Match Day Thread FC Barcelona vs. Arsenal (UCL Round of 16) 2015/16 Official Match Thread (agg. 2-0)

Yeah sorry, when I meant get rid of Wenger, I meant Wenger himself giving the **** up and calling it a day, personally, think Wenger would have stepped down had we lost to Hull at Wembley, that would have been too much even for Wenger.

 

First I'll say I haven't gone into hiding! I went on holiday and upon arriving back found I had won a new contract for my business which has been taking up most of my time. I've skim read a few threads and tried to add the odd prediction in the prediction league but have otherwise not had much time for the forum of late. I do enjoy posting on here so hopefully I'll begin to find more time as things "in real life" settle down. I did find time to be on here during the Barca game which was good having not posted on a match thread for a while!

Also on the Wenger front I said when he signed his last contract that I expected it to be his last before retiring and we should be looking for his replacement ready for that day. So I've been all for scouting for his replacement going back a couple of years now. Though I've never been of the opinion we should sack him and I've never joined in with calling for his head mid-season, I think he deserves more respect than that.

In terms of whether he has done well enough I've always said it should be left until the end of the season to judge. All teams go through patches of bad form (and we are currently in a horrible patch of form) but it's the end of the season when we know how well everyone has actually done. The last two seasons have seen title challenges (though they have both fallen well short ultimately) and back to back FA Cup wins which is better than every club in England except City and Chelsea who both managed a league cup/league double and a trophyless year. I've very much enjoyed the last couple of seasons and felt like we were going in the right direction even though we fell short. This season has a slightly different feel to it though I'm willing to see how the remainder of the season goes before making a judgement on whether its been good enough.

 

Title challenges? You call what we have done in the last two season title challenges? We are only 11 points behind the leaders in March.

 

I would agree with all of that except that I think we've seen enough this season (barring a miracle) that it's not been good enough. Credit that we got ourselves into a position to really challenge to win the league, but we've seen again when it matters that we've crumbled. The games against man Utd and Swansea were real low points and although we did well against Spurs we only ended up with 1 point from those three games when we should have been taking at least 5 and probably more.

I don't think Wenger should be sacked and I don't think he'll go this summer (unless the club have got an ace up their sleeve) so next season will be his last and we need to use that season as a transition for life without Wenger, hopefully with the club going all out to get a top manager and moving Wenger into a advisory role.

 

Two seasons ago we had just signed Ozil and lead the league for longer than any other team, ultimately falling away and not being in the running. Last season admittedly Chelsea had run away with it but we were amongst the rest for most of the season. Like I said ultimately we fell well short in both seasons. There was plenty more to my post than just that choice of words though

 

If we drop out of the top four, would you still say Wenger should not be sacked?

 

There's been some real big disappointments this season and our current run of form is ridiculous and I agree that baring a very unexpected turn of events it is unlikely we will now achieve what we would like but I still reserve judgement until it's actually over.

I think for sure we need to be looking at who is of the calibre to replace Wenger at the end of his time with us and who will be a good fit for the club. It'll be a very important decision when the time comes.

 

Does the tone of this suggest you think there aren't actually many that have the 'calibre' to replace Wenger?

 

It suggests I think we need a manager of a certain level to come in after Wenger goes and that it also needs to be someone who will fit well with the club. I've not made any comment or suggestion on how many managers might fit that bill. Hope that answers your question

 

You've not really made a comment about anything and are just sitting on the fence. Of a 'certain' level means nothing. You might as well just say "I feel we should replace Wenger with a human football manager".

And "fit well with club" means what specifically? Again, not a lot unless you explain.

Superfluous management speak. Are you going to comment on how many managers you think exist better than Wenger?

 

Honestly. I think he would walk if we finished outside of the top 4.

 

In general I make a point of not bothering with anything you ask tbh

But since you've asked so nicely I'll respond. Of a certain level, means I expect us to be going for a manager who can actually improve our standing or at the very least not **** it up, not some of the rubbish names that have been put forward over the years. I would like to see us going for one of the top managers in the game or a real up and coming manager who has shown real management skills at a club without huge resources, though I think as an immediate replacement I'd like the former to lower the risk involved with replacing such a long standing manager and figure at the club.

Not entirely sure what rubbish your talking about a "human" manager, think my point was fairly clear but I've now elaborated for you.

"Fit well with the club" would for me, mean someone who understands the importance of playing attacking, attractive football, the beautiful game. Someone who tries to play with style not just play for short term success. And also someone who will buy into the idea of a sustainable club who work within their means to achieve long term stability and success both on and off the field.

And for your last point, no, I am not going to comment on how many managers I think there are who are better than Wenger

 

In my opinion allowing him to wind down his contract would be rather pointless in a footballing sense. He's taken Arsenal as far as he can and a replacement should be measured up now. The summer transfer kitty should be used by the new manager and not the current, to fix our ongoing squad issues.

Of course I'm not advocating kicking the great man out but the Management need to be proactive and attempt to move the club forward. I don't want to see us scrape another top 4 finish next season when this team is capable of much more.

 

Ah. A good reply with specific opinions stated.

 

The thing is with how weird this Season has been I can easily see Leicester having a mini meltdown and loosing a run of games. In fact I think this will happen. (Its not like we are chasing an efficient Mourinho side or a Ferguson era United.)

Even if that does happen though, We need to win all our remaining fixtures. Which seems unlikely with the way we have been playing in 2016..

 

It doesn't say much about our title challenge when we talk about needing Leicester to have a mini meltdown to actually challenge. To challenge you need to be consistent and be able to handle pressure at key points of the season. We clearly haven't and looked poor when we needed to fight and keep up with the pack. What we are witnessing is not a title challenge, and I hate to say it, a bottle job.

This is really disappointing considering the amount of quality and experience we have in the squad and with the manager. Wenger has experience of winning the Premiership, but the way his team has capitulated doesn't bode well for him. Its the responsibility of the manager to maintain team moral, focus and fighting spirit, something I've not seen at all with our lads, but i've seen plenty in the Leicester players.

 

As delighted as I'd be with a title win... if we were to win the title now, it would be an indictment of the overall footballing quality of the premier league in general if that happened. We don't deserve to play the football we have for extended periods of this season and come away as champions. The league needs to be won by Leicester now.

 

Taking my Arsenal hat off, i can't disagree with what you said. I really want to win the title, but our current form has been toilet and the fighting spirit that is attached with any title winner is non-existent.

To be honest, the lack of fighting spirit is a bigger problem to me than not winning the title.

 

The team that wins the most points throughout a season is the team that deserves to win the title. To say otherwise is totally illogical and utter bollocks tbh.

 

But that's just your opinion. It's not a fact that the team who wins the most points is the most deserving team of the title. You just think that that is the case. Having a different opinion to that is not 'utter bollocks' and 'illogical'... it's just a different opinion to yours.

If Vardy and Mahrez got injured now causing Leicester's form to tail off resulting in them losing the league on the last day of the season on 'goals scored' to Man City... would you say City 'won' the most points? No. Because they'd be even on points. Would you say City deserved it? Entirely subjective.

When Aguero scored that last minute goal against QPR meaning United didn't win the title, would you therefore say that United didn't deserve the title? So if Aguero had missed that goal allowing United to actually win (without doing anything differently in their own game and doing exactly the same thing in each of their 38 league games that season) would they then actually have deserved the title? Which would mean whether United 'deserved' anything would come down to whether Aguero held his nerve or not? Nonsense.

You making a black and white decision and expecting everyone to agree with it and labeling any other opinion as 'bollocks' is the only thing illogical and bollocks here.