Stop picking on Arsene Wenger!

If he had a pound for every time he was criticized, Arsene Wenger would be richer than Manchester City! Pun aside, Wenger does evoke strong reaction from his naysayers every time he says or does something.

The latest to join the bandwagon is the former Manchester United defender Gary Neville. The feisty defender fought many battles on the pitch with Wenger’s players during his playing days and features as the Sky Sports pundit these days.

After the Gunners were held for a goalless draw with Liverpool at the Emirates, Neville was quick to question Wenger’s tactics. He was quick to point out that the inability of Wenger to add a proper defensive midfielder will bite him in the final calculation.

The defensive disarray of the team almost hit the side hard. Had it not been for the heroics of Petr Cech, Wenger would have been hit with another home loss. After innumerable talks on how a good start will help his side mount a serious title challenge, Wenger would have been under pressure had they lost.

Though there is a serious urge to support the statements of Neville, deep down his attack sounds more about scoring brownie points. He may be right about the signings lacking character but to attribute the entire thing down to arrogance is, to be fair, a little arrogant.

The naivety on the part of the Frenchman is to think that his squad can build up and measure the way his ‘invincibles’ did. The character and strength of Patrick Vieira is the huge difference with the current squad and this probably explains the deep down reason for Neville’s jibe.

The questions that pop up keep pointing to the inability of signing the right players. It is only half the story told. Strangely enough it is a combination of many factors that extended the limited success period for the past decade.

Wenger’s squad struggled with physical presence at teams like Stoke that try to throw caution out of the window. Not scaling up to expectations is a common theme but Wenger has to cop up his share of the failure for not making the right decisions. Do you want to call him arrogant for not signing the right players? You choose your words but honestly the word ‘arrogance’ is a little too strong for this.

Can’t you say anything nice about him for a change?

Sridhar

Tags Neville Vieira Wenger

54 Comments

  1. When Arsene next wins us
    the Premiership
    I shall sing his praises
    Until then I will just
    hum a little tune
    la la la dee dee dee dum dee doo
    waiting………. 🙂 🙂 🙂

    1. …it’s Arsene Wenger who should stop picking on us; the fans. He’s done it consistently without repentance for years.

      1. I know there’s some transfer market disappointment at the moment, but sometimes answers are not always in the transfer market. Read or think about what Tim Stillman said:
        “In 2002-03 Arsenal finished 5 points behind Manchester United. In the summer of 2003, they added Lehmann and Clichy and finished 15 points above United the next season, achieving a 20 point swing.” Was Lehmann alone responsible for this?
        “Arsenal finished 10 points behind Manchester United in 2000-01 and finished ten points above them in 2001-02. Was Sol Campbell alone responsible for a 20 point swing?”

        1. Wenger out..no matter who he buys on his 12th hour I will stand my ground.WENGER OUT ..apart from being stubborn he’s also very unlucky..why does his clubs have the meanest injuries,refarees decisions always go against us..champions league draw goes against us.FA cup we already have tot while the rest are having village teams..no matter how hard we try in the CL round of 16 away goals eliminate us..so unlucky..he plays for EPL #4 and CL round of 16 and calls his season a success..I think we should try our luck in Europa league and see how it goes

      2. give me just one reason why i should praise Wenger..no way.I can’t support someone who at the end of the season will say “EPL is very competitive.we had a slow start but at the second half of the season we showed quality and spirit.we were almost there.A few injuries did cost us.hope we can now focus on picking on the same form next season and see how it ends” poor manager.useless

  2. What defense disarray are they talking about? The worst statement I’ve heard is ‘IF IT WASN’T FOR CECH’. Isn’t the goalkeeper part of the defense? I don’t know about you but I wont under estimate a confident chambo-gab partnership. They could become first choice.
    The main problem in my eyes is that we aren’t scoring enough goals.

    1. Bullshit which game did u watch or are u wenger in disguise…it was pure luck that Chambrs didnt hand Coutinho a brace and u are here praising him…is that what we fans deserve? Just dropin playrz who hvnt playd a game in almost a year in big games lyk that!

      1. Kotte, is it really that easy to get lucky though? Anyways, with Cech in goal, I’d pick Chambers more often, young defenders fare better when they have an experienced goalkeeper behind them, they just have to listen.

    2. Rambo scored a goal remember? BIG wrong decision by the linesman. My point, we could even win the game!

      1. @dragunov762mm, at the end of the day all teams are going to get goals disallowed during the hole season, ´cause ref´s are human. Few inches lower and Coutinho`s shot against the bar would have been a goal, so stop moaning about us winning the game, it ended 0-0, period. When Rambo was calling afterwords the ref´s to watch videos after every near situations, that´s indicates to me more of panic and how desperate the players are at the moment in Arsenal FC. Lack of game plan and not buying with the same excuse what we have heard since forever that there are no right players in the market combined with the most expensive tickets just pisses me off. Us, the fans who are paying Wenger`s huge wage, there is money in bank more than I`ll ever have (hope not, but has to be realistic), just go and buy a world class CF and DM, there is a RIGHT price at any player, like in any business, no doubt about that. The excuse what deluded has been manager is repeating like a monkey with a cd recorded from the early 21st century in every transfer window is just piing in the eye of a true fan like me and the rest of us here and everywhere around the globe, how long one can cope with that, NO MORE EXCUSES…

        1. ‘A few inches lower, Coutinho would have scored’…but he didn’t, it was Coutinho’s error. Ramsey scored a legitimate goal but the official’s disallowed it, Ramsey didn’t make any errors, the officials did, very big difference sir! Had Cech dived a few inches shorter, Benteke, then Coutinho would have scored, Cech was brillant, he didn’t make no errors in those cases…it’s a game of very fine margins and inches. Had Ramsey’s goal stood, who is to say it wouldn’t have ended 4 nil to us?

          1. If no new players arrive, it won’t be a train smash, I’ve always thought if we are not bringing in strikers of the calibre of Suarez, Ibra or Lewandowski then we are still messing around. Benzema would be nice for the sake of depth and competition, yes, he will start above Giroud but he’s only a slight upgrade in my opinion. We have a world class striker in Alexis waiting to be re-purposed but are we fans patient enough to let him blossom in that role, he’s got the tenacity of Suarez and as for his size, Aguero is not much bigger than him if he is at all. But what happens if he went five games without a goal, are we going to start calling for his head? I think if he wasn’t working as hard all over the pitch, we potentially have a more energetic Suarez on our hands, perhaps he needs to work on his finishing a bit more too.

            1. if our end-state is to have sanchez as CF: lets work on that. lets put him in against the “lower” teams and let giroud sit. put ox on one side and walcott on the other : we’d have a completely different & fast team.

          2. theres a diff between missed goal (coutinho) versus disallowed goal . we absolutely need video replay [not just for arsenal, but for all teams]. we’re willing to take teh chance that it could benefit other teams sometimes.

  3. When a team struggles to perform everybody blame manager but when arsenal perform poorly we should not blame our manager wenger? That’s not fair

  4. To be honest, as a frustrated fan, I’ve been hard on Wenger myself in the past few years and I know I’ve let emotions often get the best of me. However, I realize that, if you, I, and at least 10 other managers currently in the EPL were to be given 1 week to work in his office & come up with a workable plan to get us out of our frustrations, we’d burn the whole club down to ashes! For this reason, I have nothing but respect for the man. His brand of football, which is esthetically pleasing at its very best and is uniquely moulded by Wenger himself, is what brought me and a few millions of fans in the past decade or so to Arsenal. Yes, it is a difficult time for an Arsenal fan, because the expectation is that, since financial hardships have eased up and he has today won the FA Cups, we should win the EPL tomorrow or else. One thing perhaps people lose sight of is that Wenger, of all people, more so than any of us, badly wants to win the EPL… and so do other top teams! Only one team will get its chemistry right to achieve this result! 38 games is not an easy path to glory… Not even with Playstation joysticks! Criticism is okay, but disrespect? No!

    1. You are right – the disrespect from members like “moneytalks” is reprehensible. I see others criticize Wenger and have no problem with it at all – but he and a few others are downright nasty creatures (internet tuff).

      1. I seriously don’t like coming on here reading negative comments about the manager nor the players. Arsenal has some of the worst if not the worst fans when it comes on to negativity towards our own and yet we praise a few others from outside.

        The irony of it is that when Arsene retires leaving the club financially stable and might bring the other manager success, some of us fans won’t remember that Mr. Wenger laid the platform.

        I agree that he should strengthen like everyone else on here but over the years patience was the key to successfully having some of these top players in our squad today. We get jealous and frustrated because of what our neighbors are doing but the window isn’t even closed as yet. Let’s see what the final days hold. Just look at Real Madrid and De Gea situation. Madrid are playing their cards right. Delay the window and then make a late bid (lower than what United may like) and they could either accept or let him leave free next season. Fingers crossed that we are in a similar situation.

        1. We live in a microwave world of instant gratification. Like a bunch of adult babies screaming “I want it now!” and banging their heads on the ground when it doesn’t materialise fast enough.

          Imagine some of the JustArsenal serial moaners supporting arsenal through most of the 70’s and 80’s with an 18 year gap between titles!

          #NEILLOUT, #HOWEOUT

  5. Gary Neville is right. Wenger is making same mistakes every season and not learning. Refusing to spend money on top dm and cf, same tactical mistake every season picking his favorite players, playing
    Cm in wide areas over best wingers like ox and theo.

  6. I’m keeping faith in him for 4 more days at least.

    I’m hoping for three players
    1. Cavani, Gotze or Lewandowski
    2. Krychowiak or Bender
    3. ??? Maybe CD

    1. @fred you my friend are a comedian. Bayern don’t care about money. why would you think think they would sell Lewandowsky, or that the player would want to leave is beyond me. PSG also would never sell.
      There’s a slight chance we might get gotze though. But I’m not sure that’s what Wenger is looking for.

    2. The House of Rahman and its Representatives are looking and hoping for 4 signings

      Striker

      DM

      CM

      RW

    3. @fred Nobody wants sell their player , i realise that those player list you want to go , want to move , didnt settle, bench warmer or their club in money crisis. So keep dreaming . Tell me one reason why they want to move arsenal? Since afc transfer policy was how to get skillfull usefull + profitable wc player by lowest fee + wages as possible

      1. If we pay them what they wants…they will sell..

        there is a price for everything….

        A player cost 50m and you bid 40 or 49…you will get rejected for sure….

  7. An open letter to my idol…Arsene 4th guy Wenger.

    May I just say….I worship you Wenger.
    You are an awesome manager. People don’t understand how difficult it is to win the 4TH PLACE TROPHY.
    It is way harder than winning the EPL or CL. Those guys have it easy. It takes a lot of tactics, courage and determination to achieve 4TH. And for this I applaud Wenger because the man has the MOST DIFFICULT job in the world. Thank you Arsene….from a true AKB. And just to let you know, if I could fit my head in your a$$ any deeper, I would Arsene. I would.
    😀 😀 😀

      1. I know right?? And with the F.A. Cup as well??
        Almost as if we were the second most successful team in England last season…

  8. we are having centreback crisis….and yet we do not sign a proper centreback

    Both Gabriel and Chambers are not ready….

    1. gabriel is good to go. if koz/mert get injured, he’d be an able replacement. that s not our problem; we have a problem w no DM backup and no #1 striker.

  9. Don’t worry about Arsene. This is the same old pressure for him. He’s been through more critical phases than this. This is nothing. We’ll be back on tittle track in short time, I’m sure.
    But I still hope Arsene will do his “confusing” last minute method again to strengthen our squad. I’m boring to mention any specific names anymore. COYG!!!!

    1. He’s been trough more critical phases than this.

      Problem is that those critical phases come up every season. Isn’t that a sign that we should acknowledge by signing a manager who won’t guide us into crises every season?

      Or just bring in someone like David dein who handles the transfers the right way coz Wenger can’t/ refuses to do so.

  10. Arsenal need an out
    and out striker not
    another winger or ACM.
    Central players
    Ozil Cazorla Wilshere Sanchez
    Rosicky Ramsey Zelalem Crowley Fortune.
    Wingers
    Walcott Chamberlain Sanchez Gnabry
    Wellington Iwobi Maitland-Niles Adelaide.
    Striker please.

    1. Ok.. So Zelalem, Crowley, Gnabry, Wellington, Maitland Niles are on loan. Fortune and Adelaide are under 18 with pretty much no first-team experience. Rosicky and Wilshere are injured…
      TBH if it’s someone in the Gotze mould who can create, penetrate and score then i’m all for it.

  11. I have never for once heard English media sayin any gud thing about our players, manager or thing dat concerns d club, especially BBC

    1. Yep… Let’s get the manager who took the 2nd best team in Germany to a glorious 7th place finish last season. Makes sense.

      1. No let’s take the manager who took a team close to relegation to 2 Bundesliga championships and a cl final, with a team worth less than afc.

  12. Whose fault is it that ramsey is being put out wide? we play without pace. Wenger has never been a tactician.

    1. Totally agree…..

      the worst tactic was to put Ramsay on the wings…..

      proven many times that it doesnt work and Wenger still insist on playing him there…..

      1. Doesn’t matter!! It’s pretty much the same as fifa. If you don’t have pace to abuse down the flanks what’s the point?? It’s not like our full-backs have been making loads of attacking runs to give our attacks width…. Ramsey is not a winger! The fact that he’s on the end of plenty of chances, has a crazy work-rate in pressing and defence, forces turnovers and creates for others is simply irrelevant!!
        Hell, the ref got it wrong, but he should have known to be more onside…

    2. The funny thing is Ramsey’s probably been our best player at finding holes between the lines the first three games… Ox is direct, and fearless when taking on his man. But Ramsey’s movement and ability to put himself in scoring situations is criminally under-rated. He’s been linking really well with Ozil and Santi.

      1. ramsey *IS* the most penetrative player we have.
        we have an unbalanced squad: too many players want to play centrally; not enuf want to be wingers and strikers. thats AW’s fault for getting too many in one position, not enough in another. #1 position for these guys is CAM: ozil, cazorla, ramsey, wilshere, roziscky. maybe even ox. how can we have CROW (caz,ramsey,ozil,wilshere) on at the same time??
        do u think sanchez could get as good as aguero if he played CF week in week out? if so, lets start doing that. lets put ox on one side, walcott on the other and bring in giroud as a CF sub. ozil in the hole. b2b duties would be split between ramsey and cazorla. they both cannot be on at the same time. maybe ramsey when we’re against weaker teams where the b2b doesnt need to defend as much etc.

  13. Please get it clear that the fans are not picking on Wenger! The fans just want to see Arsenal to get a shot at the title instead of falling behind the pacesetters by huge number of points so early in the season! The issues are not only today but it has been going on season after season! Arsenal will neither win the title nor challenge for the title if there is no reinforcements such as a top striker at least and a DM! we cannot afford to start badly if you are going to challenge for the title but Arsenal has became a joke in the world with this deluded arrogant manager! If look at how other teams are strengthening, you can feel they really want to challenge for the title! Arsenal is one of the top European club but the situation at Arsenal is really torturing the fans around the world. There is still time left and I really hope Wenger know what is going on and bring the reinforcements in which Arsenal needed badly.

    1. have u seen urgency from wenger? i’m looking for urgency. getting stuff done early. last year was good. this year ; not so much. i also hear garbage like “there’s no good players available” (what about jackson martinez? he would have been a great CF for us). those are excuses. he gets 8M/year. he should be commensurately accountable and get it done, not just “we’re trying hard”, “nobody wants to sell”, “we have a good enough squad”. actually all this deflection he does about CF is just that: deflection. i bet he’s been trying hard for 2 years to get a WC CF. but his own stinginess & stubborness probably lead to NO DEAL. if he said publically, “we’re vigorously looking for a #1 striker”: it would break dainty giroud & all sellers would jack up their prices.

  14. Arsenal performance should be judged against other teams with comparable history and resources … 4th place and a shot at fa cup should not be the benchmark …. That it has become so is the tragedy of wenger’s last decade in charge recognizing this and criticizing it is what being a real fan is all about

  15. I agree with the likes of money talk and rkw and plenty more fans that believe Wenger deserves all the positive criticism he gets.He has two seasons to prove himself before he bows out and believe me when I say most will request for change when them two seasons finish and Arsenal still has not challenged. We need change. Many fans with no football history joined Arsenal because of Wenger but the time is nearing closer for you fans to either truly support the club or leave when wenger goes simple as that.

  16. It is a SIN when you have the money and don’t bother to spend to improve. Manshxt and ManU as well as chelshxt are all buying and improving their squad.

    Arsene Wenger has done nothing apart from the goal keeper.

    How many players we missed this summer?

    Are we happy simply by beating teams like Liverpool even if that goal was counted?

    Are we NoT going to be slaughtered by Munich?

    How many games are we going to lose before the next transfer window opens?

    The season hope for us has already ended.

    Wenger OUT!!

  17. Wenger is stubborn and arrogant and naive for sure as he always brings up the fact that he is been a manager for 20 years at top club but forgets to add how he has been unable to win a championship for 10 years. stadium debt could be used only for so long.The fact is arsenal cant match the financial strength of big clubs.One good signing every year just doesn’t cut it as rest of the teams are buying 3 or 4 players that too top top player which he describes so often.Just dont raise peoples expectations and not deliver at the end.I do beleive he is arrogant in the fact that he won’t buy a cdm in mould of Vieira or toure bcoz he wants to prove that he can win it with smaller creative playes.Coquelin is good but no big club depends on a single player to carry them, there needs to be a backup always. Gary neville actually wants the arsenal of old who made teams shudder but wenger is too stubborn.

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