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The Unpopular Opinion Thread

Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
Trusted ⭐

Country: Wales
Probably not a popular opinion but going further from what I said yesterday, Wenger should’ve been given longer.

The club has been rudderless since he then Gazidis went within six months of each other.

Going from Darren Burgess’ recent Athletic interview it’s clear that the club had started to finally revamp the Wenger back room staff in his final year with changes in the physio, coaching and scouting set up.

The structure set up by Gazidis promptly fell apart as soon as he left with both Burgess and Sven leaving not long after.

That meant a lot of new people at the club like Raul and Edu in roles they shouldn’t have been in, and a lack of continuity in a time when a smooth transition was vital.

If Wenger had stayed for another year or two, there’d have been more time for the technical team to be assembled properly and given time in their roles and we’d have been spared some disastrous regime changes until a credible successor could have been found.

We’re now in a position where super agents have taken advantage of the situation to start making transfers for us.
 

Marjorie

Thread Monopolizer
Probably not a popular opinion but going further from what I said yesterday, Wenger should’ve been given longer.

The club has been rudderless since he then Gazidis went within six months of each other.

Going from Darren Burgess’ recent Athletic interview it’s clear that the club had started to finally revamp the Wenger back room staff in his final year with changes in the physio, coaching and scouting set up.

The structure set up by Gazidis promptly fell apart as soon as he left with both Burgess and Sven leaving not long after.

That meant a lot of new people at the club like Raul and Edu in roles they shouldn’t have been in, and a lack of continuity in a time when a smooth transition was vital.

If Wenger had stayed for another year or two, there’d have been more time for the technical team to be assembled properly and given time in their roles and we’d have been spared some disastrous regime changes until a credible successor could have been found.

We’re now in a position where super agents have taken advantage of the situation to start making transfers for us.

Wenger woulda done just as well as Emery with that squad last season and it's a shame we never got to see auba have a full season under him
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
Probably not a popular opinion but going further from what I said yesterday, Wenger should’ve been given longer.

The club has been rudderless since he then Gazidis went within six months of each other.

Going from Darren Burgess’ recent Athletic interview it’s clear that the club had started to finally revamp the Wenger back room staff in his final year with changes in the physio, coaching and scouting set up.

The structure set up by Gazidis promptly fell apart as soon as he left with both Burgess and Sven leaving not long after.

That meant a lot of new people at the club like Raul and Edu in roles they shouldn’t have been in, and a lack of continuity in a time when a smooth transition was vital.

If Wenger had stayed for another year or two, there’d have been more time for the technical team to be assembled properly and given time in their roles and we’d have been spared some disastrous regime changes until a credible successor could have been found.

We’re now in a position where super agents have taken advantage of the situation to start making transfers for us.

In hindsight, the bolded part is correct.

There would have been better times for him to leave in the past, but by the time he did leave in 2018, everything was kind of ****ed...if we give him even a bit more time, we would almost certainly be in a better position, as no matter what was going on in the boardroom, Arsène was always a great figure head for the club.

Emery was also a mistake, in hindsight...would have probably kept Big Wengz another for a year or two, then given Arteta a chance after him.
 
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YeahBee

Terrible hot takes
Agreed...but what we are saying is by the time he did leave, it had gone a full 360 degree turn, and we actually needed him to stay for a bit longer...ironically!

Emery was clearly not the right Choice but opinion of Wenger would have gone even more sour had he stayed
 

progman07

Established Member
Probably not a popular opinion but going further from what I said yesterday, Wenger should’ve been given longer.

The club has been rudderless since he then Gazidis went within six months of each other.

Going from Darren Burgess’ recent Athletic interview it’s clear that the club had started to finally revamp the Wenger back room staff in his final year with changes in the physio, coaching and scouting set up.

The structure set up by Gazidis promptly fell apart as soon as he left with both Burgess and Sven leaving not long after.

That meant a lot of new people at the club like Raul and Edu in roles they shouldn’t have been in, and a lack of continuity in a time when a smooth transition was vital.

If Wenger had stayed for another year or two, there’d have been more time for the technical team to be assembled properly and given time in their roles and we’d have been spared some disastrous regime changes until a credible successor could have been found.

We’re now in a position where super agents have taken advantage of the situation to start making transfers for us.
Nah, I get you but Wenger's problem was that he hadn't adapted to the new standards of the game.

Football has become a fitness competition, where the more intensive and coordinated your pressing is, the better your chance of survival is. Technical quality is obviously still necessary, but even players like De Bruyne, Salah or Vardy take part in serious off-the-ball work, which we rarely replicated.

Away from home, we started getting pressed off the pitch and we couldn't react. We started purchasing slow players (Kolasinac, Xhaka, Lacazette, Mikhitarian), and had many old players (Monreal, Koscielny, Cech, etc) as well.

Wenger should have gone after the 2014 FA Cup win, we could have got Guardiola or Klopp back then.
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
Wenger should have gone after the 2014 FA Cup win, we could have got Guardiola or Klopp back then.

Not too sure about that. Klopp only left Dortmund in July 2015 after that horrible last season there and if that hadn't happened maybe he'd still be there or would've stayed longer. And Guardiola only joins the richest and best teams of a league. The only things left for him after City are Saint-Germain and Juventus as things stand. I guess that's why he's overstaying his 3 year cycle bollocks at City: He knows there's almost no place that'll cater to him as much as they do.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Not too sure about that. Klopp only left Dortmund in July 2015 after that horrible last season there and if that hadn't happened maybe he'd still be there or would've stayed longer. And Guardiola only joins the richest and best teams of a league. The only things left for him after City are Saint-Germain and Juventus as things stand. I guess that's why he's overstaying his 3 year cycle bollocks at City: He knows there's almost no place that'll cater to him as much as they do.

It's a bit of a strange path Guardiola's taken. His method has priced himself out of almost every club. What next? National team?
 

Garrincha

Wilf Zaha Aficionado
Trusted ⭐
Not even 50 yet, would bet we see him back at Barce somepoint post Messi. They have a deep bank & Pep could be in full control... no power struggle or difficult player situations.
 

progman07

Established Member
Not too sure about that. Klopp only left Dortmund in July 2015 after that horrible last season there and if that hadn't happened maybe he'd still be there or would've stayed longer. And Guardiola only joins the richest and best teams of a league. The only things left for him after City are Saint-Germain and Juventus as things stand. I guess that's why he's overstaying his 3 year cycle bollocks at City: He knows there's almost no place that'll cater to him as much as they do.
Maybe, we will of course never know. I'm sceptical about this whole 'Guardiola only proves himself in the biggest clubs' stuff though - which might be funnily on topic in the 'unpopular football opinion thread'.

Guardiola takes over rich clubs, of course, but there are rich competitors as well (locally Real Madrid, now Chelsea, Man United). I'm pretty sure Manchester United spent at least as much as City, if not more since Guardiola arrived to the PL. Also, teams like Barcelona, PSG have spent a lot more and lot bigger than Man City in recent years, I mean players like Neymar, Coutinho, Dembele cost much more than what Guardiola has ever spent on one player.

Even here at Arsenal we spent 70m on Pepe, 60m on Auba, 50m on Laca, and 350k per week on Özil. Then 60m on Mustafi - Xhaka. Yet we fail to average a little more than 1 goal per game. I'm pretty sure we could have spent the amount of money we had better under the advisory of Pep, seeing that most of his big money signings actually worked out.

Conclusion: Even if Guardiola has only coached big clubs, he does compete against other big spenders, and if money is the be-all-end-all, why hasn't Barca won the CL recently, or PSG hasn't even reached the CL final so far? Also, why would Guardiola go to a secondary team like Sp**s, in any league, if bigger clubs are also calling?
 

Eaststander74

Jury Lite II
Apart from those years when we were winning titles, we were generally a mentally fragile team under Wenger. 19 years out of 22.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
Apart from those years when we were winning titles, we were generally a mentally fragile team under Wenger. 19 years out of 22.
Not sure. Getting top 4 with kids post 2006 needs some bollocks on the part of the players. Should’ve won the CL with 10 men.

Got kicked all over the pitch, robbed by refs during our Utd battles, teams made up of kids generally, our away records under Wenger were always brilliant etc.

There was a fragility, but I would say budgets, stretched teams, young players, sales etc is why we mainly came up short.
 

Eaststander74

Jury Lite II
Not sure. Getting top 4 with kids post 2006 needs some bollocks on the part of the players. Should’ve won the CL with 10 men.

Got kicked all over the pitch, robbed by refs during our Utd battles, teams made up of kids generally, our away records under Wenger were always brilliant etc.

There was a fragility, but I would say budgets, stretched teams, young players, sales etc is why we mainly came up short.
I agree we were up against referees, not much doubt about that. But when you look at the players we had, and as I say apart from those years when we were winning titles, we had lots of moments where we would inexplicably lose and in a certain fashion. There was something missing and I’m not sure where it could or should have came from.
 

Eaststander74

Jury Lite II
I know the league now isn’t a patch on the premiership back then, but look at this Liverpool team for example… Look how many points they got last season and how hard to beat they were then, and then look at how they’ve continued that and are about to go unbeaten for this season and most probably get to another European cup final. Look at that team from 1 to 11 and ask yourself how it’s possible. They have something instilled in them that I don’t think any team apart from the Invincibles had in all those 22 years.
 
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