The Wenger Criticism Thread
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Was it the highest ever in the League? Winning the FA Cup will bias that a lot. Good that they did well, not seeing it repeated this season.
Fact nugget: last season Arsenal had their highest ever* win % under Wenger in all competitions, outstripping both Double years and The Invincibles. The 37 wins was a third-best total after 2001-02 (39) and 2003-04 (38).
Not bad for someone who has 'literally gone insane in front of our eyes'
*includes penalty wins and losses for each year (which you might understandably take issue with), Charity Shield wins and UCL Qualifiers wins
Just goes to show how anyone can skew things to bring someone in a more favourable light. What this season shows is that we haven't kicked on despite winning a trophy. I was optimistic and thought that we would take it to the next level, but what I've seen this season contradicts that. What it has shown is that we haven't improved at any significant way and that Wenger no longer knows how to produce title winning teams. The fact that they didn't get a CB and DM just shows that they will continue to make mistakes over and over again. Take Sanchez out the equation and we would be having the worst possible start to a season in a very long time. He is literally dragging our bloody carcass to the top half of the league table. All our established players have gone AWOL and you have to wonder what Wenger is doing to motivate these guys to play better.
I agree that we haven't started this season well and it's disappointing not to kick on from winning the FA cup, but the sentence highlighted swings both ways.
People use all sorts of facts and incidents to paint Wenger in the light that supports their view of him, positive or negative. The only thing you can reasonably conclude is that it's neither all positive or all negative, like any Manager he has good and bad points.
Wenger has consistently launched us into a new season with an inadequate squad. Once or twice could possibly be put down to bad luck, but the number of times it has happened is pure negligence. He did not replace Vermaelen. He did not sign a defensive midfielder. He did not sign a striker that is in any way comparable with the strikers possessed by City, Chelsea and United. Always making do and nipping our title chances in the bud before a ball has been kicked.
Thanks for the memories Arsene. Now **** off to Monaco and **** them up too. Stubborn, incompetent old prick.
Thanks for the memories Arsene. Now **** off to Monaco and **** them up too. Stubborn, incompetent old prick.
Lies, damned lies and statistics! There is really a feeling of apathy amongst the faithful. I sense AW will limp on in the final years of his contract. Old fans (those who allegedly supported the club for 30 - 100 years), feel we should be grateful as we have not reached rock bottom yet..... They will usually recount the days of Don Howe and the like. On the other hand, you have fans who grew up in the George Graham era, (maybe not pretty to watch, but we held our own!), also witnessed Arsenal's golden age under Wenger and feel frustrated at our decline.
Statistics, will tell you we were top of the table for a long time last season, however not many people aside from the most optimistic of fans, felt we would win the league. We were never really in control, our deficiencies were so apparent, how AW never spotted them is beyond me. On the other hand you look at Chelsea and Mourinho, you knew they have a couple gears to go if they need it. You sense they will not be thrashed at any of their rivals....... I am not handing them the title, but at this stage of the season, they look really efficient and are in control.
Statistics, will tell you we were top of the table for a long time last season, however not many people aside from the most optimistic of fans, felt we would win the league. We were never really in control, our deficiencies were so apparent, how AW never spotted them is beyond me. On the other hand you look at Chelsea and Mourinho, you knew they have a couple gears to go if they need it. You sense they will not be thrashed at any of their rivals....... I am not handing them the title, but at this stage of the season, they look really efficient and are in control.
I'd like to know, right now, what Wenger's current good points are. I'm struggling to see any. And I'm talking relative strengths here.
I see it like this:
Positive
Multilingual so can persuade players like Ozil to personally come (and then not use him correctly anyway)
Negative
Generally poor tactics starting games
Generally poor tactical decisions during games
Generally poor defence throughout last 5-10 years
Inability to see weaknesses in own squad
Inability to sign the players most others can see we need
Loyalty and persistence with players who don't deserve it
No improvement in our insane number of injuries in last 10 years
Poor youth structure in place
Im not a Wenger fan, but surely another positive is that his name (bizzarely) is still a big draw.
I would bet part of the reason players like Ozil and Sanchez came to Arsenal was because of the draw of Wengers name.
Someone like Moyes when he was at United for example, would probably not have been able to attract players of that calibre.
Like LvG, Wenger is a respected name in football because of his past achievements. So while I dont rate the hack, you have to acknowledge that as a positive.
Well that's kind of my one positive that I put (though I atrributed it to his personal approach to transfer targets and speaking to them directly, rather than his name being a draw... which given his appalling record I really can't see it is much anymore. The club maybe, but not him as a visionary of success).
You would think so I know.....but go anywhere in the world and his name is still spoken of in a positive light.
I was in the states last year and bumped into some American "soccer" fans who said they liked him a lot. I gave them this look:
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True enough. I'll admit that win % doesn't beat the big teams or win trophies, doesn't stop the team from occasionally getting battered or shipping three late goals, doesn't stop the injuries or buy the much-needed CB and DM cover. It's one stat and there are many ways of looking at it. On the face of it though, 37 wins out of 56 puts at least shows he brings some top qualities to the team. There seems to be a mood on here and elsewhere that he can do nothing right when in actual fact he has a pretty high rate of success and the list of managers that could improve on this must be very limited.
Bonstar - nah it wasn't his best in league, it tied for third with 2007-08. Also the FA Cup win did boost the stats to a degree but, well, it involved winning the FA Cup so it's hard to hold it against him.
My point was to counter the notion that he's lost it off the back of a season of winning 37 games out of 56, which is his best return and included winning a cup. Indeed, it didn't win him the league, but once again getting 79 points - his best since 2007-08 - shows improvement. Where the club doesn't seem to have improved is against the big teams, and I've pointed out before that I don't have much confidence in him turning this around.