Arsene Wenger has rubbished reports claiming he had been offered a new contract.
The French boss has come under intense criticism this term, with fans attempting to stage a protest demanding change, but that did not go to plan. It was believed that the fans chants of ‘there’s only one Arsene Wenger’ would give the manager the impetus to stay beyond his current deal, but the club has not made an attempt to sign him.
“That’s completely wrong,” Wenger said in response to the specualtion. “I don’t know where this information comes from. You can treat that as just an invention and no more.
“It’s absolutely false. I would like the press to check this information with myself or the club before they give it out. We both would have denied it.
“I think about the next game. At my stage you want to do well. I’m committed with integrity and commitment, full commitment to the club as long as I’m under contract, but at the moment that’s all.”
The 66 year-old did not rule out extending his deal in the future however, but simply claimed he would concentrate on his job.
He added: “What I focus on is respecting my contract and then envisage what I will do afterwards.
“I can understand people are interested in that, but that is not the most important thing.
“I extended my contract in a period that was vital for the club and after that I will see where I am personally and where the club stands at the end of my contract.”
I know many of you are hoping that he does finish his spell at the end of his current contract, but I’m not ready for the uncertainty that it will leave our club in for the future. Yes in theory there are managers who could excite us and bring in a fresh approach, but the Premier League is so strong that success is impossible to guarantee.
I don’t simply want to hear ‘Wenger out’ or any mindless dribble, but genuine thoughts would be appreciated on the subject.
The board (well Kroenke mainly) are interested in money only
Not trying to obtain trophies
Kroenke and Wenger formulae
Top 4 + spending little in transfers = lots of money
Getting rid of Wenger means ending the status quo. They are happy with our present situation
We, the fans, are highly requesting Arsene Wenger to review and change his approach in all aspects. If so, the remaining things will come automatically. He need to strengthen the squad (CB, CDM, CF & wingers), value fans feedback, improve his tactical approach depending on the quality of the opponent. The existing tactic is very predictable and well known by every one. In general he has to stop living with the past and start to live with the current dynamically changing world. Other wise, we respect him for his rational thinking quality and what he did in the past for the lovely Arsenal FC club.
@Tartek Girma……… Hell u are right……but honestly, this is just too much for wenger!
He will have to give up his entire Lifestyle then…
Wenger! Wenger!! Wenger!!! To be sincere with ourselves it’s not all about wenger. Let’s talk about the players, will wenger go to the field and put the ball behind opponents net? What about the performance of the players that can’t hold their own against so called small team? What about their determination. Talking about “Arsene wenger not buying quality player” mention one quality player bought by Leicester. Ranieri did not go on the pitch to play for them, what we saw is determination to succeed. Talking about team and formulary, Ranieri only has one formula and one winning team and his 4-5-1 formation never changes. Enough of Arsene wenger shouts, let’s examine the performance of the team in EACH GAME.
@Phemy
You’ve brought up some interesting points, and are all very easy to answer.
We struggle to put the ball in the opponents net, despite Ozil creating so many opportunities, as you say, but why! Well it’s because of two reasons: we have a lack of quality upfront, and who’s responsible for this – you guessed it, Wenger! He’s the one that signed the likes of Giroud, and Sanogo, and decided to go with Walcott despite knowing Welbeck (who also has a poor scoring record) would miss most the season. Also, his tactics are stifling our attacks. Because Wenger is obsessed with possession football and square passes, it slows our attacks down, which gives the opposition time to get men behind the ball and get defensively organised.
You also mention, Determination. Again, isn’t that the job of a manager – to instil a winning mentality into his players, spirit, a never give up attitude. Our players NEVER play like, they want to die for their manager, like with what we see in Mourinho and Simeone teams for example.
My final point, about the players being completely blameless, is that we’ve had the same problems at Arsenal for so many years, but yet the players keep changing. The only continuous person throughout all of our problems, has been Wenger. So when trying to think of how to solve our problems, surely the starting point is Wenger.
Walcott was around all that time too, lets blame Theo for everything. And thank him for our cup successes and top four places just to even it up. Arsenal targeted Higuain, got priced out of it big time. We offered 40m for Suarez, that’s allot of money and more often than not it would get you some real quality. We said to media, show me a world class player which is on the market. Most people relaised last season that strikers of top quality were hard to come by, there was a shortage. We could have tried for someone who might not have been a huge improvement, but its top quality is what we need. We could ask why don’t we offer over the odds for the top of foodchain strikers, but we know Arsenal as a club just don’t operate that way, and never have. There was an interesting piece from the mirror about a respected analysts take on Arsenals money situation ..Ravi Lockyer.
@thirdman
You mentioned no quality upfront with the likes of Giroud, Walcott, welbeck, sanchez. All these players have represented their respective countries at high leve, what quality do you talk about? If they lack qualities, they will never get a call up to represent their countries or you want to tell me their national team Coach has no vision. You talk about determination, that a coach should instil a winning mentality in the players. My question is how do you expect him, or what do you expect from him that he doesn’t do to instil winning mentality on them?
You also said this has been happening for seasons now, we complain about deadwoods in the team, now no more dead woods all we complain of is wenger and injury prene players. Leicester only has Mayrez and vardy upfront and they did the damage. If you don’t believe in yourself and determine, their is no motivation that can make you do beyond your capacity.
Well the song is WENGER SHOULD GO, but do y’all know what is coming with a new manager? Alex Ferguson left man utd , for three seasons they are still linking their woundsite despite signing a world class Coach and spent a lot of money bringing in qualities. Since the exit of Benitez from Liverpool, they are yet to get their rhythm. Kopp is here, it’s too early to evaluate him.
I wish wenger should leave and a new manager comes in, and see if y’all going to come up with excuses or comments next season.
See y’all next season.
@Phemy
To suggest that all players must be quality, just a because they represent their country, is ludicrous! Many rubbish players are involved at International level. Heskey was an awful striker at club level, yet he played for England a whopping 62 times, only scoring 7 goals! Sometimes, it’s works out differently, as with Welbeck. Not very good at club, with a poor scoring record, yet he’s been excellent for England. International football and club football do not go hand in hand.
Now taking away the ridiculous International reasoning, surely as a fan, you watch Arsenal? Because you honestly can’t tell me that Walcott, Welbeck and Giroud are quality players. Giroud and Welback are of the quality of squad players, and Walcott has proven over a long period of time that he cannot play at this level, he’s very poor. Unless you think, being paid huge wages to NOT score many goals on a consistent basis, IS the sign of a quality striker, then I stand corrected.
I get your point about the players themselves having that inner determination, and will to win, some having it more than others, as with Sanchez. But again, if players aren’t showing this fighting ability, which is what we see at Arsenal, then why doesn’t Wenger sell them or at least, stop picking them?
My final point…why are you comparing Wenger to Ferguson, seriously, please tell me why on earth you think it’s the same situation with Man United and Ferguson. Wenger has never been anywhere near Ferguson’s level as a manager. Fergie had Man United at the very top for almost his entire reign, won everything, and left them as league champions. He was arguably the greatest club manager ever, of course Man United were going to struggle after he left, anyone could have seen that. Wenger hasn’t had Arsenal anywhere near the top for a decade, and given the quality at the club, and the resources (even under evil Kreonke), I would say – the only way is up!
Apart from Wenger’s unwillingness to spend on what’s really needed at the club, his lack of motivation, tactics and fighting spirit is his main downfall, over the year’s!
Even his team selection and substitutions have come under attack from fan’s and pundits, of late, which is more evidence that the once heavyweight champion of a manager is nothing more than a has been, who couldn’t even punch his way out of a paper bag and the longer he continues in this way, the more harm he will do to his once highly regarded reputation.
This is one big question that will define our 2017/ 2018 season!
There’s no need to Fear Change, Mr Admin,
it’s a big part of life! And the end result will always be death!
So chill out and enjoy the ride. ?
‘One’s level of acceptance and appreciations to their surroundings will determine how smooth or bumpy ones journey is’ .
I accept what’s happening at Arsenal quite happily but not everyone agrees with the sentiment!
For years us fans have accepted 3/4 place whilst paying large amounts of money to the banks to pay for the stadium. Now payments to the banks are much reduced, the owner has decided that the targets for the club will remain as 3/4 in PL and occasional domestic cup. His logic being that the fans have accepted this for years and not deserted the club so it will maximise his investment (instead of large amounts of money going to the banks it will go to the owner).
Wenger has been a great success story from an owner perspective.
1. Early success brought in money,
2. continuous CL football whilst paying off stadium debt and selling best players, preventing possible downward spiral and bankruptcy.
3. attracting top talent to the club (ozil, sanchez) to keep fans interested,
4. April to september 2015 made finamcial loss due to deferred payments in players contracts (payments to players old clubs). No outfield players bought but still top four place achieved in following season.
So what will kroenke be looking for when Wenger retires?
1. Someone to maintain top four place whilst spending the minimum on transfers/wages
2. Someone who can attract the occasional top player.
3. Someone who can convince the fans they may win thiŷngs.
4. Someone who can develop existing players to improve their value
All of the above may sound critical of Kroenke but we have an owner who sees arsenal as a business, not a toy to pour his own money into (like abramovich), not an advertising/promotional vehicle (like sheik mansour). At least Kroenke wants to keep arsenal as a sound business, not borrowing and spending recklessly like some clubs that have gone bankrupt.
The best we can hope for is someone who can motivate the team at all times, not just when targets are threatened and take advantage of opportunities that arise, like thos season when we could and should have won the PL.
To those who say “anyone but wenger”, David Moyes is looking for a job, would he do?