This is probably the most challenging period in the 21 year career of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. The Gunners have finished below Tottenham for the first time, have been knocked out of the FA Cup at the Third Round for the first time since he arrived and also failed to make the Top Four for the first time in his tenure. To cap it all we are now set to lose our best player to our hated rivals Man United and have gone without a win for the last 5 games. Could it get any worse?
Arsenal fans are certainly going to be calling for Wenger’s head if things don’t improve drastically very quickly, but Wenger has now said that we still have a League Cup and the Europa League to play for, and we are still fighting to return to the Champions League next season, so he has no intention of giving up his position as manager. “No, that’s not the way I respond.” he said. “I agree completely that 2018 until now has not been very positive but I am long enough in the job to know that what is important is how we respond to it and to focus on the performance.
“My personal situation is a bit secondary to all of that, what is important is how the team responds and what we make of 2018. We have many challenges, it is difficult at the moment, but as well very exciting because we have many challenges in front of us and we can come back in the Champions League. We of course play the semi-final next week and after we have the Europa League as well, which is another target, so we have to very quickly get over this transfer period because for us especially this period has been more disturbing than ever.”
Despite Wenger’s positivity, I see little chance of him surviving to next season unless Arsenal win the Europa League and/or finish in the Top Four, and that last wish is looking extremely unlikely right now. Would a return to the Champions League appease the fans for one last season at Arsenal?
Darren N
Yes top 4 in a very tough league
would be worth the final season
of the contract. Winning the Europa
would be huge after 4 more home
and away ties and a final.
In fact if we won the Europa I am sure
Wenger would be offered an extension.
However failure to make top 4 will see
Arsene step down I am certain of this.
I used to believe Wenger’s position was dependent on the results in the PL etc.
No longer. It seems it all has to do with financials.
I see very little chance, we can get back into the Champions League with Wenger as manager, and even if we somehow were to do it, I see absolutely no chance, we will get very far in that competition.
For me the hope is, that income from sponsors, merchandise, matchday sales etc. will start to drop, as this is the only thing that will make the owners sack Wenger.
An there is no hope, he will do the right thing himself.
Wenger is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (wait a minute is that not the definition of insanity) we are moving on the league table but its the wrong way, only Wenger, the board, the owner and some fans think that we are going through some sort of a glitch. Remember 4th place used to be his excuse, then the FA cup, i cannot wait for his next excuse. Fellow Gooners, we will never ever improve while he is still in charge. The time for opinions are gone, lets look at results, form on the pitch and where we find ourselves on the league table, then ask yourselves this do we deserve this with the crazy ticket prices and the amount of revenue our club makes each and every season
Figuring out how to spend £8m+ in the next 12 months is indeed challenging
Indeed 8 mill a year how does he do it?
I know since I took early retirement
from Microsoft I have struggled
on 12 mill a year 🙂
finish 6, no trophy, Wenger sells best players and replaces them with academy youth.
huge profit, everyone happy, Wenger gets 3 years extension.
The only positive I can think of with 1) being too far away to compete for 4th and, 2) Knocked out of the FA cup, is that Wenger can go balls deep and 100% focus on the EUROPA league. This HAS to be his priority. Not only will it be his first european trophy in 22 years (this stat is absolutely disgusting) but guarantees us champions league football (at least the qualifying round, i can’t remember, specifically?).
Since 2015 the Europa League Winner
automatically qualifies for the
ECL group stage.
Yes but will we win it?? Will he take it seriously?? Bet he plays a sh*t team… bet we’ll have to play Athletico at some point!!!
No surprise. If Ozil and Wilshere want to follow Wenger for the final chapter of their careers, either they like to play safe like Wenger or there is no good offer for them.
Nobody likes to watch loser club and players forever. If there is no drastic action taken at the end of this season, Arsenal could lose their fans substantially.
Only a hostile take-over can boot out Stan Kroenke and Arsene Wenger, and return Arsenal to the fans. Only then can the club take its rightful place among peers in Europe and compete for top honours. With Wenger’s archaic and out-dated training methods, you can give him the likes of Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo; they will all get injured and the team will be depleted. Same old obstinate, stubborn and arrogant manager! Arsenal can never compete with rivals in Europe! His dithering over the years has cost dearly!
Wenger stepping down for losing top 4? Never! Even if we fail to make top 4 and lose out on the two other competitions we are still in Wenger will never resign. He’s a stiff-necked manager who makes millions for winning nothing!
What a stupid merry-go-round arsene has subjected fans to, it seems arsenal are not getting money for sanchez transfer to United and getting a player who is not a regular in man United, I’m I missing something or I’ve got it wrong please somebody out there reply to this to put my mind at rest
I honestly think Wenger may be here until at least 2021.
wenger needs to do the honourable thing – step to one side and allow ancellotti to stir the club to domestic and international success. we were telling him from before the fiasco with lemar that we need quality recruits and that we would be in trouble but he preferred to resort to type by seeing nothing wrong – because of it he should now be gone.
His target before the season started was a minimum Top 4 place.He played a complete second string in EL and CARA cups so the First Team Squad would be fresh and only playing one game a week.The idiot could not even get that right.Also his team Building and Evolution are made up as he goes along.We are now looking at a completely different set up both in terms of formation and players than before the window opened.These are the players he will HAVE to include in the starting line up (I’m going from front to back) ABUA LACA. MIKKI OZIL JACK. (RAMBO/ZHAKA)Still no specialist DM but what can you do.This means a BACK FOUR !! CAN THE TWAT ADD UP OR WHAT? If he wants this attacking formation he needs to wake up to the fact that our Back Four will require a Top Level RB to replace the ever regressing Bellerin plus a WORLD CLASS CB who will organise the defence and (hopefully) kick the living shit out of forward players who don’t drop back to help out occasionally.Oh nearly forgot-We need a new Goalkeeper as well.
Looking at the table now, shows just how dreadful that Bournemouth game was. How they can all just carry on from that game talking the same way tweeting the usual crap is beyond me. Cech seems disappointed, maybe because of how much fault he owns. Xhaka talking transfer window, that’s rich, the man is pestilence. Walcott says he joined Eve to win trophies, thank to be jazuz he is finally gone the little ass pucker.
The prospects of Arsenal finishing in the top four and winning the Europa Cup are distinctly remote.Wenger is correct when he suggests the Club faces a challenging 2018 and with him at the helm 2019 will not be any different.You can buy the best striker and attacking midfielder in the world but until he resolves the glaring deficiencies in Goal,Centre Back and Defensive midfield The teams results will not improve.With regard to the flack being dished out to Bellerin, the young man is in need of a rest . Due to injuries to our left backs Wenger has been obliged to play Bellerin and AMN who would be ideal at right back.Give Bellerin a break.He is one of the club’s most saleable assets which is more than can be said for the likes of Mustafi and Xhaka who are average and over priced.
Also to defend Bellerin.
He does better at RB than RWB, he has improved at RWB the past couple weeks so maybe the drop in form was aided by formation change?
I feel the Mustafi hate is a bit unfair.
Please tell everyone how many goals AFC conceded with Kos and Mustafi as CB and they had Cazorla fit and playing ahead of them. See how great it was? Like a EPL title competing team…
Cazorla got injured, no CM to help receive the ball and carry it out of our own half, pressure on CB was allowed to be more consistent… Def started to perform at a lower standard. Def fault or Wenger for not replacing Cazorla properly and then replacing Coquelin with Xhaka in the DM role?
He’s the god for Arsenal board. He will never resign.
All hail Kim Jong Wenger!
Is that why Wengers pet scout got replaced?
That why Gazidis will be hiring a football relations guy after Wenger mocked a DoF (different title, same job)?
Is that why AFC bought the young greek CB when Wenger didn’t think he would be good enough and since backed up on what he said?
Wenger has faults and plenty of them.
Make dumb claims and people will support Wenger against the dumb claims.
Real Arsenal supporters want AFC to develop and progress. To do so, we need to look at reality and not through Wenger blame tinted glasses. We want the issues resolved and being ignorant and stupidly blaming Wenger for everything will not do that, it will just get more fans backing Wenger again.
39points so far how many more will this team get ?
Don’t have any hope of a change unless there is a significant financial impact for kroenke which may take a few more years I think. Waiting for better times.
Weegor is a failure and has been for the last 10 years . The odd FA cup and chasing 4th place is certainly not success.
I think that us true arsenal fans are having a huge impact at the moment regarding the way wenger is changing and relizing that we need quality players coming into our team,we are not going to allow arsenal to become a has been side,I truly believe that the impact from us all has finally been heard by the board and wenger that enough is enough.lets hope that the transfers we are hearing of are true .
I have followed this great club for 38 years, I have not seen more internal problems since kroenke took over after the stupid former board favoured him. We need players of quality in our problem positions, we need a manager who is in vogue with current trends and actually coaches, starve kroenke of cash so he can not pillage our club for his NFL side then we may start the long road back some bleak times ahead
IF Arsene Wegner gets another contract after this one ,i dont care what anybody thinks ,i would be placing a 50pound bet on Arsenal to do the unthinkable and get relegated ,please feel free to insult me as much as you like .