I don't think he will though and the board won't sack him, regardless of whether we finish fourth or fifth. What I think we will see this summer and over next season - which I think will be Wenger's last - is him putting in place new faces both in players and coaching personnel to prepare the club for his departure.
If he fails to get Top 4, he should walk. He refused to spend in January, and he lives and dies by his decisions. If he leaves this summer, a new manager gets the whole summer to stamp his authority on the team. If Wenger leaves in 2014 the World Cup will impact on any new manager coming in massively. I'd far rather Wenger left on his own terms having guided the club to Champions League this summer. It would be a travesty for a great manager such as he to be either forced out, or leave having had all of his records shattered before the end. Never losing to lower league opposition has now gone, if Champions League qualification goes too, his legacy will truly be tarnished.
I think if he fails to spend in the summer then he should walk. The jury is really out on January spending and trying to blend a new player into the team mid-seasomn is not easy. He got another left back, who is quallity, which is what he had to do, but any real spending has to wait until later. I stilll think we need to give Giroud time. He needs a full year under his belt before he really has had his chance.
Firstly he didn't 'refuse to spend' as Bonstar puts it, he bought Monreal and tried to buy Capoue and David Villa, so that's a pretty active intent. Also he said the money has only just become available, so one window isn't really a measure or long enough to rebuild, especially a January window. But I agree that this summer is going to be the litmus test for where this club is heading and Wenger should be given the opportunity to put in place the personnel who can make the difference, both on the pitch and around the club. The club won't sack him and I don't think he'll walk. If he feels that he can't do the job beyond next season then I think he'll spend the next year putting the structure in place for Arsenal without Wenger, he will see that as his responsibility to leave the club in good hands. As for fans, I think the pragmatic thing is to get behind him and the players and give them our support. We've done to death on here whether Wenger should stay or go and we're going round in circles to be honest. What is important is what happens next. The board and the manager have said that they now have money to spend in the summer and that they will buy. So we need to hold them to that commitment.
Piskie, you know I am a big Wegner fan and I am only saying this because I think he WILL spend. He needs to replace Arteta, and Sagna who I think are playing their last season at the very top level. He then needs to get a real A grade ball winning deep lying playmaker. Someone who can hit a 35 yard pass to break us out and who can defend as well. Finally, if Giroud doesn't come good we need another striker who can head the ball, but it would be nice if they could play wide too.
I wouldn't be running away with the idea that July will see us sign half a dozen world class players, he may (and should) sign 3 world class players who will immediately walk into the team and add some real improvement. Whether you are pro or anti AW no-one can deny that he's stubborn, he is not about to give up on Giroud or Podolski so forget 3 top centre forwards signing. I said some months ago that we need pretty much an entirely new back line, only Kos has shown any value this year IMO, if we don't make CL it will be because of our back line not because of our inability to put the ball in the net. As for him walking in the Summer I'll lay anyone a million to one, above all else he is an honerable man and will see out his contract unless the club decide otherwise (which ain't happening)
Kos has been about on par with Verm this season. Mert has been our best CB by far, despite his shaky few performances recently
The defense are all good players. Vermaelen, Merts, Monreal, Sagna - all good international standard players. Gibbs, Jenkinson & Koscielny are good too. They need defensive coaching together as a unit. I'm hoping the recent performances will mean Wenger gives Bould some extra time with them. 70m won't buy 6 world class players. They'll be lucky to get 2 for that. I'd like a solid older GK, a DM, and a fast goalscoring CF who can play wide too.
Funny how some otherwise seemingly intelligent people suddenly take some media speculation as absolute truth. There is no reason to believe Arsenal put a bid in for either of them as it was only rumour, and the rumours were that we bid such a low price that we would never have got them. Any indication that we were interested in them was just a smokescreen. And as for Giroud, the last player I was so certain should not be a first team regular for Arsenal, even when others were sure he would make it, was Denilson. look at the Villa game. If we had a half decent CF we could easily have got 5. Not buying someone who could at least challenge for the first choice striker role will be what cost us 4th if we dont get it (but I hope just as much as any other Gooner that we do)
We waited about 10 years for RVP to come good. I think one year is fair for Giroud. He is playing as a lone striker and bringing a lot of players into the game. He has a pretty good assist total as well. On top of that he really hasn't played a huge number of minutes. Everyone was certain about Torres and Shevchenko when they arrived and plenty were clamouring for us to sell RVP at one point. Everyone needs to calm down and give the chap a decent run at it.
Wenger said himself that we were close to signing one more on deadline day, but that the club wouldn't sell another player (suggesting it was Capoue, because Toulouse had already sold Sissoko) Wenger also said that Barca didn't want to sell David Villa and that it wasn't a problem over money. It wasn't media speculation, it was taken from what Wenger said himself.
How can you be close to signing someone if the club says no? Surely that's falling at the first hurdle? "We offer 6m for Capoue." "He is not for sale at any price." We were close to signing him...
Just going on Wenger saying 'we were close to signing one more' on deadline day. Who knows, maybe they were close and the club decided at the last minute not to sell ?
Tbh I cant remember but remember being shocked when I read it. Could be bs of course, but I definitely read it somewhere. What is sure is that we were trying to get him on the cheap. That was fairly well publicised.
I'm staggered by this comment. I don't doubt they have ability, no-one plays at this level without ability, but collectively and individually they make too many mistakes and more often than not those mistakes have cost us goals/points. You can only suffer it for so long before needing to make changes - if you want the team to improve. TV are Sagna are worse than they were 2/3 years ago, Ches hasn't developed into the top keeper he should be and needs competition, Gibbs is weak, Jenks probably just isn't good enough, Mert is way too slow for this league, Kos for me has been about the best/most consistent defender we've got. Going forward most of these will need replacing in order for us to become an efficient defenisve unit - not a view everyone will share I accept...
I absolutely share your opinion that they're playing poorly. Where I differ is that I can see that they have ability, but they're not working as a unit. For me the issue lies in the coaching, not in the individuals. You could put Kompany, Lahm, Pique & some amazing leftback in there and they'd concede goals playing for Arsenal.
