evening gooners, not here to wum etc (utd fan by the way) I said a couple of seasons back that AW is an owners/directors dream but a fans worst dream My reasoning was that he is an economist/money man that has done wonders for your club from a financial perspective, the ground etc However his motivation is to ensure top 5 and not the coveted number 1 position. Whilst the money is coming in I wouldnt expect any trophies anytime soon. thoughts? and if you disagree please refrain from insults as that is nor was my intention
Hello Yes fair question, I think Wenger has done more for our club even in the last 6-7 years than he's sometimes given credit for. To keep us in the Champions league and in contention for the title has been a remarkable feat given the circumstances. He is a great exponent of the beautiful game, he builds teams that play really good football. The problem at the moment however is that our team are struggling to fulfill that approach on the pitch and when that doesn't work, we don't really have an alternative. I think we still need to replace a couple of key players and strengthen with better quality in some parts of the squad. The trouble is that we're no longer able to buy starlets for £2.5m (RVP fee, AOC cost us £15m) and for whatever reason the board have seen fit to sell some of our best players and not properly reinvest that money.
Thanks for a resaoned response wasnt sure what i would get. Genuinely not being a wum The thing with AW is that his buying cheap then building the player into world/potentially world class talent is obvious. However is the plan to do that and sell on? again making the directors and owners happy at the detriment of the fans? Would it suprise people for example if RVP was to go in the summer? who apart from injury setbacks has always been the player we are currently seeing at the moment imo. In fact i have always put him as numero uno in my top 5 (rooney doesnt make it and I am a utd fan). Part of me sees the arsenal model and wants the no debt, money in the bank etc, then the fan part takes over and i want the trophies and the debt isnt my problem.
we'd all love to have your last para - security - ability to buy big, and with it - winning things playing great football.
I think Wenger tries desperately hard to keep hold of his best players, which you've rightly pointed out, he has developed. The board have seen fit to sell some of our best players over the last few seasons and we've not really properly replaced them (you could argue that is down to the skewed transfer landscape created by mega rich investors) I think we miss David Dein on the board at Arsenal. His influence on a personal level with Wenger and with the players was key to us being able to build double winning teams in the first place. Wenger is not the problem, although he has some faults. In fact I think we would be a lot worse off if we got rid of him. As I think there are only one or two managers who could do as good or better job, (SAF, Guardiola, Mourinho) and they are just pipe dreams really.
PISKIE - I'm with you on this. AW's record over the last 6/7 years is admirable and his management whilst in a financial straight jacket should not be dismissed as nothing. I think we are all frustrated though by the perceived stubbornness in his selection policy and tactics. Too many good players are not performing, too manymis-firing players are too comfirtable in their place in the team (Ramsey, Walcott). I hope he can pull a rabbit out of the hat this season or next and win something, but I fear he may run out of time.
yeah true thing is though if I was a mid table team or even LFC at the moment I could understand it, the frustrating thing for me from an arsenal perspective is that you could have that without being in debt like UTD or the need for a sugar daddy ala CFC or MCFC I genuinely believe (and yes this is hypothetical) that if you guys bought in a coach like Tony adams to shore up the defence as in forget the inticate passing etc but clear the lines and bought in a schweinstiger type in midfield you have the makings of a title winning team. This would mean breaking the bank from an arsenal perspective maybe, but not exactly bankruptcy or debt Basically the money nmodel is there, the buying cheap potentially WC players is there, the style of play is there its just a shame to not give it a real push
I have always thought that if we had a great squad then with Wenger we would win trophies. Just a couple of strong signings and I would be happy, not a ludicrous spending spree, just a couple of exciting names, too much to ask?
noname: welcome to my nightmare !! We can see and hope that with the right buys over the last say 3 seasons - we would have a defence to be proud of, a creative midfield, and a pair of strikers to frighten sides. That may have delivered winning something? It certainly would have taken us further in Cups - so self-financing to some extent. BUT we didn't do it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you may well be right on all counts tbh, but I am not sure AW is as faultless as you think I think he is comfortable in his role. I agree it seems difficul to envisage another manager, however i do think that arsenal have almost all the ingredients in place, just need a manager that can fulfill that final role of bringing in a couple of quality players to push things I mean look at the goal keeping situation before scezny? almunia want a cog in a team looking to win trophies and the likes of friedel and given, even cudicini were available for next to nothing. but stubbornesss got in the way Im only offering a viewpoint of course and as such maybe completely off trck
TBH I wasnt overlooking that. I think all in all it was the most sensible approach what with the stadium etc However I genuinely do not believe you would be breaking ALL the rules to give yourself a very good chance IMO of at least competing for the EPL at the least All the basics are there, money, coach, style of play etc all thats missing is a couple of players for me Again I give you the goal keeper scenario or how about this, you got chamakh for a free, sell him and invest the money in a samba/cahill (not the bees knees but I was looking at the price tags) as IMO your defence is the weakist link at the moment. But its not going to happen. Imagine thats the difference betwen 5th place and second even (forget winning for the moment), all of a sudden for me things look different
personally I feel a couple of good experienced players in your team would make the difference to the 'deadwood' at arsenal I think the worst thing that has happened for the likes of chamack/gervinho re not around with Henry there. I think having henry back would have benefitted them immensely. Also think the likes of theo would come good (i see a player not fulfilling his potential at the moment in theo), it would give them that extra incentive that competing for a title must bring
I didn't mean you fella I agree about the sometimes seemingly bizarre situations that can arise, our GK situation was an example - Szczesny got us out of jail really. I would have gone for Alex from Chelsea personally, he's available. Most of our CBs are playing out of position filling in for injuries. Long term I'd like to see us sign someone like Vertonghen, who can play LB, CB and DM. But he's not going to be signed in January. I also think we still need to replace Fabregas. Even with Wilshere coming back, I think we need top quality in creative CM as our MF game is based on a playmaker unlocking defences. I'd like to see Wenger making another bid for Goetze (apparently he made a 35m euro bid in the summer), but my fear is that he will probably end up at Madrid for around £45m
in my opinion, Wenger has done a great job securing top 4 and keeping money coming in during the new stadium shift. the fans were warned that there would be a cut in spending and a shift to youth development while that went on, and staying in the top 4 with the resources available has been nothing short of a miracle. he is congratulated, and applauded for that. now that the debt is almost paid off, there should be more and more money to spend each season. that's what's not happening. yes merts came in, for 8m, arteta 10, oxo 15 (not all at once), benayoun nominal as on loan, gervinho 10.5, santos 6. that's a total of 49.5...BUT there was 25 for fabregas up front & 24 for nasri...so that's 49!!! there should still be significant cash available to spend this window.
