We have an increasing breed of fan now that blindly support Wenger and just because you critise him doesnât mean youâre not grateful for all heâs done. People who read only part of the posting from a fellow fan then with such vitriol attack them. Iâm a fan of a club that I invest my money in by supporting and entitled to pose questions and concerns in an articulate way giving examples and reasoning for my thoughts. Debating with people is one thing but I donât write this to pick a personal fight with anyone I'm open to people having a different view to me. Thereâs a difference between those who just provide a knee jerk reaction and those who give explanations as to their thinking on why things arenât acceptable for a club with the highest ticket prices in the Premier League (possibly world football?). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...icket-prices-revealed--Arsenal-expensive.html A fact that canât be argued is this is one of the poorest start to the season weâve had in decades which backs up my assertion this is the weakest squad weâve had in Wengerâs tenure. Wengerâs performed miracles in getting use to consistently qualify for the Champions League but as others around are desperate to challenge us we make decisions that weaken us and close the gaps with others. Lets get a grip here we got Champions League football by 1 measly point!!! Chelsea heavily invested in the team and Tottenham and Everton made some very clever acquisitions EVER CHANGING FIRST TEAM Very few of our team have been at the club for any length of time. Chelsea built a team around Lampard, Terry, Drogbaâ¦Man Utd with Rooney, Ferdinand plus the older players Giggs and Scholes Our longest serving players in the first choice 11 are Sagna 2007 and Vermaelen 2009 the rest of our team have only been at/playing for the first team around 24-12 months (Kos, Gibbs, Szczency, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski). This might mean we have the possibility of the team growing and improving but by the time they do that there will be others that leave. (NOTE: I know Theo joined in 2006 but he wasnât in the first team for the first few seasons) Fact is we lose players too readily and replace them with weaker options and the problem is we donât know who is responsible for the lack of spending on fees and wages (the club, the manager or both?) NO MORE CONNECTION TO THE OLD GUARD Henry, Veira, Pires and Co would never have been the players they turned out to be without the steely old guard toughening them up but also guiding them to a wining mentality. Veira passed it down to players like Cesc but now weâre left with a team that doesnât have enough leadership or bottle (Wilshere aside). The performances and Norwich and Man United were patheticâ¦itâs one thing to lose but in that fashion isnât the Arsenal I know. WENGERâS METHODS HAVE BEEN COPIED In my opinion Wengerâs initial success was built on 3 things⦠1. New Diet/Training 2. Vast scouting network 3. The Old guard Teams have copied the Diet and replicated our scouting network meaning itâs far more difficult to unearth those gems as there is increased competition. Wenger was never a great tactician despite being dubbed âThe Professorâ his weakness is his tactical methods. He plays the same formation and system regardless of the opposition and is typically ineffective with his substitutions. A better team can cover that weakness but the quality of this team horribly exposes it. (Example - Ferguson saw that Arteta was the heartbeat of our team so charged Rooney with marking him out of the game and we struggledâ¦others have noticed that since and replicated the tactic) WAGE STRUCTURE We have the 3rd highest wage bill in the country yet our top earner has gone above the 100k mark for 11 years (since Sol Campbell) http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/arsenal-truth/2012/11/4/arsenals-1434m-wage-bill-exposed.html We have this democracy where players like Chamakh, Squaliaci and Djourou earn 60-50k a week but arenât anywhere near the first team?!?!? What if weâd have scrapped their wages to help pay RVP what he wanted and promoted some youth players on under 5k per week? Add to that the players weâve decided arenât good enough but canât get rid of (Denilson, Bendtner, Park) and weâre probably still contributing to their wages. QUALITY OF OUR COACHING/BACK ROOM Another problem is Wenger is overly controlling, most journalists who have had any form of in-depth interview with him have exposed his need to have a complete autonomy at the club. EXAMPLE - Arsenal: The Making of a Modern Superclub (Alex Fynn (Author)) Our No.2 and coaching staff have little impact hence the reason our back line hasnât improved over the years. Even managers like Alex Ferguson have realized the importance of a quality No.2 and it was reported that one of the reasons RVP decided to (I stress I know it wasnât the most important) was the need for higher quality coaching staff. If RVP wanted that maybe the players realized the need for other ideas and methodsâ¦.or maybe just someone to help take the burden of Wenger. WENGERS LOYALTY Some have sighted we should be grateful Wenger stayed when he could have left but reality is any other club he joined would have not enjoyed anywhere near the same freedoms he has at Arsenal and definitely fired him by now. Chelsea is an extreme example but they fired Ancellotti who won the double and Di Matteo who won the Champions League. Up until this season Wenger was the best paid coach in the league (Mancini now) he stayed because Iâm sure he loves the club but he also stayed because he has a pretty sweet set up here that canât be easily replicated anywhere else in the world CONCLUSION Wenger will forever be a legend at the club and him leaving wonât change that but the longer he stays the more it tarnishes his reputation. As Arsenal fans do any of us enjoy those frustrated battles he has with a water bottle on the touchline. Financial fair play âmightâ come into play but if theyâre pining all there hope on that itâs a huge gamble and I think we could still manage to keep within that with some wiser choices (i.e. donât waste money on players like Park, improving the coaching staff). If the handicapping comes from the Board then maybe any new manager will have the same struggles or even worse but I think itâs time to take the calculated risk on a new manager to get behind and build a team around even if that means taking a short term step back.
I do not understand why you would want to lose Arsene Wenger. You said in your post you think he did brilliant to keep Arsenal in top four. Can you be sure new manager will do a brilliant job too? Arsenal has a new team and the board has now said it is going to invest. I saw a comment from your CEO that says the club is now positioned to invest after spending the last few years getting in order. If Arsene Wenger was told to keep the club in the champion league while the debts were paid he has done his job and Arsenal now can move forward surely? Why lose a manager that has done the job well and now can step it up with the extra money? You gunners are crazy.
Pretty much sums it up for me - althiugh I share the view that everyone is entitled to have and voice an opinion.
The dearest ticket argument is a red herring.Our cheapest ST's are cheaper on a game by game basis than Liverpool's cheapest ST.Our dearest ST is cheaper on a game by game basis than Tottenham's dearest ST.The highest price for a ticket at the Emirates is £126 (which i think is scandalous) but i can guarantee you will pay more for certain tickets at games such as Madrid v Barca & the Milan derby etc.
The truth is that none of us are certain that we will invest in top players. I'm not talking about crazy City-like spending but one or two top players that will enhance the squad and bring us up a level. I hope that with the new deals the transition period is finally coming to an end but after the regular disappointment on the signings front for years now I'm going to wait and see. Remember the last day of the transfer window? Most of us expected something, particularly after Wenger said that Giroud and Podolski were not replacements for RVP, what did we get? Sweet F. A. As far as I'm concerned the board is guilty until proven innocent.
A very good read. Some of it i agree with eg. Wenger brought diet/nutrition, scouting network, old guard. But i disagree that our squad has been the worst it's been for a while. At the moment, our first 11 has been the best for quite sometime. The problem is in part having no old guard, experience or winning mentality. Part of Wenger's successful earlier years was his quality backline and experience in the middle. First he had Adams and co, then he had Viera, Campbell and co. Now there is no one with experience, leadership to battle harden the troops, or a good defensive core, which is the foundation of all successful teams. I do agree that Wenger isn't a tactical master and tends to rely on a one formation for all appoach. Out of the league, he would be way down the order in terms of tactical nous. It has been far too easy for the top teams to beat us. All they've had to do is sit back and counter us when our players have advanced too far down the pitch and created big gaps in defense/midfield. Another big problem with Wenger is his lack of defensive prowess in his teams. He is a great attacking coach, but his teams of the past 5-7 years have been continually exposed at the back, which has been down to organisation than anything else. In another thread i've advocated to get Guardiola in, that would bring in new ideas and methods. I think that Wenger has gone stale with Arsenal. He seems devoid of ideas and doesn't seem to get the simple things right with his teams nowadays. Are we a bad team? No. But until we get someone in to correct some of the simple things our team does wrong, we will continue to scrape 4th place and not be valid contenders.
I agree with every point of this post. The problem at the moment is that the fear of not-Wenger is greater than the frustrations of having him. At some point that will reach a tipping point and he will go. The squad wages are being addressed slowly - Gazidis has done well on this, and on the sponsorship deals. The main issue is losing the best players, who leave for more money, and clubs that are coached better, and tactically superior. Lack of Tactical adaptation is Wengers biggest single downfall, and the reason Arsenal are not difficult to beat. The recent mood was buoyed by the win against Spurs, which, let's be realistic, was down to Ade being sent off, not Arsenal playing particularly well. In truth, this was the worst ever start to a PL season, and shows no signs of getting much better. A Team that used to be challenging for trophies, Arsenal seem to be growing further from the top on an annual basis.
We got out of trouble last season with that run of 9 straight wins or whatever it was, i dont see the team without RVP being able to do that again
But what will getting more players in do? Just look at our squad and you'll see that they play for top International nations. Just our backline are first 11 for France, Germany, Belgium, England, and Poland. The full list is as follows: International first 11 Cheesy - Poland Sagna - France Mertz - Germany Vermaelen - Belgium Kos - France Gibbs - England Carzola - Spain Wilshere - England OXO- England Walcott - England Giroud - France Podolski - Germany Gervinho - Ivory Coast Arshavin - Russia The truth is, we shouldn't be struggling at 6th position. We should be 3rd at least with that squad.
Sagna?, Gibbs, Cazorla, Oxo, Walcott, Podolski, Arshavin arn't first choice for their countries though And if Gervinho is first choice for Ivory Coast then they obviously dont watch games
We still look rickety 5 years ago than we do now. I'm just amazed that we continue to make elementary mistakes. I'm hoping that Bould is making an impact. He started off well but our CBs (Verm and kos), look worse than ever. They are quality CBs but what on earth is happening? The problem is, since the Viera days, our overall defensive side of the game has been the worst, out of every top Premiership side. We've just made up for it with possession football and having exceptional midfielders like Fab, Hleb, Rosicky etc keeping the ball in midfield. The solution? Go back to the basics and establish that defensive foundation that we've had absent for so many years.
Podolski has done well to get 100+ caps for Germany being he isn't a first choice.Arshavin was captain of Russia until recently and i'm pretty sure Sagna was first choice for France until he broke his leg.
Injuries to the following players have stopped them from playing for their countries - Sagna, Gibbs and Diaby (i didn't add but would be in the first 11 for France). last major tournament and previous ones, Arshavin and Podolski have been main player for their countries. Walcott is a first teamer for England and OXO is a sub and future first teamer. Don't follow African football but the last African nations tourny, Gervinho featured heavily for them. Carzola is a sub for Spain, who arguably has one of the best all-time midfields and international teams ever, he has had game time with them. I also forgot to mention Rosicky, who is a regular first teamer for the Czech Rep, a very good European team.
I'm not sure this is true, I think it's a sweeping statement to be honest. Even those who support Wenger recognise the difficulties at Arsenal, and I'd consider myself to be one of them. The point is though, that those who support Wenger also recognise that the difficulties at Arsenal are not all down to Wenger and that given the current circumstances, he is probably still the best manager to deal with them. That's why you hear fans backing Wenger, even though we're going through a tough time, because they know that anybody else in his position would probably not be able to do as good as job. I still maintain that if we'd listened to those who had called for his head over the last few years, then we would already be outside of the top four.
Safety first approach from our coach unfortunately. Walcott should be in England's first 11, as he is for us now.
Truth is, the last good win was against West Ham. Lost to Norwich, lost at Schalke, barely beat QPR, lost to Man Utd, lost a 2 goal lead at Schalke, drew with Fulham, beat Spurs because Ade was sent off, Montpellier were already out, drew with Villa. Arsenal are on a terrible run. The only players currently seemingly pulling their weight are Theo & Giroud.
