Arsene Wenger tried very hard to dispose of all the old unwanted stars at Arsenal this summer, although he only managed to get rid of half the amount that he wanted to offload. One player that he did NOT want to sell was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and in today’s press conference he revealed the players that he felt were ready to take The Ox’s place in the squad.
When asked if Oxlade-Chamberlain had made a mistake by leaving Arsenal, Le Prof said: ‘I wouldn’t call it like that.
‘We wish him well, and we wish him all the best and we’re thankful for all he has done here.
‘At the end of the day you make decisions, you choose one or the other one. We had to sell somebody.
‘And I overall believe today we are in a strong financial situation, as always, and we have a good enough squad to complete.
‘And sometimes the fact doesn’t take anything away from the quality of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who I think is a great player.
‘But sometimes it opens the door for some younger players like [Reiss] Nelson or Joe Willock. Players who are in behind that will get an opportunity that they don’t get [otherwise].’
As I have explained before, the ridiculous rise in prices to bring in even mediocre players has made it even more important for clubs to develop their own youngsters, so it is little surprise that Wenger has decided to concentrate on his youth project once again. As Wenger said, that is the way to a ‘strong financial position’….
But is Reiss Nelson or Joe Willock, at just 17 years old, really ready to be brought into the Arsenal first team?
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And I overall believe today we are in a strong financial situation, as always, and we have a good enough squad to complete…. sums up wenger and the management … opposite of the approach needed … a good enough financial situation and a strong squad should be the goal … sad the read this kind of corporate bs at arsenal financial club
Why all this talk about replacing the Ox. He was an average player who scored 9 goals in over 130 games. I said before to get £40 million for an average player on the eve of the transfer window was good business
Most of our players are average. If we sell the average ones we still need to replace them. This average Ox was starting most games for us someone will have to step into his role as a starter.
What about Hector Bellerin going back to he’s natural position, do’you think that’ll help
We aren’t moving players on quick enough that aren’t making the grade or fitting the tactics. Ox, like Theo are wingers who got shunted about into different positions to either shut them up or because of system changes… neither of them fit our system… Theo should have followed ox out the door then go into the market to buy the correct player like a ball playing cb or new rwb…. wasn’t done as per usual…
Give him 10 guaranteed games over the course of the season, reward him with a few more depending on how well he takes his chances but not more than 20 games in total, he’ll be full of confidence and energy going into the following season.
I agree with the other comments Ox has potential but he is not exceptionable. He hasn’t achieve much for Arsenal. Arsenal need grafters and proven players..
“We are in a strong financial position, like always, and we have a good enought squad to compete”..ok we are in a strong financial position, we all know that since we are one of the richest teams ok the worls and we can buy any player besides neymar messi or cr7 (thats we we are tought, besides we fail in signing the likes of mbappe, lemar and others) we are there of course because of wenger masterplan to move to emirates and sacrifice our best year, when we were an atractive club because of the noise and image of the invensible…we have an awesome squad, last year, one of the best in the last 20 years of the club, as we were told from the same dictator who knows all arsenal players in those years
So, mighty arsene, why we did not compete? Good squad to compete, nice financial muscule to resolve some little problems…u said we could jusge you when the season were over..we did, but u did not listen..
The love should be too big to continue watxhing this club and the shame of a coach, the face of his codiciuos, struborn, lyer, every f week…pls someone save us
The Wenger Out brigade is so annoying and misplaced. If you don’t like Wenger and want him to leave, fine. But constantly posting “Wenger Out” to any article is not constructive at all. It doesn’t add to any discussion. It will now change or effect anything. Let’s face it, Arsene Wenger is the coach for the forseeable future. So we have to accept that. Yes, I too have issues with Arsene and some of the decisions he makes. But I think the ownership is the bigger problem. They will not commit to spending the money necessary to strengthen the team. Calling for Wenger to be out won’t solve any issue. Even if we had Jose or any other manager, if they don’t have the money to spend, it would be the same or similar team. Jose wouldn’t even take the Arsenal job beucse he would not have his required budget.
Also, if we bring in a new manager with a new system etc expect to have a long few years rebuilding and falling even lower than we are. Changing managers isn’t the answer.
Lastly, we lost 2 games. 1 we deserved to win and the other we were embarrassed. Let’s not over react! It’s been 3 games for Gods sake. I recall 2012 losing 8-1 to Man U early on and still finishing in 3rd that year. It is far too early to throw in the towel or sow the doom and gloom many fans are sowing.
So, let’s get behind the team. Let’s support our boys on the pitch. And for God’s sake already, let’s stop with the Wenger Out stuff. It’s not constructive and isn’t going to change anything! We finished 5th last year. We got rid of some cancer in the locker room. Got rid of dead weight, and added and improved our squad with Lacazette and Kolasinac. There is no reason to think that we can’t do better than last year. Let’s give the season time to develop. Remember what Chelsea did last year.
COYG!
Parrots will always parrot, they absolutely cannot adapt their thoughts or speech even in light of new information, they do not understand the difference between having influence and having power, they do not understand that as INFLUENTIAL as Wenger has been at Arsenal over the years, he ultimately does not have the POWER to sign the cheques that bring in players, not Fergie, not Mourinho, not Guardiola have such or ever had such far reaching powers, that a manager, no matter how popular, have to suck up to the guys at the top one way or another, Mourinho lost twice to the ego of the top hierarchy at Chelsea, at Madrid too… No manager can achieve anything tangible under the conditions that Wenger has been working, of course Wenger cares about the finances of the club but like Dein, it’s more about a sustainable development and not just shortsighted profit making like Gazidis and Kroenke. If I were Wenger though, I’d probably ask the board to take my shares and give me a player I really want, say Mbappe just to get the fans to see the true picture of things behind the scenes, a gesture that will definitely set the cat among the pigeons. ?
Is it not Wenger who picks the team sheet? Is it not Wenger who makes the substitutions and tatics? Is it not Wenger’s responsibility to motivate his team? I can go on. Hes consistently made mistakes and choices that everyone besides him saw coming. I dont blame Wenger for not getting Lemar or other targets, I blame the Owner and the board. But I for sure blame Wenger for the slump of this club and poor displays. And not wanting to accept mediocrity doesnt make you a parrot, just as much as ignoring constant failures makes you a fan above all..
Sorry to say this, Wenger is to be blame for everything, both selections and signing the players, he has the right to choose the players he wanted to buy, just like morinho and others but he just don’t care how the fans feel. So times up for him to leave.
@Finding Dory – I agree that for discussion sake on certain topics we can not speak about Wenger out only.
Having said that it is fans like you who keep the rot going and who are the problem. You say it is only three games, we deserved to win one blah blah blah. You probably said the same last season after the first few games. The fact is for the majority of us now we have heard all of that nonsense for 13 years.
To believe that Wenger is the only coach who can maximize our squad because Kroenke is the real problem is plain ludicrous IMO. Do you really think Kroenke called Wenger before the Liverpool game and said: Bench Laca, bench Kolasinac, cover fragile Monreal from a left back to a central CD, move Bellerin to the from the right to the left and play Ox and Sanchez despite them wanting out and Ox even wanted out to the team he started against??? That has nothing to do with Kroenke and is all Wenger, my friend.
Do you really think Kroenke bought Gabriel in the middle of the night against Wenger’s wishes so Wenger has to sell him a short while later? Do you really think Perez would have been bought if Wenger was against him? Do you think the club would have written a massive cheque for Mustafi against Wenger’s wishes? Don’t be naive.
Do you really think a Koeman or Pochettino would not have gotten more out of our squad last season? One of the best squad we had in a while? Do you think these type of managers would not have noticed that their star signing DM Xhaka actually doesn’t have any closing speed and can not tackle to save his life?
Do you think it is a coincidence that our young players have not developed under Wenger? Are they all crap? How come Bellerin looked so promising when he first came into the squad and now looks like head less chicken? How come we could not lose a game with Mustafi when he just joined and then Wenger got his hands on him and he became “average”.
None of these things are on Kroenke. What is on Kroenke is keeping a manager well past his prime at the club but not the team selection, the players we sell and buy or the fact that our defensive coaches (as Keown told us) are not even allowed to coach proper defending using film because Wenger thinks it might hurt player’s confidence?????
So, no it has not been only 3 games, it has been 13 years. And no it is not Kroenke benches Laca and Kolasinac and no don’t tell us we deserved to win one of the games we lost that is Wenger speak. We lost the game end of.
If all fans were united in Wenger out it most definitly would make a difference. Fan revolt is probably as powerfull or more than player revolt and player revolt get’s managers like Mourinho (Raineri) sacked mid season after winning the PL.
Don’t role over and judge at the end of the season you have done that for 13 years and it got you nowhere.
Glad that you stated that we can’t speak about Wenger only. Read all your venom. People like you are the reason that our fan base is the most toxic in the UK…and consequently, the most loved by the Gutter Press.
I’ve got good news for you…there is a remedy to your problems, go and actually SUPPORT another club, this will be very beneficial for both you and Arsenal.
I leave you free to support the team you want since I am not like you and won’t tell you to support the other team, I also leave you free to your opinion.
The one thing that is glaring in your post and is absent in most “Wenger for ever” fans is why you think Wenger is the man to take us forward. I have given many reasons why I think he lost it and I am open to listening to good arguments why he is the manager for us. “It is only three games and we should have beaten Stoke” is simply not a convincing argument to most of us.
In response to your previous comment, have you ever heard of the phrase “conducive working environment ” before? Your hero, Mourinho could not survive a mere spat with Eva Caneiro, a mere team doctor, or you have quickly forgotten how he started losing games after that? Was he also devoid of tactics? You have a situation where one man keeps trying to balance the interests of a greedy owner and an unappreciative fan base, his best players keep getting sold right under his nose to “put the club in a strong financial situation “. You want him to come out all guns blazing and slate the board? It’s like asking a player to call out a dubious referee during the game, he will get sent off and his team will still lose anyways, in fact they are more guaranteed to lose with a man down!
poor Wenger – i feel so bad for him now, caught between an absentee father and an evil step-mom.
If we carry on with this Wenger out brigade these idiots will mess up our club more …we should not let these idiots in the ground if they don’t like what they see they should be thrown out These falls will only ruin our club idiots.. we should get behind our team and support through bad times and good times
“doing the same thing again expecting a different result is the domain of the idiots” We want change because things are not working – you want to try the same thing epecting a different result –
Who is the idiot?
I like the look of Rises Nelson, he is is young and exciting attacking player, he is neither a RWB or a LWB and should be used in a position he excels at, give this guy a chance and his stats will well exceed those of the Ox, play him in his position and not just shunt him around like Wenger did just to accommodate Ox and we have a real gem in our hands.
Reiss Nelson was impressive in the pre-season. If he came into the first team at 17 he wouldn’t be the first player his age to do so in the premier league. He’s young, so he’ll make mistakes and he’ll need to learn from them, but I’m excited to see him play. He’s got tremendous pace, enormous confidence taking on defenders, goal-scoring ability and maturity beyond his years. I guess we’ll see how good his decision making, defensive awareness and link-up play are, but he impressed me more than Oxlaide-Chamberlain in the pre-season. Granted, I’m no expert and the pre-season is too small a sample to take a player’s measure, but he’s at least proven he deserves the chance to compete for a spot. Go Reiss!
It’s strange how we fans obsess over individuals.
Ox Sanchez etc.
Afc had a decent transfer window, it’s the Liverpool loss and the last moment panic that’s screwed the morale.
More imp matters, Nelson is a fine prospect. He seems as much full of energy as the ox but he is more composed in front of goal. He also seems to be a player who wants to be ‘the man’ or as Thierry once said ‘the guy’. That’s the kind of player I want in the team, someone who wants the ball and make things happen.
Ox just didn’t want to be that guy..
I thought Ox was our best right wing-back and much better than bellerin in that position. I thought the few times he got a chance in the center where he prefers to play he was actually quite good. I for one would not at all be surprised if Ox flourishes under Klopp. I think all Ox needed was a manager to teach him how to play.
This arsenal team is surely stronger than the previous teams we have heard. But some fans want us to believe that it is very weak. An attack comprised of ozil, Alexis, lacazzette, a defence with mustafi, kosliny, bellalin and saed , a midfield of xhaka, Ramsey and others is not a weak team. It only needs the right attitude to compete at the top. Please support your team
We still need a strong DM, a player who is much better and stronger than coquelin and xhaka who can cover up and help the defence when things are getting out of hand, and we need a strong CB as well.
I’ve seen Reiss Nelson and to be honest he is a real prospect by far compare to Ox and Theo Walcott. Truth be told, when last did you see a youngster hungry to play and show his qualities every time he gets the chance to play for the first team?
I mean if we are serious about developing our youngsters we should look at the game against Man City U23 where Nelson and Nkeitha were marvelous to watch. look at the combination up front and how committed these boys are. I still believe if we throw in Reine Adelaide in as well this year this team will have a chance of youngsters better than the previous ones like Ox, Ramsey, Theo coz for me these British core are S**t.
Another thing Wenger need to show the players who is the boss and give instructions according to the game plan and change tactics. Barcelona did it and won Champions league more than 3 times in 5 seasons. if Wenger or the board can start demanding from the players, the players will show what they are made of.
Good luck Gooners
Kharadonha (Cape Town – Guguletu)
Aweee ma se kind!
I am pleased that the contributors to this article are more objective and realistic than the usual emotional contributors on this website. There is no genuine fan who will not be upset when our team loses. However the love for winning should not inadvertently turn us against our team when it performs poorly. We should be critical but in a positive manner. Calling for boycotting games, boycotting Arsenal merchandise and refusing to pay for season tickets can’t be classified as positive. It is destructive to the team. In any case how can we be sure that the people who make such outrageous assertions are, indeed Arsenal supporters when many of them often use ridiculous names? I would strongly recommend that the writers to this column should be properly identified to avoid infiltrators using this website to fight our club. I can’t imagine a genuine Arsenal fan calling for us to lose games so that Wenger can be forced out. How would this benefit the Club? Our battle should not be against Wenger but against poor performance. Hence we need to scrutinise some of the individuals who contribute to this website.
I agree that if possible trolls should be avoided. I also agree that losing is natural but that it is the way in which you lose that matters.
I just don’t see how you can separate a manager from his team’s performance. If he is not the ultimate responsible then who is? The players don’t pick the team or tactics.
Excellent comments from David Rusa. Sadly the destructive comments are not just confined to football. All too often I read vitriolic comments from people just because they have a different opinion to yours.
What ever happened to tolerance and consideration. I share many people’s view about Arsene and the management structure, but surely now is the time to get behind the team, more than ever.
I don’t think Reiss-Nelson should be compared to Chamberlain in some respects, especially if that automatically conjures up the vision of Nelson being used as a wing back like Chamberlain was. Although Chamberlain did perform quite well in that newly acquired position, Nelson is much more prolific as an out and out winger with pace, tenacity and more than one trick in his bag to put his opposite number on the back foot and make reasonable headway towards the opposition third and beyond.
Not sure if it will but, I’d be worried that if we do start making comparisons between the two players, Nelson might end up playing a wing back role and we’d lose all his attacking prowess, momentum and ability to open up teams and we might see his potential wasted.
The manager as I have said, should give up on his alchemy of playing players out of position or in experimental positions. Ajax could do that and had it down to a fine art but, at Arsenal, we’ve got to play to our own strengths and not try to emulate Ajax or Barcelona.
With a wholly, defensive minded right back behind him (a defence in it’s entirety really), Nelson could really do some damage as an out an out attacking winger and terrorise defences in front of him if he’s given the freedom to do just that. Not to say that he shouldn’t be defensively minded when we don’t have the ball and muck in with the dirty work too, but we shouldn’t encumber such a young talent.
I enjoyed some of the games when we played a back three and it went well but, I still think a solid back four with naturally attacking wingers and complimentary midfield would be the key for players such as Nelson. And, I know it’s a throwback to past glories but when we had a solid back four, the likes of Pires, Ljundberg, Overmars could really come to the fore in their wide positions and do most of their best work on the front foot!
So as long as the comparisons between Nelson and Chamberlain aren’t about turning Nelson into Chamberlain, I’d guess Nelson could be ready enough to replace Alex OC.
You cant just build a house with a weak foundation and add up cement to coverup . … Arsenal has the wrong foundation no matter how many tyms u parch up i t comes crumbling down on u … Our manager is weak, the board even weaker to see the reality we fans are stronger and point out where our team is lacking … Tough tackling midfieder. Always 2 signings away i tel we have the best defence n forward in a long tym…. Midfield is a joke
I would love to see Nelsen in action for the senior team he has the potential and I think he is just having a walk in the park playing in the u23 league
Reading everybody’s posts and arguments for and against Wenger, Kroenke and Gazidis has at times made me laugh, cry, bitter and angry to the point of pulling out what hair i have left. I’ve seen good and bad times over the years but the fiasco which currently surrounds our club and has rival fans laughing at us as it gets worse is as unacceptable to us as the football we played against Liverpool recently or Bayern Munich last season. The problems at the club, and we all have our own opinions about them, are becoming slowly insurmountable because we do not have a regime that works smoothly together in the same direction. Whose fault this is exactly has been of much discussion over the summer along with the usual transfer rumours but even now nobody really knows who to point the finger of suspicion at. Wenger used to be god, and with David Dein playing a major role, we could be proud of the team we had but then something changed. Kroenke became top boss and brought his pet Gazidis with him and since then the club has gone backwards with transfers, contracts, tactics, training and of course now most fans no longer view Wenger as a deity. I was a Wenger fan and used to feel sorry for him when he was forced to sell players to help pay for the Emirates Stadium but those days are past now and there should be no reason why we cannot compete against the best teams on the planet with at least 6 or 7 world class players in the team every week. I know this transformation of a team can take time but there has been plenty of time for this to happen which again is unacceptable so based on everything that has happened since Kroenke took control there can only be two ways to move forwards, either Kroenke starts to put money into the club – not going to happen, or us fans have to force Kroenke out of the club along with his pet. What choice will you make.
Arsenal Forever.
But his players are still being sold off to “put the club in a strong financial situation “, if he had not insisted on Lemar before allowing Sanchez leave, Sanchez would have been off without a replacement. The only other explanation is that Wenger was trying to sell Sanchez behind Gazidis’back and keep the money for himself because Gazidis came out to tell us how the club showed ambition by keeping Sanchez, so who exactly was trying to sell Sanchez on deadline day?
players are being sold to recoup the money loss for having no CL football.
We no longer dominate the midfield battles where is our cazorla
Reiss Nelson is a fantastic talent to watch…… I will be happy to see him play in his main position and not out of position.
Play them both, Fabragas was 16 and he didn’t do too bad!