t seem to come from.
    Although we won today, I almost regard it as step backward, because we were playing with so little intensity, we were badly organized in midfield and gave way to many chances away to a very poor opponent. We have seen it so many times, and sometimes we loose points this way. Those points along with the points, we loose to other top teams usually makes us finish many points behind the winner.
    I have my doubts Wenger can or will improve this.

    1. Wrong. This game could have been 7-2.

      Wrong also to think in the EPL there are walkovers.

      Mostly wrong on fan intensity as you do not even mention it. There is not much fans support that way the other 19 teams have, win or lose.

      1. Thumbs up there is mine. Fans demand so much from the team and fil to do their bit, as if waiting for something to moan about. Had the stadium been banging on Sunday afternoon, we could have had more drive for more. Not that I am complaining about the win. City only managed 2-0 against this side, scoring both goals late on.

  15. The new Wenger seems a bit more adventurous and willing to try new tactics……….but who knows what kind of restrictions he faces daily………….yes he can win the league with this Arsenal team……..but not very probable……..

  16. So we have lost to the bin dippers but 1 point in front of them and they have to come to the Em’s
    We have drawn at the bridge and we are up to 5th with Chelsea having to also visit the Em’s
    Seems like a good start to me. City with there investment look like they will challenge RM/BARCA.
    UTD. have not played anyone in the top 10 yet so the jury’s out on them for the moment ‘
    The spuds have already lost more points at Wembley then they did in the whole of last season
    At the lane. looks like we have HOT PROPERTY With LACA /SEAD Jacks looking useful.
    Iwobi has progressed so if your not happy with that f—-off and support someone else.

  17. We didn’t concede a single goal in the league since Liverpool.. we’re getting results… we’re still complaining…

    Get on board with you’re team were winning.

    Save the rest for May. Get behind the team NOW

    GO GUNNERS

  18. landmark?
    where?
    beating 45 teams in EPL is no record!
    This just shows that Arsene’s has been stuck at Arsenal a bit too long…

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