I don't assume that, and I don't think many of your fellow Arsenal fans assume that either. But Wenger will have to leave one day, you cannot cling to him forever through fear of not qualifying for a competition you will never win. And if this were a club like say, Everton, who had been getting top 4 on a shoe string and playing WELL above their means, I would understand the trepidation. But there is no reason, with the financial clout Arsenal has, that a new manager, if a decent one like Simeone is appointed, would not be able to keep you in the top 4. I have been saying for the last 3 years, Arsenal have everything they need on paper to be a real force in European football, its just the Scrooge like mentality of your board and the stubbornness and dinosaur mentality of your manager that has been holding you back.
I'm not disagreeing with that - as I said in the post you quoted, I wanted him to step down 3 years ago, maybe we wouldn't have been able to get Simeone then, but we might have been able to get Klopp. I think we can do better than we have been doing now, we've had a great chance to win the last 2-3 league titles, but haven't strengthened enough or adapted our tactics enough to do it. Instead we've treaded water. A new manager could do that and more. It's just on this thread and another I've seen people claiming we couldn't get any worse and another poster saying it wouldn't matter if we dropped out of the Top 4 for a bit, at least it would be entertaining. Apologies I thought that was you. I was just responding to those posts.
I think it was actually But it doesn't always spell disaster. Spurs have bounced back from finishing outside the top 4 many times. As have Chelsea, as have United. With the squad you have at the moment, if a striker and CB are signed, there is no reason to think you would drop out of the top 4 if a half competent manager is appointed, let alone someone with the talents of Simeone for example. He would be the best fit for Arsenal imo.
I do agree that if we signed someone of Simeone's standard then I'd expect us to really kick on - even though it would probably be a huge culture shock in terms of playing style, and you'd want Gazidis to actually pull his finger out and allow the new manager to spend as much as needed to be competitive (within reason). But Man U have spent the most money ever and didn't get anywhere close. Chelsea dropped like a stone and it's only their sugar daddy that has allowed them to keep their team together and bring in new big signings. We could well be alright if we dropped out, but who knows - we certainly haven't got the £370m Utd have spent to correct anything serious...
In fairness though, if it had been handled properly and they had signed Mourinho to replace SAF, it wouldnt have cost them anywhere near that. Moyes, I think would have done okay if he had been kept on and Woodward hadn't dropped the ball on their transfer dealings, LvG was an unmitigated disaster.
One thing I'll say though is that I don't know what Mourinho has got against Mata. I mean I know he likes to humiliate one player when he 1st comes to a club to 'assert his authority' but he seems to go out of his way to bully Mata.
I remember being miffed when Jose sold him at Chelsea to be honest. Especially since he had just been crowned our player of the year, 2 years on the bounce and was an integral part of our back to back European Cup-Europa League wins. Schurrle and De Bruyne are two others I scratched my head at as well. But SAF let Pogba piss off for nothing, even the best managers make mistakes.
Definitely, even the best makes mistakes - and I'm not criticising Mourinho for not being infallible. Just seems weird that he makes a point of bullying and belittling Mata whenever he arrives at a club. Despite Mata's obvious talents. I can understand that Mata isn't the greatest defensively, and that may not fit in with Mourinho's plans, but there's no need to treat him the way he has.
No there isn't really. Its just a difference in footballing philosophies, Mourinho has always felt that when defending, its the job of all 11 players on the pitch to defend, and when attacking, its the job of all 11 players to attack. If a player refuses to track back at corners and whatnot and help out the defence, it really grinds his gears, and Mata will not help out defensively because his philosophy is that he is an attacker, and when his team do not have the ball, he just stands there not contributing.
To be honest, i never rated Schurlle, still don't. He's another Cuadrado, too hit and miss and the good parts don't overly dominate his bad parts. KDB obviously never got a chance and he's a great player. Mata, i can see why he doesn't like him. One of my favourite players but he's like Cesc or a poor mans ozil, too lightweight and not physically good enough if you want to be dominating a game. He will come up with moments of magic but if you want a team to be pressing or countering or controlling, you will need to surround them with more energetic players (not that thats a bad thing). There are just as talented players who can do that and more like Pogba or Modric or Xavi and Iniesta in their prime etc etc
False, Mourinho started Mata against Bournemouth and kept him on for a significant amount of it. I don't think it's because Mata doesn't want to track back, he's just not fit enough to be up and down and because when going forward, he spends a lot of time moving into space and doesn't hold a shape so that when defending he can't track back + his lack of stamina. Also he's very weak and one paced so cannot defend efficiently.
I will agree that he is somewhat of a luxury player. A good player to have when you are up against a smaller team with a stubborn defence, and you will see a lot of the ball. He can open stubborn defences up and give you a creative spark to nick a goal. Against equally matched teams, when you have less than 50% possession, he was quite often as much use as a chocolate teapot (CL final VS Munich being the exception). On that theme, he just isn't Jose's cup of tea, he would be more suited to Spanish football, which isnt much of a surprise given that he is Spanish
Yeah and Newcastle getting relegated has ended the monotony of them being in the premier league. Do you think their fans are happy about that ? As has been mentioned, there is no guarantee that Arsenal would 'bounce back' a season later if they dropped out of the top 4. The idea that we are immune to dropping down the league is extremely naive. I'm up for a change because I think Wenger has taken us as far as he can, but that is a very different thing to believing that anybody could achieve the same as Wenger whilst being immune to actually doing a lot worse, a sentiment that has been expressed on here. This is why we need to replace wenger with somebody like Simeone. Simply taking a punt because it's a change from the norm is completely reckless in my opinion.
Melodramatic much? Its not that you are immune to it, just that your fear of it is ridiculous. It would take a supremely new level of spastication from your next manager to get you even in the bottom half, let alone relegated. Unless your players down tools like impertinent little **** bags, like some other players who will go unnamed. Chelsea didn't make the top 4 last season, I am just fine mate. Neither of my wrists were opened up, and the world is still turning.
You could argue that the best Premiership team was the Arsenal one of 2003/4 and i'm sure the majority would happily g Well we're never going to get the chance to sign a top manager if we keep on renewing Wenger's contract. In my opinion we should be actively going out there and looking for a replacement, Wenger is done and past his sell by date. As Bodanki and others have mentioned, we should go after Simeone now than wait for him to be snapped up by another top club. Wenger should have retired a few years back, instead we're stuck with a faded manager that will only get worse. But the management will offer him a new contract as long as he continues to roll in those CL dollars. Do you think we should offer him a contract if he scrapes a top 4 finish? What is your bare minimum that you are happy with?
Some fans speak like Arsenal would sink like the Titanic if Wenger leaves. Arsenal is a big club and can attract top managers, we aren't going to get someone like Alan bloody Pardew in. The fear some fans have on here is close to hysterical when you mention Wenger and leaving in the same sentence.
