While I agree with a lot of what has been said previously (we need change, Wenger out, why we don't spend/buy new players, too many **** performances etc, etc.) I'd like to point out to our younger fans that things have been much worse before. In my lifetime we had to wait 18 years for a league championship (71-89) and all we had to show for those 'barren years' was 1 FA cup and 1 Littlewoods Challenge Cup with a few lost finals thrown in. Things can only get better, but they might get a whole lot worse too.
People are saying Merts & Vermaelen were the worst players. They're also saying that Lahm was one of, if not the, best player on the pitch. There's a very, very simple reason for that. It's the same reason that Vermaelen looked great when he arrived, and why Merts has so many caps for Germany, and why Santos looked good before he arrived. It's called Coaching. It's something you do to improve players, which means making them better. It's something that Arsenal don't appear to do very well with regards to defense. People commented last night how fast Bayern got back, that they were "well drilled," with everyone fighting for the team to prevent them conceding. Compare that to Arsenal, who were a shambles defensively AGAIN yet what will be done about it? Nothing. The Arsenal of old used to outscore the opposition. This Arsenal can't even do that. The blame for the squad, the blame for the tactics, the blame for the coaching, the blame for the motivation, the blame for the performances, all lies squarely at the feet of one Arsene Wenger. A decade ahead of his time when he arrived, now a decade behind.
That's Arsenal logic these days mate. Things can not possibly get worse now. But they most probably will.
One. Against Rovers. Bayern game was not a capitulation by any stretch of imegination. We actually played well by our standards, just were outplayed by a far better opposition. Nothing wrong with that.
Actually you could say that it was a minor capitulation against Bayern. We are putting Bayern on this untouchable pedestal, but we all know that Arsenal can play better than that, especially at home. We would still have lost, but shouldn't have been out-classed in the manner that we did. The players are better than that!
The players are probably better than that, but the team is not. This is the problem with Arsenal: the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
I'd also suggest that Vermaelen was left exposed by Wenger's curious tactics and team selection. Playing the Belgian with Podolski in front of him and no defensive midfielder was asking for trouble. Who was supposed to either deal with Lahm's runs or help out with Muller?
So it's the managers fault then? A lot of people seem to be evading this question. If Wenger repeatedly says the players are good enough, that means he is at fault ultimately. I'm neither a supporter or hater of Wenger but a supporter of Arsenal. This forum seems to have a fair few people that blankly refuse to talk about him. It's almost like they idiolise him. Very strange.
how is that new? don't they just say that every season when results are bad.. in fact they just said it a couple of months ago for the January transfer deals .. they said that last season.. the season before ..etc ..
What I've said for ages as well. When Vidic was signed by United in January 2006 he was poor in his first 6 months as a United player, they worked in him massively over the summer and then within 18 months he was solemnly recognised as one of the best defenders in world football. Vermaelen and Koscielny are quite clearly not bad players but they haven't improved at all collectively since the day they were purchased. The exact same mistakes are being made, teams sussed out how to play against Arsenal at the Emirates years ago, Chelsea and United in particular use the same gameplan each year and it pretty much works every time, in that time nothing seems to have changed. Conceding goals isn't a problem, it's football and it happens but when you concede the same goals from the same areas through the same errors each game you have to wonder if/where the improvement has been made.
we were in the same position as you a few years ago. A manager we had faith in started becoming a bit eratic, and we were sitting 6th. That summer we missed out on CL, Rafa was sacked and woy was put in charge, and things got much much worse. So yea, things can always get worse, and if you don't get CL and then sack Wenger you can expect for a few years of overhaul
Ill tell you why this argument of things used to be worst isn't really a reprieve, the fact is, back in the day when things were much worst, Arsenal fans weren't paying some of the highest ticket prices in the land, including the highest ticket price and highest season ticket. Furthermore, back in the day Arsenal had nowhere near the resources we do now. If our resources were ****, if we had a small stadium, if we didn't have so much money, if we as fans weren't paying so much money, then that argument could pass, but that's not the case. Given our resources and money, we should NOT be in this position. We're in this position simply because we have a stubborn manager stuck on a failed philosophy, and a board that doesn't push him to change.
Things were worse in the past. That's great, but has absolutely no bearing on today. It's essentially "Arsenal aren't as bad as they once were, many, many years ago, so be grateful." How about Arsenal are nowhere near as good as they could / should be, and they shouldn't settle for being this bad just because it's not as bad as it was once many years ago. This one time, I didn't have a job, and now I do But I don't try to improve myself, and get a better job, because it's not as bad as it could be. I could have no job!
Exactly, it's these rediculous statements wheeled out by some that make you wonder. England was a friggin cesspool of a place to live in back in the dark ages, but it doesn't mean we have to settle for say high unemployment and gang violence right now.
Wenger can't publicly say how bad his players are, that would destroy their confidence once and for all. I too, am neither a supporter or a hater. I used to think he could take this club forward but it seems his ideas are no longer working in an era where the game has changed. I still can't see anyone else that could do a job at Arsenal at this point.
worth every penny up until now but he needs to hand over the reigns and join the board on a permanent basis instead of part time....the club needs freshening up with new ideas. ...18 of the current premiership can only dream of what arsenal has achieved under arsen so he has not been a bad manager overall has he....
