Are Arsenal simply not ruthless enough to win the title?

We all know that Arsene Wenger was a revelation when he first moved to Arsenal, winning titles and Doubles and achieving the Invincibles season, but since the club decided to build the Emirates to increase the space for paying supporters his achievements have been a bit less memorable. In fact since Arsenal last won the title, our neighbours Chelsea have been Champions on five occasions, including last season.

According to Jamie Carragher, this is because Arsenal simply don’t have the same urgency to be winners, and are definitely not as ruthless as Chelsea, who change their managers on a regular basis if they are not winning. “Arsenal are a great club with the way they’re run and their values,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

“I think everyone looks up to Arsenal in some ways as a club. But that mentality, I’ve said it for so long…

“The difference between [Arsenal] and Chelsea… there are things about Chelsea that I don’t like but the difference in mentality at that club to Arsenal is why Chelsea have dominated the league under Roman Abramovich.

“It’s not just about money. It’s that ruthlessness going through the club where second isn’t good enough, let alone the top four.”

I think this may have been true in the past when we were selling players and trying to pay off our Emirates debt, but surely Wenger is desperate to win the title again and is acting (in public anyway) like he has grown a pair. We are bringing in more talented players every year, and hopefully no longer a selling club.

Could Arsenal be ruthless enough to win the title this season?

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39 Comments

  1. JUST IN:News coming in is that Alexis Sanchez was in Paris to ectend his UK Visa and his visit has nothing to do with any PSG transfer.Arsenal have already told them and for that matter any other club that Alexis Sanchez is not for sale.Currently, a deal worth £330,000 a week is pn the table for him.It’s however yet to be seen if he agrees to it.
    I also reported earlier about Oxlade Chamberlain saying that Chelsea were close to agreeing a £37.5 deal for him.It’s yet to be seen whether it’s now been agreed.I’ll update you guys on that.
    For the William Carvalho fans he’s agreed to join West Ham in a £32 deal.He’s going to fly in for his medicals on Wednesday.DONE DEAL!! for them.
    On Seri,still no bid for him nor for any CM for that matter.

      1. Well I can’t really tell but all I know is it had nothing to do with a PSG transfer.He’ll either sign or leave for free next summer.

        1. You cant apply for a visa whilst in the UK thats why.. he apparently went to Paris on way back from Chile and maybe that was to apply and thia was to pick up his new visa

          Maybe thats also the reason he has not been playing if he doesnt have a valid work visa… ?

    1. I thought Konstantin was the only clown here, but it looks like we’ve got ourselves another one here in kev AKA resource.

  2. News coming in is that Arsenal are looking at Virgil Van Dijk or Koulibaly if they can move Chambers out permanently this season.Chambers is not playing because Arsenal are loking to sell him.
    Dortmund are also set to offer Mahrez the chance to move for around €43.It’s unlikely Arsenal may ever step in their way.
    OT:Barca have made a £137 for Coutinho though it’s not out from the media yet.There’s a feeling now around the KOP that his move is imminent.After all his shirts are no longer for sale and all his pictures have been removed from the shop.

    1. @Kev Is it just a coincidence that you always come up with the same updates that @moleyfootball tweets before you? Are you by any chance Moley in disguise? ?

    2. “Barca have made a £137 for Coutinho though it’s not out from the media yet.”

      I bet you got it from rousingthekop.com, because it is stated there. You are a maniac.

      1. Well let’s wait and see.It’s not like it’s the first this has happened.As I keep saying many deals have been reported before time when the media made it look like it was off or had not yet gotten the info.The only problem here is I’m an Arsenal fan.If I was any other fan they’d be applauding me for breaking the deals early.Arsenal don’t sign many players hence less in’s.Lemar deal was agreed at £55 but the asking price was changed to £65.Yet people still doubt.

      2. One alarming thing is the way people disrespect others here.The funny thing is the same think Mourinho is classless.

        1. Kev I was prepared to listen and give you the benefit of the doubt but a “done deal” is a done deal so please give up now

  3. Clearly Wenger will start Ramsey alongside Xhaka in the current formation. Then we have Elneny & Le Coq as backup. You can easily rule out a transfer for Seri as Wenger will never spend anything close to £30m on a backup. Wenger is actually looking for a versatile player who can temporarily play in Ramsey’s position when the latter is injured & on the wings as a replacement for Alexis who is likely to leave next summer. That’s why we were after LEMAR who ticks both the boxes.
    To sum up, a few additional conclusions can be drawn from the LEMAR saga –
    1. Wenger won’t sacrifice Ramsey/Xhaka for another out & out box to box/holding CM
    2. He is unsure if Alexis will extend his contract & LEMAR might have been one of the options to replace him.
    3. He is after versatility ( Kolasinac, Lacazette).
    4. He prefers potential( remember he wanted Mbappe last yr) to experience.
    5. Players similar to LEMAR may be an alternative.(don’t be surprised if we buy an unknown quantity from the French league)
    6. The board’s plan was to sell before buying.
    7. Its becoming less likely we’ll be signing anyone before deadline day.
    8. Arsenal behave like a small club in the transfer market.( Man C, Chelsea raided Monaco & we are still here counting our chickens?)
    9. DICK LAW is an incompetent negotiator.
    10. Our transfer policy will never change under KROENKE, GAZIDIS & WENGER. ( A change for catalyst My arse ?)

    1. all sadly true and a recipe for 4th place dog fight with sanchez and further decline without … those who expected wenger to behave responsibly this window need their head examined

  4. Carragher is right. If Arsenal is ruthless, Wenger would have been fired a long time ago and the underperforming players would have been sold before they reach their second season in Arsenal.

    Chelsea is kicking their top goalscorer out, because he was acting up. Salah and Cuadrado were sold before they reach their second season.

    Manchester City didn’t extend Pellegrini’s contract, even though he gave them good results. Hart was sold, Bravo is benched and Dzeko was sold as well.

    In Arsenal, we still have Wenger, Giroud, Walcott, Ozil, etc. They will not taste the Arsenal’s kindness in other clubs. Leicester City fired Ranieri after he gave them a Premier League title.

    1. True. Arsenal has not changed, will not change, with said leadership, just won’t happen. There is a very clear formula and mentality at Arsenal, which will always cause many decisions to be clouded by ideals and principles that do not jive with ambition to be champions. It is obvious most players “like” Arsenal and enjoy being part of the comfortable group, there are others that have higher ambitions and understand that Arsenal (at this time and for a while) is not an “all business” club striving to win and be on top. If the club really did have that mentality, thing WOULD be a lot different at Arsenal.

      So for me, I understand this and have accepted it, otherwise, I just continue to be negative and hope for the things that the leadership does not strive to fulfill.

    2. Arsene probably been here longer than many of the officials operating at arsenal which supposes many are frightened to oppose or challenge him. ive noticed what seems is a campaign of late to make the manager appear more affable in front of the cameras not sure its meant to change the view of disgruntled arsenal fans towards him…

      there’s so much that is disingenuous and lacking in sincerity from arsenal-Fc official releases for the attention of fans, in many ways we’re treated like fools. the solution is greater transparency and i’m certain there’s little chance of that. its why sections have resorted to protest banners.

  5. It is not that Arsenal are not ruthless enough to win the title, but it is Arsene Wenger who is pulling Arsenal back for the last 15 years by dragging his feet in the transfer market year after year.He was not able to sign the good winning players to Arsenal. he was always saying that Arsenal could nor compete with the big clubs as if Arsenal are smaller club. Wenger by saying so he is damaging Arsenal images and most of the world class players are refusing to come to Arsenal under Wenger . After 15 years of failing to win back the championship or make any real progress in the Champion league it was a very bad mistake that Arsenal gave Wenger a contract extension for two years

  6. The answer is……….. NOBODY really knows about the ruthlessnesss. The season will show us.

    I keep reading about the need for another CB. If it is just pure numbers, Arsenal do not not a CB. They have Mert, Kos, Gabriel, Mustafi, Holding and Chambers = 6. A few years back they had only THREE!!!.

    Anyway, if the need is about quality, then at least one CB must be designated for departure.

    1. I agree with you to a point but not for the CB part.If we are talking about quality in the CB department then I can even argue that we need more than two.There are no boundaries to want of quality in a team.Arsenal do not need a CB.What we need is a change of mentality,right system and combinations.That’s lacking in our team.Unlike many I feel we need one player in the centre.We need a player who’s a hybrid between defensive and attack minded.Such a player would solve Arsenal’s midfield problem.I don’t even care if that player is known or unkown.We just need a quality player of that nature.If I was to give an example I’d say Renato Sanches.

    2. Meet retires next year
      Chambers is for sale
      Gabriel is inj
      Kos is getting on and suffers injuries
      Holding is good but need to be used sparingly

      How many do we have again ?

  7. If the owner was ruthless then Wenger would have got the sack a very long time ago.
    If the manager was ruthless then players like Walcott wouldn’t have been at the club for 11 years, and counting.

    Too many people at the club who are content with mediocrity is why the club has become an absolute shambles! Half the squad, including our best players, are so close to ALL leaving on a free ! So many we cannot even sell, because the club decided to pay them ridiculous wages for doing nothing! That pretty much sums up just how bad things are.

  8. The problem with us fans is that sometimes we pretend to live out of this world. I f a change of manager always led to success Liverpool would have had lots of it. Some people get so fixated on a team like Chelsea and fail to appreciate a few realities of life. Chelsea went fifty years without a league trophy while Arsenal was winning trophies for fun. Now it is Chelsea’s turn to enjoy the moment while it lasts. It won’t be forever. I am not defending Arsenal’s dismal performance in the last few years but emphasising changes that happen in real life situations. All big teams including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan have suffered similar situations at different times in their history. However a time comes when they recover and reclaim their rightful place. Arsenal is now in the recovery period and will soon be back on top. What is most required now is for the team to regain confidence and a fighting spirit and the rest will follow.

    1. The English (and international) game is different and has changed from back when Arsenal was at (near) the top. Our manager is still trying to operate and manage within the operations of year’s past. Now, that is ok if Arsenal’s goal is to be top 4 every season as a top goal, but as we all have seen, the clubs that aim for the very top operate differently and have a different mentality. I am not even sure I even disagree with top 4 as a target, however, if this IS the goal and mentality of the club, then say so, don’t proclaim to have the target of champions and CL contenders if that isn’t the actual goal(s)! I think this is the number 1 frustration of many fans. Arsenal, year after year proclaim to be aiming at the very top, when their actions clearly do not support their claims!

  9. I think Arsenal is two signings away from glory. CM n an attacking minded player who is versatile in nature..

  10. This is the kind of article that highlights exactly what is wrong with this club as a whole…so the question you’re asking is what option would be less shitty…after the firestorm surrounding Wenger’s contract last season, which somehow led to his highly questionable re-upping for 2 more years, things needed to dramatically change or the inevitable same old, same old was bound to occur…as of right now the bare minimum has occurred…we knew about Sead long before Wenger’s renewal so that can’t be considered a part of the “new world order”…so the only real changes are Lehman coming into the coaching staff, which could be positive but he’s always been a Wenger lackey so the jury is still out, and the acquisition of Lacazette, who I really like as a player but I question the reasoning behind his signing

    Firstly we were unwilling to pay almost half the price to sign him last season, which if we had could have encouraged Sanchez & Ozil to sign earlier and left more money available for future acquisitions, and secondly, why wouldn’t we spend just a little more and pursue a more established and higher rated striker(Auby)…I believe Wenger went into panic mode and went after the most inexpensive striker on the board to ease the negativity of the fans…I likewise believe that he never intended to get rid of Giroud and went after Lacazette because he, of all the available strikers, would be willing to play in Sanchez’s position if and when he leaves…this team will be considerably worse off if we lose Sanchez and Lacazette ended up playing on the left with Giroud up top…once again, I have watched him play on numerous occasions, both when he was lighting it up with Fekir and last season, and I love his first-touch capabilities and his finishing skills but in order for him to truly succeed in North London he needs to be leading the line and we need to be more direct in our approach

    As for the rest of the squad, we needed massive changes that should have started the minute Wenger signed on the dotted line…we saw it with AC Milan this summer, as the fan base was sick of half-measures and band-aid acquisitions…from day one the team should have cut their losses with several players that weren’t going to generate much income in the transfer market just to show that the club was willing to take responsibility for their previous mistakes…then they should have sold the following players immediately to show just how serious they were about turning things around:

    Giroud—unless he was willing to be the super-sub without throwing himself on his sword in the press every ten minutes, as he simply represents all that has been wrong with this club since the sale of RVP…his presence on the pitch makes it impossible for us to make the necessary changes to our offensive scheme…just think about what teams were interested in him, besides the bullshit about Dortmund…it was West Ham, Everton and Marseille, none of which have the history, supposed aspirations or financial resources to create a one-touch forward-thinking offensive scheme

    Welbeck—love his work-rate and his demeanor on and off the pitch, but his first-touch capabilities and finishing skills are average at best…beyond that he has an incredibly spotty injury record and this is something that you can’t look past on a team that has used this as an excuse for under-performing on numerous occasions…I would much rather the team scout much younger players to play off the bench, which means changing their horrible wage structure, then spending big money on their starting 11…Welbeck is expendable and should be treated as such…if it’s true that Everton are looking his way, he should be sold immediately

    Walcott—he represents all that could and should have been with this club and we should be willing to eat some of his contract just to move him elsewhere so that we can move forward…instead we wear his contract around our necks like an albatross…once again, this isn’t to suggest he’s shit, it’s that he needs to be replaced by someone who represents new hope not old failures

    Finally, and to reiterate an earlier point, the way forward for this club is to stop paying below average bench players so much money and to focus the bulk of the weekly wages on establishing a dominant starting 11…this will require the club to eat some wages in order to ship some players out, get rid of any deadwood over the age of 21, develop a cutting edge scouting service and put your money where your mouth is for once…I would much rather have a starting 11 that was world-class and give some reasonably paid young blue-chippers playing time when injuries occur than have 2 or 3 world class players surrounded by a plethora of overpaid and underwhelming players…management would no longer be able to sell their half-baked plans to the fans under the guise of “winning now”, which any intelligent fan knows is a crap-shoot at best, and instead create a a squad that provides hope for the present and the future…this is exactly the model that has been used by Barcelona, Real & Bayern, so it should be good enough for us…by the way, until Messi & Ronaldo re-signed just recently all 3 clubs weekly wages were on par with ours…think about that for a second or two

  11. @David Rusa all that been said do not excuse Arsenal for losing the Epl title cheaply year in year out by just few points.
    Every season apart from the unbeaten era Arsenal flatter to deceive. We play so well from the beginning of the season, collapse in the middle only to go on a strange unbeaten run towards the end of the. Plus we experience the round of 16 slump in the UCL since 2006.
    Because of Wenger’s theory of “4th place is like winning a ?”

    1. If weng+kron=failure cared to critically read what I wrote he would have discovered that I strongly believe that Arsenal’s biggest challenge is mental strength. The so-called collapse in mid season is mainly due to weak spirit. I have always argued that where there is a will there is a way. What super stars did Leicester have when they won EPL? It was all down to iron determination. Everyone played for all and all played for one. They refused to let go. If Arsenal maintains the spirit they have been showing since the last ten games of last season there is no reason why the EPL cannot be won. Our team does not lack quality players as such but lacks mental toughness. Look at our team in all departments. Where is it weak. The back line which some people keep harping on has Koscielny, Mustafi, Mertesacker, Holding, Gabriel and Chambers. None of these is really a bad player. In midfield we have Xhaka who is expected to improve this season as he is now used to EPL plus the likes of Ramsey, Elneny, Coquelin and Orlando. The forward line is all known. So apart from weak spirit what would stop such a team from performing at the top level. All the players people keep quoting have excelled because of determination more than anything else. Of course injuries have been a problem to the team but there is an old saying that fortune favours the brave.

  12. I don’t think Sanchez was in Paris for his visa issues or whatever, I believe he was there to negotiate a deal with psg, he prefer signing for psg than playing for arsenal again, this is not only abt money, he knows arsenal are not ready to win any title or even C.L soon. I really don’t blame him if he want out, even if Suarez sign for arsenal few years back I believe he already want out as well like Sanchez. No big players want to come to us bcus we r not ruthless enough.

  13. It’s better we cash in Sanchez now rather than letting him leave on free next season, still doesn’t make any sense to me, if he doesn’t want to sign new contract with arsenal is better we negotiate with psg and look for his replacement rather than wasting time talking abt Sanchez or Lemar all window. Letting Sanchez leave on free next season will still join our rivals.

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