What many of my fellow gunners fail to understand and many other supporters who always seem to be on our threads is that this man will never publicly criticize his team. He never has done and never will do, specifically when players create trouble such as Song. He only had kind words to say about him when he left as its the kind of man Wenger is. He's been in this situation countless times, he knows how to answer his critics and that's by brushing off any criticism that comes his way by praising the current squad he has at his disposal and by the end of the season leave the media and any doubters to eat their words. The only crisis this club are in is the fact we havn't been able to challenge for the title for a number of seasons now. But that still leaves us with three cups and a champions league place to aim for and in hindsight the potential to have a great season. Those who are calling for Wenger's head are the deluded ones, who else other than Guardiola would be able to do a better job with the resources he has at his disposal? We are still one of the biggest clubs in the world and on our day could beat most teams. We have rarely ever brought proven world class players, only nurtured the potential of them which in my view is what makes our club stand out from the rest.So instead of booing the club when times get tough, get behind them instead because thats what loyal supporters do. Im sick of reading narrow minded, half hearted comments from our own supporters on these threads so i had to make a profile just to get this point across. Rant ove
Swansea City , world class. Aston Villa , phenomenal. Norwich City . Massive skills. and the worst stats since Wenger came to us . "The only crisis this club are in is the fact we havn't been able to challenge for the title for a number of seasons now " or for ANY competition ...and the number you are talking about of the seasons is now up to seven . And our best players being sold to our rivals is not something even worth a mention ? But yeah , we are doing great...no ,problems at all . hunky dory . Yes siree .! and the fans can all sleep contentedly in their beds knowing that the shareholders are coining it.
I'm not calling for Wenger's head but don't buy this argument about who else would do better with the resources at our disposal. 1. There is an assumption that we are skint poor club.... This isn't the case when you consider the wage bill (our wage bill is bigger than Everton turnover) season ticket prices etc Everything is Rolls Royce apart from the fans expectation.. we are always asked to be content with a Mondeo at best. 2. Why does it have to be big name replacement? Remember Aresene who? 3. And what exactly do they need to achieve? It's not as if we are league contenders or have a cabinet stuffed with silverware in recent years. A consistent top 4? You mean consistent humiliationin in the knockout stages? Oh the championship league money i hear you say. Money for who? Wenger/Board/mediocre players on gold plated contracts...Top 4 merely finances the gravy train with little in the way of glory for fans. The Emirates isn't a place a where fans demand instant success... you can give a new person at least 2 seasons and then we will see.
We really should start doing an open top bus parade for the top 4...dont forget the significance of fourth place is at the mercy of some eufa beuractats whim...
Personally i dislike the way the Champions league operates. It no longer resembles the "Champions of Europe", more the Champions with a few others thrown in for good measue to drum up extra revenue. I would get rid of this boring qualifying league process and go straight to the top games. Why do we have to endure watching crap teams play each other that have no hope in hell of winning the silverware. Leave that to Channel 5. In my opinion, you should earn the right to play in this tournament and not be scraping 4th place after being non competitive in your domestic league from xmas. Champions league is a joke.
Completely disagree with this. I dont think the 'European Cup' was more interesting when it only had the league winners competing. In fact I think it was less exciting. Also what about teams from smaller leagues? How do you decide who the BEST really are? I mean I would argue the German teams are now better than the Italian teams and equal to the English ones.. There's just far too much subjectivity to really decide this. This is why having room for more teams seems a 'fairer' what to do it. Also , dont forget the Season we got to the final was on the back of a fourth place finish.
Come on, isn't the point of the tournament suppose to be the best teams in their respective leagues? When was the last time anyone other than the top 2 of Spain, Germany or England won the Champions league? Apart from the freak incident of Chelsea winning it last year, it's always the top 2. We haven't challenged for our domestic league for ages and continually scrape 4th place. We also haven't been competitve in the Champions league for over 3 years. That alone makes a mockery of the system. Even as a fan, i don't think we've earned the right to play in this tournament. Also whats the point of the UEFA cup then? The Champions league is driven by money primarily, thats the reason why they've increased it to a rediculous 4 spots in the league. It sure as hell hasn't improved the quality, nor has it made it more exciting. Apart from Man City's group, it's been largely boring. Even the UEFA cup has been more exciting!
Also I would kinda agree with this. Just look at what Jurgen Klopp, Mircea Lucescu or Huub Stevens are doing with smaller budgets than Wenger. Like I've said before Wenger's still a top manager but he's not as astute as he onced was.
I don't think the assumption is so much that we're skint poor, more that we don't stand a chance against the colossal wage bills and transfer budgets of City, United, Chelsea and to a lesser extent Liverpool. Arsenal have finished above every other Premier League team consistently under Wenger. The high season ticket prices maybe says more about how much the club needs the money as opposed to how much they're rolling in it. Either that or they've noticed that bumping up the prices doesn't stop people from buying them; it's what businesses do after all. I disagree with this. There's not a chance the fans would be accommodating with a new, unknown manager if they couldn't better Wenger's form in their first season. They'd make the point that the club have decided to save money by hiring a cheap option who offers us nothing more than Wenger did. It would take a magician to topple the Manchester clubs at the moment (and Chelsea usually), certainly in the league, without matching them financially.
I understand your gripe, but as you point out it's the money aspect. That'll never change. Why sacrifice a profitable venture? If it was to become a tournament of only league champions, then most games would be drubbings and crap teams playing each other with no hope in hell of winning the silverware (though I don't see why this should mean anything - if not winning is a problem then surely we should scrap the preliminary rounds and first four rounds of the FA Cup?). If crap teams and crap leagues were excluded, then it would result in their demise.
This tournament is reserved for the Champions, FA cup all all others cups aren't. Should teams want to compete in europe, then contest the UEFA cup. Why dilute the quality of the Champions league, so as to house inferior teams. I'd rather get to the big games than watch Chelsea batter a team that i've never heard of 6-1. If we were honest, the quality of football that Arsenal's group has showed is UEFA cup at max. Only Schalke has shown any quality in this group.
A fair point. How about if the UCL is renamed the European Cup? Then there'd be no reason to dislike the presence of smaller teams/4th place finishers.
Yes, that's why we have the Europa league. I would be quite interested to see how Arsenal do in the Europa league.
Alternatively, we could combine both tournaments and follow an FA cup style format. Have the favourites join in Round 3 and have it completely via knock-outs. It would be a lot more exciting and straight to the point. No more boring group games.
Firstly this is a list of winners since the 'Champions League format' started. As you can see over half the winners from the last 20 years were NOT the champions in their respective leagues. 2012 Chelsea FC - 6th place league finish 2011 FC Barcelona - League Champions. 2010 Inter - League Champions 2009 FC Barcelona - League Champions 2008 Manchester United - League Champions 2007 AC Milan - 4th place league finish 2006 FC Barcelona - League Champions 2005 Liverpool FC - 5th place league finish 2004 Porto - League Champions 2003 AC Milan - 3rd place league finish 2002 Real Madrid - 2nd place league finish 2001 Bayern Munich - 3rd place league finish 2000 Real Madrid - 5th place league finish 1999 Man Utd - League Champions 1998 Real Madrid - 4th place League finish 1997 Borussia Dortmund - 3rd Place League finish 1996 Juventus - 2nd place league finish. 1995 Ajax - League Champions 1994 AC Milan - 4th place league finish 1993 Marseille - League Champions What that shows is the competition is far more competitive than your making out. Personally, I think its the best competition in World Football with a higher calibre of football than the international tournaments.
