Where are Arsenal’s leaders and fighters? Was Alexis right?

After such an embarrassing performance like yesterdays, it is no surprise that Arsenal fans are up in arms that their team surrendered so easily to Pep Guardiola’s Man City side. In Wenger’s early years at the club, Arsenal were known to be a team of fighters who would never give up`no matter what the opponents threw at them, and would never accept defeat as an option whoever they played and they were proud to play for the famous Red And White.

But this season, sadly, we look like a shadow of a side, without any leaders or fighters on the pitch. As the Arsenal legend Ian Wright said yesterday on the BBC’s 5Live: “Against Manchester City it was always going to be a tough ask. They have been magnificent all season, but it was disappointing the way Arsenal played. There was a lack of fight, lack of determination.

“It’s a final and players were walking. You don’t want to see the team you support in a final put in such an insipid performance.

“People say it’s the attitude, but it’s been the same for years. Everybody’s recognised it’s about leadership and characters, and Arsenal don’t have them.

“Whatever we say about Alexis Sanchez and what he was like in the dressing room, he felt he had to leave because he wanted to win, and be in a dressing room of people who want to win.”

Alexis at least tried to egg the team into action, so much so that players like Bellerin thought he was just a bit too intense, but after he decided to move on last summer we have had no leadership at all. I’m not just talking about yesterday! If you look at some of the teams we have succumbed to already this season, it makes very grim reading. Teams like Stoke, Watford, Koln, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Swansea and most embarrassingly Ostersunds, have turned us over and embarrassed us.

I’m afraid if we don’t start finding real leaders that actually want to play for Arsenal, I simply can’t see us getting better any time soon. Can you?

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32 Comments

  1. Wenger out banners are of no use.Instead it should be “We know Arsenal wont change but reduce ticket price to that of a mid table team”.

  2. We are in deep trouble, we need players in pretty much every position except for striker and AM. Arsene is leaving behind a shambles, total scorched earth. He is senile and genuinely thinks he can keep doing the same shit and hope for different results. It will take us years to get back to competitive level again. After our next City mauling, I would just play youth prospects like Nelson and AMN and Adelaide etc… because if these kids are not ready to step up next year, we’re in even deeper trouble.

  3. We dont need new players we need a new coach.

    look at the teams that have surpassed us recently..
    liverpool,tottenham,mancity….all new young coaches with great ideas.

    a coach=motivation,tactics,hunger,cutting out silly mistakes,setting up your team for the opposition,analysis after a loss.

    basically a coach is everything.the driver

    1. The fact that Arsene needs to go is indisputable. But he is still leaving behind a team with no good defenders, no wingers, no dm, no good keeper. I mean this team needs a lot to be competitive again.

      1. What is confusing is you used word indisputable which is for you and I,Wenger has 1 year left with a dream that he can still make a comeback in spite of all the different negative results staring Arsenal in the face.His game plan is a result of his senior moments and I really would like Wenger not to go away on a low vibe for what he did for club.I do believe he loves ARSENAL and cannot cope with the game plan of the other managers to a point where he is putting his faith in the wrong players of which the results speaks for itself.

      2. Your comment is awaiting moderation.
        ADA I agree, however Mr Ibrahim and Ken still support wenger, the only change is they don’t openly comment about now. These gentlemen simply comment about how much money the club has and try and discredit the WOB. Conversely, neither offers any resultiion to the decreasing influence the club has on winning major trophies. So I would theorise that 99% want wenger our but as many have stated, there is still the odd #%*$ who is so used to mediocrity that they cannot make a sensible decision

      3. That is disputable we were just in another cup final its like you apparently dont like cup finals dont like trophys a big stadium he brought to us a top class training facility he brought to us im sorry he played a huge part in making the club a global giant and that our club success makes you angry and our new sponsor signing which emirates only endorsed with such big money since his success like if we get a manager who loses consistently for 20 years you will apparently be happy give it one more year we have top four next year maybe even a title its a world cup year any new manager would start outhorribly

        1. Thomas, I assume (because of your lack of punctuation skills) that you are not an older fan, as I am. I want to ask you, how long have you been watching Arsenal? Also do you remember us before Wenger? I strongly suspect you do not. You seem to worship Wenger, oddly and without proper reason , I believe. If you were able to compare him to previous Arsenal managers , from personal experience, as I am able to, you might think differently.

    2. I strongly agree we need a new coach but strongly disagree about the players. Many of our players are simply not good enough and would not get into any other team in the top 6 except ours. They are father Wenger’s children and to him can do no wrong. They would not last 5 minutes with a tougher manager . . . yes Mourinho comes to mind even though I dislike him intensely. If someone like him took over then half the team would be hitting the exit door in the first week!

        1. First every player despises mourinho he has had more than just chelsea players quit on him and also none of our player would male top six we beat tottenham on aggregate this season again and take a real look at our season instead of just depriving the quality that is there

  4. I believe Arsene and his whole coaching management staff has had there time an should honourably leave.Please GOONERS sacrifice your support for the present teams chosen and if personally required make it known we are NOT happy/satisfied with of how the club is handled.There is NO growth and half the players are not premier league standard.looking at the top 6 clubs.Somebody got to take the fall and it is not Kroenkie as we seen the money was spent.We buying where we had a little strength and where we really required(defensive) for a long time faith is put in people like Calum,Mustafi,bellerin,Holding etc.I feel for El Nenny who is hardworking with the wrong chemistry.The other 5 top clubs will never take these players in there premier side.???????So why does Arsene Wenger??He is having to many senior moments

  5. Most of our starters wouldn’t get picked in a starting lineup of any of the top 5 teams ie Cech, Xhaka, Eleny, Koscielny, Mustafi, Mkhitaryan.

    Or best players are Monreal, Kolsanic, Ozil and Aubameyang. Also Lacazette but Aubameyang is better up front. They can compete with each other like Monreal and Kolsanic.

    All these players are decent and should just be bench players competing and substitutes: Koscielny, Mustafi, Bellerin, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Wilshere

    These players should be SOLD:
    Iwobi, Eleny, Xhaka, Perez, Campbell, Akpom, Jenkinson, Welbeck

    Next season These players should be loaned out to improve or stay with us: Holding, Chambers, Mavrapanos, Adelaide, Niles, Nketiah, Nelson, Zelalem, Bielik

    Really the only positions that are good are LB, AM and striker.

    We NEED
    2 Top CBs
    1 Top RB (to compete with Bellerin)
    1 Top defensive midfielder
    1 Top creative Box2Box player
    1 Top Attacking Midfielder /Winger
    1 Top GK

    We almost need a new whole starting lineup

  6. A car can be badly maintained by one man and looked after by another. It will always run better with good servicing. A football team is the same. No need to change the whole car!!

  7. Look at cities midfield. Then look at Arsenals. Same thing with International teams. The English players and British are no match for foreign stars. We start off with disadvantage by having Wilshere and Ramsey as our best CM players. I like these two and believe they have plus’s, but at the top level more often than not you will get found out if these are your core players. I believe we are waiting til summer to get a couple of foreign guys. Xhaka was a massive error in judgement and that can happen, but that should not stop us from getting in someone who deserves to wear that shirt. Anyway’s, the British guys don’t come close to top players, but you usually get a doggedness which was not apparent over large/important spells this and every other season. If Arsene should know anything it is that the british guys have come up too much short on too many occasions. They make good squad player Jack and Aaron, and it’s not their fault if they are the best we have to offer, but even they will appreciate a Cazorla a Rosicky orr a Song to help take some weight off of them. Expectations, people say they don’t have them anymore or make a joke with it. Well I still do, because with or without Wenger I expect players to having a certain bad at losing mentality, you know when it’s that time in a game and things get a bit petulant, well we don’t have that we are the most gracious losers in the world. I’d expect better coming from a club that has a canon on it’s insignia. We’re all very tired trying to get creative and put our thoughts a different way, I don’t know how Arsene does it, deflects blame all these years, he’s some kinda jedi master at it. Maybe not this time however, I can feel it.

    1. English (and British) players no match for foreign players? Leaving aside the dubious racial element of this comment I would reply with a few words. Kane, Ali, Rose, Dier – and they all play for one club !!

      1. A club we beat on aggregate this season again and dont stick up for spuds on this forum please they finally make top four after failing for so long and you praise them yet disgrace our manger who still wins trophies and competes for cup finals who made top four 20 years straight thats not much thinking there mate

        1. “A club we beat on aggregate this season again” – this is just sad, really, aggregate, I mean theyre better than us in every position, play better football, and are going places with a top manager, its being blind to it that leads us to not doing anything about it

          1. Well i didnt see them in the final and you must be a spud fan if you consider them top class they finish top four and glory glory you say we finish top four 20 years straight we being intense for being in 5th and 6th a position that has been a high for spuds get wake up and smell the something good or bad just to know your alive they and there manager arent top class and were still beating them and yes on aggregate sorry that hurts your spuds loving heart

        2. Please, just stop it. Now you’re talking about beating spurs on aggregate? They humiliated us at Wembley, full stop. Yes, they’ve finished below us for 20 consecutive yrs, yes they’ve not won as many trophies. Fact is we live in the present & look forward to the future & ours isn’t looking so great at the moment. They are making progress with much inferior resources. We have been mediocre in Europe & never won a European trophy with Wenger for 21yrs, that’s a very poor record. We all appreciate Wenger for his achievements, especially the invincibles, but every good or bad thing must come to an end. Winning the Fa cups was good especially in 2013 after that long trophy drought but he should have gone after that. We never compete in PL & constantly humiliated in CL, and now we are struggling in EL while standing 30pts behind ManCity. We just lost disgracefully to ManCity in a cup final (that performance is yet to sink in). If anyone sees that as a sign of progress, then my dear Arsenal is doomed to fail. We may be doing well financially, but our football is dying. And again, Wenger did not build nor finance the Emirates stadium, he just gave us a very good model of running the club to avoid plunging into extreme debts (that was a very smart & wise move). Thank you Wenger but it’s time for you to go.

    2. Hes a jedi but i agree we need cazorla back or player like him or rosicky or song and coquin wasnt song who can still play with the passing of the other players in the team xhaka is usually good on ball but so bad off of it hes been a bust so far we almost need the french connection again they have quality players we could use but honestly i think auba will be more effective on flank pnce we get laca back it takes alot of strength to play up front in the premier league it takes two years to rebuild in pl at least bit we have had two rough years and not nearly as rough as chelseas or man u or Liverpool or well this is as big as totteham will be before we make them drop down again and oh dont forget man city either lets remember our history

    3. There was no need to compare English (British) international players with other foreign international players. They are international players and it shows how good they are. The real problem is THE MANAGER. When you have a manager who play an outdated gameplans how come we gonna be good. Our players need a better coaching experience..a better understanding what is required from them in the game…better postioning in defending. Right now…our players seems lost and no wonder they feel unmotivated after conceding a goal. Just take a look how different player Chamberlain was at Liverpool. How good Sp*ds are with their English players against Real Madrid. Right now…it was clear to see that THE MANAGER is the problem.

  8. If Wenger was in charge of city and pep in charge of Arsenal i think city would be struggling and Arsenal secure in the top 4 , not even Pep could make these players champions but he would do a better job.
    No matter who Wenger has playing for him he will totally ruin the players , so many top top players have come to Arsenal and have gone downhill within a few months by being played out of position and tactics no one understands .
    I will never forget Eboue ,a right back put on as sub on the left wing and taken off again after 30 mins cause of all the stick the fans gave him cause he was totally lost , who fault is that the player or the manager ?
    I stopped spending my money on his club since 2008 and i refuse to spend a penny as long as Wenger is in charge so my kids waiting for me to take them to a game have been told when he gone we will go see a game .

      1. Oh another one who determines who is a fan or not depending on their views , some info for you son we won the FA cup before Wenger and we will win it again after Wenger same as championships .
        What will you do when Wenger eventually leaves will you follow him or the club son ?

        1. Um duh the club but apparently you already stoped following in 2008 so why are you still pretending apparently you care more about personel than club oh waot you havent cared since 2008 and we have had a legend spell a vey successful spell under wenger evem after he leaves it will be remembered and compared to and the hope will be can somone match his success. But you stopped being an arsenal fan on 2008 so dont worry it doesnt matter to you

          1. From his name OsloGunner maybe he prefers to spend his hard earned cash on other things, rather than return flights from Norway and tickets to games. This doesn’t make him any less of an Arsenal fan.

          2. So because i refuse to put my hard earned cash into Wenger and Kroenkes pockets im not a fan . Son ive “supported” ARSENAL Since 79 probably before you was born. The way i see it that’s my way of making a stance against the greedy owner and Wenger if you feel like spending your money that’s your choice and i hope you feel happy with what you see son .
            Yes im in Oslo but im a Londoner and i will take my boys to see the gunners when it suits me thanks.

            1. Well thats fine your in oslo but you said you cut yourself off from the club like not watchi g them on tv or anything else hope you take your kids to a game whenever you choose too and have a great time but managers come and go and so do owners but the club stays

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