Do Arsenal need to be more ‘Ruthless’? – like Chelsea!

Family and Emotional Clubs and The Ruthless Clubs. by Galen

Arsenal has a great tradition and history. One that we are very proud of. When you think about Arsenal in one word you think of “Class”. In the way in which we play or the way we take care of our players and the way we conduct ourselves. I will call Arsenal FC a family club. Arsenal legend Ian Wright said ” Wenger loves the club. He bleeds Arsenal and he treats the players like his own children.” I have looked at Arsenal over the years and I have started to think we are too emotional at Arsenal. Arsene Wenger told the BBC before the FA Cup final: “The trophyless years were the most difficult on the sporting front as we lost our best players that we had struggled to educate and stood by them.”

Think about Nasri refusing to train and refusing to play the Champions League qualifier so that he should not be cup tied for Man City. Think about RVP and all his years of injuries then he left after one good season. Think about Flamini, who left us on a free to Milan then when he went there and was finished, we still had the sympathy and the emotions to re-sign him.

This is what Arsene Wenger had to say about not signing Xabi Alonso: “I have been criticised for not hiring Xabi Alonso. But if I signed him, I would have killed Song, Diaby and Denilson,” he said. “I told the shareholders we have to trust this team. Everything is based on my own conviction,” he said. “If in two years I don’t have any success, it will be my fault. It is a bet I made.”

Yes Mr Wenger, it was your fault. We could have signed a champion for £15million and yet we were talking about Denilson and Song. Where are they now? I want to remind all Arsenal fans that Alonso still plays for Bayern. That is why I ask the question above. Do Arsenal Really Want to Win? Can Arsenal make the big decisions?

Recently you hear fans saying if we buy a DM, Flamini and Arteta won’t get games. “Why can’t Theo Walcott be our main striker?”, “Why should we get another striker? What will happen to Danny Welbecks developement?” Now this is where the ‘Ruthless clubs’ come in to place. They want to win and make the fans happy. The keep emotions away and make the right decisions that will make them win. Will emotions get in the way of Arsenal getting a Striker a DM and a Keeper this summer?

I know we don’t like Mourinho but read what this guy had to say when asked if Chelsea has bid for Gonzalo Higuain? “We have to buy a striker because we want to have three strikers of a good level.” It’s not easy to find a better striker than Diego Costa, a better keeper than Thibaut Courtois, a better midfield player than Nemanja Matic or Cesc Fabregas. “This season is about improving the squad, bringing players to make us more consistent, so we don’t go through difficult periods like last season when we had crucial injuries. We have to try and protect that situation by adding two or three world-class players.”

Mourinho Knows that it is not easy to improve Chelsea but he understands that to win the League again another three worldclass players need to come. This guy has Costa and it doesn’t stop him from wanting Higuain or Martinez or Falcao. We are not as rich as Chelsea, Man City and Man United, but the playing field is becoming leveled. We have some money now.

I will conclude by saying that Arsenal are a ‘Family Club’ but we need to create the balance between being Emotional and being ruthless. Articles have been written saying we don’t need a keeper or striker or DM. That is emotions. Lets go out there and get what we need to make us Challenge for the title next season. And get ourselves to the semi finals of Champions league.

Alexis Sanchez said today ahead of the Copa America: “I would have liked to be in the Champions League final or to have won the Premier League title,” he said .”I believe we have a bunch of skillful players so to not achieve more is disappointing.”

We need to match the ambitions of players like Sanchez. We can do it. Come On Arsenal!

Tags Chelsea Costa Mourinho

28 Comments

  1. We don’t have to follow anyone or any club we just need to spend a bit more you know the old saying speculate to accumulate, drop this thinking we are going to change the way footballing world do business with transfers,

    Guys no one is leting on how much cash we have laying around or invested yea it’s great we are secure but we are losing world ranking by not wining trophies and that means less followers less incom in sponsership

  2. We mustn’t be like other clubs… let’s do things our own way n win…winning is what matters…but I would love 2 do it with style cos that is what Arsenal is all about

  3. we need to spend like Chelsea and strengthen when required….

    we need that spine….!!

  4. I think we should be more ruthless yes. Arsenal and Arsene often hold on too long to the idea a player will come good, Denilson/Bendtner/Almunia/Diaby all played far too many games for Arsenal (or continue not to play enough) when players like Alonso, Remy, Fabregas have been passed up because we “have X or Y”.

    What you say is true, fans now are questioning moves for a DM because coquelin did well, or a move for Sterling because we have Ox, or a ST because Theo can do a job there. A top club gets what it needs and says to the current players ‘ok up your game or lose your place’. No way should Coquelin, Ox, Ospina, Giroud, or any Arsenal player have their position ‘safe’ because we don’t want to rock the boat. About time we had top quality vs top quality for each position, Mourinho knows it and so should Arsene. We shall see how the summer pans out.

    1. @Champagne Charlie
      Ta for the great summary. U couldn’t have said it any better. Am not saying Arsenal should play like chelsea or be like chelsea. Am saying we should creat the balance between been emotioanal and ruthless. If we want to satisfy the desire of players like Sanchez and to be able to encourage other top players to come to Arsenal we need to do better then Just the Fa Cup.

      Sanchez said on Live TV yesterday that our season was dissapointing. Thats what top players do. We are Arsenal and Fa cup is not good enough. Sanchez for all his efforts deserve more trophies. Look at Hazard getting all the credit for all those penalties. When it was just because they won the league. Sanchez has clearly been the better player and deserve more.

      1. Last week same article and I will say it again. Until the playing field is level between us and the rest, meaning how much a club can pay for transfers and wages then we will be fighting uphill.
        What I would like to see is a graph like breakdown of fees and wages for each of the 3 top teams we compete against.
        As a player I would play so much better knowing I have the full backing of my coach. I hear all the time here competition is what will make certain players great. Sometimes maybe but also might make a player not be a confident player. It works both ways and when it comes down to it AW makes players play above their level more so than having another player ready to play in place of them. A squad must be built on that premise.

        1. Sorry but while some players may need an arm round the shoulder they still have to be iintelligent enough to realise that they can’t be the only option in their position.

          With that said, the other/s fighting for that position should be of similar quality and not what we’ve had previous which is a first 11 and then some mid table players posing as Arsenal ones.

          Eg: what do you prefer for next season? Coquelin + Flamini or Coquelin + Vidal, Giroud + Theo or Giroud + Higuain, Opsina + Szczes or Ospina + Cech.

          Arsenal is a football team and having quality competition only leads to the best representing us each week which makes us a better team. To argue in anyway against that is siding with a footballer over a club. “No one player is bigger than the club” is often said, and it can be used here too. A player doesn’tlike tough ccompetition? Ok, there’s always Spurs he can play for if he wants an easy time of it.

    2. Wenger past on Suarez when he was at Ajax because we had Bendtner, he past on Petr Cehz because we had Almunia the funny part of this he refused to pay 20 M for Suarez Liverpool pay 23M and sale at 80M and he wanted to pay Liverpool 40M plus1 pound ,He refused to pay 6M for Peter Cehz when he was at Rennes and 23years old now he want to pay 10M for 33 years old what a genius Wenger

  5. But how would he pass up d chance to sign Alonso cos we had Diaby n Denilson…that’s very pathetic

    1. @ styles . Its true bro. he passed up da chance. lol
      This are the quotes from Wenger. Is not as if i created them out of thin air. You can google it.
      “I have been criticised for not hiring Xabi Alonso. But if I signed him, I would have killed Song, Diaby and Denilson,” he said. “I told the shareholders we have to trust this team. Everything is based on my own conviction,” he said. “If in two years I don’t have any success, it will be my fault. It is a bet I made.”
      That is why I hope he doesn’t go like I will distroy the career of Theo or Welbeck if we sign a striker. Where is Song Alonso and Denilson now?

  6. Think BIG – Become BIG!

    Now is the time to push on. Without the ‘financial constraints’ there are NO EXCUSES not to procure the necessary quality and depth to make us real contenders for the PL and/or CL.

    Or it will most definitely be solely AWs fault.

  7. Wenger has managed
    for 30 years and
    won 4 Premierships.
    Ferguson won 13 EPL titles
    and 2 Champions leagues , 48 trophies in his career
    while Mourinho’s is having a glittering career all over Europe.
    When compared to the best Wenger’s record is mediocre
    to the point where Arsenal fans wildly celebrate 4th place EPl.
    Over the past 11 years 60% of the Arsenal players have
    been journey men and 35% totally useless or injury prone.
    Only 5% have been top quality.
    Toothless to ruthless?
    Hope springs eternal.

    1. You re being silly. Wenger hasn t been in the epl for 30,yrs bahaha.
      18 years, 9 trophies. 1 every other season. That s fine. But we must get better right now!

      1. George Graham.
        6 trophies 8 season.
        Including 2 domestic campaigns conceding under 19’goals.
        Arsene Wenger .
        8 trophies in 20 seasons
        Including a invincible season.
        Who is better ? *GT*

        1. Graham 2 titles
          in 9 years = 1/4.5.
          Wenger 3 titles
          in 19 yrs = 1/6.3.
          So yes GG record is superior.

          1. So 2 is now officially better than 3 – oh dear. And you’ve taken how long to invent this infallible measure of management superiority? Using this foolproof method we can now work out that Pellegrini is the equal of Ferguson and Roberto di Matteo has a better UCL record than Carlo Ancelotti.

      2. Wenger managed 10
        years in Ligue 1
        for 1 title
        19 seasons in the EPL
        for 3 titles
        1 year in Japan 0 titles.
        Total 30 years 4 titles

        1. So equal 8th on the all-time list of English top division title winning managers behind Ferguson, Paisley and Chapman, level with Shankly and Mourinho and ahead of the likes of Clough is to be sneered at.

  8. Wenger is a strange man. He deserves credit for building such a good relationship with the players and he often shows loyalty to them when other managers perhaps would call it a day with the redundant players. He could most obviously exclude Arteta, Flamini, Rosicky, Abu Diaby, Podolsky, Sanogo, Campbell, from the declared squad and sign three or so top, top players. He never does. Mourinho does just that. He even moved André Schürrle and Kevin De Bruyne on. WE are ALWAYS a couple of players away from the premier league title. Every season the same thing. Even now that we have finances available. If I am not mistaken we declared a squad numerically under what we could have numerically declared last season. Then the bad luck excuses come out about injuries ruining our season when in reality it is Wenger’s fault. The injuries we sustained could have been offset by having three extra top class players. The team though need to learn to be ruthless and dominating and we need have a squad quality and squad numbers to do just that. At times last season we looked powder puff. At our best we are the best in the premiership, but we can be terrible. Weak and lacking the dominating factors. An extra couple of fierce and tough players, a forward and a DM and a goalkeeper could turn us into a flowing, skillful football machine or a football mean machine when needed. We could sweep all opposition aside. I hope Wenger doesn’t let us down this coming season. I sense a groundhog day though. A Wenger cannot change his spots.

  9. i like the fact that whenever you do indeed think of arsenal you think classy, but the funny thing is we originally were a working class club started by the workers of the royal arsenal woolwich armaments factory. so in reality we are a working mans club also, i not sure when the classy part came along and we ended up being known as the rich class club. but i will always associate us with those fantastic workers back in woolwich all those years ago like us just want to be apart of the game we love.

  10. Thanks galen for this beauitful and realistic article, I never knew arsenal still had people who loved the club and not some individuals in the club…in the last 3 seasons we were the favorite to win the premier league, bt we weren’t ruthless enuf to make winning changes an signings…tanks again galen

  11. If we signed cech, thr wud be a very strong confidence among the defenders and team…arsenal fans should stop feeling empaty for players, higuain, martinez are all beter strikers to giroud dosnt mean giroud won’t play…pls go get some tapes of the invisibles and watch, even you would be scared

  12. Well said. So many points about here – club culture, immediate gratication vs sustained success, club branding, buy vs build…there’s plenty at play here.

    On the point of Alonso vs Denilson, Diaby – I am with Wenger there…AT THAT TIME (without the the benefit of hindisght)…you need to back yourself, the academy, the project. Otherwise – as Jonker says – don’t bother! Just go and buy every year!. When you try to recruit the best youngsters year-in, year-out and all the other academies are sprouting the same diatribe…when you roll out youngsters in a League Cup game or an FA Cup game…they buy the story….Wenger will give my son a chance to achieve his dream. That particular case in point was rather sad for Wenger and for Arsenal as a whole….the whole Arsenal world wished Diaby could have overcome that injury back then. It’s a line call here for these transfers – believe in the project vs immediate success vs brand value…I repeat what Wenger has said “unless it is top, top quality we won’t buy” (paraphrased). You sit here with the benefit of hindsight and say that the Alonso transfer was dumb…I’ll give you the alternate reality…Diaby recovered from the break and became 2 times the player Viera was..every decision has more than 1 outcome. You accept, don’t dwell on it, back yourself and move on. This applies in life in toto my friends…and it’s free!

    On the topic of GG…I think it’s quite laughable simply because they had 2 completely different roles. yes – the title is the same, but that’s where it ends. Why don’t you compare Herbert Chapman with the rest? The man who nailed the whole “transition” phase 80 years ago… by saying: “the most opportune time for scoring is immediately after repelling an attack, because opponents are then strung out in the wrong half of the field.” He had the original Denis Bergkamp – Alex James…

    I think context is important rather than throwing out stupid statistics which are completely meaningless.

    There is a BROAD line between immediate gratification and long term success. It’s very clear Wenger does not have 10% of the ego of Mourinho. If Wenger was ego driven, he could have bought 3-4 world class players to HELP HIM get his UCL medal. He didn’t. It’s not about the today…it’s about the tomorrow, the day after and the day after that. Very few managers think like that at all…they are on short-term (3-5) deals….with an instruction of “Give us trophies”. When is a manager appointed and the direction given “build us for sustainable success”?

    I have been a supporter since 1975…i lived through the barren years, the almost ran years…now I want to see the dominant years. I trust the man building this prmoise. H

  13. Well said. So many points about here – club culture, immediate gratication vs sustained success, club branding, buy vs build…there’s plenty at play here.

    On the point of Alonso vs Denilson, Diaby – I am with Wenger there…AT THAT TIME (without the the benefit of hindisght)…you need to back yourself, the academy, the project. Otherwise – as Jonker says – don’t bother! Just go and buy every year!. When you try to recruit the best youngsters year-in, year-out and all the other academies are sprouting the same diatribe…when you roll out youngsters in a League Cup game or an FA Cup game…they buy the story….Wenger will give my son a chance to achieve his dream. That particular case in point was rather sad for Wenger and for Arsenal as a whole….the whole Arsenal world wished Diaby could have overcome that injury back then. It’s a line call here for these transfers – believe in the project vs immediate success vs brand value…I repeat what Wenger has said “unless it is top, top quality we won’t buy” (paraphrased). You sit here with the benefit of hindsight and say that the Alonso transfer was dumb…I’ll give you the alternate reality…Diaby recovered from the break and became 2 times the player Viera was..every decision has more than 1 outcome. You accept, don’t dwell on it, back yourself and move on. This applies in life in toto my friends…and it’s free!

    On the topic of GG…I think it’s quite laughable simply because they had 2 completely different roles. yes – the title is the same, but that’s where it ends. Why don’t you compare Herbert Chapman with the rest? The man who nailed the whole “transition” phase 80 years ago… by saying: “the most opportune time for scoring is immediately after repelling an attack, because opponents are then strung out in the wrong half of the field.” He had the original Denis Bergkamp – Alex James…

    I think context is important rather than throwing out stupid statistics which are completely meaningless.

    There is a BROAD line between immediate gratification and long term success. It’s very clear Wenger does not have 10% of the ego of Mourinho. If Wenger was ego driven, he could have bought 3-4 world class players to HELP HIM get his UCL medal. He didn’t. It’s not about the today…it’s about the tomorrow, the day after and the day after that. Very few managers think like that at all…they are on short-term (3-5) deals….with an instruction of “Give us trophies”. When is a manager appointed and the direction given “build us for sustainable success”?

    I have been a supporter since 1975…i lived through the barren years, the almost ran years…now I want to see the dominant years. I trust the man building this promise. He’s mad mistakes…i accept that and I am sure he will too.

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