Arsenal Collapse by SG
I have been an Arsenal fan ever since they dominated English football, became the ‘invincibles’ and inspired a generation of young fans. In stark contrast now Arsenal has withered away and is clinging on to the past that was and the reputation of being a massive contender. Sadly Arsenal really have regressed year after year. It is clear that the top teams in Europe are way beyond the footballing ability of Arsenal.
Looking at the team Wenger assembled after the Invincibles, it is extremely sad that the board didn’t invest in the few players it needed at the time to make them truly successfull. It is quite ironic that for all the money they’ve thought they were saving it has actually cost them in the long term through a cumulative splurge on average players that have demonstrated they are simply not good enough. Whereas at the time when they needed maybe 1 or 2 world class signings of 30 million plus to complete the team, the board mindlessly choose to ignore the opportunity to grasp success. So ever since, slowly but surely, year after year, Arsenal have been decaying.
The same problems always exist within the squad. We always have the same criticisms every year, yet they are never confronted. I feel that Wenger has become a scapegoat for the board as they are more than happy to abuse the dedicated support of the fans and overcharge them for a delusion. There are so many flaws in the Arsenal team that defy the principles of basic football. Every year we ask why is there not a solid defensive midfielder, a powerful centre back and an out and out goal scorer (possibly Sanchez if only the team was up to that level). It always seems like Arsenal are happy to maintain a squad that is capable to stay in the glorified top four, which is no where near the ambition the fans expect.
This could be the year that this lack of drive and passion to be the best will cost Arsenal dearly. I hate to be so negative but it is to hard to be oblivious to the reality of the situation at Arsenal. The team is weak in too many areas, isn’t well balanced, is lacking in quality depth, never seems to have a game plan that is executed professionally for 90 minutes and doesn’t seem to have the passion to be champions.
The boards philosophy on the club is completely contradictory to that of the fans. Passion and football fuel the Arsenal fans, but it is money and so called stability that fuels the board. It is about time the fans stop accepting the top four and stability as compromise for success. The mentality of the board needs completely revolutionised. No football club has the divine right to be champions and always be regarded as that. The problem is, is that Arsenal have the capacity and the platform to be successful, but it is sadly never utilised.
kind regards,
Sean
You say “Wenger has become a scapegoat for the board” if this was true he should of resigned long ago.
i suppose 8’000’000 pounds a year i will take abuse as well.
what would you do for 8 Million a year every year ???
You think Wenger persists in managing Arsenal for the money….or that he couldn’t match it somewhere else? You know nothing of Wenger. This type of comment is just cheap, cliched rubbish
@gooner100 i use to think like you but i realized that i was been a fool,
they have the funds for a lot longer then they let on, and even now they have huge reserves that they are not announcing, don’t you find its a bit strange that we are the 5th richest club in the world but we rank in terms of success below twentieth or even lower, don’t you notice how good players become average and great players leave, don’t you notice we have no game plan, there are so many good things are happening with Arsenal but only business terms not on the pitch. stop being an ostrich take your head out of the sand and see the light,
I think the time has come for us to start discussing celebrities and their lifestyle, twill be fun. For instance, I think Beyonce is hot, don’t u?
You see, there’s just nothing positive to talk about Arsenal at the moment. Where u have one positive, there are countless negatives that u just can’t ignore.
its unfortunate but its true, at this point in time wenger is only half of the problem. I don’t think I trust a board who openly admitted that without wenger they dont have a game plan.
Very true. And folks just don’t get it that Wenger is actually the main problem, since the board follows his lead (the chairman himself said it openly, not me).
If you say Arsenal it included us FANs, am sure we have the passion….! As for the board you are right!
If only the fans had the passion to do what the board doesn’t. I agree that the board lack the needed ambition but what do the fans do about it ? If all the board cares about is money, just leave the emirates empty until lower ticket prices and start to match our ambition. Sadly this will never happen.
Nope we could easily have been champions in 2012 when van Persie was in the form of his life. But the year previously Cesc and Nasri so fit to move on. We can honey quote the Wenger Out all we want but the truth is that if players had been as loyal to the manager as the manager had been to them, we could have been more succesful.
But even this team is great, I keep saying it. We see the brilliance but in flashes. Somehow we never click together at once. And the wrecking ball injuries are over the top.
Thankfully our board is not trigger-happy like the fans. He will get his ENTITLED three years where he can now spend 86 million a year on transfers. I am sure this rough patch is going to come to an end soon. With the January window fast approaching, I am sure we wil get the defensive covers needed.
But this is part of the issue, Wenger doesn’t inspire loyalty in his players.
How many players jumped ship on Ferguson?
How is Wenger ‘entitled’ to anything?
Overpaid, over hyped and underachieving!
love him or hate him (AW) there is a problem, lets start with changing the manager if that don’t work then we all know its the board.
No the players moved on to win trophys as they knew they wouldnt at arsenal. Rvp,nasri,clichy,adebayor and fabregas this year knew that they would win more silverware elswhere under better managers with better teams. Loyalty in football is a rare thing now adays, i dont blame the players i think they done the right thing for their carreers.
Er, probably something to do with the exorbitant wages paid to the mercenaries who chose to p**s off….or was that part of the issue not printed in your comic?
Comic??? What you chatting?? They left and won the premier league and got more money. Mr smart ass you wouldnt leave your job for double your pay would u.
ARSENAL is a big business and all professnal mgt teqnics and model wld ve gone into decisionmaking. so it’s not as simplistic as the conclusion of this article suggests.
RichSAAlao
Football business model is quite easy when you’re making MONEY
get yourself a state of the art stadium,
get yourself best manager,
get yourself the best players for all the positions money can buy,
then have a great marketing team to sell your great team which is wining silverware almost every year
that will bring in new and better sponsorship= more money
future generation in return will buy your products and bring in bigger share of the TV rights or cable
the more games you play in competitions the more gate money and TV and on and on,
so like Man-U, Barca, Real, Bayern we to are up the with finances but not as much supporters for the future unless we start wining silver, like we did with INVINCIBLES
CheLsea Vs Westbrom ……… Everton Vs Westham …….. SaLivating! ……. Looking forward to a fantastic football next weekend…….. What do u think? I refuse to be bored!
Come next sun this site will still be reeling from the defeat against man u hopefully the fans would have made themselves heard before end of game with bangers and chants of Wenger out we must keep this going till even the stubborn old man will crack and give in and resign then we can move on and get club back on track also want kronke to go with him!
The problems as I see it :
– Arsenal is a brand and business first and a title winning team second.
– The board will now allow one big significant signing per season, with all others either showing potential for future return or bought in as direct replacements for outgoing players.
– Wenger’s loyalty to players is killing team selection and squad depth. Wenger’s insistence on playing central players out wide just to shoe horn a certain group into a starting 11 etc.
– Spearheading the development of English talent now seems to be squarely on Arsenals shoulders..The furthering of players like Jack seems to be taking priority over actually picking the right team for the job. I’m not saying jack is a bad player, in fact I think jack is a future England captain..but right now he should be being used in rotation with the CAM role, weather that be filled by a fit Ozil (for 65mins at most of any game) or Santi.
How can it be the board? Wenger chose not to sign a dm, a centre back and average strikers in wellbeck and giroud. Monreal, arteta, flamini,sanogo etc are not even average premier league players. How stupid can you be to start a season with 2 experienced centre halves an aging midfield with no defensive quality and 2 srikers who at best are hit and miss. I cant see the argument pro/anti wenger, is it not obvious?
@rick you have to ask your self why? why is he doing this? he has the funds, he must know it will bite him in the ass one day, if its not the board then only a Psychiatrist will know.
Exactly. Your not telling me the board woulnt give him 5 mil for a descent back-up centre half. They gave him 42 mil for an attacking mid that we didnt need.
That 40 Million gave us 40 Million wort of publicity around the world but shame we couldn’t capitilize on it.
“Arsenal and the Board don’t have the passion to be Champions”
I disagree… I disagree because when you talk about Arsenal you are including the fans.
The fans are Damn right ambitious and want to see the club lift major trophies.
The problem is so far they have been powerless… May be by their own choice because they could easily change the done very quickly.
Believe me when I say that if the team starts playing few games on an empty stadium, we will see some changes.
We have the only chairman who is totally “invisible” to the eye and clearly not bother by the lack of results… Again, this is what happens when you are selling “football clubs” to Americans… It is bounded to fail…!!
I don’t know anybody who would not like to get paid £8millions/year to do nothing… That is what is going right now with Wenger.
A clueless and unprofessional manager with no end product.
Wenger is arrogant (well here, because I saw him in France being “battered” by pundits and leaving with his c*ck in his mouth after being humiliated) and cannot produce a stroke a genius to prove people wrong. Just an overrated individual with no backbone and the constant target of abuse from proven successful manager and even players.
We are already out of the title in November…!! It is a f*cking disgrace and pathetic farce.
Wenger and the board are complaisant, lazy and inconsiderate towards fans.
The last time “real” pundits talk about Arsenal being a top club was in 2006.
And do not make any mistake, Wenger is not, I repeat, IS NOT, rated in France.
The miss conception is apparent here.
I watch sports programs in France and he is usually embarrassed and drilled by his lack of accomplishments by the French sports journalists.
We are not in the 90’s or early 2000 years, football is another kind of “beast” and we are way behind in terms of quality, results and modern management.
Wenger has been found out… Weak, tactically clueless and with poor man management skills.
WE DON’T HAVE A CHANCE AND NEVER HAD ONE ANYWAY.
The Board is only interested in money not trophies they figure they have enough in the cabinet, Ridiculous wenger is only interested in his legacy, he wants to say he did it his way and he won the EPL and the CL, but this is where his legacy is distorted, his teams that he creates for the last couple years has played with HANDICAPs , several deficiencies compared compared to precious teams he created, the main failings is the frail midfielders he has taken a loving to, while in previous years if he had frail players in the midfield, he also had man mountains who could do the defensive work in the middle of the park.
We have had the opportunity to win the league getting off to a good start is one way to do so, then reinforcing the squad completes the job. We did the good start last season but fail to reinforce in the second half of the season which cost us drastically. Wenger owes the fans the right to see a fully put together squad competing for titles and stop playing with HANDICAPS, to reach their true potential
and i mean HANDICAPS literally and figuratively
Wether people like to hear it or not i think a part of the problem is Wenger turning his back on not checking passports only caring if they are great players or great promise like he used to and admitted as much.
Now its like hes trying to do the English national team a good solid, he even said to a reporter slowly he will bring a top English national side. As far as i was concerned if you are looking for the very best in attacking players you must go abroad, the worlds best have not been English in a very long time
Jack {Aaron} Carl Ox Gibbs Welbz are good players, very good at the best of times, but compared to the worlds very best they look… hate saying it but.. average, or above average. Five of those are fist team players.
I did say it was only part of the problem, there are major issues in other areas that i wont go into cos im sick to death of them every year as am you am sure.