Ainsley Maitland-Niles has stated that manager Arsene Wenger takes too much of the blame for his side’s failings, and urges his fellow Arsenal players to stand up and be counted.
The Gunners have fallen to sixth spot in the table this season, 13 points outside the top four, with only 24 potential points remaining from the campaign, but we may still save our season with Europa League glory.
This scenario is putting pressure on fans and the club alike, and tensions have been up and down throughout the campaign, but one player is keen to take some of the flack off of manager Wenger, stating that too much blame is placed on his shoulders.
“When he [Wenger] talks about football and how our team is doing, it’s solely his opinion and what he thinks on the team,” he said.
“It’s nothing to do with things that are coming from the press.
“He’s very straightforward in what he wants us to do and he tells us that.
“I don’t think we take enough [blame]. We should also take some of the blame because we are the ones on the pitch.
“He only picks the team, so that’s how far his judgement goes, but us on the pitch I think we need to take more responsibility and really fight and stand up for our club.
“He’s a great manager. He’s got a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge, and a big personality as well if he’s taking a lot of the blame.”
Can the players prove they are up to the standard needed to compete with the top sides? Is Wenger’s knowledge outdated?
Pat J
Players’ determination should be supported by a system that is suitable for their unique abilities, otherwise those energy would be wasted. Wenger could not create that kind of system in the last ten years at Arsenal, therefore he would never be able to do it as long as he is still at Arsenal
Wenger needs to go to another big club with an established system and learns new things from there. Even Guardiola knew that he had to move from Barcelona, because his players could be bored with their manager (his words)
Maitland-Niles and the other contract rebels could help Arsenal to fight, starting from extending their contracts with Arsenal. Arsenal should have dropped highly paid players that cannot justify their huge salaries with their poor performances
All this arsenal players talk alot but on the field we never see this fight.
crucial moments they all go missing.
weak mentality from the manager down.
Niles could be playing up to Wenger’s ears here. He’s not established yet but talks of taking blame, he’s not wrong but we’ll see how he goes about it when it is his fault we fall off the pace or get knocked out of something. I don’t think it will roll off his tongue so easily. Also Nayr has a point, it’s easier to talk esp when we’ve won the last couple games, but they shut up or they wilt when you need them to be strong and accepting of responsibility.
Personally talk is cheap and worth little. Perhaps players should have demanded more from manager and themselves over last several years.
Too many players smile and celebrate 4th place finish like a trophy. It should be a consolation prize for missing out on title, not an end goal for top club.
If you want a mechanic to fix a car, but you don’t give them the correct tools, then how can you blame the mechanic for not fixing the car?
The players are blameless in the medium/long term, because our manager doesn’t prepare them properly.
Same stuff every year. “we held a meeting to fix things”, etc. etc. AMN’s been one of the positives of this season though. So next year expect him to do poorly, just like what has happened to Holding, Iwobi, Bellerin, Chambers. Has nobody at the club noticed how young players have struggled after their breakthrough season? Well, I don’t have any faith in the quality of coaching so the answer is probably no.
We should do what other top clubs or managers do “blackmail” get players to commit long term contract then tell them they aren’t good enough they have to do more or they will be dropped example Sterling, we are leaving it late to extend contracts on good players and the ones we are not shore sell them and replace them, any player that don’t sighn extension when the club wants ( as long as the club is being reasonable ) then get rid before they start to disrupt the team and receiving good out off contract offers
Maitland you love Wenger like a father,no problem.But i want you to know this,Wenger doesn’t have the capacity to make you better.Pray for a new youg great coach for your great club…Julian Nagelsmann is your answer!!!!!!
Maitland you love wenger like a father,no problem.But i want you to know this,Wenger doesn’t have the capacity to make you better.Pray for a new young great coach for your great club,and Julian Nagelsmann is your answer!!!!!
In my honest opinion this guy will be playing for palace or brentford in 2 or 3 seasons time … He is skillful but doesn’t have the determination or brain to cut it at the top … Assuming we get back there
“He only picks the team, so that’s how far his judgement goes…..” So says the naive “sage” Maitland- Niles! So young Ashley thinks , it appears , that a manager only picks the team and anything that goes wrong is not his fault. IF ONLY! Well, he is right that the players, by and large are a bunch of halfhearted coasters, staying at the club MAINLY to continue to pick up huge wages. Though the unlamented Walcott was the worst of all of these shirkers, we have others, OZIL, XHAKA, IWOBI prominent among them, who are there for the money first and foremost. I exclude the recent signings as it is too early to tell in their cases. but this club is sick to it’s core and is declining rapidly PURELY BECAUSE the manager no longer sets the high standards of passion and will to win that his first decade sides always had. This laxity is a large cause of the cancer devouring our club and mental attitude. The core of this cancer is of course Wenger and once he is (very soon now) out of our club, things can and will rapidly get better. But it is essential the new manager has toughness, real ambition and no laxity. With the right appointment I am content this will be so. We need to clear out three quarters of the current first team squad, including the entire defence(apart from Monreal) and top two keepers, as quickly as we can properly replace them though, to regain this mental and physical strength we used to have in spades.
“All the time the pressure is on him, but there comes a time when you have to question what the players can bring back to him because he trusts them.
“It’s about somebody standing up and holding the pressure for somebody who believes in them. All the questions in the media talk about whether it’s time for Wenger to go or if he lost his appetite.
“It’s not about this; it’s about the players at the club supporting him as long as he stays in the club.” Gilberto Silva….
Arsene to me is still better than those coaches you fans wanted