Do not be surprised if that is all is asked of Mr Wenger and his team every summer. Champions League qualification is where the money is and as your club, as is mine, is a business this is all that really matters to the board. It no longer matters what you or I want or expect. This is the cold harsh reality of modern day football
This is one of my favourite topics. Seven years without a trophy, only the third or fourth best team in the country etc. People really need to get a grip. Third really is the most you can realistically hope for and if you finish fourth or even fifth it's not a disaster. A year or two back in what many would consider Arsenal's more natural position of 6th-8th could give the manager, whoever it may be, a chance to get rid of the dross and start again. A cup or two along the way would be nice but you got more than people would have expected in the years before this run. You really can't expect constant success whoever you are.
You deserve it actually - you come on here, spouting utter bollox, nobody wants to hear your drivel, least of all passionate Arsenal fans who are fed up of seeing this sh!t happen ! Your attitude is annoying and your "just chill out mate" is condescending and a p!ss take. Take your bollox elsewhere and let us talk about our team in peace - we don't need to be consoled by you
I think Arsenal fans need to look at the team and manager closely. We are over achieving at present... Seriously gooners do you think we can compete with city and united over a season? No way. City have money. United have refs. Chelsea have winning mentality but an insane owner and we have RVP. Wenger deserves credit for one thing this season. Keeping RVP motivated and injury free. We are where we are because we deserve no better. Simples.
Only a select few teams can win trophies during a season. We are not in that category. We are a top four side because that is what Wenger has made us. That is his expectation and that is why you see the mentality of top 4 = success throughout the team and worst of all the fans. It will stay that way as long as Wenger remains manager.
We need a big transfer window. On the plus side though 3rd place with this current line up is not a bad achievement. We've added a top offensive player, If we add another TOP midfielder and centreback I think we can push on and improve next Season.(maybe even challenge) Fans should'nt underestimate how much of a loss Wilshere has been.
We are not over achieving - we are under achieving. The money argument is moot. We competed with Utd before, with less money than we have now. I wish Arsenal fans would stop finding excuses for failure. Its part of our problem.
I guess some people are content with being mid-table and a carling cup. Different ambitions for different clubs eh?
I think a few of the words used are very immotive and totally untrue. Acceptance, blinkered, apalling, not good enough, failure etc. What is true is that we are a solid top 4 team. No one can tell anyone else what your expectation of the team should be, and you are entitled to your particular view, no argument. If iyou have high expectations, it doesn't mean you are a better or worse fan than someone who thinks that getting a top 4 place for 14 years is pretty good, or vice-versa. What I object to is the next step that is taken, where many fans somehow make the logical jump that because the team hasn't won anything, the players, manager and administation are described in terms normally reserved for relegated teams. I think that the deifference between success and failure is much more slender than you would think, and the sure-fire recipes for success a myth. I can't argue that, in terms of results, our tactics etc, for the last few years have been a failure. But I can argue that there are probably a million other strategies, we could have used, that would have been a worse failure. Further to that, slamming everyone at the club, who works harder for success at Arsenal than any of the fans, really is not productive or helpful.
Arsenal are massively under achieving, we moved to the Emirates to be able to compete with the likes of United, something we were already doing at Highbury. The point of the Emirates was to make sure this became something consistent, and that we eventually could overtake United and it would have to be them who tried to compete and stay up with us, and obviously we have MASSIVELY failed on that front. We didn't move to the Emirates to scrap for top 4 spots, or to go season after season without silverware. This season will be yet another failure for Arsenal, and so will the next and the next as long as we fail to collect silverware, end of story.
Is it not possible that you were massively over-achieving in Wenger's best years and are at or slightly below your true level now given you're probably going to finish third? I'm assuming you were born in 1987 which means you've been lucky enough to only see pretty good or excellent Arsenal teams and I think you personally are a bit spoilt from it.
We over-achieved with little resources, now we have much more resources, so logic should tell us we should be doing even better. And THAT WAS THE POINT OF COMING TO THE EMIRATES, to solidify our position we managed at Highbury, to make it something consistent, and to build on it to become a top European team.
Some people take some comfort from excuses because it stops them having to face reality. Its happens in all walks of life. Money is an excuse for Arsenal's failings. Let me give you a current day example which shreds the argument to pieces: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...aside-bayern-as-germanys-no-1/article2410425/ Here's an part of the text in the link Closer to home, whilst having an income of a little over HALF of Manchester Utd's at the time we won 5 titles over a 16 year period. Money influences of course, but it can never fully replace talent development, good management, teamwork, and character. Stop with the 'fall back' positions of 'Arsene has done brilliantly considering...' or 'we can't realistically compete for the league because we have less money than...' What you should be asking is 'what is Wenger doing wrong, and what do we need to change?'
Well, do you really think that we know enough about premier league football, and the circumstances at Arsenal football club, to come close to critiquing what Wenger is doing?
