I think he feels it very much when things are not going our way and have noticed this on an increasing basis since our period of drought. But then again this was the youth team that he fashioned and while they did well to get far in a number of years, where they got to was as far as it was possible to take them. I believe Arsene was hoping and expecting more, as were we. It wasn't realistic though because the sides post 2004/05 were not honed in every department and to win the big prizes you need to be. We were unlucky especially to have gone down to ten men in the CL final of 2006. Thereafter the team was never at full strength IMHO. So yes Arsene became increasingly frustrated. I could understand the earlier displays of sorrow and anguish. At one stage they did look a touch comical but it is not getting better and the man is feeling worse than ever. Whose fault though is it Arsene? If SAF does not win one year, he makes sure he gears up for the next season. Unlike Utd, we have steadily drifted along making do with bargain basement players who hardly benefit the good players whom we had but who left as the years have gone by. If you don't gear up to win, you don't win. Using a F1 analogy, a Torro Rosso can win the occasional race but it is unlikely to be a chassis that is good enough to be the mount of a world drivers' champion. Similarly some of the players we have had are more Torro Rossos than Red Bulls. So their performance leads to frustration but I ask again, whose fault is it Arsene? Who is it who will not invest? It's not just him of course. That dummy CEO is part of the problem as is our majority shareholder. Thus the frustration continues. The hope is that this summer, it may finally change.
You must not have been watching Arsenal for very long. Pardew, Jol, and Hughes immediately spring to mind.
Check my profile, I have supported Arsenal for over 50 years but Wenger is a disgrace at times and dragging the club in the wrong direction.
Do you like anything about Arsenal? What are the joys you get from supporting Arsenal? I really have never seen you post one good positive post about Arsenal.
For someone who's supported Arsenal for over 50 years, I find it hard to believe that you have this view about our most successful manager ever. If this is bad, then what in your experience was a worse time for us, under which manager ?
I have enjoyed supporting Arsenal over the years and have been at many of the euphoric matches Wembley 79, Anfiels 89, Copenhagen 94. I also enjoyed watching the early Wenger years up to the Invincibles but i have not enjoyed the Emirates years at all. The football is frustrating and the club seem more interested in making money than winning anything. It is invidious to compare worst times and worst managers but taking Wengers lack of success over the past 7 years considering what the fans are paying is symptomatic of the lack of ambition of the manager and Board to really invest in quality experienced players.
It's not invidious at all. If you think Wenger is a disgrace and dragging the club in the wrong direction, then I think you've either forgotten or are ignoring where we were as a club before Wenger. If you've been supporting Arsenal since 1955, then you would be well aware of how perilously close our club has come relegation and to becoming completely obscure also rans. For that reason alone, I find it completely disingenuous that anyone who started supporting Arsenal before the GG years can suggest that Wenger is a disgrace and has dragged our club in the wrong direction.
You see, this is what I mean, you give me so much ammunition So you've never seen him remonstrate with Allardyce or Hughes ? Not to mention the aggro at Upton Park with Pardew ? Tufnell you don't have to justify yourself to anyone here. If some people want to live in a world disconnected from reality thats up to them, the days of wearing "Arsenal coloured glasses" are over. Money has changed football, our expectation levels have increased, the argument that we had worse teams/managers in the past while a valid point cuts no ice now. Success breeds progress, when we were mediocre thats all we expected and there wasn't the challenge to attract decent footballers that there is these days when Champions League football and the ability to win trophies play a massive part. So managers will be critiqued in ways that they were not previously, demands are higher and the pressure on managers to deliver is higher.
I don't like it, but that's just my opinion. As Jack mentioned, you don't seem to get much pleasure from supporting Arsenal. If you think times are bad now, it's a wonder you didn't top yourself given some of the times we've been through over the last 50 years.
Point being, that you missed the point. For someone to suggest that Wenger is a disgrace and dragging the club in the wrong direction, when they claim to have been supporting the club since 1955, just doesn't add up.
No, I didn't miss the point. Like I said, expectations were different in the 70s and 80s compared to now, so of course mediocrity wouldn't have been as difficult a pill to swallow. That is the EXACT point and the reason why your comment cuts no ice. If you buy a car now you don't expect it to break down as often as a car you may have owned in the 70s.. Don't like that comparison ? You don't expect your laptop battery to have a shorter life now than the 1st gen laptops. Expectations change people's tolerance.
Well, as most football fans find, it is necessary to be an eternal optomist that things will improve even when they're not going as we would wish. Taking this season as an example, how could any Arsenal fan not be extremly dissatisfied with his team losing 8-2 to the Mancs and then losing to Blackburn, The Spuds, Fulham, Swansea, QPR and Wigan. Sometimes we get an occasional fillip e.g beating Spurs and Chelsea to give us a glimmer of hope but they are soon dashed. Such is the lot of most fans.
