Is Wenger still the professor or now just the nutty professor ..? by SV
Is Wenger still the right man to lead Arsenal into a successful era or is it now time for a new approach from a hungry manager with up to date knowledge and a more determined approach? I feel some of my arguments are echoed by the vast majority..
Unfortunately Arsenal have weak links that run throughout the team and will scupper the chances of immediate and short term success..and therefore we can forget the premiership and champions league – absolutely categorically zero chance.. this current squad will never get out of the group stages and struggle against mid table mediocre in the league.
In my opinion, the spine of our team is as weak as it ever has been…
From the back:-
I will start with Szczesny – I’m not completely sure that he himself is sure of his abilities or who he is..maybe he has a crush on a certain German and hence he keeps acting like Neuer on speed.. ? At times he’s erratic, immature and sometimes too arrogant.. We need to either drop him and play Ospina or sign a top keeper… I Keep saying it but Bergovic would have been a better investment than Ozil or Debuchy.
Mertesacker – although a composed German he’s too cumbersome for the top level.. He’s good for slow mediocre teams that we dominate but pacey teams will crucify us, it’s often embarrassing, watching him canter back like rhubarb & custard frantically chasing the opposition in vain…..
Chambers at 19 is a great buy and although a real promising talent can’t do it all alone . I fear his development may be hindered by Wenger’s faith in Mertesacker .. Only time will tell.
And any injury to Koscielny (that’s serious) .. We’re fooked!
Midfield – Although on paper we seem to have a plethora of attacking options with the likes of the Ox, Cazorla, Ozil, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ramsey, etc..but we seem to get overrun when we play teams that understand our game and dominate midfield.. This is because (in my opinion) Arteta is average, he is the old man with a slow brain and slow feet, and is often caught out which puts the defence under unnecessary pressure (opposition teams seem to target him), He should never be first choice for such a prestigious club such as Arsenal.. (Khedira. Carvalho?) We are a top team not an average one… However, It’s not Artetas fault, Wenger picks him and signed him so the blame lies with Wengers belief in him.
Wilshere.. Great spirit but losing the quality he once possessed.. And Although he’s coming back a little to full fitness, it’s a big season for him and needs to prove he’s still got the ability we all know he possesses . He needs to channel and control his anger and determination ..
Up top is simple.. We need someone to score with two good feet who is agile, mobile and intelligent .. Not flick, fall over or give the ball away countless times.. The rest of the Premiership, and in particular the top four, are laughing all the way to an easy ride from the pitiful attack we possess. Giroud, and in particular Sanogo, are championship players and the sad fact about it is, Wenger believes otherwise.. ( unbelievable really)
Since I begun writing this article we have acquired the world class services of none other than Danny ‘ ill-lake ‘ Don’t get me wrong I’m welcoming him with open arms because quite simply he’s better than everything else available in our current squad..but I ask, what happened to a Suarez or Cavani ? …. Even Wilfried Bony.. !
It’s with sheer disbelief how the manager oversees the glaring obvious!
Wenger has given all the excuses under the sun for not buying proven players.. We’ve had enough of potential.. We signed Sanchez who is world class, we have Ozil (who was world class until he started playing under Wenger and passing to poor players that persistently lose the ball) and yet we needed 2 more world class players in August ..! What happened to Carvalho and Khedira ..?
Wenger lovers out there will all point to the great signings of yesteryear but … for every Sanchez there’s a Gervinho or every Koscielny there’s a Squid.. For every King Henry there’s a Lord Bentdner or for every Viera there’s a Denilson..
Nobody is saying Wenger hasn’t done a fantastic job getting arsenal into the top 4 for the past 15+ or so years or how we went a whole season unbeaten.. Those teams were awesome – those times were awesome. But they were at a period before the money juggernauts appeared.. when not all Wenger’s purchases were scrutinised, when we had the freedom of the French talent and the mysterious philosophies he brought were unique – but remember the past has gone and today is….??
I state “ONE trophy in NINE years..!?!?!?”
For me Wenger must go ..our current team lacks direction and purpose – the pulse/tempo of the team is slow and at times we look average.. His tactics are outdated he’s stubborn and persistently keeps the same formation in glaringly obvious situations – he plays poor players or players out of position.. He at times buys brilliant players but also duds.. He appears stubbornly in love with his French countrymen and as an example to this – is there £14m difference between Debuchy and Kelly who plays RB for palace?? Giroud @ £12m or Bony/Michu @ £3m !? Wellbeck @£16m or Mirallis @ £8m?
Yet I agree (in Wengers defence) that he hasn’t had and doesn’t have the best squad and yet seems to do ok in the league.. But when you compare that Real Madrid and Barcelona had better squads than Atletico Madrid last season.. Yet Atletico triumphed through sheer desire.. Their manager had the personality and the drive to inspire his players to play for him to work and give every ounce of energy to win at all costs..maybe that was a one off a bit like Blackburn Rovers… Who knows..?
So my worry is to Wenger… It’s down to him to prove his worth. He persistently states that we have Podolski Campbell and Sanogo and we didnt need a striker.. We needed one before Giroud got injured and yet he played Sanchez in the CL even though we were desperate to get through- yet he never played any of the aforementioned players.. That’s how much faith he has in them !?!?!?!?..
Wenger is a liar and is lying to the fans that pay the highest tickets in the land yet he refuses to buy the players EVERYONE KNOWS WE NEED. He’s a joke and should go NOW!
While Manchester United were breaking the British transfer record for a player (even though not in the Champions League) and then sign arguably the most fearsome striker in the world (Falcao) when it’s clear we should have bought him…
Meanwhile we struggled for a defender to replace Vermaelen, the reported target choosing Roma over Arsenal .. Wenger stated we needed to buy in that department, but he never did. Why..? Why do we have to put up with these pitiful excuses year after year .. About gaining a place with the European elite to enable us to attract the so called best players..? Would Sanogo or Giroud mind if we played in the Championship – simply ‘no’ as they are not the proclaimed world class players Wenger portrays them to be..!
Diaby is perpetually injured along with Gibbs – we also have Arteta…??? And we all remember (or have we forgot) Kim Kallstrom.. The experienced midfielder that was bought to shore up our often weak midfield..that was signed INJURED!!! Seriously.. We do need to change our manager..
And then our only recognised striker is out for three months, and we scrape around in the whoopsy bucket for footballers nobody with title ambitions care for in Defoe or Welbeck.. (We even dithered over Loic Remy) and in my opinion see this as the straw that broke the camels back !!
A transfer window which begun with such optimism ended with deflation .. instead of leaving us feeling refreshed and actually positive we can challenge the other title contenders, we rather appear like a mid tabled big club, leaking cracks all over and being patched up here and there with mediocrity…
Wenger.. You have lost the desire and ability to raise your players for a title challenge.. You fail to replace quality players and only replace them with mediocre. You persistently get your tactics wrong and play players and rely on players long past their sell by date.. Its a disgrace we have to pay the highest tickets in the land and are not being rewarded with value for money..we are spun the line about being in the CL IS IMPERATIVE TO ATTRACTING THE-BEST PLAYERS – YET WE NEVER BUY THE BEST ONES!! And for too long now our injury record is not far short of amateurish that is never rectified by either signing adequate replacements or working out why the players are permanently injured..
And is there anything different this season to think we won’t get thrashed 6-3 5-1 etc..
It’s time to go…
Steve
VIDEO – Arsenal Players Performances in England win over Norway
he does look abit like doc brown…if he straightened his life out
Tbh 90% of this site is all negative and the less i come on here to read when im bored the happier i feel. ITs just hard not to once in a while check that there might be something to read thats interesting or nice about my beloved team Ive watched Our manager rebuilt a fortess and a team through homegrown players and additions i never thought would do as well as they have so far to overachieve there abilities that i saw before they put an Arsenal jersey on and i dont even have to say the names.
I too also know that we look weak at the back but i also believe they have learnt from there mistakes last season and have a stronger unity this season going into the 3rd season with the team wenger has put together without losing key players and adding real Quality and world class that i havent seen before because none of our history says we bought our trophies we won them with all the unexpected beliefs and never bought into the society and modern game we seen before us not one of our legends were already labelled for they are today before they came to us The made a name for themselfs in our Jersey and build a foundation of what we represent today Before Arsene Wenger and with him We are a club that overachieve and under promise Everything we’ve done has be our very own unique way of doing it not the way other clubs are ahiceving i for one will not Follow the Man City’s ambitions Chelseas Manchester united or anyone elses
Because we Earn everything by doing it the right way the original way and if that means we are suffering because the other teams are buying their accolades I for one represent Principles and Pride as a reflection of how i want to be and thats genuine.
For the majority of the fans who relate what we have now to the Invincibles these type of things are 1 in a million that every fan dreams of having with the club they support but we we lucky enough to live that We were given that 1 thing every kid , man , woman or family dream of having who truly love their football team and even when we were so lucky to have that oppertunity to witness that we still swooped lower teams aside and had good games vs our rivals and in europe but even those invincible didnt achieve European success because you cant have it all Us fans need to realise that and stop relating our past with what we have now Remember we have done everything the same way since the start it hasnt changed Society and the modern game has hypnotised your minds and brainwashed you with Envy in your eyes witnessing other clubs Achieve by basically cheating there way to the top. Just Accept that our club have always done things the way FOOTBALL has started out.
Top man there. Whilst admittedly illogical – the whiners and haters on here would be a whole lot less disgruntled now if Wenger hadn’t given us the Invincibles. Indeed they would be even better off now if Wenger was never appointed in the first place and he would not have proceeded to set the bar so frickin’ high in his first 6 years. They want to take that success stick it their plastic pockets for bar-room and playground bragging rights but not accept that the 10 years after was an entirely different footballing landscape to deal with.
First, the invincible were unique as you say, but they were a long time in Wenger’s past, and could it be that we have forgiven him too much since then because of them? Second, Wenger’s recent (and brilliant) achievement has been the financial stability of the club, the new stadium, and continued ECL qualification. Those tings are, however, the role of the Chief Executive Officer not a coach, I thought Wenger’s recent comment about “we don’t need the ECL money this year” very telling actually.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Wenger is not brilliant, and that he has not been brilliant for Arsenal. What some of us are saying, is that by doing so much and not delegating to others he has dropped the ball very badly on occasion’s, and that those occasions have become more and more often until now when they have put the progress of the team in danger. He needs to recognise his frailties and do something to compensate. He would ask nothing less of his players.
I say give wenger the 2 years he has on contract with us and if he doesnt come up with a trophy then it’s time to say good bye!!!
That’s my kind of instinct, but I would like an assistant to come in to help now, and start to take over (an ex-gunner maybe). Wenger needs help, because running everything on his own is too much in a big modern club like Arsenal. What I dread is him leaving us in the state AF left ManU.
This article shows that there no trust in arsenal team,from so many pundits,also their fans.in my opinion arsenal is going to the right direction,we start to attract top players,like oezil,top talents like chambers,,when you look in next two years,this group of youngstars will dominate english players..we cant just buy every single position,if thats so what is the point of having academy??..so many people crying about carlvaho,have you ever seen him in big stages so that you splash about 25 million euros him.in my view in next two years will hv the better squad than city or chelsea..other things to win trophies you dont need best players you need right players,who ready to work as a team
Last season we trail only 7points with eventual winners,,still wenger bought wellbeck and woeld class sanchez,to that squad,still you see is not doing the right thing..that man city you mention with their money,they never won the league comfortably.with their squad,they hv already lost the game vs stoke at home,that means they are defeatable..madrid spent 200 million on strikers still,they lose games..liverpool came close to win the league last season,cn you compare their squad with arsenal,so many average players in that team.this time they spend 100 million on so many average players,lalana,lambert,can,…I believe even if wenger bring in messi you will still criticize him
Not that i’m against Wenger or anything. But this window showed me that he’s not as competitive as I once thought he was. I mean, if United didn’t sign Falcao i am convinced he wouldn’t have signed Welbeck and he was probably just a panic buy. He is more than happy with 4th place.
Brace yourself… Dislikes are coming.
big thumbs up from me
big slap in the face and some tesco vouchers from me…that way you have no idea whether i agree or not
lol
LOOL never fail to make me laugh.
true. he said he will probably add 1or 2 more players before giroud got injured.
at the end of the day he bought a giroud replacement which was NOT part of his plans as he said himself “we have enough strikers…”.
so where r the “1 or 2” players he wanted to add? (manolas and carvalho maybe?)
i tell u what: This SHIT happens when u wait for the last second to sign players.
and the only reason he does that is bcoz he wants to safe the money WE spend to watch arsenal.
hope this will be a good season without too many injuries otherwise we will be….
Well isn’t it SO obvious that if United never signed Falcao then we wouldn’t have signed Welbeck. The sole reason Welbeck became available in the last few hours of the transfer window was because of Falcao signing for United. Pure opportunism. Isn’t it also obvious that AW wasn’t going to buy a striker? If Welbeck never became available then nothing was going to happen on deadline night, probably explaining why he was happy putting his feet up like every other manager who had no plans for that day – it was the supporters panicking not him. Falcao was the high-cost, high-risk last minute “panic” buy but LvG won’t get landed with that criticism. Amazing really, Wenger the “ditherer” as folk like to label him snaps up an opportunistic decent player in the last 6 hours of the window and the sheep come out one after one with the obligatory “panic” label. Not much he can do really to appease or please some.
Yeap exactly the same as he did with the CDM and CB positions… He saw the weakness in his squad strength especially with the injury issues with Gibbs and Kos and went all out to cover the danger. You give him too much credit I’m afraid. He has the English core bee in his bonnet, and just had to sign Welbeck. If he wanted a striker he could have got Remy, Bonny etc etc etc. I’m happy to give Danny a chance, and I think he’ll be a great adition to the squad. But please don’t use that as an example of how good Wenger is in the transfer market, because for every Danny you have a Kim Kallstrom.
It’s fans like you that are essential bi-polar fans. One moment you want wenger out, but afte a win against munich wenger is the right man to take us forward.
Ozil is a bad investment? The best CAM in the world? We’ll see the best of him this year if he plays in the centre.
Welbeck suits us so dont knock him before he’s even kicked a ball.
You think we would have paid £350,000 a week for falcao?! Never would we acquire a player who demands that because financially its not sustainable.
And STOP SAYING KHEDIRA! FFS. He just picked up a 2 month injury! I’ve been saying it all along here, he is a injury prone liability.
But yes, we need a true CDM and CB. Thats it. We wont get a world class striker anytime soon.
When beginning of transfer window, Wenger bought sanchez, we all thought we gunner are going to fight all front with the sugar daddy club but when window closed is seem like we are not fighting for 4 competitions but 4th trophy. You can’t blame some of the fans here moaning cos they did felt in the sky 9 and suddenly drop in wenger reality world again.
I agree. If we were a club like Southampton I would be in seventh heaven with 4th place, but Arsenal is supposed/ is a European Giant Club. We are one of the richest clubs in the World, yet we scrape around in a desperate state looking to cover glaring omissions from our squad time after time. How many years have we needed better cover at Defensive Mid, and the back.
bunch of old women moaning on here, as per usual. i hope steve is out from ever writing this god awful filth on here–this article read like a commenter on here rather than a thoughtful analysis. please, redeem your credibility for pete’s sake. this has gotten ridiculous. for one, you haven’t even watched welbeck in a good midfield. let’s see what happens there before we profess that he is shite. two, falcao came off a broken knee. 20M for a loan. that’s like renting a yacht with an engine that may or may not work versus buying a nice car that is prestine, and for less. we know manolas was only wiling to come for first team football. i mean, so much hate speech in this rather than real thoughtfulness. now, i’m not saying wenger isn’t under the gun. and i’m not saying that i’m upset that we failed to find a quality cdm that was of value. but it just didn’t work out. and i’m happy we didn’t over pay like our idiot rivals at united and pool. imagine what that would do the rest of the squad if wenger just started overpaying players. it would turn everything on its head. you list carvalho, who looks good and all, but is he for sure the quality we need? maybe, but who truly knows that as he’s only played in portugal or lesser leagues. and then khedira has torn quadriceps. so who next for cdm? we know wenger’s towards the end of his time and so it’s not going to last for that much longer, but the man deserves a high amount of respect and is the last of an era of managers that we will look back upon with fondness. he also just a couple months ago helped bring us a trophy, and you’re still moaning. it’s incredible. this article is simply way too early. let it be written in february or march when or if we flop. (which we might, but i’m not gonna call you a genius because you wrote this now. in fact, i’d bet you felt the same way when we started last season). until then, i think we have improved our squad, full-stop. sure, we are thinner in the back, but the starting defenders are also one of the strongest in the EPL, our midfield is certainly up there with the best, and our striking force is probably the weakest component. it’s just injuries, as always, that will make or break us. i urge you to recall what we did last season in all but 4 games (we also followed up defeat to the pool with a victory in the FA Cup and we tied shitty in march). it wasn’t all bad. we just need to tighten up in the big away games and maintain our form against everyone else, while continuing to establish the emirates as a fortress. COYG! Don’t fall in the whoa is me and my team attitude, it’s REALLY unbecoming.
You talk about analysis then give none yourself. f you believe that Wenger has the divine right to do whatever he feels like then you have fallen into the trap of associating Wenger as the club. Arsenal are bigger than Wenger, what worries me about the “Wenger knows best” brigade is that they have forgotten that. So reflect on whether the Wenger can do no wrong people actually are thinking what is best for Arsenal!!!!!
Just read a new regarding Wenger was out from the French TV.
Well that should make some people happy – Wenger on TV, always a big problem and bone of contention when things aren’t going to plan.
Well I might not agree with everything you say, but you have argued your case and I for one think Wenger should answer. I would have proposed brining in someone like DB10 as his assistant, but you would go the full Klopp or Guardiola route. He is dropping the ball to much in my opinion, he doesn’t have anyone saying he’s wrong which he takes notice of. In my view he did loose the title in the Jan transfer window as you suggest, or at least a top 3 finish not a desperate 4th again. Tactically, he is being caught and passed by other younger managers here and abroad. I would defend Giroud, however, at the beginning of last season he was the bees knees, but due to a lack of a second striker he was worked into the ground. That again, however, was Wenger’s failure to replace Bendtner (Sanogo being injured). I agree something has to change, we may differ slightly in our solutions, but you could convince me.
Wenger is not a “joke”. Talk atleast with more respect to him. But I agree about the lack of determination and hunger from Arsene recent years. Fine, we were in financial trouble before but what was the problem now to solve the DM or CB problem? But in the end of the day, I can’t imagine him getting sacked. We are not Chelsea, Liverpool or City. We treat our legends with some dignity. Only after 2016 when his contract expires, it will be time to move on with something fresh and new.
Like the club gave Cesc when we tore down his poster. If I remember he was one of our legends we let Chelsea have.. Good job he’s past it, because Wenger when asked why we didn’t resign him just said Zalelem.
Siging Cesc, not signing Cesc. Who cares. THAT is NOT the problem at Arsenal. CAM is Arsenal’s strongest position!!
Everyone on the planet knows Arsenal needed a better striker, a good DM, and a little defensive cover. Cesc is none of those things.
I could identify a hundred players that might make Arsenal better. Should I throw a fit each individual player that Wenger did not sign?
Cesc DEMANDED to leave and he got his wish. He clearly put his selfish interests ahead of Arsenal. He is NOT a legend. Are you joking? He is a traitor.
@Mohawk .. You’re a dumb fan. You dare call fabregas a traitor? How many years did he spend with us? How many trophies did we give him?
We never challenged for any Trophy during his time. How many players playing outside gets called up by the national team? NONE !! Unless u’re achieving great success there & at Arsenal he wasn’t even competing talkless of achieving.. If u were fabregas, which would u take ?>>
Your ambitionless & trophyless adopted club that developed you into a star OR Your parent club that’s winning trophies like hell
Thank you for sticking up for Cesc.I would also like to add that if we call him a traitor for going to Barca, then we would also have to label TH14 one too, and in no one should ever go there. If he is a traitor for returning to London, well in 2013 he bought a house there with his partner and their baby, so that is his home surely. He asked to come back to Arsenal, but wasn’t wanted by us (sad because he is World class, but in a way understandable because it would be difficult, but in my view not impossible for someone like him). I’m sure he would not have wanted to play for any other team in England, but if we said no I cannot blame him.
Cesc was everything at Arsenal – he had it all. He could have been a legend but he DEMANDED to get out of his contract IMMEDIATELY. He wanted out so badly that he REFUSED to go on the pre-season tour and DEMANDED to leave immediately. That is fact. Even Nasri played every game until his transfer was finalized – not Cesc. Not your so-called “legend.”
Now, if your man-crush with Cesc is so strong that you continue to see Cesc is a “legend” to you then I suggest you slap down your boner and recheck the definition.
(But if you check the definition of “traitor” it fits perfectly).
Try thinking with your brain.
Some curious inversion of logic there. How many trophies did WE GIVE HIM (jeez) and not how many he helped win for us. And I whilst I don’t blame players going somewhere else for more money and an easier chance of glory, it is human nature to want to take the short-cut if possible to success, it shouldn’t be portrayed as something of virtue.
Cesc NEVER won anything with or for Arsenal. Period. Traitor. Period. You are an idiot.
@mohawk…. I asked u a question. I said if u were cesc, what would u do? Spend 10yrs of “almost challenged” in England with Arsenal or Join Red hot Barcelona?
From the Cesc era, how many first team players remain now? They wanted success, while Wenger wanted to be part of the UCL every year. Players don’t get younger, they get older.
Every Players dream is to be successful, he lifted 6 trophies in 3 seasons at barca !! Would u trade that for 9yrs of trophyless seasons just to be an Arsenal Legend?!
Dude now you’re the idiot….. And a very big one !
You are right. If a footballer is playing for a team that is not winning major honours then it is only natural and correct for them to look around for an easier ride – hitch a ride with a more recently successful team. This is the essence of sport and what makes it so compelling – you should always look for the easy route to self-glory if possible. Fabregas, Van Persie, Nasri etc never helped build the foundations of any of the teams they joined – they got their medals, bully for them, but the silver is cheap and lightly earned.
So how do you rate TH14 then, are you going to have a go at him to for going to Barca?
For me I still think our present squad still can do good but Wenger must get his tactics and rotation wisely. We only can pray for them not to get injured and support them all the way. I am not getting high hope on this season so any cup and 4th will do for me.
But hasn;t having to hope for 4th again made you a little angry… We have a real fight on our hands this year. Chelsea look good with Cesc and Costa. Rodgers at Liverpool is getting his strike force to shine again even with the loss of Suarez. ManC will be in the top 4 because they have so much depth at World class quality. Now LVG has bought Falcao to shake RVP and Rooney into life and have provided Di Maria to put them in on goal. To get 4th we need luck, luck that oe of our squad doesn’t get injured. But we all know that Kos and Gibbs could be titering on the brink of a long lay off.
Yes that is a lot of if. Is not I trust Wenger but a manager that give us 17 UCL, I think the experience is there, along the way I think he will make some change. Maybe he is counting on his own luck, we just don’t know when his luck end. Hope he won’t be like Fergie leave sh@t for the next manager.
Bang on
Chelsea look good with Cesc and without Cesc. Not about 1 player. You must seriously just be in love with him. Do you find him “dreamy.” I will bet you have his poster on your bedroom wall and it has little pink hearts drawn on it.
So isn’t the time to laud and pontificate on the genius and glory of Rodgers, Mourinho and Van Gaal when they deliver at the end of this season? Bit early to get all intumescent for them. Have they all got cunning plans that cannot go wrong? Even you must see that at least 2 out of the 3 are going to fail in the PL.
Btw: How do we all know KG and LK are “titering” on the brink of a long lay off? Arsenal Injury Room says nothing of the sort – you know something we don’t??
You don’t follow Arsenal that much if you don’t know about Gibbs; propensity to pick up injuries and that Kos has tendinitis in his Achilles tendon, and that it has been flaring up since March. Also, if you fail to recognise that Van Gaal and Mourinho are exceptional managers, who have achieved exceptional things then you do not follow the game of football terribly well. As for Brendan Rodgers, his ability to get the most out of his players is wonderful. He is still a young manager, but what he has created at Liverpool has to be admired. Please do not blind yourself with Wenger worship. He has been a great manager, but he is certainly not the only one who is great.
ps you do realise that Monreal is playing at the moment because Gibbs is injured again.
how is chambers’ development going to be hindered? you’re making out like mertesacker is 18 and has 28 years left
Actually Daniel THAT was basically the ONLY point I really agree with on the post.
Callum IS only 19 however, and as good as he looks so far, I agree with Wenger that he should not take Merts place yet, but, learn from him, and Kos, and train with them to get that understanding, when he does play.
He should however get plenty of game time, and, as the poster points out, if Wenger ALWAYS goes with BFG, then it could effect his confidence, and, he IS the future, or part of it.
Or he could have to be over played too. Thus risking injury. He is still a youth player, and having to play week in and out and even twice a week could do some damage as his body hasn’t fully developed. I think you can also tell that a young centre back even of Varane’s standard can be easily pushed around when coming up against someone like Hummels. In the Spanish league opposing CB’s arn’t quite as tough as the ones in EPL. So getting shoved around and being blamed for goals can be quite distressing.
Well written article. I have utmost respect for Wenger but the last few years have been dreadful. Maybe he should bring in a younger assistant, somebody like Bergkamp or Henry and have a sprinklings of newer modern ideas Work together for 2 to 3 years.
Welbeck was definetely a panic buy with no planning at all. When your work involves millions of pounds and millions of people, would not you expect some sort of planning and urgency in all your decisions, lately this has been missing…
Agree or even Vieira.
I am really pleased to read an article like the main article , because I have been saying for years that the problem with Arsenal is that the manager is now redundant and clueless.
The only thing he does know is that his American boss is even more clueless, so he can talk his way around his failings to someone that understands nothing about football.
Why buy players if you are not going to play them in their position. Wenger is the only idiot who does that.
Suddenly the maestro thinks Sanchez is an attacker, or Merzil will be better playing in the wrong position for him.
Wenger is so arrogant that I am really surprised that he have not gone and bought a Goal keeper for the strikers position.
Lets face the facts what business or Club would keep a manager that has taken 9 years to deliver a trophy. It is really simple no club or business would have kept him.
Surely knowing that he is riding his luck he would have entered the transfer market and continue to buy quality players that could make a difference, no he buys one player.
Question is when we do not qualify for the champions league next year what will Wengers excuse be, I hope he is planning it now because I dont see Arsenal even coming 5th in the league and we will get murdered by the big clubs.
One has to consider the damage he has coursed to team moral and the belief that we cannot win anything.
Wenger is a walking disaster that should be Fired. One should remember that he bought only 1/2 great players the backbone to his team was already in place and the greatest player playing Berkamp was not his player..
If at Christmas we are lying in 5/6th place we should Fire him.
You are pleased to read an article that claims Arsenal is weak at every position and that Wenger has lied about anything and everything for many years???? This pleases you?]
Arsenal have some problems with competing for the league title, no doubt. And Wenger has a lot to answer for. But year after year I am able to enjoy great Arsenal-style football. Last season Arsenal won ANOTHER trophy and led the league for 128 days until Walcott, Ramsey and Ozil all went out together!! Does not sound like total failure to me.
There is no problem identifying glaring weaknesses in the squad and clear failures of the manager – plenty of red meat there. But this seems to be just wallowing in misery for misery’s sake and trying to find fault in everything imaginable.
Just watch and enjoy until Kos and Debuchy go out along with Gibbs who is always out and Wenger continues to play Cazorla at LW – THEN you will have plenty to b#tch about.
as to the wenger is the only idiot who buys players and plays them out of position, why, pray tell, do you think he might feel fully confident in that approach? stop and ask yourself that, esther. because i sort of remember these two wingers who became arguably the world’s best strikers due to this philosophy. oh, so idiotic. cummon.
Far too much dignity and composure in that response mohawk.
What, you pleased to find another idiot in your village? Didn’t think it possible to respond to this ridiculous, ignorant thread with even greater ignorance. Congrats – way to go.
Pires, Henry, wiltord, Viera, Cesc? Who bought them?
Has Wenger commented on Welbeck yet?
Blah blah f*cking blah.
Wenger will never be sacked. The only way he will leave is he himself resign or serve till his contact end. After I lower my expectations for arsenal, I find myself feel better. Maybe a bit of blindly, at least I don’t get heart pain at every transfer window or heart attack at matches.
That’s so sad, please get the joy back. One day we will win EPL and ECL.
Yes we will. Every clubs there are up and down, just don’t know when we are going to. For me I want the UCL more cos we never get it before.
Agreed, but there are not many teams in world football, if any, who would not swap the “downs” of this great club for theirs. Our paucity of downs in our 95 year history often make us look like proper moaning plastics to other clubs. I know my mates who support other teams take the piss out of us as they feel obliged to – but in quieter moments there is envy. When 10 years without winning the top league is a measure of failure then we are the company of every other great club in the world.
Maybe Senility is setting in.
I seldom see Wenger on touchline shouting or giving advice to players but during our UCL return match, I can see how nervous he was during that match.
there must be a senility clause in his contract so we can fire him is necessary lol
wenegr is in the twilight years of his arsenal career now he might or might not see out the full term of his contract, i would image he wont give up but if he dont get a big prize this season or next his desire might dwindle even more the board have seen what a shambles man united have gone through and the expense of failure, if they dont get the next appointment right the board is trying to give themselves as much time to identify a replacement and in the correct time unless wenger leaves at short notice, i think if he had won the c/l all thought years ago we would be looking at a different story i think he would have left at the end if that contract as he would be at the peak of his powers and could of gone anywhere he like across europe, but he didn’t win and here we are now, i respect the man for what he has done for us and english football a modern day herbert chapmen he is but even old chappy had his end of and era and wenger will have his end its just how will it play out hopefully a winner
For me Wenger has lost his ambition to win the league and he would rather spend the time getting a squad together to earn 4th place,it is such a shame but if think it’s time to say au revoir to le prof .
Thumbs down if you want but “in Wenger I do not trust”
the board should have bundled him upstairs years ago to join them that role would have suited him better a more business/academic role in the club as this seems to suit him better this days.
Than on the touchline he looks disconnected from his role as manager he was always a club builder than team builder like (mouriniho)now he has built the club up as far as he can its time for someone else to takeover, and take it to the next level there will be another whos that? manager out here somewhere who will bring in the sweeping reforms to the management of the club/team, and bring it to the 21st century with a fresher version of wengers philosophy
I agree entirely, I cannot criticise what he has done for the club I love at a business level. He has been a mega star with the finances, but for the last several years that’s where it stops. He is more like the CEO of Arsenal than it’s manager nowadays, and that is fine. What he isn’t is a modern coach.
I am not entirely in disagreement with the suggestion – it is not without merit. But the business success has not been unrelated to what Wenger has achieved on the field of play. The correlation between spend and finishing position in the PL is an immensely strong predictive tool and Wenger has cheated this to our benefit every year. I think, if the fans do not subscribe to this stadium-building austerity period theory then it is the board of AFC that need to be first in the cross-hairs. Wenger’s spending is determined by the board – it is not out of his own wallet as many numpties on here appear to believe. If Wenger has refused to spend massive sums and that was the board’s directive then they should sack him. If his spending has been controlled then we should applaud what he has done. In either event, the ground rules appear to have shifted in the last 12 months and whilst the transition is not fast enough for many on here I am happy for Wenger’s obituary to be written up in 3 years time and not now. I will predict now that when that day comes Wenger will properly plan his exit and not leave his successor with a s**tstorm to deal with and we will be grateful.
Do you really think that… Do you think AW has gone to the board and said I need money for a good CDM and CB and they said no you can;t have the money? I think Wenger would have walked if the board started to dictate what he could or could not do.
We call ourselves arsenal fans but most of ppl here got their own favourite so when comments sure a bit of bias. Wenger die hard fans I think quite of hand full so I don’t think is easy to sack him. Some of them can only keep on call him name, curse him but at the end of the day is still Wenger the one make the call and different.
I was not happy with Wenger for failing to secure CB backup – something that is not difficult to accomplish over an entire summer. And I think he lied to fans about this.
But this article is just an exercise in pessimism and criticism. According to the writer Arsenal is weak in every position and apparently Wenger has lied about everything under the sun.
Is the writer a spuds fan per chance??
Man United failed to get CB back-up – and they needed 3. Granted we could of gotten an average benchwarmer but the market evidence suggests that top CBs are pretty scarce. You can’t really fancy any of Chelseas/Pools or Man Citys CB back-up – or may be you do. We could already have the best back-up CB in the league in the form of CC.
I just want to see Wenger win the champions league before he leaves Arsenal. Feel he deserves one
Frankly we all know we are fighting for 4th every season, why suddenly every one think that we can be champion. Did Wenger or the board send wrong signal to us or just our wishful thinking.
The Bad News: Wenger failed to secure the CB backup and quality DM needed to put Arsenal in position to compete.
The Good News: Wenger did NOT go through with acquiring Nastasic. I challenge you to find any good performance from him in the EPL. It does not exist. He is poor EVERY time out.
Now I’m sad again Justsoccerfan 🙁
The Arsenal community is like a mini country with the millions of fans being the citizens and Wenger being the Prime Minister of this awesome country. Then does it not make sense that the prime minister should be accountable for all his actions. I wish like any other democratic country, there should be a voting process to choose the Manager, to be decided by the registered fans and the owners have no hand in that decision. The ballot decides the future of Wenger or any other Manager…will not that be the way to go! I know it is a far fetched and can never happen but something to think about..
yeah let the fans decide… the same fans that go hysteric after every loss/draw…
Proper pub banter there mate.
at arsenal we should have a set rule that all players that need replacing, i.e sangna r/b= bellerin not £12 on debuchy (then we could have kept vermalen for 1 year and afforded chambers also)should be replaced by academy players only and the transfer money should only be used to make “additions only”. As this summer we have seen most our the budget spend on replacements than additions (i would have imagined if wenger had just needed to make additions we would have seen two marquee players this summer instead of one), if we use the academy properly then we should have players that are use to playing the arsenal way already and should be ready to be integrated into first team, we will have the same problem next summer also when arteta diaby and mozart are going to need replacing due to contract expiring and age, thus using up the budget on the same problem again instead of adding class to the team all these problems can be solved by identifying youth academy(zelalem,olsen,crowley,toral,hayden)replacements a season sooner to take over these players and put them in place over that season i am hoping we do have someone to takeover from within especially as this are vital players and pos to takeover from so freeing up budget for marquee additions only coyg
just the very fact zigic confirmed he indeed spoke to arsenal does it for me wengers time is up hes been a great servant but he no longer has it. he frustrates me soo much bring in klopp before a big team takes him . i have lost all confidence in wenger . we have such a strong squad all it took was 2-3 strong signings to complete the jigsaw but yet again wenger fails to go all the way and just like last season jan window he failed to add that little bit extra we needed.
“Just the very fact”, yeah, yeah the “fact”, LOL. Nothing like basing an emotional response on a third person hearsay piece of bollocks. Mate I could talk to Arsenal if I picked up the phone.
I’m I missing something..? SV or how ever wrote this ….Carvaiho now a ”world class..? Are kidding me, don’t know how you defined a world class player
I said it ever since wenger let RVP go, that he should leave Arsenal cos he’s contented with his past glories. Right now i don’t care if he gave us the Invincibles or 17th Consecutive UCL (one final).. He has Made us the Laughing stock of England & Europe. We must kick him out b4 we end up Manu. NO MORE TICKETS BUYING, BOYCOTT EVERY HOME GAME & WRITE AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CLUB TITLED “WENGER OUT NOW”. He has done Enough !!
Nice Article to whosoever wrote this Article. Thumbs up 10. C.O.Y.G
I’m tired of trying to work out if wenger has lostnthe plot, or has a plan based on logical decisions made. I’d like someone from the press to ask him 4 questions:1. You said you were weak at the back but didn’t buy a dm or cb in the window, this is suprising after letting vermalen go or loaning out jenkinson. Was this a mistake or do you have a plan? 2. Are you happy with the signing of welbeck and was this a planned purchase or a reactive one? 3. I hear you were in Rome on deadline day,; do you regret this decision and feel you may have securedbthe signings you needed if you had been on hand in the uk? 4. How do you intend to best utilise the multitude of midfield players you now have in your sqaud? Lastly people talk about a free agent cb not being thw quality we need. Being totally ruthless in my comments i see us having only 1 top quality cb. Per is not good enough fo our team, hes aging and is so slow. Chambers has started fantastically well but is young, inexperienced and could be broken physically and physiologically if pushed to fast too early on. Compared to per m I cant see yepes or alou diarra being much worse! Diarra can pkay dm as well and is strong and tall at 6’2. We may need emergency cover and monreal / flamini / hayden at cb is not the answer.
I don’t mean to be insulting but you’re so clueless it almost hurts.
“this current squad will never get out of the group stages and struggle against mid table mediocre in the league.”
-> Yeah, we’ve only gotten out of the group stages the past 15 years. Now that we won two trophies and finished 7 points off the top, we’re obviously too weak to get out of the CL. Thank you Steve, very insightful.
“In my opinion, the spine of our team is as weak as it ever has been…”
-> How long have you been supporting this club ?
“I Keep saying it but Bergovic would have been a better investment than Ozil or Debuchy.”
-> Really, Begovic ? So that we can give 15M£ to Stoke when we can have a better player in Ospina for 20% of that price ? By the way, do you know why we were able to sign Ospina for so little money ? Because Wenger is a good friend of Puel’s, Nice’s manager. Useless old geezer, amirite ?
“Giroud, and in particular Sanogo, are championship players and the sad fact about it is, Wenger believes otherwise.. ( unbelievable really)”
-> Giroud is a Ligue 1 champion and top scorer, and FA Cup winner. Sanogo is U20 World Champion and FA Cup winner. Besides, if you can’t understand what Giroud brings to the team, go watch our games against Crystal Palace, Everton and Leicester. Notice a pattern ? We play better when Giroud’s on.
“I ask, what happened to a Suarez or Cavani ? …. Even Wilfried Bony.. !
It’s with sheer disbelief how the manager oversees the glaring obvious!”
-> This isn’t Fifa. You can’t just buy any player you want. Suarez, Cavani, Falcao … they were unaivailable. Suarez, because he wanted a Liga move. Cavani, because PSG needs him – Ibrahimovic is 33 now. Falcao, because he asked for £ 280,000 a week. That’s twice what our top earner gets. But I agree with you to some extent – we should’ve gotten Rémy at least. I can’t believe we let Chelsea sign him.
“is there £14m difference between Debuchy and Kelly who plays RB for palace??”
-> Ok, I can’t go on. You’re an idiot.
At the start of the transfer window Arsenal needed a CB, a DM and a Striker. Sadly at the end of the transfer window we still need a CB, and a DM. Miraculously we got a Striker with the last kick of the Window. The Toby Alderweireld story sums things up. He signed for Southampton because Ronald Koeman contacted him personally. Arsenal wanted him too but he declined. Where was Wenger on the most important day of the year…deadline day? He was in Rome yet he told us only two days before how hard he would be working to sign players. How irresponsible! How can we have a three month Window and end up with the smallest declared squad in the Premier League. Wenger looks and mimics Mr Bean, and many supporters have been in disbelief recently. Maybe there is a reason for his peculiar behaviour. Maybe he is ill. I’m sure things will come out in the future. Perhaps we should forgive him. But what is clear, is that something is wrong.
Many good points. How Manure can get Dimaria and FAlcao as scoring options and we pass makes zero sense. A lot of money was spent but at some point to play with the big boys you gotta grow a pair and spend the money to build a team that can compete on every level. Chelsea and City can field two teams of Allstars. Arsenal truly lucky to field one. And WTF is up with Ozil who plays like he is afraid now??Give us players who play with passion, a chip on their shoulder like Costa or Hazard or Kompany or Toure. Hell get a guy like Tiote to add some steel to midfield. Teams Know they can manhandle our mids.Ozil and Cazorla and Arteta cannot go up against quicker stronger mids . Nor can Wilshere for that matter. Frankly I would start Ox, Rosicky,Ramsey,Sanchez and Chambers in MF with Welbeck up front and see how that goes. I love Sanchez but if he is played out of position he will become marginalized .Rosicky is gutsy as is Ramsey. Chambers can add some grit at CDM and Ox and Sanchez will give them width and pace. AW Needs to stick with a set lineup that can learn to play together. His weekly changes lead to no flow or continuity. My feeling is if this team is flagging by JAnuary, get a new boss to light a fire under these lads. Or clean house like VanGAal has done and start over!
Was not an advise from Gazidis that 10 0million was available for the team to acquire quality and go further than last time?
Maybe it was just mentioned that the season tickets would be sold – just like last year and the year before….. – or AW is still in penny pinching mode. We could have and should have signed some of the players we needed not only as replacements for the departing ones but as a real intention to go to the next step.
Our competitors have become stronger, we have heard – and will hear – EXCUSES and MORE EXCUSES…… – and the best we can hope for an FA cup and 4th place, REALISTICALLY. Even the 4th place will not be easy as MU will become much better, LPool Still very strong and MC and $CHelski are a grade above us with strength.
A very real measuring and reality check will happen next weekend and the week after against MC and in the UCL against BD. Our tactic easily can be beaten – as was last year – with 20 minutes high tempo pressure game and the result will be already 2:0 or 3:0 then we should try to climb back. Our defence is leaking especially away from home. Last season in the top 13 only Stoke, Liverpool – scored tons of goals – and Newcastle who leaked more than us. all other team got less goals. Some of these teams had negative goal difference. All our potential competitors showed a better defensive record. We have a one year older part time DM as Arteta a red card liability in Flamini. We will not score 90 plus goals maybe above 80 at best.
So in summary if we can 4th it will be a miracle. In UCL the best we can hope for is being in the 16 then whinge about why we again got another very strong team which will send us out. If any serious injury happens to one or two defensive players we are totally and utterly stuffed.
Where I am standing a manger should manage (including risks) and have a plan. AW does not seem to have one but hopes, but wait while being one of the most highly paid manager ANYWHERE in the world. Now if it is acceptable for the supporters, it is fine. Last year I already mentioned AFC stands for Arsene’s Financial Club, not Arsenal Football Club. So be happy with the profit for the owners and for the high wages for the non performing management which at most other places would have been sent packing a long time ago.
Oh, just just keep paying the highest ticket prices, for non performance, frustration and listening to excuses.