I've realized something recently. Wenger hasn't 'failed' at all. The man has achieved all of the goals he has set himself (except winning the Champions League - which he could still do.) Let me explain.. When Wenger first arrived at Arsenal he wanted to win the League by playing a certain brand of attacking football. He did this in his FIRST full season and became the first manager born outside of Britain to win the league and cup double and replicated the achievement in 2002. In 2004, Wenger became the only manager in Premier league history to go through an entire season undefeated, a run which ended at 49 matches. Wenger was once described as a "a purist, dedicated to individual and collective technical quality" (by Johan Cruyff). The fact that Wenger pushed Arsenal to build a new youth academy, scouting network and training ground to facilitate his footballing ideology prove this to be true. As the Premierleague started to change, more and more money started coming into the English game (television deals, foreign investors etc..) and Arsenal FC decided a move to a new larger capacity stadium was the only way to ensure the club stayed competitive. By the time 'Emirates Stadium' was finally built Wenger had shifted his goal posts again. It was no longer about winning the title above all else, the new aim was the aim was to now to build a economic model that constantly produces good results through the signing and producing of young players. (both through the newly built youth academy and through scouted young talent) In reality despite building a 60,000 capacity stadium the club has continued to qualify for the Champions League and has remained competitive in the league. The subject for the feature film 'Money ball' Billy Bean is a well known advocate of Wenger's economic philosophy. âYou know why it is better to buy young players? The reason is because they are cost effective,â he says. âThey may cost more to acquire, but their wages are lower. With an older player you may be paying for past performance, whereas with a younger player you are paying for future performance. It is like buying stock. "Young players are attractive because they are cheaper and offer more value. They may not be as good, but if they perform at a certain level it makes more sense financially." Like most Arsenal fans I've been crying out for Wenger to 'spend some money' but it has recently occurred to me that our recent failings have not come from a lack of spending but from an inability to keep hold of our top stars. I often read articles stipulating that Wenger has 'failed again' but people need to realize had we kept hold of Fabregas, Flamini, Nasri, Adebayor, Diarra and Toure we would have a ridiculously strong squad right about now.- WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK. Basically the point I'm trying to make is that perhaps the way we go about signing players IS in fact the 'right' way and the real issue that needs addressing is the clubs inability to keep hold of it's top stars. I'm also not sure if Wenger is really the one to blame for this.
How do you keep top players that do not want to be at the club any more, i.e. Fabregas? I think the real problem is the board and the fact that we have a low wage cap, thus cannot attract better talent.
No its a long article I admit but .. The point is that perhaps the way we go about signing players IS in fact the 'right' way and the real issue that needs addressing is the clubs inability to keep hold of it's top stars.
To keep your best stars you have to have: a) the possibility of success b) to be paying the right wages to the right players c) to make players feel valued Had Nasri been tied up to a long-term contract with 2 years remaining, he would have stayed. Instead, the club let his contract run down, same with Flamini. Toure could leave, the malaria really destroyed him, as has subsequently been shown. Ade was always going to go - again for money. Diarra wanted playing time - that's a case of insufficient rotation, and Fabregas is a special case.
It's a good question but just look at some of Europe's other big clubs United - Throughout the last 15+ years they would have had numerous clubs come in and try to sign Giggs, and Scholes but they fight to keep them. AC Milan - Maldini, Seedorf, Gattuso the list is endless. AC fight to keep their stars and always have. Bayern Munich - much the same as AC. Liverpool - Despite offers from most of Europe's elite clubs Gerrard was never sold. That's not to say these player's were'nt tempted to leave. I'm sure most of them wanted to leave at some point but the clubs fought to keep them. I dont know wether it's just coincidence but since David Dean left the club we hav'nt been able to keep our star players at all. I also find it suspicious that Wenger repeatedly stated he planned to keep Fabregas and Nasri yet the club still sold them.
The Arsenal policy is...every player has their price. It's just the Arsenal price seems to be lower than it is for all the other clubs star players! I'd love to see Dein back at the club. He wants to come back, the fans want him back...I'd imagine Wenger wants him back seeing as they still go on holiday together. The only solution for that bad boy would be a shed load of fan chants of "Bring back Dein" and banners etc. to advertise the point.
I think the ultimate responsibility lies with those who pull the money strings. It is well-known that the board asked Wenger to accept the offer for Nasri rather than let him walk free. As for Fabregas, I'm rather disappointed with the player. A captain walking away with 3 yrs on his contract is no captain. Could we have held on to him? It is possible that another manager might. Indeed Arsene might have too but was he forced to accept the 38m or whatever? Selling key players was our problem. While buying relatively inexpensively and building them up was good, letting them go before we would enjoy their full potential was not. Not replacing them with players of equal or greater calibre exacerbated the situation. Now we have fallen further away from competitiveness. On whose shoulders lies this responsibility, mismanagement or simply an inability to seal the required deals?
He (Wenger) has failed to win anything for the last seven years and things are getting worse in terms of any prospect of winning anything anytime soon. He really is running out of excuses for the poor performances on the field and i fear his time is nearly up unless he comes up with a top line signing this month. A campaign to bring back David Dein whilst admirable would almost certainly fail due to his former links with Usamov. Failure to qualify for the Champs League next year will results in a steep decline in revenue, RVP will leave and the club will be in terminal decline. It is imperative to sign someone like Goetze or Hazard now to save Wengers bacon.
I think injuries have destroyed our long term plans also. Diaby---Vieira's replacement Eduardo--Henry's replacement Ramsey--Fabregas' replacement All three players appeared to have the ability to be that good before their injuries. You could add Rosicky as Pires' replacement. That's a huge factor in what we faced.
Well we certainly have been extremely unlucky with injuries and it makes you question what is going on with our medical staff? I think had Wilshere been fit from the start of the season and we had less injuries to our defenders we would be a good distance further up the table.(still not good enough to win the league however)
Well clearly we can't blame the initial injuries on the staff. A lot of the problems did come from the attitude that grew out of the infamous United game. People realised kicking Arsenal paid off. That's why we have long been targeted by the opposition teams. However, they are beyond ludicrous now. There is something in Arsenal that is breaking our players and it needs to be identified ASAP.
if you're a manager, you should manage. i'd have Adams in coaching the defense, i'd have snapped up Vieira to coach the midfield, and Bergkamp for the strikers. I'd have other former players, and former winners, all the way through from the under 16's. Those with the winning mentality impart it to the players. It's how Ajax work, how they've worked for AGES: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...iew-Ajax--Arsenal-team-mate-Martin-Keown.html Read that and tell me you wouldn't love that kind of set-up at Arsenal. Get the players who love the club back involved. Wenger can manage, and help out with everything, but he cannot do everything all the time.
No - I say he has epic failed the past 6 seasons simply because he bought the wrong type of players and is tactically rubbish. Had he bought men instead of kids we might still be at the top of the perch. Had he realised he needs to make changes to formation etc, we might still be challenging.
The OP is spot on For whatever reason (almost certainly to balance the books) the club have seen fit to sell some of our best players when Wenger fought for them to stay. I seem to remember at one point the club saying that they would have to sell one top player per year in order to stay on target financially. This must have been hugely frustrating for Wenger, but he is not to blame. He is and remains one of the best talent scouts and developers of raw talent the game has ever seen. It's because of his ability that the club have pursued a policy of developing youth and unknown players and it is because of this that Wenger deserves a lot of credit for building a team (repeatedly) that have been able to challenge for all major honours and qualify for the Champions league every season.
So you agree we have become a selling club then Piskie? Should I conclude that it's the likes of Gazidis presumably who is behind the ' need to sell a top player per annum ' policy? Mr Bear was right in his post when he said that top clubs fight to keep their players. The money men in our club only see money as the main ambition. We don't need to sell a top player a year. Just consider how much we have in the back. According to Jayram, it's £120m. It wouldn't surprise me if the money men of our club have designs for this cash that goes beyond sporting ambitions.
Yeah , I would say I agree with that. Something has to change or we will never push forward. What I wonder is what will happen to Van Persie, Song and Sagna? Will the board sell these also? Wilshere has broken through, Frimpong and Chamberlain are close and Campbell should get his work permit sorted for text Season, the question is wether they will have experienced players to guide them or wether we will just cash in on our 'big names' like we normally do?
