This thread isn't going anywhere, let's get back to the original question of how well we're doing half way the season. We had a good December but have had a major dip during Jan, losing quite a few points and momentum. We're still in the league but need to get some wins asap. We do have Coqs coming back but have a challenging but not impossible February coming up. Southampton - Home Bournemouth - Away Leicester - Home Barca - Home Man U - Away We can potentially pick up quite a few points here but the Barca game sandwiched between two tricky league games will be tough. But having most of our players back should help.
What Cini65 said. Wengerites fail to appreciate that this season bears the carbon copy characteristics of seasons past. We get a DM. Let me rephrase - we get a nobody for a DM. One at a bargain basement price. At that level of asking price, you could almost say it was a safe bet from the point of view of someone who may cost more and not work out. At £5m what have we got to lose? I'll tell you what we have to lose - First Place!!! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This season being a repeat of seasons past indicates only one thing, namely that we lack the ambition to go out for major, meaningful success. We needed a dominant DM, a CB, a striker and perhaps even a wing man but thus far all Wenger has brought in is a cut-price nobody. Where is the evidence of any intent? Same today, same last year, same the year before that. While there are no guarantees as to Wenger's successor or replacement being able to get the results we would like I venture to say that at least someone new would have more ambition than the old fool has shown for the past decade and more. Over this time all we manage is to scrape into the CL. Let's not kid ourselves that we are in the frame for the title during any of these seasons since come the time when this matters, we are out of the running. In all this time Wenger has shown that all he is able to get for us is usually a fourth place spot, third on occasion and a rare second place. That's about it. Not too long ago there was talk about him moving to PSG. This has not happened and one wonders if indeed it is because at PSG he would be expected to perform. To deliver more precisely. Here at Arsenal, he barely has to deliver anything bar a consolation spot and for which he is rewarded to the tune of £140K or more each week. He's comfortable and not hungry anymore. It is a failure to imagine that Arsenal are a club that could be comfortable with a mere peek at the CL. Wenger no longer has to perform so he doesn't. The result is we underperform too because he does. I see there have not been any further overtures from PSG for his services. It has all gone all too quiet on that front. I don't think it takes too much to hazard a guess at why this might be. A new man at the helm while not being a guarantee of success may at least mean that we are trying to something better than 4th, that uncomfortable supposedly comfortable position. WengerOUT. No doubt, there will be that familiar distant chorus that echoes ' Be careful what you wish for '. Well I don't think true Arsenal fans should be wishing for mediocrity which is the era of Wenger or rather what Wenger has become. Washed up and a waste.
So you're writing off a player before he's even kicked a ball for Arsenal ? And are you saying that we're out of the running for the title this season ?
Are you saying he's the stuff of our dreams then? Do you really think we are in the frame for the title all the way to May? Remember, the same question is raised each and every season which is why each and every season, barely any seasoned observer gives us a meaningful chance - when it matters. Now this may change if by Feb 1 he brings in the players we need but I'm sceptical this is likely to happen, despite his working very hard ( no doubt )..........
Stop trying to avoid my questions by asking non-sequitur ones in response. Are you writing off a player before he's even kicked a ball for Arsenal ? And are you saying that we are out of the running for the title this season ?
Our new cheap signing could be great. We could win the title. Both statements that would be true of the majority of our 'mid-seasons' in the last few years.
This thread is about where we stand half way through the season. Any Arsenal fan recognises the same problems we've had for the past decade. We start off the season well. We're in the three main competitions and then come February, everything crumbles and we scrap for 4th/3rd place. The only difference in the past two seasons is that we've actually won silverware (the FA Cup) in two consecutive seasons and we've actually bought world class players to compete with the big boys. No one is denying we've made progression in some departments but it's the same Achilles heel that never gets addressed and there's only one common denominator. Anything short of winning the league this season would be beyond a disgrace. This is the weakest premier league in seasons. The fact we are only three points off is more of a testament to the other teams' inconsistency as opposed to our consistency. We've had a poor past few months because the same issues keep on rearing their ugly head. Wenger has had years to address this and yet nothing changes and somehow the fear of getting an "average" manager is a worse alternative to being consistently knocked out of last 16, crumbling in the league and still being bottlers against Chelsea? Ok.
I think he's one of that bunch, the bigger question though is did he get Jayram's permission to post on this forum
1. But this is completely subjective. Some people will feel that there are other managers who can supersede Wenger and others will feel there aren't many better than him. My own view is that a new manager would be proactive and will be determined to correct the current faults within the squad because they have been obvious for years. They would also have less of an emotional attachment to the players that Wenger seems to have which, to me, has clouded his judgement. As for why do I think we can get someone better, we are a club that regularly participates in the Champions League, we have a very good squad (albeit some areas of weakness), we are very strong financially, based in London and have a massive global fanbase. Like I said previously, whoever inevitably takes over from Wenger will have so much going in their favour that only a complete moron would mess it up. 2. Trying to compare the financial difficulties that Liverpool went through with H&G with the current situation at Arsenal is disingenuous. A major reason why Liverpool were poor for so long was because they were saddled with debt, the owners lied to everyone and they almost went bankrupt and needed to get bailed out. This clearly affected the sporting performance of the club. We are not in that position therefore the comparison is irrelevant.
Wasn't the Chelsea match thread closed because you simply didn't like the bickering and childish posts going on in there? But messages like this taking the mick out of another poster are fine because they come from you and not A87?
