If you were looking for a sign of whether all the confidence among us Arsenal fans and the nice things (for a change) said about us in the football media at the minute are an accurate depiction of where the current crop of Gunners stands when compared to our main rivals for the Premier League, including the dreaded Jose Mourinho and his expensively assembled Chelsea team, then you should be encouraged by the words of Arsene Wenger.
In a report by the Daily Mail, the Frenchman was very honest about the problems that have held back Arsenal in the past, including our slow start last season that allowed Mourinho´s side to establish a big lead and cruise to the title.
Wenger also spoke about how hard it was during those financially frugal years when he had to somehow cope with losing key players like Ashley Cole and Samir Nasri, seemingly every transfer window and always to strengthen a direct rivals.
So he can appreciate the frustration of the Arsenal fans who have given him a really hard time, although since that infamous incident at the railway station after our horror display at Stoke, that has largely calmed down. The big thing for me is that Wenger seems confident that Arsenal are now ready to be consistent as well as good throughout a whole season.
He also seems to be really looking forward to this year and a few more after, insisting that he is enjoying his job as much as ever.
He said, “‘It crosses my mind sometimes, but for no longer than five seconds, because I panic a little bit.
“I am more committed than ever.
“The number of times you have done it doesn’t count. It is how much you love what you do that counts. And the love is not necessarily diminished by the number of times you’ve done it.
“Football is new every day. That’s a big quality. It makes you question. With every defeat people say, ‘What’s this guy doing?’
“You have an exam every three days. You have no way to look back. You have to prepare for the next exam and come out with success.
“I am like everybody: you lose three games and… but when you analyse my time here, you will see I did not lose three games on the trot many times. The job of a manager, as well, is to reduce the time of crisis.
“I want to do well for the club, and when I leave one day, I want to leave it in a position where it can go on and on.
“Big experience helps you anticipate what you will face. Even here, there are unpredictable responses. You would not necessarily expect people to insult you on the way to the train.
“It’s the way society has gone. I can take a distance from that. I know the same people can be excessive.
“That’s where experience helps. You have a good assessment of who you are and you’re not influenced by what people say, whether it’s too positive or too negative.
“What is true is we have stability we didn’t have before. I was more exposed to, ‘who will go’ and now the question I get more is, ‘who will come?’
“Our potential on the market has changed a bit and if you ask me will we win the Premier League, I just say we want to. We will try and give everything but it will be a very open competition.
“We have a chance. All is going well. Our heaviest defeat last season was 2-0 and it was against Chelsea. We have reduced the gap and I believe we are ready to go further.
“To guarantee, I cannot do that. You cannot guarantee in the Premier League. Again there are five to six competitors.
“It’s very difficult to guess how strong the other teams will be. I promise we will fight to win, but it is difficult.
“When you lose your best players it is impossible.
“You see opponents strengthen when they are already stronger than you.
“You just get into the top four and see others still strengthening. On top of that you’re losing your best players, so it is difficult to be convinced you can still win the league.
“I know if I could have won the league or not. The year we lost it at Birmingham (2007-08), we could have won the league.
“Last year, no, because after six games we were 11 points behind Chelsea and to catch 11 points back was nearly impossible.
“Stability is undervalued and that is what we want to show. We have stability and that gives us strength.
“Chelsea has good stability, especially defensively. They took advantage of it from the start of the season.
“Last year, we missed our start for different reasons. One was that after the World Cup some players were not mentally ready.
“We also had the Champions League qualifier that cost us a lot of energy against Besiktas.
“But again we have a tricky start — West Ham look to have bought well and Crystal Palace are a strong team. We have to be ready.
“We don’t have that`[a mental block with Chelsea]. I don’t believe in that at all. Chelsea have lost against weaker opponents than us.”
So there you have it Gooners. Time to stick your money on Arsenal for the title?
so we wake up today to the rumours of Danny welbeck to besiktas?…….. Laughable! Considering we needed an extra day after the window got shut to complete his transfer from manure (Arsenal!…. We always leave it too late…..haha) …….and i also hear Benzema to arsenal is off….phew!…. 24days running!
FFS wenger for the love of lord please BEAT MOURINHO AT-LEAST ONE GAME then talk about winning the league…if you beat him at community shield then you are allowed to talk any nonsense you please but for now chill, calm down prepare your team and stop yapping and beating your chest like brave chimpanzee…you always give us false hopes every season with your belief and stability shit..stop telling us and lets see it on the pitch…just do your best and beat him for just one game even if its a 1-0 win
Its a false hope in one way but one thing is definitely right and is as good as signing new players if not better than, it really hurts to see your best players leaving, more especially when you need them the most, Cesc, Ca$hri and RiP et al. So its pleasure now that we are only adding or at least worried about that. It makes transfer window feel better even with less signatures. #COYG here we go.
F*ck! Stop talking bout Cesh, cashri and Rip…….. We have moved on!
sure we can just sign a striker & a cdm
Arsene Wenger has more than £200m in the bank, acc to Arsenal director lord harris no excuses
Arsenal director Lord Harris says Arsène Wenger can afford any player apart from Messi & Ronaldo. Club willing to break own transfer record
I read the article and
Wenger did not say
“Forget Chelsea!
Arsenal are ready to be champions”.
He said the Club is stronger and closer
but it is going to be a huge challenge.
Arsenal are interested in Camacho from Malaga he is currently injured Spanish media believes we are keen
Okay!………. So 24days of the window is gone …….. And the premier League starts 8th august (15days from now)….. Am i right? ……. Some say we still got more days or so left after the League starts to do transfers……..but i’m only asking….how wise is it to do business after the league starts?…….. I better put on my crash helmet!
lord harris : “You could say to Arsène we’ve got no money, he wouldn’t worry. You could give him £100m, he might not spend it.”
this should open the eyes of wengaboys
leo…… Tell em! Tell em!
common budd…and what fact does your “original quote” change…let people exploit your god’s
weaknesses…maybe you might see the light
Changes everything. It basically says Arsenal is not throwing money just for the sake of it (and if you read the whole interview you will see comparison with Spuds where they spent 100m to finish 6th). But what also says is that Wenger never worries to go to battle with way cheaper teams.
However, the most important thing all agents will learn today is that Arsenal got 200 million to spend and they can ask whatever they want.
Lord Harris basically fu cked up all your transfers for this window so you can kiss goodbye to your dream signings.
yea yea…..clever trickery!……. Arsenal pretend to want to make Transfers……. Lord Harris shows up publicizing the Arsenal kitty…… Teams start hiking prices of targets…… Arsenal pull off deal and end interest……says the prices are inflated and no better players are found…… War-chest preserved…… Behind the scenes: Wenger gives Lord harris a handshake!
Lord Harris on the centre forward on ‘Arsène’s list’: “I think he wants to come.”
yes and i’m thinking its Lewandowski not Benzema
£200miL war-chest !…..goddammit….. And we still playing the broke game…….. Two players won’t cost even 1/4 of the money
“The number of times you have done it doesn’t count. It is how much you love what you do that counts. And the love is not necessarily diminished by the number of times you’ve done it”
I swear I’ve heard Jenna Haze saying exactly the same thing.
“On the list is a centre forward, but I’m not
going to tell you who he is. I think he
wants to come.”
“It basically comes down to whether the
other team can find a superstar to replace
him. We could go into the market and
probably buy any player in the world, apart
from half a dozen who are unbuyable.”
“At the moment there are no plans to sign
anyone, unless he finds a real superstar
like Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez. He’s
looking for one of those but there aren’t
many available.” Harris
Spend the money Arsene
If we do not put in a serious challenge for the title and the UCL due to lack of strengthening the squad I will solely blame Wenger for this.
We all know the club has money but why till the last minute for us to put a bid on a player we want, heck a player that we need. Should Arsene and his team wait for other players to move in order for them to make a move too? Our destiny should be in our own hands, I would rather we even place a bid and get rejected than us just sitting around waiting for things to happen.
Call him genius all you like I call it having cold feet in the transfer market. Proper ST and back up or upgrade DM is all we need, should we add anything on top on that would be a bonus.
With the current squad 3rd place would be a huge achievement.
Nobody cares who you will blame
“Not many available” ????? ……. Remind me when i stated in an article earlier this month that “Almost all of em are gone” and i got sticks, stones and punches from Arsenal fans on here…were they always gonna wait for an Arsenal interest?…… Player transfer is almost the same as trying to date a girl…. Haha!
Say it loud brother…say it out loud – lol
not being negative here but i pray they ain’t playing mind games with us fan. flash the money to our face and still hold on to it with excuse of “we tried but couldn’t get the player to come”. i mean for how long is the negotiation taking?
You are being negative
#warchest #spend #transfers #youth policy #bellerin #ramsey #wilshere #walcott #ox #gnabry = if you dont like it support chelski and f off
“Spend the money” “AW you’re a tight arse” blah! blah!Blah…to all those slamming AW…let’s say AW offers 60M for Karim Benzema and RM accept the offer. Karim asks Benitez what his plans are for his (KB) role…RB says you are part of my plans as a striker…OK boss…not interested in talking to Arsenal about a move. End of story.
Simply having the money is good but not good enough. You need to have a willing seller and a player who ACTUALLY wants to join you. The 3 stars must align….right now with the kind of players who would be considered exceptional…2 of the stars are not quite aligned.