I was just wondering if anyone else here is looking forward with trepidation - Like what have I wished for? Almost like dumping a long term girl friend/wife/partner thinking, good riddance, easy I will pull another bad ass chick in the twinkle of an eye, I am so hot, I burn myself. Every chick out there wants me.... Then realisation kicks in after a good night sleep and you begin to wonder what you have done? I was at the game v. Burnley (fair enough, sat with some clowns at the Executive Box, who spent the entire game comatose without any interest in the game). It finally dawned on me Arsene is leaving and thinking to my self what next? When you strip the away all the rhetoric and look at the figures, AW has not been bad - apart from him being a bit too loyal and trusting of some of his none-performing players. You also wonder some of our fans talking it big about Allegri/Enrique etc etc whether this kind of guys will come to an environment where they have to muck in and perform miracles - is yet to be seen. I just hope we don't lose the soul of the club - whatever we do. I also hope the loonies on Arsenal Fan TV do not define the fan base - where criticising our home grown players and our key players is fair game after every bad result. This really is not the Arsenal way!
Was always the risk we were going to take with getting a new manager... but we would have to replace Arsene in a few years anyway. Change is inevitable. We were never known for playing particularly free flowing football before 96 so I guess if we did go down that road it would have to be with someone who knows what they are doing.
I accept change is invevitable, just hope the lunatic fringe do not feel empowered and emboldened to carry on with their rhetoric. I suspect, they might begin to think they have the power to lampoon any player who they perceive is not fit to wear the ****. Almost like the modern day mob rule. I have heard them saying almost half the team should be replaced.
Im not regretting. Sad to see him go though. It all depends who we get in to replace Wenger. The league is incredibly competitive at the moment and whenever we get will have a big challenge ahead of them. Wengers unwillingness to change has slowly been dragging the club away from where we aspire to be. Is this 100% Wengers fault? probably not - I feel that some of the issues come from the fact he had soo much freedom and was given soo little in the way of supervision. Now we have a new Director of football and a new head of Scouting so the new Boss will be operating under a different structure. (which is probably a good thing) The safe option would be Anchelotti or Conte. Both have experience at the highest level and in the EPL. Allegri could be an inspired signing. Despite what the press say he actually plays fairly attacking football but will change shape/formation to counter opposition. He's a true tactician. Enrique has the greatest potential but he's also somewhat of an unknown. The guys only management experience was at Barcelona. (A club with massive resources) However he had the team playing great football and guided them to 2 League titles' Copa Del Ray and a Champions League in just three years. I still think he's our No.1 target it he really fits into the 'footballing' ideology the Club us trying to cultivate. We may NOT get the manager we want, it may not be quick to find a top quality replacement. Going to be an interesting Summer for sure.
Not regretting it, I honestly believe he lost his magic long ago - and I do believe most managers could come in and at least match the results from this past year, so at that point what should we have to fear with change? More importantly this gets many fans back on the clubs side and allows a reborn feeling of hope, which is priceless really. Not sure about everyone else but I haven’t looked forward to a season this much in the last 3 or 4 years.
The figure of 50mill has been mentioned as the budget for the new guy to spend. Therefore if this figure is correct, do we think the new guy who ever he is can improve the current squad with that amount and secondly the without any noticeable additions do a better job and finish higher than 6th? I guess this season will unravel and we will see whether it is Arsene who is the blocker to spending or not?
Lots of reports are saying £200m now. Soo who knows. This is all just speculative. Why would that information get released?
But just for ****s and giggles.. 50 Million budget. Sell... Wellbeck £10m Elneny £10m Mustafi £15-20m (gonna make a loss on this guy) Cech £5-10m Akpom £2.5m Takumo Asano £500k Joel Campbell £5-10m Carl Jenkison £1m = £49m Total Budget: £99m Meyer - Free. (Schalke) Carzorla - Free (re-sign) Perez - returned from loan Hart £10m Kondogbia £30m Koulibaly £60m Like I've said before. We have a ton of attacking talent just need that solid platform for them to attack from. With this squad its all about smoothing over the cracks and addressing the weaknesses. ----------------------------Hart------------------------------ Bellerin-----Koulibaly---------Koscielny-----Kolasinac -------Mkhitarian-----Kondogbia-----Ramsey--------- -----------------------------Ozil-------------------------------- ---------------Lacazette----------Aubamayang---------- Bench: Mavraponos, Wilshere, Meyer, Monreal, Perez, Ospina. Squad: Xhaka, Chambers, Maitland Niles, (Carzorla - if 100% he makes starting 11.) With bigger starting budget we could look to add guys like Oblak and possibly Dembele but with 50m we could still put together a quality side.
Not regretting it as he should have gone a few years ago. His decline coincided with his over attention on the financial side of things and replicating another Barcelona. He also stubbornly held onto his philosophy when it was failing at key moments and didn't adapt when the climate changed in the PL. The Management had to let him go as he couldn't compete with any of the top managers in the PL anymore. 6th position isn't a bad position to end for him, it's about right for what he could achieve as a manager. But i would like to see how he'll do with another club. Maybe he needed a change and was too invested in Arsenal as a whole? We'll only see if he still has it if he accepts another managerial appointment.
Well, I think we got past that point. I was always preaching, "be careful what you wish for," but by midway through this season, even I was talking about Wenger leaving. I don't think the board had any choice, Wenger did not get the job done on any level this year. I think as fans we are going to have to make an adjustment, because we are used to watching Arsenal play and thinking in context of Wenger's strengths and weaknesses. I just don't think "The Wenger formula", is going to work on any level anymore, so if you are talking about "Vieira" types and George Graham back 4s, that is just nuts, it isn't going to work. Particularly in Britain the "smaller" teams have learned how to combat Wenger's tactics, so yearning for them back is no good. We need a new system and new ideas, and that is going to mean a new paradigm, which is going to be scary for some people.
This is a joke right? Joe Hart?! Jack Butland please. But yes, Kondogbia and Koulibaly all over that shizzle. However, the chance of anyone buying our players for that money is slim.
I actually rate Hart still. But I would take Butland at Arsenal. However If we had bit more cash Oblak would be my choice. I think the Mustafi's, Elneny's, Mustafi's etc.. would actually make us a decent amount of money. They are all players who could do well at places like Everton/Southampton.
omogooner If your still regretting letting Wenger go. Perhaps you should watch the first half of this Leceister match. We were ****ing ****e, the team selection was garbage and as always there will be no plan B.
I agree, it was for the best. Think I got a bit carried away with the send off and possibly the free TShirt. Got to be the best thing that has happened in a long while. Why did he mess about with the selection from the weekend? Thinking rationally now, can the new guy do any worse? With the current team, I feel any Manager could achieve 6th, without even any addition. Good Luck to him in his next endeavour, just happy we have something to look forward to.. cant get any worse!
We've just lost to one of the poorest Leicester City sides who couldn't buy a win before today. Yeah not regretting that much.
All I can say is sorry for starting this foolish thread! I wonder if I can delete it. I feel ashamed now... Leicester could not buy a win before us, and they beat us handsomely.. The new guy has his work cut out!
It's ok to be caught up with the nostalgia but you can't mask Wengers final season which has been pretty poor. No away wins for 2018 unless we gets a win against Huddersfield. The new guy will have a significant rebuilding job to do. As long as we don't get a dud in, we should get back to being competitive in a few years, it'll take that long to undo Wengers crap.
The ridiculous thing about this Season is we actually have a decent side. I mean we lack a Big experienced defender and a quality DM but apart from that there's a whole bunch of quality here. Aubamayang is TOP quality, Lacazette's an excellent striker, Ozil is sheer Class, Mkhitarian, Bellerin and Koscielny are also QUALITY players. Then we have guys like Ramsey, Wilshere, Monreal and Kolasinac who just below that level but certainly good enough for a Champions league side. Like I've said before we just need to fix the defensive frailties and add a few solid defensive players and I really think this side could challenge under a quality manager. The 'rebuilding job' is not as big as some people believe it to be. We have MASSIVELY underperformed the last two Seasons.
The squad is good but as you mentioned the defensive side, and in my opinion, the mentality, needs to change a lot. This might mean the new manager getting rid of some of Wenger's previous signings and buy his own, to mould his own vision. I believe it takes time to make a proper title winning/challenging team so i think it would take 3 years at least to rectify the issues, especially as the league is very competitive. Wenger had more time than any in the PL to create his own team and with minimal interference, the least we can do is give the new guy 3 years to build his own.
I kind of agree with you on this. I don't agree that it is quite so obvious where the deficiencies lie, but I do think we are a lot closer than some people think. We also have a really good set of young players coming up. My feeling is that the entire style of play has to change. We have to have to be better at bringing the ball forward, and not turn the ball over in midfield. We spend far too much time passing the ball across the back and are just making it too easy for other teams to press us. On our slick, fast, Emirates pitch in the sunshine, with the home crowd behind us, with teams dropping back to defend, we can play that way, but away from home it just doesn't work. I don't have a problem if we stick to that style of play at home but we have to have a more gritty, less pretty, more practical approach for when teams want to mix it up in the trenches, on pitches that are a little bit muddy and shaggy away from home. I agree it is going to require defenders and midfielders that can be a bit tighter in defence, but if we don't pass the ball sideways so much in ****ty weather, it will make the defence's job a lot easier. Away from home you just absorb pressure and counter-attack the **** out of the other team.
