Arsenal and Leicester ended up as a bore-draw today and after the exciting end-to-end defeat to Liverpool last week this was a total anti-climax. So it is little wonder that the media were more interested in talking about the lack of action in the transfer window rather than the lucky point gained by the Gunners.
But Wenger did talk about the game, and he thought it was a well earned point for Arsenal. “We gave absolutely everything to win the game. It was a game of high intensity, where both teams gave absolutely everything,” he said.
“On that front, after we conceded four goals last week we have shown a great defensive performance.
“Overall we created the chances to win it but you could see that they were not champions for no reason last season. They are a team who are very organised and it’s very difficult to create chances.”
As for the benefit of having LKscielny back, he was happy with a clean sheet. “I thought that the whole back four played well and he guided the defence very well,”
Having said that, many pundits thought that Mark Clattenburg should have given the Champions (I still can’t get my head round saying that!) a penalty, but Wenger thinks that Leicester often play for a spot-kick chance. “I’m like you, in life it is very difficult to know. You have to watch it in slow motion to see what’s happened,” (regarding Koscielny’s tackle on Drinkwater.)
“Maybe [Musa should have had a penalty], again it was on the other side [of the pitch] but Leicester is very good at provoking in the box. They got many penalties last year.
“So you never know, is it really a penalty or not?”
So on to the bit that annoyed Wenger, when the media started asking him if he was actually not very keen on spending money in the transfer window. Wenger said: “Why do you say I’m reluctant [to spend]? I don’t understand that. If I buy a player for £45m, I have done well, if I listen to you, but spending money in itself is not a quality.
“I would spend £300m on a player – if I had £300m. We are a club with 600 employees who we need to have a responsible attitude [towards] as well.
“It is surprising that you come out of football games and you don’t speak about football games, you have to speak about money. If we find players who can strengthen our team then we are not reluctant to spend the money.”
To be honest Arsene, there wasn’t really much football to talk about, but the fact is that every Arsenal fan knows that without a new striker we have little chance of the title this season, but according to him, the protests from the travelling fans are simply because they are being led by the media rather than making their own mind up. Wenger said: “They are highly influenced by the media. That’s part of the process today but we try to make the right decisions. It is as simple as that. There is a whole team working on strengthening the team and I am not the only one.
“Nobody speaks about the performance of Rob Holding today – he is English, he is 20 years old, you should be happy. But I am sorry he didn’t cost £55m so it cannot be good.
“That is, for me, what is most disappointing – we don’t speak about the performances of the players anymore. We just speak about anything else but football and I believe it is not right.”
Arsene all I can say is “give us a striker” and we will stop talking about transfers. And secondly “give us some classy football” and we will start talking about the performance….
Admin
Sounds like a man on the defensive
Wenger only has himself to blame for the heat he’s facing,his poor planning when it comes to transfers has got the club in a mess,even before Mertesacker’s injury we needed another experienced CB but he didn’t sign one now it’s late and clubs know we are desperate so they are over pricing their players
I can’t even understand our benefits of supporting Arsenal under this Management and Board anymore!
wenger is getting cross with the relentless pressure.
but you cannot charge the highest tickets in world football.
claim the stadium move will see us compete with the bayerns an reals of this world then say there is 600 employees to pay for as a justification
the fans are the only ones overspending, for an inferior product
600 employers and 599 of them are scouts! ?
The 600 employees include the players on their huge wages £182m per year) plus wenger on £8m, gazidis and all the others, then there are physios, doctors, legal people groundsmen and probably a tea lady.
I have said this multiple times- we are overspending for inferior players. Apparently Chamakh was on 70k/wk and Arteta was on 80K/wk.
Our wages (total) are one of the highest and that is what eats up whatever funds we have.
Again a frustrating day for the english players. All the running around with nothing to show for it. The ox in particular worries me-seems to have no clue with the ball at his feet !
For a moment if we keep the signing issue aside- we still should be getting more out of this bunch of players. Sanchexz was anonymous- Walcott missed 2-3 chances. Ox was well the ox- headless chicken running around and Cazorla surprisingly was ineffective! Something’s wrong with the team
Is he having a laugh? Even for Rob Holding we tried and partially succeeded to squeeze Bolton out of £500,000. He has done nothing in the transfer market, he certainly hasn’t done everything he could, and it is disgraceful the way he penny pinches while extracting the highest season ticket prices in Europe out the fans, in such a way that we miss out on top quality players.
He says he will only play quality, and follows that up by saying we have Sanogo on the strike force waiting to come back, but Joel Campbell doesn’t even make the bench. HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE???? No one in the world would say Sanogo has more quality than Campbell.
“Even for Rob Holding we tried and partially succeeded to squeeze Bolton out of £500,000”.
Are you seriously complaining that wenger managed to get a price reduction for a player. Would you be happier if he had offered £500 000 more than the asking price?
That point is Wenger could have missed out on this player because of his penny pinching ways!
And Yes, well done to mr wonger for saving the club another 500K … I’m sure that he will get his percentage from the clubs annual profits, at the end of the season.
We received 101 million pounds yes that’s 101 million pounds from the EPL this year, that’s outside of all our other income. Where has all this money gone to, and why are we wasting time arguing over 500k, when yes, we could potentially lose the player over penny pinching, as we have done more times than I care to think of, losing club transforming players to other clubs while Wenger is arguing over tuppence, and we aren’t spending the time bringing in players which the club desperately needs to compete. The EPL is not going to be a cake walk this year, that is apparent from the first couple of weeks, and we really do look woefully under prepared, not just for the whole week, but for the whole season. I would suggest Wenger would be happier in the conference league, he could penny pinch to his hearts delight, and he would have a genuinely small budget that he would have to stretch. Only problem is that no one would come and watch at the ticket prices he charges.
If you want to know where the money goes look it up in the financial summaries, they are on arsenal.com. Gate receipts are £100m, players wages are £182m, so £82m goes on player wages for a start.
And how much money is in the coffers?
We are getting 101 million extra this year, that we didn’t get last year, we were actually paid the most of all the clubs in the Premier league this year. Seriously .. we don’t need to quibble over a few thousand.
Sorry not 101 extra. Probably 20 extra as the difference between last year and previous year.
Another transfer rumor brahimi now on track. I’m fed up
We have the highest ticket prices in Europe … I know that lots of clubs have owners who actually invest in their clubs rather than take out, but even so we really shouldn’t consistently be coming down the bottom of the league in transfer spending every year.
Campbell is at Sporting lesbian, mate… Oooops I mean Lisbon! ?
It Looks as if Wenger is making space for a massive striker signing!… Or maybe it’s just a little space for Gnabry?
Sanogo is injured, he won’t count as a new signing, just yet!
How does wenger get away with this shit every year in the annual body meeting?
He is still counting Sanogo? No one will buy him even for free.
God forbid if Giroud gets injured we are done for. Let’s for a moment think- he is right that the season has been crazy – but what was he doing the previous years ?
Even the kitman in Arsenal knows that we have crying out for a striker in the last 3-4 years why did we not buy then? Did we ever think that stock of WC players like Griezmann, Lewa or Aguero will go down and we could do cheap deal? That sounds crazy to me. Either we buy or we produce internally. What is worrying for me is that we even have done neither.
I am sorry but Apkom will not make it and then we have no one from the academy?
How did Athletico find Kevin Gameiro? Why we were not fighting for him.
So where do we stand as a team then- we cannot produce internally; we cannot compete in the market with the big team and now no one wants to come to us.
What is unnerving for me is the news in arsenal horse that a player cancelled his medical; Add to it the whole Vardy saga and it looks like Henry has a point; I never thought I would ever see that in my lifetime.
Here we go- insane salaries for people who hardly contributed. It’s slightly outdated (2014 dec) but look at these nos- Eg: santi and Ox on the same salary.
Sanogo paid 30k/wk!!!!!!!!
Kick the lad out and add it to Mesut’s salary or Koscielny’s salary for God’s sake!
I look at the list and I feel for Kos. He could get into most teams if he wants but he is paying back Arsenal – Does all the dirty work ; is our top defender and still doesn’t have a title to show for it !
im conflicted about this.
frustration is there, but hes been our boss for 20 years, hes done so much,
hes being hounded out, wenger out chanting, banners .
dont like it
want change but not like this
In order for change to take effect drastic measures have to be taken,Wenger and Arsenal are taking the fans for a ride,the highest ticket prices to watch the likes of Giroud,Walcott etc that’s a big NO we deserve players that will get us excited just by the mention of their names!
There, There muff, don’t be sad mate! His a multi-millionaire and Errrrrrr!! “Do you think that he gives a flying @@@@ about You?”… I didn’t think so.
&muffdiver
I agree with you 110% muff.
Lets look at it this way. There is a reason he is being hounded out ; because he has overstayed his welcome. For how long are you wiling to persist with him? We have not won the PL for 12 years now and we all know that with him at the helm we are not going to win it.
The worst part is that he himself knows that but is scared to admit.
It is a business and a business needs result and for us fans the result is the trophy. He has failed to deliver that and he must pay for that !
Let’s give youth a chance- get in a manager with hunger to win who can move the lazy asses of our players!
Wenger and the board deserve every piece of crap thrown at them. They got themselves into this mess and so far refuse to do anything about it. Off topic, Arsenal were bloody lucky to get a point against Leicester after the ref failed to give them the penalty they earned and if Arsenal’s luck doesn’t hold out for the season then the Championship could be closer than the Premiership.
Its interesting that he says its the media causing arsenal fans to behaving badly, grant you the media has con us to believe we are in deals and signings, however it is not the media who said we will need a striker before the season start, it was you mister wenger, it was not the Media who said we would get an experience defender before the season starts, it was you mister wenger, it was not the media who said we are physically ready and the next week we are not physically ready and i could go on and on, the one the bites most of ALL IS THE REFERENCE TO THE INFLATION OF PRICES IN THE MARKET FOR PLAYERS, BUT SEEM TO FORGET CONVENIENTLY THE INFLATED PRICE THAT THE FANS PAY IN REGARDS ANYTHING ARSENAL MONEY AND EMOTIONS, YOU HYPOCRITICAL, LYING SON OF A ……….. YOU MONSIEUR WENGER
If you have no fans you have no money. I get the being responsible part with money but at the same time Arsenal are a couple of signings away from a team challenging for the title. Is that responsible? I’ve always liked wenger but this is BS. The fans pay for tickets and almost everything else.. Just follow the money and you will find the truth. So many years without a wc striker doesn’t win you titles. Look at the other top teams in England atm? Besides Leicester.
Wenger is delusional
Can you believe this guy? Wenger doesn’t seem understand how ridiculous he sounds. Now the new excuse is that we have a staff of over 600? My goodness, we are finished. He keeps on lying about signing quality if he finds it but clubs all over Europe are finding and signing new quality players every season. So the question is, is Wenger searching in a different market from others? Honestly, only him can answer that question. I think he is far too gone in his delusion.
Nice Article Mr Admin,
It’s sounds as if your Duracell patients for Wenger,
is running low?
this squad looks clueless without giroud when its a goal kick,corner or free kick. did the ball even land on any of our players head? we need a new striker asap
congrats Wenger,you just framed a new lie out of your many(paying for over 600 staff) lol
I consistently read comments on this site like player X only earns £100 000 per week compared to …….
The point is that these huge salaries for players cost a lot of money, £192m per year just for players, compared to a gate and match day revenue of £100m and a total revenue of £329m
So Wenger makes a valid point, these huge wages have to be paid (plus all the other costa) and there is not £300m left over for player transfers. Chelsea can go to abramovich for an interest free loan, sheik mansour can pay the money out of petty cash and manu have i much greater income than us but they must be borrowing money heavily.
We still have debts of some £230m on a long term loan. Kroenke’s policy is that Arsenal should be self financing and is not going to borrow money to buy players, to Kroenke we already have enough debt. Kroenke sets the finsacial policy, he is the majority shareholder, there is no point in us complaining about it.
Having said all of that there is scope to purchase more players but nothing like the £200m plus talked about in the media.
What about the £300 million that Wenger was blabbing on about?
Or was that nnonsense, like everything else that comes out of his mouth? ? ?
Informative article covering all arsenal money… swissramble.blogspot.cz/2016/02/arsenal-brass-in-pocket.html. It would appear that net debt is 72m. We have various financial instruments covering the rest.
Gmv8, latest figures for net debt is now £5.7
Where do you get that figure from? I read that we had loan of 32 million, being paid in 8m installments.
If players are on high wages then they should be made to earn them, cut the squad in half and get the best players and stop baby sitting them because they are tired after x amount of games. Give youth team players more games then sell them or let them go when they want a high wage increase if they are not good enough. Players who do not run and work for their team should have their contracts torn up. Insist on clauses in contracts that protect the club from greedy, lazy, overpaid players who think they are better than they actually are.
Watched the game like 15 minutes. Turn off the tv, went to sleep instead. Not watching Wenger’s mess makes me healthier.
Criticizing and abusing Wenger is a waste of breath he is totally immune to such treatment that`s why he`s still in the job. Also, getting rid of him (which is easier said than done) won`t fix the problem we have to get rid of Kroenke and the Board and, as long as there is money rolling in, that too is unlikely. Arsenal needs to crash for two, maybe three, consecutive seasons.
One thing I`ll say for Maurinho, “the lads` got ambition”. States what he wants to the owners and gets it.
If I had the time I would try and understand how manu work financially. Bought by the glaziers with borrowed money using manu as security. Presumably manu income is used to service the debt. Then glaziers took money out as share dividends. They did someting with the finances a few years ago to reduce annual debt repayments of £77m per year. Last couple of years they have spent heavily on transfers and high wages so presumably debt has gone up. Appsrently their debts are much greater than RM and Bsrca, the figures quoted in the papers for RM and Barca for their debt is greatly exagerated to make a story.
They have a lot of income from commercial deals and sponsorship all over the world, you only have to look at their shirt deal, they get 122m year, compared to our 60m.
Manu had a young very promising player who they sold. Four years later they have now bought him back for €100m. What would be the response on this site if Wenger had done that?
That is a moot question since AW would not do that. No one can even imagine that happening.
Very true, but it is real incompetance at manu to act in such a way that the player leaves.
Perhaps we would have been angry. Letting the player go also made him improve to become the player he is now. What if he stayed and didn’t become that player? The positive here is that ManU realized their mistake and got him back. That is something Wenger and AFC board have no brains to do. Pig a shirt sales, endorsements, title to be won and the length he will play will make that fee become insignificant with time (as long as he performs well consistently).
Meant to type Pogba shirt sales, endorsements…….
Yes – Wenger simply sells our best players to rival clubs, even when he has the opportunity to buy them back, allowing said rival clubs to win the premier league. Man Utd – Van Persie. Chelsea – Cesc Fabregas.
as long as fans are going to matches and purchasing goods “Kroenke, Gazidi and Wenger” FC will stay the same. why do anything different when the cow is lactiferous!
Very true but a significant amount of our income comes from sponsors who want to be associated with a successful “brand” and at the moment arsenal are not projecting the image of success.
I am surprised Wenger still had fans??. Let me make a promise here and please mark my words “AFC WILL NOT WIN THE PL WITHOUT A WC STRIKER”. It’s really not rocket science. Golden boot looks to be between the likes of Ibrahimovich, Aguero, Kane (if he improves on last season) and Costa (yes he does know how to score). Our team is a f****** joke.
Arsenals biggest income deficiency is sponsorships and commercial income. We are over 100M pounds behind Manchester United on that front. The ONLY way to catch up is to be successful on the pitch and win Championships.
Other teams have realized that to make money you have to spend money. Their finances might not always look as solid as ours but they make more money then us and spend more money than us and try to compete for all the marbles.
We will not make it to the top 4 in this Wenger’s final year. We will be 5th or 6th and Sanchez and Ozil will leave. This is the Arsenal Arsene will leave behind.
That is very true
Speculate to accumulate. Simple.
.
Wenger, please understand that WE DON’T WANT YOU TO SPEND 300 MILLION!!!!!!!!! We just want you to show some flipping AMBITION for once!!!! In 20 years and 600+ transfers he has never shown enough desire!
If Fergie, Maureen or some other successful manager would have made this statement then it would be true but as AW is an ambitionless, specialist in failure, it just makes him look even more pathetic! He’s so damn embarrassing!
I hated when the special needs one called AW specialist in failure! It hurt! But now I can only agree with him! As he’s being proven correct.
I just hope our young guns step up and shove all the dirt being thrown at our precious club in our rivals faces! COYG