Are these Arsenal critics taking things WAY too far?

Most Arsenal fans will be the first to tell you that the Gunners are not quite firing on all cylinders so far this season, and after the summer transfer window saw the club actually make a profit rather than spending big to catch up with our Premier League rivals despite breaking the club’s transfer record to sign Alexandre Lacazette, you won’t find too many Gooners who are confident that the EPL title is on it’s way back to north London next May.

Having said that, we are actually level on points with the reigning champions Chelsea who did spend a lot on transfers in the summer. In fact it is only goal difference keeping us out of the top four and if you factor in the poor referee decisions at Stoke and Watford you could argue that Arsenal are very unlucky to be outside the Champions League places at this point of the current campaign.

You would not think it, though, to read the comments about us reported by Sky Sports this week from the former Arsenal striker Alan Smith and the former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan, who were very dismissive and negative about Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

Jordan said, “Arsenal are losing sight of the top four, which they used to be part of.

“I am a great admirer of Arsene Wenger but everyone has their time and the DNA of this club needs to change slightly. They changed with Wenger from an Arsenal team that people ridiculed for being boring to a beautiful team that played, and sometimes overplayed, and now there has to be a change again.

“The oxygen has gone out of Arsenal and it needed someone like a Diego Simeone to come in and give it a new energy and attract the elite players… I don’t think they are what they were.”

Smith said, “They are in limbo. The fans aren’t expecting any better than last season, they are always one game away from rebellion among the fans.

“Have Arsenal lost some of their appeal to potential signings? From a football level, do players look at Arsenal and think ‘where is that team going? Am I going to win silverware there?’ Arsenal seem to be slipping down the pecking order.”

So being above Liverpool, level with Chelsea on points and just one behind Tottenham going into this weekend shows that Arsenal are slipping out of touch does it? I know we are not world beaters but this criticism is just taking it way too far don’t you think?

Sam P.

25 Comments

  1. “I know we are not world beaters but this criticism is just taking it way too far don’t you think?”

    No it’s not. He’s right, we need a new breathe of fresh air, new manager n new perspective. We all know we do, and he’s even right when he said most of the fans don’t even have Any expectations this season

    1. ‘we all know we do’…what a pathetic comment ! Don’t include the majority of proper Arsenal fans in your limited opinion.
      What would you do? Change owners, change Manager, Change players, possibly change the name.
      What a moron !

      1. in as much as this is a public forum. you’re entitled to your opinion as I am. calling me a moron cus of my opinion only shows what miserable n pathetic life you’re living. please save your stupidity on your memory card

  2. “…taking it way too far…”
    Not at all, it’s Wenger that’s taking it too far by refusing to quit!!

  3. I think the depth of the squad is already a killer for the team, some areas like defense are paper thin and it’s useless slotting in make shift players. Thanks to lazy transfer activities.

    Well, it is the perfect excuse for whoever for wherever we finished at the end of season, bemoaning the bad luck of injuries etc. Oh yes, Ivan can continue with his shitty emails to all in the club, congratulating everyone for a successful transfer window while laughing to the bank by doing close to nothing.

  4. No, all the criticism is absolutely justified and reasonable…

    (1) When we moved to the Emirates Stadium, fans were promised that the increased stadium capacity and enormous revenues Arsenal would generate would have us competing against “Europe’s Top Clubs”. We are nowhere near being a “Top” club in Europe.

    (2) Our transfer policy doesn’t reflect enough ambition. You can moan all you want about some ideological premise that spending money is somehow unethical for enormous football clubs, but all the top clubs do it, and they win major trophies by doing so, and we should be doing it too.

    (3) Arsenal are boring, but not in an acceptable (IE. Winning) way like we were under George Graham. Yes ok, we can produce the occasional pretty game against weak opposition with only 10 men (Like against Everton), but against decent opposition we are unimaginative, weak, and boring. That is no platform to take the moral high ground about “Attractive football” and “Entertaining fans” because it’s neither attractive nor entertaining.

    (4) We’re stuck in an endless repetitive cycle under Wenger, and it isn’t going to change. We’ll look good sometimes and play ok, then we’ll collapse and lose touch of winning major trophies like we always do. The fans will be conned with some lip-service actions and PR, then the cycle will repeat itself while the club’s manager and board watch their already enormous bank balances grow. Nobody is fooled any more.

  5. We are now a top 6 club. 10 years ago we were a top 2 club. Wenger was once a modern manager but the game has moved on and left him in a time warp.

    1. The league has 6 big and strong club….

      it is not easy…

      unless you have an unlimited bank account

      you can form 2-3 teams of World Class players just like in Fifa 18 and never lose

    2. And the top 1 (Manchester United) finished 6th last season. Unless you’re playing in LA Liga the top crop would always change over a period.

  6. You just feel bad for Arsenal players having fans this bad. If the fans had half the solidarity for the team the actual players had, they’d be winning PL titles. Last year Merson–another knuckle dragging low-hanging-fruit Arsenal basher–thought Chelsea would crush Arsenal 3-0 in the FA Cup final, but Arsenal dominated despite a defensive injury crisis and playing with a makeshift back 3.

    I’m not sure what fans are thinking. This is a team which can undoubtedly beat anyone, why not just act like a real fan and be part of the team instead of sabotaging it? In what way does sabotaging your own team help you get your money’s worth out of a ticket? It’s Pathetic.

    As a fan, I think I’m an extension of the team, fight or die. But all these other “fans” are tourists. If all they are going to do is bitch and whine, I’d much rather they pissed off and stayed home, or better yet, support Man City–your weak asses could actually do some good for us over there.

    And please, enough with this magical thinking that changing managers is some kind of miracle cure. Look around the league, that is pure, 100% wishful thinking.

    1. Thanks man. I don’t think any team whose fans are only one lost from rebellion will never win the desired EPL or cl. The earlier we realised we are hurting this team the better.

    2. Let’s see how we fare against City later.

      The gulf between a properly reinforced team and a poorly maintained team, will be shown by the result later on.

      Pro AW camp, open your eyes and watch.

      1. I thought I saw yesterday some of the pro AW camp talking about records of us vs ManC?

        How about the possession we had compared to theirs? We are clearly below par. A plain Jane is always a plain Jane. We were outplayed due to inadequate maintenance of the team.

        Kroenke and Minions, FO from Arsenal FC!

    3. Listen @ Stephen Larose you are clearly just a casual fan and like other casual fans are not bothered when we lose. You are also clearly not bothered that we are getting worse each year. Pathetic losers like you really annoy me. You go and support another club.
      Proper fans who were born and brought up as fans burn to the core when we lose and it sticks in the throat when we are laughed at by spuds fans when we get humiliated by Liverool and lose to crap teams like Stoke and Watford.
      I wish that the promoter of killing anilmals Kroenke and his sidekick Gadzidis would go. I also wish that incompetent old fool Wenger would go as he is literally the worst manager in the EPL including those that are about to get sacked.

  7. Seriously the negativity here is sky high,could remember few weeks to fa cup finals ,how Chelsea and hazard will rape us buh after we beat them every one kept quiet,man city has won only one of last 9 matches with us and u cant give us credit,r u guys for real?

  8. I have got very tired of the never ending critics, pessimists,may sayers etc about Arsenal. Some of these people perhaps don’t hate Arsenal but they want change to another manager even if that manager doesn’t have the same level of success as Arsene Wenger. Let’s be realistic about some people’s choice for Arsenal manager. Diego Simeon, how many trophies does he have? Mauricio Pocketing, again how many trophies? One can go on and on. Those who claim to be clamouring for a title winning manager perhaps want one for keeping us in top four where we have been regularly save for last season and we are likely to return to the top four this season. One of the few available managers who could put Arsenal to another level is perhaps Carlo Anceloti. He is a man with a record that speaks for itself.
    Now back to today’s Man City-Arsenal game. It is as usual 3 points at stake. It is not a title decider in any way. Hence no serious analyst should read too much in this game. But maybe the interesting thing is that the game is a very well balanced one and could go either way. Because of that reason it is most likely going to be a draw. I don’t think Man City is such a super team that it will hammer Arsenal by many goals. Attitude is going to be a decisive factor here. If Arsenal come determined to play to their best they can even win this game. All Arsenal needs is to be quick with the ball, be tight and don’t give Man City unnecessary space. I can see a very lively game today with both sides going for it.

    1. Carlo Ancelotii has a good record…

      but he manages clubs with all stars in the teams and has funds for him to spend

      Real, Chelsea, Bayern etc….

  9. We should all know that Kroenke is the biggest problem as he has no ambition to win any trophies but the chances of him selling to usmanov or anyone else are 0 at this point so the next change thats needed is to get rid of wenger but since the kroenke only cares about profit and wenger is perfect for idiot for that, then i guess our only two options are to keep supporting the team or stop attending games or watching them to avoid the same agony as we have been for the past 10 years or more. but is hard not to watch the team i love.

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