When you see Arsenal lose a game in the manner we did at Anfield on Sunday there will inevitably be a lot of anger from the fans and plenty of fingers pointed at both the players who performed so poorly and at the manager whose ultimate responsibility it is to make sure the team does well.
Understandably enough, Arsene Wenger has been the main focal point of most fans’ anger because a lot of us did not want him to be given the new contract that he signed this summer. And once he did sign that extension we wanted some real change from the Frenchman, which has not been the case.
The TV pundits reserved most of their anger for the players, with Gary Neville saying on Sky Sports that it was disgraceful the way key players Ozil, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka and Alexis Sanchez played, or did not play.
He said, “When you’re at a football club, you all take the blame. I can’t personally look any further than the players.
“The issue today I had in the first 15 or 20 mins – and why I was as scathing I was – is because [Mesut] Ozil, [Alexis] Sanchez, [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, they didn’t do most basic things I think every fan, manager, and player knows – when the ball goes past you and it goes towards your goal and your team-mates are struggling, you run back as quickly as you can.
“You’re told that at the age of five. Aged 12 or 13, you’re told to get into your shape quickly and when you get into the first team you’re told about transition – give the ball way, get back in, transition, transition.
“I’m naming those five – there may be more – but that is absolutely disgraceful. That doesn’t represent the Arsenal shirt or what they’re about and they’ve let themselves down as individuals. In terms of who’s to blame, I can only start and end with that.
“In terms of the tactics, the football, the mistakes, you’d need five Monday Night Footballs to analyse what went wrong there. But the simple premise of working hard, getting back towards your own goal – it’s just unacceptable.”
These players have more than enough experience so the question has to be why they did not do their jobs and that brings up the old idea of them not playing for the manager, whose tactics and team selection was also criticised by Neville.
He said, “I don’t think the team is correct. setting up with [Granit] Xhaka and [Aaron] Ramsey in central midfield at Anfield, with Sanchez and Ozil just outside them is never going to be enough with Liverpool the way they are. I’ve never understood the lack of attention to the opposition.
“You play against an Arsenal team 10 or 15 years ago and at United, Darren Fletcher comes into the team to sit to the right-hand side. You play against Liverpool, you have to go and mark Steven Gerrard on the right because you know he’s going to whip crosses in. You have to pay attention to the threats and Arsenal never do that in games.
“You don’t turn on managers and coaches. Wenger deserves the utmost respect but his players, time and time again, are letting him down and he shows too much loyalty to those players.
“Some of those players have been at the club for a long time and they’re not doing it for him. When they’re crossing that white line, they’re not giving the absolute maximum. He was dejected in that interview, I feel for him but I’m not going to start sticking the knife in and saying he should go. Of course, you look at Wenger – and he’ll look at himself.”
He certainly should and a lot of us will say he should have walked onm a high after winning the FA cup. This is not the first time that people have suggested that Wenger has lost the Arsenal dressing room or that he simply cannot motivate them and get the best out of some real talents, but this time it has happened right at the start of a season and feels worse.
What can Wenger do to turn this around?
Bob.
Wenger can turn it all around by resigning, 2 days until the transfer window slams shut and instead of new signings we’re selling players to make our annual profits! This great club is in a sorry state of affairs it’s an absolute mess and still a lot of fans support a man who’s time has long expired! I get told it’s not Wenger’s fault its the board its the owner.. rubbish! It’s not the board or owner who put this shambles of a team together it’s not the board or owner who plays players out of position or decides tactics or in Wenger’s case a lack of them! Yes the board and owner are disgraceful undoubtedly but Wenger is as well.. some people need to get their head out of their ar*e and put this damn sentiment to one side! Managers come and go it’s part of the game Wenger’s time is up and everyone can see it! Be careful what you wish for if Wenger leaves, currently rival fans take the p*ss out of us cos we’re a joke, we get hammered 4 or 5 times every season, we’re a laughing stock in the transfer market we’re a bigger laughing stock in the champions league we always put a strong run together then fall away season after season we pay the highest ticket prices in world football and we don’t even challenge for the league title so this is what Wenger fans expect us to be grateful for? The manager the board and the owner are laughing at us fans they don’t give a sh*t as long as merchandise is bought and the stadium is full why would they care less about trophies ? The only thing keeping Wenger at arsenal is money the perfect job get paid millions and do as you please! I’m expecting nothing on transfer deadline day.. Arsene Wenger will be sat at home doing what he does with the team he put together…… NOTHING! We’ll sell Ox, Alexis and Mustafi and Wenger will get his cut from those sale’s and he’ll tell the fans keep the faith we have an exceptional squad already judge me at the end of the season. May 2018 Arsene Wenger has a new 5 year deal on the table!
If Wenger leaves, Arsenal would face a long and difficult transitional period, like what happened to Inter Milan, AC Milan and Manchester United. I hope the fans are ready for it.
If Arsenal is really a great club, supported and run by great people, they should be able to achieve the glory again, like what Manchester United, Juventus and Leicester City did. Otherwise they are just a money making machine without big ambition.
Mate, we’re already in a long difficult period and as for what happened at man utd Wenger can’t be compared to Alex Ferguson he was a serial winner he made average players play above themselves Wenger can’t even get world class players to play. As I said before some fans have too much sentiment for the man, we’ve been going backwards for a long time it would not be accepted anywhere else the people who run the club accept mediocrity and they want fans to accept that as well. The glory days will return but not under Wenger.
What I meant was Arsenal could be relegated, like what happened to Manchester United, Juventus and Leicester City. But those other clubs managed to go back to the highest football competition in their countries and regain the titles.
I know I sounded like having too much sentiment for Wenger, but actually I just want the other fans to be prepared for the worst scenario, a relegation. It could happen if most of the senior players leave and if the new players cannot replace them.
No you are getting it all reversed. Arsenal will eventually be relegated if we continue under Wenger. All we need is to bring in a good manager with modern football brains.
Wenger is just wasting his time. He has already taken the players and fans for a too long boring ride. He lost his love and passion a few years back. He was good but no longer. He past his sell by date. He is now expired and needs to go.
Apparently yes, from the attitudes of the players, when they were against Liverpool. I think they don’t believe their manager anymore, because of the clearance sales and there are many first team players unwilling to extend their contracts.
Negativity spreads quickly among the fans, now among the players. It’s only a matter of time before it starts to spread among the staffs as well, then hopefully the executives and the board (to make them take drastic change as soon as possible).
What Wenger can do is instilling fear and respect to his players. No matter who the player is, Wenger should bench or sell him if the player doesn’t perform for a long time or doesn’t follow his instructions.
Wenger is creating bad examples by keep playing the underperformers (maybe to convince the contract rebels to extend) and pushing the hungrier youngsters aside. He should show no mercy and change his style to a completely pragmatic approach (like Mourinho and Simeone), because his current system is not working.
It’s so easy to tell him to resign now or the board to fire him, instead he should acknowledge he must step down, steady the ship until January and pave way for the next manager to step in. The board must not let this drag on nor should the manager himself. Fans are already ready to riot which could soon turn ugly. The club needs to be transparent and clear, the players who should go should go and the rebuilding and clear out needs to start. That’s the only way forward. Arsenal FC must take this as a lesson and change towards a more functional organisational structure than a line one whereby authority and job profile is left to a few, everyone must share the responsibility from top to bottom.
Wenger has been at this job far too long, let alone at a club for 20 odd years. Many managers nowadays consider short term stints at a club knowing it is unsustainable, only a few succeed such as Ferguson but those are minute exceptions. When you are at a place far beyond your stay, you start to lose that edge and the new ideas you once bring is no longer fresh. You become complacent and too comfortable in your work as you have job security guaranteed, and you also lose the drive and challenge you once had or needed. People may also grow tired working with you or you have a handful of colleagues who will never disagree with you due to favouritism. It is too hard to ask someone to change and adapt to the current climate because a person is who they are and they have their own beliefs. To change you got to go back and challenge your own self and change the basics that made you who you are, which can never be accomplished because it takes time and our actions are dictated by it. Wenger should never have signed that contract believing he would change, now he has only himself to blame for putting himself in this position and tarnishing his reputation, which is a shame for one that has done so much for this club.
There is one guy that just simultaneously thumbed all three of our above comments down including mine, I would love to know who that guy is. If you have a differing opinion than the rest of us then you must step forward and state your reason other than just clicking on the thumbs down button.
we have to be very careful right now as this is a very critical juncture in our team’s future…as the backlash gains momentum some will suggest that we sell off all our assets with expiring contracts, among others, bank the money for our future manager, then start the complete rebuild by promoting several youngsters…this is an incredibly flawed plan for several reasons…even if someone grew a pair and sacked Wenger at year’s end, or before, do we really want the absentee owner, his son, Gazidis and our current Board making the crucial decisions that would shape the foreseeable future…there isn’t a soul on this dais with either the onions or the football IQ needed to build a world-class team…left to their own devices, this could quite easily become the proverbial 2 steps forward, 4 back…not to mention, there is absolutely no guarantees any monies gained through the “fire sale” would ever be reinvested in the club…more recent evidence would suggest quite the opposite…it’s quite likely that if things went tits up before Xmas those in charge would simply flip the script, claiming that lost revenues have severely eaten into the supposed transfer budget…at this point we could be in free-fall mode for at least a couple of seasons, much like Liverpool endured…as we all know that is a difficult cycle to break, especially if you have a frugal owner unwilling to invest his own money into the club…the only saving grace could be that our financial situation becomes so unsettled that Kroenke seeks greener pastures and sells his stake to a much more knowledgeable and vested suitor…problem is this kind of “rebuild” would take a minimum of 6-8 years and even that is a coin toss…there is no doubt the number-crunchers aren’t interested in losing tens of millions of dollars if our chances of winning significant hardware are slim to none, so they will push hard for a sell-off of sorts, but to do so without bringing in “quality” players would be incredibly dangerous from a fan’s perspective…this would be akin to going back to the early days of the Emirates, minus having the built-in excuse of paying down the debt that bought the organization considerable leverage with the fan-base…we all know where that got us…here
There is no “”dressing room” for Arsenal tram,just a bunch of guys showing up for games(just like a pub team),asking themselves why they need to waste 2 hours of their precious time for that,instead of taking care of their bank accounts,WAGs,expensive cars and mansions…
The board and owner are not committed to winning. They are all about your cash.
Wenger is a legend but has stayed too long, here’s the real problem with replacing him :you have to find someone BETTER than him. …And don’t say “anyone”.
What top class manager(s) would you suggest? I don’t think there’s any realistic options currently that would get Arsenal even close to a top four finish.
If Arsenal could tempt Manuel Pellegrini to leave his hefty salary in China, I would be very happy. He might not be able to take Arsenal to a title contender directly, but he could bring Arsenal back to their beautiful football style, which made me support Arsenal in the first place.
Players are leaving. Yes he has lost the dressing room.
Liv going for Lemar surprised me a bit. Either Coutinho is going and Klopp is up to his old tricks, or else it could be in retaliation to us going for VVD. Maybe we are closer to VVD than we think, Mustafi left out, and now Liv going for our no1 target. Could be, or it could be more bs.
It’s looking so bad we might need to sign Big Sam to save us from relegation
This is true and even the so called smaller clubs are sniffing blood. They dont have respect for Arsenal and believe they have a real chance against us and rightly so.
Neville can’t spot a good manager even if Ferguson would be in the same room as him. Of course he defends Wenger. As long as Wenger is at Arsenal, there is going to be one less team fighting for the title. That would give Manure some breathing space, isn’t it?
Right, not sure why you all hope Wenger will ever resign by himself. He can’t do that now anyway because it will show he was the culpable all along. Fans know it, board knows it (but as long as they line up pockets don’t give a darn), players got tired or bored. Some (if not all) players realized that Wenger is weak and they play him as they want. I am really sorry for him but he will be driven out of this club screaming. Of course it would be easier to just resign but when you were arrogant and stubborn all your life you think is that easy to just step down?
No amount of fans will take him down. Yes, a big amount of fans not turning to the games will have an impact but it takes time to reach Stan’s pockets. If you expect wonders and miracles from Wenger I suggest you better look for Jesus because it is highly more likely to see Jesus resurrect than Wenger to turn this squad around.
Request Diego Costa from Chelsea and sell chamberlain to then………..makes sense…….
They get a player they want and we get a player who can make us title contender………
Wenger has lost confidence of fans and players but he still has the confidence of board which matters more than anything. Board knows that any other manager would have just quit instead of continuing. So they are sticking with this deluded old man who makes them good profits with his lies and deceits. But He doesn’t care if fans hate him. He is out to destroy his own legacy.
These profits are going to evaporate if there is no change.
He’s lost the plot as well as the dressing room! What I’d give for a manager with some passion. I’d love to have someone like Klopp or Conte that ran the length of the pitch everytime we score a goal! That motivates the players, throws the hairdryer at them at half time if they’re losing. But no we have Arsene ?
It the worst period being an arsenal fan especiall when you are from uganda and zibambwe. In uganda you have museveni, zibambwe mugabe and arsenal weger. The pain is too much. The team has a major weakness which many fans have been blinded to think is our strength that is OZIL. Modern day football works like a machine all parts have to function efficiently. Against big team play sachez in no 10 role,
Wenger is letting him self and the club down by showing too much loyalty to those players who are not actually loyal to him & the club. These players are very selfish and uncommitted to the manager and the club. Wenger has failed to realize this situation and still running with wrong decisions and the same crises. His philosophy is working against him self.
all the past greats who played at Arsenal must be sick to the gut to see what weegor has reduced AFC to. Stagnant Football, depressing defending, no flare, no consistency, how can we improve? get a new manager, simple.