Wenger’s issue with Arsenal forwards! by AH
Arsene Wenger’s stance on the current Lucas Perez saga has got me thinking about why he wants to keep a player beyond this season, that he clearly has little intention of utilising. Wenger has recently stated that he would like to hope Perez will want to stay at Arsenal next season, after recent rumours have suggested the Spaniard is in desire of a move back to Spain. But why an earth would he want to stay at a club where he isn’t getting game time built on the basis that he was originally going to challenge Arsenal’s current strikers for a starting position in the team.
Perez’s current situation has got me thinking of the other forward players Arsene Wenger has expressed a lack of interest over the years, some of which have actually been very talented.
Carlos Vela was a player that was rising through the ranks at Arsenal around the same time as Nicholas Bendtner. Vela was a pacy and hungry Mexican international forward, who clearly had the desire to take his career to the next level at Arsenal. He scored some lovely goals over the years with the club and became renowned for his cheeky chips over the keeper. However despite his best efforts, in a side which had RVP struggling with injuries, Eduardo struggling to make a comeback and Adebayor the only really target man in the side, Wenger seemed to be disinterested in Vela. Several droppings from the 18 man squad and loan deals later, Arsene Wenger chose Bendtner over Vela.
Lucas Podolski is for me one of the most powerful players we’ve had amongst our ranks in the past decade. He had a real eye for goal with a powerful shot that was unstoppable for most keepers. His range of abilities made him a real asset to Arsenal and we had secured a very predominate German international when he signed from Koln. However he was wasted on the wing and used sparingly by Arsene Wenger. His abilities were not recognised at Arsenal and having become frustrated with a lack of minutes, it wasn’t long before the World Cup winner desired a move away.
Lastly is a player who is still on our books but who I feel is going in a similar direction to the others. Joel Campbell, who is currently on loan at Sporting in the Portuguese league has had quite a few memorable matches in an Arsenal shirt and I think he’s been unlucky not to get more of a chance under Wenger. Campbell is no way a finished article and there is plenty of room for improvement, but he too like Vela, seems to be attracting loan moves time after time and I fear that we are going to lose quite a gem in Campbell if his exodus from the team continues.
Would you agree that Wenger has failed to recognise and utilise the abilities of these players?
AH
As long as Giroud is at the club Wenger will unfortunately believe he is the best striker ever and not sign someone of enough quality to replace him.
Calm down, sunshine.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud is the best striker in the Premier League this season… with the best goals and assists per minute ratio. Gunners forward averages a goal or assist every 49 minutes, a whopping 35 minutes better than any other top flight star. Giroud has played just 439 minutes this season, mostly off the bench, but has somehow added six goals and three assists to his tally. That works out as an average of a goal or assist every 49 minutes… Nearly two per game.
Meanwhile, Diego Costa, the league’s top scorer has added 14 goals and five assists from 1,591 minutes – for a goal or assist ever 84 minutes. Harry Kane adds one every 99 minutes, with ten goals and two assists to his name, narrowly ahead of Sergio Aguero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 104 and 107 minutes respectively.
Maybe it’s just you or the world against.
HAIL KING GIROUD.
To make your statistics work, Ollie G would have to, at least, play a similar amount of time as the compared footballers. And that is so not the case. Stop trolling this website, please. Nobody wants you here.
Lovely piece AH.
I have GP as my initials. I was thinking we could combine our initials to form an acronym ” AHGP” meaning Arsene Hates Good Players!
And Arshavin …. ruined by Wenger … made him play left wing. There have been others ruined – not only strikers. AW does not seek a tactical formation to bring the best out of the players. They have to fit in with HIS (lack of) tactics. I have even heard that going to 3 at the back was due to senior players telling Wenger. They certainly told Wenger they would have to go more and defensive and hit on the break before the away match at Man. City 2 years ago. They won at City and then went on a good run.
problem with Mr Wenger is that he is too loyal to some players. no matter how bad they perform they will always get opportunities whilst others get overlooked despite good performances. it destroys other players confidence. Perez has not disapointed when given the opportunity. if Wenger didn’t want someone to go straight into the first 11 then why did he just not call back Joel instead of waisting money on Perez and Perez’s time.
Based on what? Too loyal based on your assumption?
Perez will come good if he keeps maintained his patience to our classy manager Arsene that will keep him as a good squad player and when Perez gets the chance if any of current strikers got injured, he will take the opportunity given by our Great Arsene and will come good.
KUDOS ARSENE.
Good observations in this article, and something that many of us have noticed over the years.
Arsenal are often criticised for being “Mentally weak” and “Lacking leadership”. That wasn’t the case with the players Arsene inherited back in the ’90s, but rather something that has come about though his design. Furthermore, outspoken players that were successful under Wenger (EG. Henry, Viera) have subsequently come-to-blows with him in the media due to their criticisms of his methods.
This all points to Wenger deliberately phasing-out strong characters in the dressing room, so that he is unopposed and unchallenged in everything he does. I would bet that the players he inexplicably freezes-out (Despite often having paid a lot of money for them) are strong characters that make him feel threatened, so he gets rid of them. It’s how all depots behave!
It would also explain why ambitious players like Cole, Nasri, Van Persie / etc. etc. saw no option but to leave in order to get away from the regime and win some major trophies (Just like Alexis now).
*Despots [behave]
“Arsenal are often criticised for being “Mentally weak” and “Lacking leadership”.
Really?
I think one big difference this season is usually we suffer with a lot of players getting injured at the later stage of the season like Santi, where as this time we’ll have players coming back from injury, any new players wenger brings in ( if he does ) wenger knows best. o be honest everybody else is wobbling and Arsenal have a strong crop of players that have been playing together for a while now and that’s when you can win trophies. Torres (Chelsea NOT Liverpool). Can’t rid yourself of your obsession with Wenger and Arsenal. Can’t remember who you support. Remind us and let’s hear about them. You seem to be obsessed with pointing out my non-existent obsession.
As Arsene said” “I am here for 21 years and I have shown complete loyalty to this club. I’ll continue to do that as long as I’m here. After that I will always support this club and wish that after me it goes very well and even much better.”
CHEER UP DUDE, OUR ARSENE WILL BE HERE FOREVER MORE.
EMBRACE YOURSELF WITH THE INEVITABLE FORTHCOMING OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE MISSED. COYG.
As our classy well known supreme Leader Arsene said“As long as I am manager, I decide who comes in”.
As arrogant and repulsive as this statement is, he is correct. Wenger runs Arsenal, in fact, maybe he is actually more than a manager. He has earned a fortune from the club in wages, perhaps those wages have bought shares! Perhaps a lot of them. I’m not saying he owns a majority but he may own a considerable amount that could back up his unlimited power. Who else but someone who has the power of Wenger, could basically tell the board, the owners, his bosses to go and shoot themselves. Make no mistake, Wenger controls this situation and he knows it.
Wenger is in control of this situation, so unless Ivan and Stan grow a spine and fire this clown, Wenger will continue to steady the ship and will challenge again next season as he already showed how he destroyed his arch nemesis Josa Moo down to his kness, begging for Arsene to save his face.
ONE ARSENE WENGER.
He says he cares about this club and when he leaves it he wants the next manager to have everything he needs to succeed and do even better than himself. Filling this position makes our transition from Arsene smoother, also managers today are used to working with people within these roles, Arsene is thinking only of himself. They say power corrupts.
If Stan is not the excuse then who is? If your boss tells you to provide deliverables that are suitable by a 12noon, and you waltz into the meeting at 11.59am, that boss should chew you out and threaten your position in the company. What I meant is, Stan has set pretty low standards for Wenger to deliver, he should be delivery above what he’s doing at the moment, and I can only blame a passive, nonchalant-about-winning-a-trophy Stan Kroenke. Either he isn’t providing Wenger with what he needs, or He’s not pushing Wenger to deliver based on what has been provided.
Truth is many fans now complaining about lack of spend back then were pandering to Wenger’s thoughts. We have to always keep a substantial amount of cash in reserve at all times in order to comply with our debt obligations. Most of the remaining cash is needed to run the club across a full season, with all costs including player salaries associated with that. Wenger would have access to funds if requested – however this expenditure would have to be offset with additional success – something that cannot be guaranteed. Success isn’t directly related to output and as an economist Wenger will know that the relatively comfortable and constant position we currently hold ticks all the boxes fit his employers. That’s why I think next season is going to be so interesting, the majority of Arsenal fans are happy now. It feels like there’s a lot of joy out there, and that’s when its dangerous for owners/managers etc, once again you take the joy of supporting a club fans will get excited again, they pay for their tickets, buy their shirts, tune in to contribute to a business and feel mighty proud of that as Gazidis suggests everyone should, they do it because they want the fun of supporting the club they love and not knowing what is going to happen over the course of a season, all they know is that their club is trying to be as successful as possible. Arsenal fans say their club is doing that, and there is no one have a doubt.
Interesting season ahead.
Oh and from my lasting posting response to one of your diatrades i thought you might be getting sensible…how foolish of me !
By the way, in case you didnt notice, you have just called your beloved Arsene a clown matey boy !!????
I disagree with the whole three of them. Vela was rightly last in that pecking order.
Whenever we tried Podolski through the middle he was not as effective, same for Germany. I never rated him at anything other than a sweet finish from time, you need more from a position which is effectively a midfield position.
J Campbell, I never jumped on that bandwagon, some jumped on it because of one or two things he done in one or two games during the WC. He’s a hard working player, but not a very intelligent one, and even Walcotts numbers this season blow him away, Arsenal need to be aiming allot higher.
Vela is top quality but he had so many people ahead of him who were clearly better. His small frame also made it very difficult for him to play as striker
Podolski? Come on guys he was bad news as a striker, his movement was just poor. Let’s not forget that . Having powerful shots is not enough
Joel Campbell is good, but we are talking about Arsenal football club. He won’t start for any of the top 7 clubs, that’s for sure so let’s not pretend . Even at Sporting he has struggled. Arsenal is a completely different animal.
May be we try him at Left Wingback like OX.skills pace , good passing and a good left foot. Work rate too.
Eduardo was super quality and somebody who should not have bn born on earth breaked his leg.
Lucas Podolski is Germany’s third highest goal-scorer ever. He must have been doing something right. I accept he wasn’t a perfect all-round player though.
One day, when I will retire (2019) I will write in my memoirs why we bought these players. I haven’t bought Vela and Campbel as strikers, that much is obvious, even my friend Phil Neville could see that. Vela didn’t liked London, in fact he hated in Europe, you can see he is having qualities but never broke through. Campbell is not a all out striker even with Costa Rica and he never wanted to play through centre although last time we spoke he said he’d play anywhere.
Podolski can’t play through middle, he knows it, we all know it at the club. He usually plays left next to the striker but his lack of defensive display forced me to look for Alexis. I gave chances to many players but I admit I neglected Lucas Perez. We will talk in the summer and will settle this like men.
No, Our Supreme Leader.
You should continue to do your mirale works at Arsenal here as long as you wishes.
Maybe 2030 as minimum and after that we will build your nose statue.
Here’s the deal, I’ve got nothing against Perez. In fact, the fact that he hasn’t been given a fair opportunity to prove himself gives me a lot of sympathy for his situation. However to be brutally honest, I have a gut feeling that he is not the answer that we are searching for in the form of a clinical striker. Therefore we still need a striker. This then poses a problem, which is, with the amount of strikers that we already have on our books, it is a reasonable assumption to make that before we get anyone else in, some will have to leave.
Welbeck isn’t clinical or in my opinion will ever be a prolific striker but what he doesn’t give you in goals, he more than makes up for in endeavour and effort. We should definitely keep him.
Sanchez…this is a no brainer. Although not played as a traditional striker, he has an innate ability to score goals. If we can keep him, we definitely should.
Personally, I think Walcott has had his opportunity to prove himself but doesn’t have what it takes. He should be sold.
I also have to question the wisdom in keeping Giroud. He is definitely not a main striker and has also been ineffectual as an impact substitute striker for much of this season.
If I were Perez, despite what Wenger has come out and said in support of him, I’d see the writing on the wall and seek a transfer. If we get the likes of a Lacazette, no sane manager will bench such a player whilst giving Perez a chance to prove himself.
At the end ultimately though, majority shareholder Stan Kroenke will have the final say, and the American businessman remains a major fan, and admirer, of Wenger.
IN ARSENE WE TRUST.
Waaaay too much nostalgia about podolski. He didn’t impress as a CF and it’s not like he didn’t get chances. He was reasonable out on the left that’s why people were crying for him to take a central role. He had neither the movement, pace or physicality to dominate there. So that thunder left foot of his was worth little. Out on the left, couldn’t beat his man, poor dribbling, no tracking back, but again a lethal left foot. He should have been kept as a squad player but his limited skill set and high wages dictated he should have gone. Arlene didn’t ruin him. Arsenal is the biggest club he has ever played at in his entire career. No other big teams came knocking for him
Well I mean Bayern before, but the entire time after.
Wenger lied and disrespected the ARSENAL. Before the start of this season fans were crying out for Wenger to sign a top class striker and he went off and bought Perez. He’d already seen small amounts of protest banners at games in the 2015/16 season and was well aware the fans were not happy with his lack of activity in the transfer market. Buying Perez was just to shut up those dissenting fans which means he had no intention of buying a top class striker so therefore he lied to us.
Wenger should of gone when he ruined my holiday in Jamaica with that 8-2 thrashing we took against Man.U. That’s how long I’ve wanted that fruit gone now look where we are. He breaks all the records for whats bad for the club on the pitch the latest one, ‘the spuds’ finishing above us. What for next season, 1st time in the clubs history we get relegated?
Wenger out long time.
and oh yeh. Bring bk the old Arsenal emblem/banner