Arsenal’s failed title bid is bad for English football

Leicester winning the title is a reflection of the state of English football‏ by KM

With all my respect to new champions Leicester, I have to say that this is bad news for English football overall. Although the neutrals are enjoying the way Leicester wins 1:0 game after game, serious questions need to be asked of the top teams in England.

So the Foxes will go into pot A of the Champions league next year. Take a minute to digest that. Can this ever happen in Spain? Imagine Real Betis winning La liga or Sociedad? Would Bayern or Dortmund allow something similar in Germany?

Again with all my respect for the upcoming champions, have you seen their games? Southampton were the better team for 60 minutes but somehow failed to score, even though Mane was left 1 on 1 with Schmeichel.

English football has ignored the reality check for years, but this summer it’s time for some major changes. Ozil was spot on. We threw it away against bad teams. We gave up too easy. And Wenger comes out and says “you have to accept that in the premier league sometimes you win, you draw or you lose” – practically saying I’m immortal here so whatever the result, accept it.

Real Madrid and Barcelona never accept anything but a win, why can’t we have that mentality? I watched the Classico and tactically and quality wise we are nowhere near Spain’s top clubs. It’s ok though, the other top teams in England are also bad so we can accept this, just like Arsene. If we could have his salary, we’d accept it much easier don’t you think?

Anyway though, talking about the Watford game, when we couldn’t beat them when it actually mattered in the FA cup, feels like going over and over again on problems I’ve pointed out here so many times. The saddest thing is that if we finish strong (which will still be not enough to win the title) people will be like – yeah – next season it’s ours.

Unlike Arsene though, I’ve grown tired of this. If he could just tell us when he’d leave, so we know when to have some hope again, it would be great. Arsene still has a battle for the top 4, but he is king of those and he’d win this one, but Leicester winning the trophy and Spurs finishing above us has to be final straw.

In a world of hope for Arsenal fans, the last straw would have been drawn 5 years ago, but this is the reality of English football. And it’s not a fairytale. It’s a sad one.

Konstantin

Tags Leicester Watford Wenger

26 Comments

    1. All fans should realize we’ve run out of excuses, this whole time our inability to challenge for the PL has had less to do with resources but more to do with the manager’s inability to develop a strong mentality in the dressing room. Leicester and Tottenham just proved that their desire was stronger than ours even though the manager kept saying “our players have desire” smh, he’s been found out and unless he isn’t ruthless with transfers we’re not progressing anywhere.

    2. It is about having the players now, back from injurie and playing them in the right position. This team now if unchanged will win every game now, they just came together at the wrong time. If Ramsey, Oxy,didn’t get injured we would be 6th. Ellerny Awobi and Welbeck are the difference now, as I said before they came to late. Plus playing Sanches on the right he was waisted on the left, if Wenger had stuck with his selection with Sanches on left he would have ended up like Gervinho or Chamack. Also Campbell is a very good player but inconstant, also Walcott how ever as sub players they are needed more now and next season, we will see. CB

  1. At the bottom of the above article there is a link to an article about Kroenke’s comments at a conferance in USA.

    It is kroenke who sets the aims of the club which I think are
    1. Top four in PL
    2. Last 16 in CL
    3. Minimum spend
    4. No need to win championships

    Wenger is achieving the aims his boss sets him. When Wenger leaves the new manager will be given the same aims. Atsenal is a business to make money, not win things. Why do we get articles implying that with a new manager things will change?

    1. Ignorance – people seem to blame the most superficial cause. I too went there, but I’ve been illuminated 😉

    2. I get your drift and see where you coming from but the way I see the whole thing is that we have a squad that can win the title with the quality of players in the squad, what they lack is the mental edge and the character to to withstand scrutiny and that is something a manager with hunger, urgency and the will to win can instil in the players….we are 3rd on the table now and we led the league for a while, which attest to the fact we are not far off….the problem is the complacency that has gotten hold of Wenger’s brain due to lack of pressure from the top has infected the whole club…Wenger knows his job is as safe and forth knoxx so LOSING IS AN OPTION in the scheme of things, there is always another game to make things right, always another season to try again and this, whether consciously or otherwise is a malaise that has infected the player”a pysche…I have said this so many times, Fergie won the league with a squad that less than half the quality our present squad possess and in a tougher more competitive seaaon

  2. Im sorry but i totaly do not agree with your thinking.
    Leicester winning the title is a great thing.
    You see that shows that the whole of english football is highly competitive from division 2 to the premier league.
    Teams like mancity and chelsea have managed to improve their brands the same way.
    leicester will make their sponsored countries like thailand to support them even more.
    Just like how arsenal have done with france and africa.
    Manchester united in the usa and europe.
    This increases investment in england and also increases the fanbase worldwide

  3. Look even valencia and real sociedad were once giants.
    Same with inter and acmilan
    black burn and newcastle too.
    But nobody complained when others took over

  4. It surely is bad for our club but not the entire premier league.
    This also shows that england is now starting to produce great homegrown talents and not the usual imported by oil rich teams

    1. @gooner tetra
      It also shows the BPL is not a 2/3 team league, where the top few teams have an over abundance of talent that overshadows the rest of the league. It’s shows that any team from the bottom to the top of the BPL has a chance to upset the apple cart, as opposed to the other European leagues…
      Big ups to Leicester City for showing that the BPL is not just about super rich teams who dominate year after year. And how level the playing field really is in British football.
      I call that “a good thing”…

      1. It’s also having the right manager who has been there and done that. Wenger has been there but done nothing. CB

  5. There are numerous reasons for our failed title bid but to put it quite simply, our preparation and mentality never for once inspired the idea that we would be champions and while I don’t agree with the parallels drawn between La Liga and the EPL we didn’t do the necessary leg work to be champions.

    We finished 12 points or so behind Chelsea and at full tilt they were a team better than ours and as such the writing was on the wall for needed strengthening…we didn’t strengthen enough and as such the exact same thing happened. So close but fading when it mattered.

    And as Chelsea faltered in their title defense of their title for numerous reasons and all the other big hitters paved the way for an Arsenal title Arsenal the pressure that came with the idea that we had more than a very realistic chance of finally winning the title, we cracked.

    The perfect example of our mental issues has to be our matches vs Chelsea, when you think we haven’t won against them in a competitive fixture in 3 years is bad, when you realize we haven’t scored a single goal either and you get an idea.

    No outfield player bought till the winter, injury after injury and mental fragility in big matches. Almost a carbon copy of the season before and before.

    I don’t think you can fairly draw comparisons between La Liga and the EPL however. Up until recently Real Madrid and Barcelona held over 90% of the resources in the league, there is no parity in that league. I think Leicester winning the league is a good thing for football on a whole because it is a testament to the power of the sum vs single entities. The excuse for years was always our inability to compete with the big guns, so what now of Leicester?

  6. It seems arsenal not winning the league does not entirely rest on us not spending enough but rather an arrogant manager unable to adapt to the demands and dynamism of the modern reality of football.After 10yrs of low spending purportedly because of paying stadium fees then one wonders how have leicester managed to WIN(unbelievable) the league while spending low???how cld manshitty expand ethihad massively yet still can spend big??? The wenger project has failed miserably and it time for a new project and destiny!

    1. Try thinking abut this logically.

      Silent Stan openly says he is not in this to win championships.
      This highlights how Arsenals OWNER isn’t interested in investing more than required to make a profit, CL football appears to be the target and logically it is for the commercial reasons, advertising the Arsenal brand.

      “how cld manshitty expand ethihad massively yet still can spend big???”
      They got an owner who is willing to invest in the club, moral perspective out the window and looking at the basics, their owner puts money into the club. Sponsorship is how they got around the FFP afaik and that requires an owner willing to invest.

      Silent Stan could of sponsored Arsenal with Walmart or something but he didn’t want to.

      Silent Stan could of loaned Arsenal the money we owed and then gave us a favorable repayment plan but he didn’t want to put his hands in his pocket. Funnily enough Usmanov offered this type of loan and Silent Stan blocked it, Usmanov is the money man that Dein found… just like how Dein found Wenger to manage us. It was a sad day when Dein left Arsenal :'(

      Man City have staff who are willing to get the managers target player no matter what, Arsenal have Gazidis who deals with the transfers, Wenger is NOT the final say on transfers.

      “how have leicester managed to WIN(unbelievable) the league while spending low”
      Without taking credit from them, they do not have the pressure that Arsenal have and we have heard Wenger talking about the bubble, maybe they have a few mentally stronger players as well.

      When you look at a squad you have to remember that it is made up of either purchased players or players who come through the ranks, purchased players with weak mentalliy is something which could be avoided…
      Welbeck is a good prospect, not the CF we wanted though was he?
      Wenger would agree with this as he openly said that Welbeck wouldn’t be here now if he had stayed at home, instead he went to the WC and got Alexis so we can’t blame Wenger, Wenger appears to have wanted a WC CF but got given Welbeck and told to use the CF he has.

      I would guess that Wenger has so much sway in transfers, I would guess that he has used what-ever power he had to buy Ozil and then Alexis and lastly Cech who have all said that talking to Wenger helped them choose us. He isn’t going to be given all of the money in Arsenals account though, just research our owner and learn the truth!

    2. Wenger has not failed miserably. Keeping us in CL whilst paying off stadium debt and having to sell best players is a fantastic achievement.

      Comparisons to man city are unfair, shjeik mansour has poured over one billion pounds into man city.

      However, this season has been a huge disappointment and I question the desire of the club to win. My concern is that Kroenke’s aim is to make money not win and this attitude has permeated through the whole club to the point where the team cannot take advantage of golden opportunities to win

  7. Which league has Leicester won? I think there is madness here. There is no way anyone can bluntly say Leicester has won the league when there are still six games to go? This would be possible if Leicester was about 15 points above the second team which is not the case. Even the 11 points between Leicester and Arsenal is not true because Arsenal still has a game in hand which if they win it will make it 8 points. 8 points are equal to just 2 losses and 1 draw which is not an impossibility. I am not saying that Arsenal will win EPL but it is premature to say Leicester are already champions. They still have 6 games to prove that.

    1. Bet Fred have already paid a punter £40,000 on Leicester winning the PL
      It’s over.

  8. I think there will be a few more teams involved next season dew to the amount of money sky are now paying out

  9. @konstantin I’m not sure I understand your point/s…

    1. Moaning about Leicester and everyone’s inability to beat them….so many 1 nils, Southampton being better for 60 mins, mane 1 on 1 etc….what’s your point – it’s a conspiracy? Sour grapes? Give them some credit matey.

    2. English football is basically rubbish – that’s what you imply. Bayern, Real, Barca etc wouldn’t allow that to happen (ie Leicester to win the league). Quite right and that’s the reason the EPL is the best league IN THE WORLD. Precisely because it’s not an annual procession leading to those same teams winning everything, tedious year, after tedious year.

    In the history of the EPL we had one (Utd) then two (AFC or Utd) then three (AFC, Utd and chelski) then four (add Ciry) and now it could be plus spuds and Leicester. Next season who knows. As I say this is what makes it THE MOST COMPETITIVE AND WIDELY WATCHED FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN THE WORLD.

    3. AFC rehashed moan – yeah fine that’s all your articles really are. Sorry though, I don’t see spuds finishing above us. Your views different to mine.

    So your conclusion Is English football and the EPL a sad story. What a load! LFC winning the league is great and has smashed so many cliches about spending, certain managers and their age (the serial winner Mouhinho for example), tactics (heavy pressing lol, 3 at the back lol) versus the simplicity of Leicesters tactics, aged manager and relatively cheap squad.

    It sounds like the stuff of fairytales to me, but then it was your article, so that’s a theme I’ve become used to.

  10. What I am finding frustrating going into next season, is that all the other big clubs in England have changed managers. It’s not been good enough so action has been taken, thus hopefully improving their situations. Conte at Chelsea, Pep at City, it will be Klopp’s first full season, and I think it’s likely Van Gaal will be replaced to. Yet we’ll still be stuck with the same manager, who’s as bullish as ever, despite the steady regression of Arsenal FC under his command.

    What’s even more worrying, is that Wenger will probably offered a contract extension at some point, along with some of our deadwood. I’m sure Wilshere will get a new contract and a pay rise for never playing for us, and the same for Ramsey for being consistently rubbish! Arsenal are the only club I can think of that constantly reward epic failure!

    1. Wah wah wah, CHANGE MANAGER wah wah wah

      Ever thought that it is the people who set the managers targets?

      Silent Stan has openly said that he is not in this to win championships so do you honestly believe the next manager will be given the target to win the EPL?

      PMSL!

      Learn to think?

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