Even though I had for years been on the AKB side of the Arsenal fence and thought that the WOBs calling for Arsene Wenger to be replaced were wrong and had underestimated what a good job the Frenchman had been doing to keep us in the Champions League on a lot less money than all of the teams around us, last season was a watershed which convinced me that it really was time for a change at the top.
A lot of us agreed, for once, but as usual the club’s owners and board did things their own way and gave the man a new two year deal. At the time I was dismayed but since then there have been growing signs that the boss, if not the people in charge of our club, is determined to change and bring back the glory days to Arsenal.
Forget about the salary, it must have taken real steel and determination for Wenger to carry on when he knew that he had lost the backing of many fans and perhaps this is why he seems to be doing things differently. Well I say differently but actually it is more of a return to the tough and combative manager and team we saw in the early years of his reign.
Wenger would clash with opposing benches and the officials while his players were fighting their cause on the pitch and one of the biggest criticisms of the recent years is that we seem to have moved too far away from this into pretty but often soft football and with Wenger too easily letting EPL rivals and the likes of Barcelona cherry pick our best players.
Has Wenger gone back to his old ways? And will it make Arsenal great again?
Bob.
Not convinced, If we bring in Lemar and another top midfielder then maybe, But would not surprise me if we were done already in the transfer market, So i think you should ask the question before and after Friday the 11th of August.
The last four years is the answer to your question. Dreadful in the league, and even worse in Europe. Yes we have won three FA Cups in that same period, and I don’t mean to disrespect the FA Cup, or demean the achievement of winning three out of the last four, as I love any trophy won, but we want to see Arsenal winning the major trophies again, or at the very least, challenging for them. I want the European Cup over the league, because Arsenal are about the only big club to never have won it, but it’s looking less, and less likely that will ever happen under Wenger.
Not only are we not winning the league, or in Europe, we’re not even challenging! That’s how bad we’ve become. Given the instability of all of our rivals over the last four years (apart from Spurs) with the managerial changes, we should have taken advantage. I personally feel we should have won the league in 13/14, and 15/16. We can’t even get past the last 16 in Europe anymore!
Winning the FA Cup is fantastic, but the domestic cups can sometimes be easy to win, depending on the draw you get. Arsenal have had a lot of easy games during the cup runs. The league, and Champions League are very tough to win, and Wenger has proven beyond doubt, that he cannot cope in the tough competitions anymore. The FA Cup is his only domain.
Based on the overwhelming evidence, I would say there’s a 0.01% chance of Wenger making us great again.
@TMJW
If money spent is to be taken into consideration as inputs that determine success, then we (Arsenal) didn’t deserve to be in Semi finals of any competition (FA cup inclusive) let alone wining it.
City, Chelsea, United, Spurs did spend more than us.
Conventionally, they should make semifinals. We aren’t total failures after all.
You said it yourself “if”.Of course conventionally we expect teams with relatively better players to be favourites to win the competitions.However, football since it’s inception has proven to us that it’s not only teams with better players that win the cups.Looking at the cups small teams have won there can be no excuses for us in that light when talking about the fact that based on spending we have no right to win things as compared to those who spend big.We’ve had teams good enough to win the EPL in the past but for some problems we couldn’t.Spending big on top players just increases your chances of winning the league but does not necessarily mean you’ll win the league.If that was the case a team like Man City would’ve won it season after season.The thing is we are also a top team and we’ve been very poor.Spending should not be an excuse but if it is then why try to win the league when we know we surely won’t outspend every team.
@sanmi.marvellous
One cannot use the money excuse anymore, and if it is all about money spent, then how on earth did Spurs finish above Arsenal, and the two Manchester clubs last season? How did Leicester win the league? How did Bournemouth stay in the Premiership, and so on, and so on…
Wenger had a net spend of almost £90 million last season, and one of the highest wage bills in the world.
There was an article recently shwojming Arsenal have over duration of premier league the 2nd highest ranking …. take out the yea2ra when we were paying off the stadium we would be very ckose to Man Utds amazkng record wiyh Ferguson… look at how Man Utd have performed since he left !
People are saying the FA Cup doesnt count .. what kind of fans are you !? Any trophy should be celebrated .. Arsenal are not guaranteed any trophy or medal just because the fans want one !
over the years we have at times during each season been challenging
get lemar and keep sanchez and eill be even stronger.. Arsene we know had also gone for Mbappe….
So maybe the problem all along had been Kroenke and Gazidis.. so lets get behind the manager and the team..
Arsenal has won the European cup winners (currently Europa league) cup in 1994!!!
Err… Arsenal has won the European cup winners (currently Europa league) cup in 1994!!! And the Inter-Cities fairs cup. Both are European tournaments.
Ozil is staying, hope Alexis follows
Wenger has always puts’ the interest of this great club above everything,he always makes the best decision at every situation of crisis.He surely has his flaws,everyman do but I have never doubted his loyalty and passion to move this club forward through out his rain,is the board that need to re-evaluate themselves and check if they still have what it takes to lead the club in an era of great achievements.#History #Tradition #Class
I’m guessing that, after years of taking things for granted, last seasons protests along with not getting the full support from the board, must have hit Wenger like a slap in the face with a wet fish.
Nothing lasts for ever and maybe, Just maybe, Mr Wenger’s Ego has finally come to terms with that lol??
For about thirteen years since we won the league I can confidently say that there were two seasons where we should’ve won the league had he been very serious.This includes the Eduardo season and 15/16.The problem with him is that he hardly corrects his mistakes and always decides to ignore them.The thing with Arsenal has never been about players.It’s been about character and mentality to fight till the very last end.If this doesn’t change no player we sign will win us the league.We always ignore this part because we feel it’s all about players.Even Leicester won the league with much more inferior players because they had fight and character.Though I must admit they had some good players but fewer as compared to the big clubs.If Arsenal play this season with strong character and mentality like champions do no team can stand in our way and we will the league this season I believe.We need to have the mentality of champions and to not fear any team no matter the case.Arsene must also improve upon his decision making and managerial skills as it has dsclined.We need him to stand firm and build a steam strong in the heart,mind,will and every other aspect.Trust me if this happens we will win this league and perhaps even go unbeaten like we have.We are a very special team but failure wants to make us lose our mentality.I believe this team can achieve great things with strong character and mentality.
Another problem with Arsenal is that if a club wants to improve it looks at problems it faced previously and tries to solve them all but Arsenal never do this.We just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again till it’s too late.Our problems is not only about players yet all we keep hearing is players players players.Take for example the Bayern Munchen match away.If we had all our transfer targets playing for us last season we would’ve played the same way.Even Leicester with inferior players wouldn’t have been so poor and honestly speaking they should have qualified to the semi finals of UEFA champs league but for lack of extra quality.If they had extra quality they could’ve won it .I’m looking forward to seeing Wenger change his attitude this season.If not then it’s just de ja vu allover again.
Mate we should have won the league more than twice in that time. We where in positions to win and screwed it in 07/08, 10/10, 13/14 and 15/16 maybe 13/14 it wasn’t as clear cut but the other 3 we screwed our selves when we should have run away with the title
Depends what we find ourselves with when the season closes. For one Kolasinac and Lacazette makes this summer a good start. Also the rumours swirling about Wenger still being in for Mbappe highlights that there is quite some money available (125m) after a 50m spending spree. Funny thing it doesn’t include any possible sale and outs which would add to that both in straight cash and in wages.
But ultimately we don’t need another forward. More than anything we have to sell some. If we finish the window with a winger, midifield either DM or in the Cazorla/Wilshere mould and a CB I’ll be fully satisfied with that.
Also worth pointing out: Wenger finally left some names from his pre-season squad forcing some to look for an exit. Not happy that Szczesny is part of that we should have given him 1 more chance to make it at the club and hope other names will follow the others to allow some youngster to integrate the 1st team like Iwobi.
Like we all guessed ozil is staying. Now bellerin too only Sanchez left I and I maintain my strong gut feeling he’s staying too. I say we give both of them 280 295 k per week deals and get Garry medel for the defensive midfield which will allow sXhaka freedom and also make Sanchez more settled. Medel might be a bit old but he’s got that very strong fighting and dominating character that our midfield needs. It’s just a wish of mine and if I were Sanchez I’d suggest it to Wenger
No need to sweat for Bellerin.. He’s tied until 2023, signed the extension back in November. He will be 28 when he’s out of contract.
Admin why do we have to scroll through 8 ads now?
He’s saving up for a new Arsenal shirt, bloody expensive,Hey? ?
Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been offered to Chelsea.
Our progress has been rather slow in getting into position to win the league, my 2 pet peeve with Wenger is his favoritism in playing some players (his british core) even when there are better alternatives there in the squad and the second one is our preparation for the second part of the season, I would love to see him try something different buy two positive signings in january to freshen the squad for the run in to MAy.
Why mention slow, every year Wenger adds something else to the squad, which enhance the squad, money is not a issue no more like 3-4 years ago, why not in one go fix the squad, get the average 20+ goals striker(ok got laca), get the beast of DM or the strong defensive leader in CB, No, Wenger waits for the players he has chosen to develop slowly, which continue to add up in years without the title.
Our players lives in a sheltered illusionary world, where Wenger takes the blunt of criticisms from fans and media, they feel safe in the positions they play knowing that no quality will be immediately bought f they are not playing well. Arsenal must reboot their minds and introduce them to the dog eat dog world which is football. Ofcourse the only time that emotion is seen is when it comes on to pay.
Do not mind criticism, but when you gives thumbs down please say why or what is the area of disagreement
I feel it is unfair to say Wenger only changed due to fin outside the top 4, it isn’t Wenger that has made the difference, Gazidis has gotten Wengers targets without waiting all window to save 5 freaking pence.
Last summer I was pointing at how Wenger wanted Lacazette again and again AFC failed to get him due to penny pinching.
Wenger and Dein didn’t suffer those issues but Wenger and Gazidis did, this transfer window though has been different, different from Gazidis, not from Wenger.
Gazidis hasn’t gone in with a low ball bid followed up with a bid £1 more and then another bid £2 more… Gone in with a bid, rejected so go back with a larger bid, not £1 more…
Gazidis in the past has acted without Wengers permission on signings, this was freaking wrong and I was saying it at the time, why did Gazidis sign Welbeck when Wenger only wanted a loan deal? Welbeck has proven himself to be a bad buy since… Gazidis purchase gave us a HG player who can not score consistently.
Why did the media report Vardy as being a main target 12 months ago when Wenger wanted Lacazette? Ended up with the spanish version called Perez and has Wenger trusted in that style of player? Vardy said Wenger never spoke to him but we know Wenger speaks to players he really wants, like MBappe.
I like giving Wenger credit but this time the credit deserves to go to Gazidis for doing good so far this year, Wenger has not been dealing with fees etc, that has been all Gazidis and Law (maybe a bit of Fahmy). They are the ones who we should be praising.
wenger deserve respect the fact that he identify the type of players he wants. for me wenger has more of average players than any other big clubs in the premier league