Why Petit is WRONG to say Arsenal HAVE to win Premier League

Of course I will be gutted if Arsenal miss out on the Premier League season and I am also beginning to edge towards the side of the Arsenal fanbase that thinks it might actually be a time for a change at the top, even though I do have big concerns about replacing the long serving Arsene Wenger as manager and going through the same sort of problems that Man United have under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.

The Frenchman will certainly have questions to answer if the Gunners do not manage to overhaul Tottenham and Leicester to win the EPL title, but I do not agree with the massive amount of criticism being heaped on him by certain memebers of the football media.

All this rubbish about Arsenal blowing the best chance we will ever get seems to assume that we had some sort of divine right to win it this year. Former Gunner Emmanuel Petit is reported by the Evening Standard as saying that it would be some sort of travesty and that Arsenal should just give up football if either of the current top two win it.

He claimed, “We let down the fans, we let down the club because this year was for us. For us.

“Do you think Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United will do the same next year? Forget it. They will come back strongly.

“So if this year you cannot compete with Spurs, with all the respect I have for them, and Leicester, then change your sport. I’m sorry.”

Hold on a minute here, how about the fact that everyone said Man City had the best squad, or that Man United’s massive spending should put the pressure on them to win? Or how about Chelsea having the same squad that won it with ease last season? Why is all the pressure on Arsenal? And what makes him think that we won’t be stronger next year?

Don’t forget that we are the best of the rest and are the only club still with a chance of pipping the spuds and Leicester. Okay it will be a shock if either wins it but they have both been blessed with hardly any injury problems and things have just gone their way at crucial times, while Wenger has had to cope with dodgy referee decisions as well as big injuries to key players like Cazorla, Alexis, Coquelin, Welbeck, Wilshere and more.

You try and win it in those circumstances Manu. Either that or wind your neck in mate!

Tags Leicester tottenham Wenger

16 Comments

  1. Sorry, but I seem to agree with Petit (at least for 95%).
    Don’t compare us with Man U, Man City or Chelsea. Arsenal needs to understand that in the past 6 years, Man U, Man City, and Chelsea have won the title 2 times each. That’s why it is logical to assume that this year was a very good chance for us.
    If we don’t put pressure of ourselves, we’ll continue to remain in the same level…or worse, a downward spiral.
    We are Arsenal. Not Man U. Not Man City and Not Chelsea.

  2. Even the fans now think its not a must to win trophys,top 4 is enough and if Wenger leaves Arsenal will be relegated 🙂

  3. In a way 2nd would be worse than 3rd, 4th, 5th

    Because Wenger will be thrilled with 2nd place and Kronke too. They will say we ended 2nd in the league and beat United City Chelsea Liverpool Spuds. Also Wenger will feel vindicated that Leicester and Arsenal got 1st and 2nd without spending lots of money

    My response to Wenger would be why he didn’t win the pl in 12 years if money is not important

    Also finishing 2nd would put less pressure on Wenger and board to get top players. They will just say let’s keep faith in what we have and they will be even better next season.

    Fact is Wenger sabotaged our season by not signing any outfielders in the summer. Even if he had signed Krychowiak that would have helped us when Coquelin got injured.

    That’s why I am hoping and praying that we win this season so at least we can get that monkey of our backs and be Champions again

    I will most happily and gladly forgive Wenger if we do it.

  4. it doesn’t matter what petit has to say bout anything

    .
    our art of bottling things up have caused us this scenario

    .
    #MedicineAfterDeath#

  5. I applaud the Frenchman for having the stones, unlike the majority of his Invincibles brethren to acknowledge that the entire Arsenal lot from Kroenke to Wenger to the players have probably bottled the best chance of Arsenal winning an EPL title. A season in which the financial Superpowers of English football have all historically underachieved and yet our BIG? club is struggling to finish 3rd behind our little brother Spuds and a team fresh of a season battling relegation. Wenger should be fired based on this reality alone but the status quo will continue and the Gunner faithful will continue to bury there collective heads in the sand and fill the greedy yanks pockets for years to come.

    What’s truly sad is that Arsenal are IMHO only a couple of really good players away from being genuine title contenders, regardless of how much the Superpowers spend yet puppet master Wenger and the mustached Mercenary Kroenke will never spend the necessary money.

    Should be next campaigns starting 11
    Lukaku/Morata/Lacazette
    Sanchez….Ozil….Iwobi
    Krychowiak….El Neny
    Nacho….Boss…Gab….Bellerin
    Cech

    Im not endorsing a summer firesale buf the emergencec of El Neny, Welbeck, Campbell and Iwobi have reinforced my opinion that the likes of Walcott, Ramsey, Ox and Giroud have become expendable and would be sold if we had a ruthless manager/owner hell bent on winning trophies. Even if Ox is spared, the profits from selling the other 3 would take care of Lukakus and some of the Poles transfer fee.

    Wait with baited breath I shall remain

    1. Bring yarmolenko he could be a great fit; iwobi is still young; let’s not put pressure on him. Also, bring a center back, gabriel should be a back up IMO. Go look for that at atlético: josé maria gimenez; trust me this kid is something and he cost around 18-20 millions pounds. But for the rest you’re spot on. But first thing first change the manager because the way i see it we could bring all the WC class players you want i have the feeling we won’t win majors trophies under AW again.

  6. I personally think we left it too late. I don’t see us winning the league. This was a huge oppertunity for us. Poor management and players who don’t respect the jersey. I mean you will score for your newborn baby but not for the fans and the club. What an insult.

  7. Wenger is here to stay, Petit is 100% right IMO, and nothing will change.

    I don’t think we can compare ourselves to City, Man U and Chelsea. They divided the PL titles among themselves over the past decade or so whilst we did nothing.

    There is good chance that despite the struggles of the top 3 teams (City, Chelsea and Man U)
    we will still not beat last years points total of 75.

    We have by all accounts as better squad than Leicester and Spurs our only competition for the PL this season as it turns out, yet we are not even close with 8 games to go.

    We can not hide behind injury or bad luck.

    It is time to wake up and face reality, we are no longer a club who can dream about being a big club. Our ceiling is set and it is set below 1st place and has been for a long time.

    This club needs to change from the top down in order to become competitive again. That means we as fans need to wait until (1) we get a new owner or (2) Wenger retires and the owner makes the mistake of hiring an ambitious manager who pushes him for funds to invest in the squad.

    Until either of those things happen Arsenal will remain a sub-top team.

    1. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but i think kroenke is a problem but not the PROBLEM. AW is the problem. An owner who is not emotionally involved could be a problem but the clum can still manage and have success. Look at MAN Utd owns by the glazer family (Americans btw), do you really think they cares if manchester wins big trophies or not? I doubt that but as long they are assured they will make profit they will invest. So it’s down to the manager to explain that reality to the shareholders. Sucess on tne pitch generally leads to financial sucess. People are blaming kroenke for not giving money to spend but i think it’s not true. Because AW came in front of the camera and said that if there is someone of great quality availiable, they’ll spend and also the board has alrready said that what ever AW says they will backing him up. So if AW says he need money to build a competitive team they will release the funds. Is AW who refuses not to spend because of blind loyalty to his players.

  8. LEICESTER is like that poor kid that comes from a humble background, even without being able to purchase the expensive textbooks and
    past questions, he always top in the class.

    MANCHESTER UNITED is that student whose father used to be a class teacher and bribes for him to pass exams and be at the top in those days. But after the retirement of his father he is always number 7 because he can no longer be bribed for. Instead of concentrating in today’s work he’s every time thinking about how he used to perform in the past while others are progressing.

    ARSENAL is that kid who works hard and on exam day forgets his mathematical set, calculator and pen. He constantly falls sick during exams but very active during normal classes and even corrects the teacher. All the teachers keep saying he was going to be the first in class but ends up being the fourth.

    CHELSEA is the big bully of the class. He comes first sometimes but his rich father is never satisfied with his performance.

    LIVERPOOL always wants to claim he is the best because his father was the best during his time in the same school.

    MAN CITY is the son of the richest man in town. His parents have hired the best lesson teacher to lecture him but he still can’t perform to expectation.

    TOTTENHAM doesn’t really want to be first, all he wants is to be better than Arsenal.

    ASTON VILLA is a kid whose parents gave up on him. He doesn’t buy textbooks and past questions, he dodges classes and is happy with
    his position.

    EVERTON is a student who is always in class, not a bright one though, and he disturbs the bright students.

    SUNDERLAND is that stubborn kid who sits at the back to make fun of the rest. He is always among the last.

      1. But each student in this list want to emulate the student who goes to a private school next door. He is first in everything music, sports, academically, drives a posh car. All the hot girls swoon after this student. All students in this list are really envious of this prim and proper student called Barcelona.

  9. Then there’s this student whom others fear…Tall, 6ft5 , bulgy muscles and a serious facial look…..got this huge rick-ross beards too , Loaded tuxedo, can bully others especially the younger students in the next dormitory…..takes away their precious stuffs and leave em helpless..he sometimes go against the rule and avoid punishments from the school authorities….. But make no mistake, he’s brilliant , does his homework and comes out first in his class..Bayern munich

  10. What would have happened if Wenger was in Chelsea’s position right now? Would some fans have called for Wenger to be guillotined? It is a sign of lack of class for our fans to behave as if Arsenal is about to be relegated! It is understandable that the fans should feel disappointed if we don’t win the League but disappointment can’t be allowed to make us extremely unrealistic. The way some people argue would make you believe that this season all the other teams withdrew from the League and left Arsenal to take the trophy unchallenged only for Arsenal to falter and let Leicester and Spurs overtake them but is this the reality? This season has been a unique one and contrary to some people’s assertions I don’t believe it is a one off. I have a feeling that this is a revolution against buying EPL using heavy bundles of cash got from big foreign investors. No situation is ever permanent and the time for buying trophies in England seems to be on the wane as more and more clubs get access to more money through sponsorship deals, TV ads and more gate collections. There is a narrowing in income between the big clubs and so-called small ones. Although this seems to be totally unanticipated, there have been signs of small clubs coming up and topping the table for sometime only to fall off for the last 4 seasons. Any serious pundit should have foreseen this but most of them were preoccupied with spending more and more money to buy the trophy. It is therefore little wonder that all pundits were caught off-guard and are now trying to grapple with the unexpected trend of events. What is rather disappointing is the fact that instead of these pundits being humble and avoid deceiving us with their predictions they are now all over themselves claiming how Leicester is going to win the EPL! But the question is when have pundits been right this season? This might not be the end of their getting it wrong since there are still seven games to go. Hence Arsenal fans need to remain calm and see how the situation winds up.

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