Whoever wins the Premier League title this year, (it will not be Arsenal and we all really hope that it will not be our north London rivals Tottenham either) will have started the season as rank outsiders to be crowned champions of England. The spuds might not have been the 5000 to 1 shot that some Foxes fans have been cashing in on, but not many expected them to trouble the top four, never mind the very top.
But that just highlights what a strange season it has been and tells me that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger are getting too much stick from the football media for not winning it. Yes we were in a good position around christmas but then again you could say that Man City looked like breezing it in the first couple of months.
Actually, when you consider the money spent on players and the supposed squad strength and depth, Arsenal on paper were due to finish behind Man United, Chelsea and City anyway. So you could say that their failures this season have been bigger than ours, especially Chelsea who look like they will not even make the Europa League.
But there you have it and I for one am never surprised to see Arsenal getting slated by the media. However, I wonder if all the talk of this being our season, our best and perhaps only chance, has had an effect. Could the players and manager have been affected by being constantly told that they would win the title? Did they believe their own press and become either complacent or weighed down by expectations?
I certainly think the Gunners perform better when people don’t expect too much or when we are the underdogs. After the shambles of this season, not many will expect us to win it next time, but will that actually work in our favour?
No
With this Man (Wenger) still at the helm of affairs next season……..the forth coming transfer window is as good as ruined
[Not even Messi in an Arsenal shirt will matter]
Looks like we’ve all got to be patient for ONE more season. You know who ain’t going nowhere till his contract is up.I’m going to join my local library and find some interesting books while I wait for his tenure to fish.
Oh! But hold on. What’s that I spot around the horizon?! It’s not a plane. It’s not a bird. It’s a goddamn new contract!
Please God no!
Or maybe he is a spurs fan..
Contrary to popular opinion, we cannot resolve the situation by just changing the manager, as we do not have the infrastructure and footballing knowledge, such as a director of football, that other clubs have, as Mr Wenger covers all those positions. So we either need to hope for a complete buyout and restructure or that Kroenke realises that he has to invest some time, effort and money into creating a proper infrastructure of a successful club, and not just treating us as his slush fund.
@gmv8
Common sense…
Inotherwords, Kroenke is the one who buys and trains the average players
i remain in doubt if Kroenke has somehow the one preventing Wenger from adopting the right tactics to use on the pitch or if he’s the one asking the team to play inconsistently?, is he the one putting blind faith on an average team?, does he make the team selection on match days? Does he influence the player substitution?
Okay ……he (Kroenke)holds the key to the War-chest and is a greedy, demented Tw*t…… But there’s no way one is telling me he doesn’t give out at Least 30mil to spend in the window
ur Excuses are so invalid……it doesn’t ring a bell
All other owners of big clubs have pulled the trigger, if things have got to this state. Kroenke hasn’t, so I would say a reasonable amount of blame lies with him, that is over and above his refusal to recruit football people to the board, giving Wenger a dictatorship.
Didn’t you hear what SoOpa has said? You keep pampering Wenger, why? Wenger takes care of all the football activities at the club, we are failing football wise, why not blame him? When other teams buy cheap players they get quality (mahrez), when Wenger buys cheap (but he still calls them top top top players, Sanogo) we get flops, do we have to blame Kroenke?
Wenger says LC have set example that titles can we won without investing huge sums of cash, we had 10 years with no huge sums of cash, what happened? The answer is that he is average at best as well, he was good for the first 10years but now, he is the biggest flop who needs to be shown the door sooner rather than later
Kroenke is the man who has made Wenger dictator by expelling all football people from the board, chiefly David Dein, he is the only one responsible for Wenger being manager, so yes he is backing all Wengers decisions, otherwise he would be getting people in to break his dictatorship, who would play people like Joel Campbell etc.
I don’t get your point, he doesn’t give any money at all, he takes 3.5 million out yearly, mainly out of fans pockets in the form of exorbitant increases in season ticket cost.. All that 30 million comes from TV, sponsorships, commercial sales etc. He hasn’t contributed 1 penny to Arsenal.
Can’t agree on that one.
You are right in saying ‘all’ cannot be undone by Wenger stepping down/being asked to leave for the good of the club but
It would be a good start. Stan the brand man and the board of bankers will still hold the club back but..
It is common knowledge that other footballing managers/coaches have and are doing more with less so bringing in new blood with fresh ideas will bring a new impetus and breathe of fresh air to the club will help our fortunes. They will also not carry the luggage of recent failure that Wenger now finds himself with.
A new man in the hot seat, would bring in new staff and begin the restructuring in training, tactics and system to hopefully improve the ‘football’ aspect of AFC.
What is there to loose? Wenger has proved time and time again from a transfer, tactical, motivational and inspirational perspective to come up short.
That is the problem. Kroenke is happy with the status quo, and doesn’t want new staff to fill some of the jobs that Wenger is doing. It is no coincidence that since Dein left and Kroenke arrived, we have gone down hill – we do need football people on the board. I think if Wenger steps down, and Kroenke remains majority shareholder,it could be a disaster, as neither he nor anyone on the board has enough knowledge to fill Wenger’s vacancy with the personnel required, the only person who does is Wenger, and then paradoxically, we could end up back where we started. Ultimately Kroenke isn’t willing to allow (Arsenal) football people on the board, which is why we have Wenger as a dictator. That must either change or somehow he must go.
Once again I disagree with gmv8 in that I honestly belive that Kroenke couldn’t care less about how the club is run as long as it at least is not costing him money. All other decisions regarding structure, people, transfers, everything is down to Wenger.
After so many years of total Authority , it is about time he needs to accept total responsibility.
I believe Kroenke will accept a new manager with reasonable requests for funds.
I could be wrong but I just keep feeling that so much of the blame is been deflected off Teflon Coated Wenger unfairly onto Kroenke..
Rubbish. Wenger won’t let anyone else do anything. Have a look at Bould during games…what a joke , he’s afraid to even move his head.
Get rid of Wenger and there will be plenty of good talent in the club dying for a chance to show it
The other teams’ failures is absolutely irrelevant for us, as it doesn’t change jack sh!t about the state our club is in.
I rather bought and fail than not spend and invite the the failure!
The amount of analysis, tactics, permutations and combinations discussed on this particular space regarding the title is too damn high!
We are a broken record. Just digest the pill.
Any manager who thinks he can win the title with Giroud upfront must be mad deluded or Arsene Wenger!
Arsene Wenger has made extremely poor
decisions in the transfer market in recent years. There following pair of players were available at the same time, but Wenger made the wrong buy. Here is the list:
1. Giroud V Aubameyan
2. Welbeck V Griezman
3. Sanogo V Kante
4. Flamini V Wayama
5. Walcott V Bale.
You can draw up your list too.
Chamach V Suarez (summer 2010 vs following january window)
Reyes V CR7 (summer 2003 V following january window)
Arteta V Mata (Summer 2011)
Szczesny V Lloris (Summer 2012 – lets stick to this mediocre talent)
Bielik V Dele Alli (Winter 2015)
And my personal favourite: Trial V Zlatan (2000)
Hahaha……….OMG!!!……….i’m Loving this………keep the List coming
This year’s Ballon d’or will surely be between Ronaldo and Suarez…
seriously wenger
40m + 1
alot of arsenal fan won’t agree with me one of our weakest link is ozil when i watch Liverpool’s coutinho is so much better than him ozil. doesn’t move around makeing our offence stagnated
This guy is a troll he also said bellerin is a bad player.
Plz ban him admin
OziL with a Killer pass……… Giroud just keep making him Look stupid
U just don’t know how to use him…..
Coutihno who?…..
LEAVE THIS PLACE IMMEDIATELY!!!
Arsene Wenger failed the fans one more time.
Seriously man Seriously!!?
Jamaica, Are you kidding with the comparison? ozil played in Madrid with winders and ST with pace who favour from his accurate passing so off the table. We needed to buy a ST on the mould of Klaas-Jan Huntelaa, Lacazette or even paying the 45 millions for suarez not 49= 1pound shambolic offer. Add with a player like Griezmann with Alexis on the left wing and a DM ( carvalho / Sanches from Benfica ” everyone wants him ” / Lars Bedner ) just to mention..an inversion of at least 100 millions in 3 WC players so you would not have to spend money in 2 or 3 windows plus the revenue obtain in merchandising not to mention battling for trophies would have made us the team Europe think we are but have not been…lack of ambition has left us in a shambolic position here and in europe so I do welcome a transition to manager and players ( happy to wait for few years ) but at least change is made. FANS WITH HUNGER OF GLORY and trophies WILL UNDERSTAND.
ARSENALS Title Failure is down to the Arsenal Board and Mr Wenger.
The decision not to buy Top Quality outfield Players in the Summer transfer Window was down to these people and no one else.
looking at the way other team play on look at us then you see
You mention City and Chelsea. These are clubs that show ambition. Yes City have under performed but if you think the atmosphere around the club would be as it is today if it had been announced that Pep was managing Arsenal next year, you are mistaken.
City and Chelsea have reason for hope because their clubs show ambition and an unwillingness to accept failure. Spurs have hope because they have a far superior manager who has out managed Wenger despite less investment in his squad.
What hope do Arsenal fans have?
City and Chelsea win cups every now and then, I mean the EPL to be precise, but we have to show off with our two FA cups won after 10 years? These Wengerites are still living in the invincible era, they really should come back to reality coz Wenger’s age will soon be 70
Once again I agree with so many comments and dearly hope that they will lead to a fresh start at our beloved club.
For so long now , Wenger has totally and arrongantly dismissed any suggestions, ideas, critisisms etc and refused to listen to others.
At the end of the day , you reap what you sow…good riddance