Arsène Wenger: Same Old Class

[Arsenalfaced]

All those statements that have come out today are just same old rhetoric. I don't think we would even have to worry about the fans getting behind the team if it hadn't been so inept in the CL and able to mount a decent title challenge at any point in the last 10 years.
Fans pay premium prices (the highest) of all and we're expected to just shut up and accept what were served, I don't think so.

I think over the next 2 years we will see no significant changes at the club. the problems are deeper than fan divisions which is the least of the problems as it will fall in line once change has happened. Our problems are related to do we really have the best manager? I would say not Wenger is a level below. The ambitions of the club? Not just top 4 and CL group stage driven. The mentality of the club? We have been soft and not have the presence of a team that wants to win the big prizes. The financial prudence? Are we really using our resources correctly for the clubs enhancement.

people will say we've been good since the tactical change, but the rest of the premier league will cotton and then what? will Wenger change when it's too late. We had a good start to the season which crumbled right around the point it has for the last 10 years. Then we had a good run at the end when it's too late like for the last 10 years and low and behold Wenger gets a new contract.

 

[ClubLevel]

To be honest this FA Cup win will be just like when we won it in 2005 against Man United. A great day and victory but means nothing when you lose players (Vieira then, Sanchez/Özil Now) and end up going backwards. United strengthened and so will Chelsea. I love an FA Cup win but in the long term it could come back to haunt us.

 

[cannonade]

Question:
So the Europa League champ gets a CL spot the next season.
Top 4 PL gets CL next season.
Easier to win the EL than finish in top 4 ??
Seems like it...

 

[Godwin1]

Are you South African?

He's using it in the way Muslims do for unbelievers, rather than the South African slang for blacks.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Ah, so by their own incompetence they left themselves with no option but to keep him despite knowing his contract was due to expire. So that means it's fine to keep him, not something they should be criticised for at all...

Whether or not plans should have been made to replace Wenger and whether or not that's a sign of incompetence is completely immaterial. The situation was what it was at that moment in time. The howling anti-Wenger fans wanted him to be sacked anyway, consequences (and the club's future) be damned.

That said, my personal view is that it was a sign of competence to keep him around. To fire him just for the sake of change -- because a segment of fans couldn't stomach being a Top 4 club and winning only the FA Cup over a decade or so -- would have been an astoundingly stupid move and such an action would have exposed Kroenke and the board as irrationally prone to influence by whatever fans yell the loudest. Such a move is one you make when a team is struggling to be in the top half of the table or even against relegation. It's not a move you make when a manager is winning important trophies and competing for Champions League spots every year for 21 years.

 

[celestis]

Won't win the league or UCL. bank on it.

No English team will to be fair

 

[Rimaal]

Next season is gonna be a doozy.

 

[BobP]

It is truly a gamble on Wenger's part.

If this fails, he'll pretty much leave the club as a hated man, which isn't very fitting.

 

[yybecause]

My life has meaning, for at least two more years. Thank you Arsenal and Arsène.

 

[scytheavatar]

No English team will to be fair

Wouldn't be so certain about that if I am you, fact is that the Leicester league win has lit up the fire in a lot of the clubs. Other than us of course. Just look at the crazy spending spree Citeh has already gone on.

 

[celestis]

Wouldn't be so certain about that if I am you, fact is that the Leicester league win has lit up the fire in a lot of the clubs. Other than us of course. Just look at the crazy spending spree Citeh has already gone on.

Yeah I'm pretty certain mate . It certainly won't be City .

 

[Mckenna]

Whether or not plans should have been made to replace Wenger and whether or not that's a sign of incompetence is completely immaterial. The situation was what it was at that moment in time. The howling anti-Wenger fans wanted him to be sacked anyway, consequences (and the club's future) be damned.

That said, my personal view is that it was a sign of competence to keep him around. To fire him just for the sake of change -- because a segment of fans couldn't stomach being a Top 4 club and winning only the FA Cup over a decade or so -- would have been an astoundingly stupid move and such an action would have exposed Kroenke and the board as irrationally prone to influence by whatever fans yell the loudest. Such a move is one you make when a team is struggling to be in the top half of the table or even against relegation. It's not a move you make when a manager is winning important trophies and competing for Champions League spots every year for 21 years.

First, please stop using the terms "fired" or "sacked." Before the renewal, the club was under no obligation to keep AW, and not renewing the contract is neither a sacking, nor a firing.

Second, what the Wenger-out fans (and some of us don't howl) were putting forward is that - at some point - this change will come. Be it 2 years, or 5 years from now. Eventually, by some method, he will depart the manager role. And, at that point, these harsh truths about the lack of footballing knowledge will have to be faced, a season or more of transition will ensue as the club is forced to adapt to its new reality. The reason why letting AW go this summer rather than in ten summer was a reasonable option is:

We have observed steady degradation in the team's performance and abilities over the course of a season (the Cup Final is just one match), and this has been observed for many years. The teams around us are agile, heavy spenders, who have strategic visions for the future. They are improving rapidly, with a far more extensive structure beyond one man. What I believe Wenger-In people fail to consider is the likelihood of further, substantial degradation under AW. Already, our best players want to leave us. After this year, money aside, why would new ones want to join?

This transition period, however bad it may be, would be better started from as high a league position that the club can manage. The idea that AW can achieve that any longer is likely a pipedream. The longer this goes, the more likely it is that, rather than starting a transition from fifth, we start it from tenth or lower. Or, even more likely, Kroenke & Co roll out the same spiel about winning the title in two years, even though we just finished tenth, and watch the degradation continue.

At some point, the club have to face the music - the truth of their situation. And the fans, as the people who care about the club most, have to maintain a critical voice if needed. I'm all for uniting behind the team, but that does not mean giving Wenger and the Board carte blanche to repeat serious errors in judgement without any accountability.

 

[KROENKE SUCKS]

Wenger's the best in the business so I am glad we are keeping him.

Whether that means Kroenke and the board have the guts to actually go all out and compete for the title by keeping our best players and bring in the world class attacker we need to propel us to the top is another thing entirely.

How we handle the summer will tell us all we need to know about how serious Kroenke and the board are about competing?

 

[Makingtrax]

Six pages of anti Wenger propaganda already, glad I'm on holiday

Should be good for AM, got the usual old whingers and a stack of new ones coming out of the woodwork to vent.

 

[GDeep™]

It is truly a gamble on Wenger's part.

If this fails, he'll pretty much leave the club as a hated man, which isn't very fitting.

He'll never leave Arsenal as a hated man as the pro Wenger movement is too strong. He can relegate us and most fans and former players will still run through a brick wall for him.

 

[GDeep™]

The gamble is on the board if anything. They had the chance to have a nice clean break from Wenger and they chose not to.

 

[Rimaal]

 

[Arsenalfaced]

Whether or not plans should have been made to replace Wenger and whether or not that's a sign of incompetence is completely immaterial. The situation was what it was at that moment in time. The howling anti-Wenger fans wanted him to be sacked anyway, consequences (and the club's future) be damned.

That said, my personal view is that it was a sign of competence to keep him around. To fire him just for the sake of change -- because a segment of fans couldn't stomach being a Top 4 club and winning only the FA Cup over a decade or so -- would have been an astoundingly stupid move and such an action would have exposed Kroenke and the board as irrationally prone to influence by whatever fans yell the loudest. Such a move is one you make when a team is struggling to be in the top half of the table or even against relegation. It's not a move you make when a manager is winning important trophies and competing for Champions League spots every year for 21 years.

Not true, Arsenal are unique he would be sacked at any top club seriously looking to win the league and advance further in the CL. He would of also been sacked at any other club especially with fans showing this much discontent. Some fans would be lost without Wenger, the board would be completely lost without Wenger especially with the lack of future planning.
Nothing to do with the fans really, they are mainly powerless as has been shown. The owner has expressed the height of his ambitions with the new contract his words are meaningless. Which means we are a club who are not seriously looking to win the league. We have devine right to the top trophys or what we have presently, but it shows a statement of intent to not really push on or change.

 

[BobP]

First, please stop using the terms "fired" or "sacked." Before the renewal, the club was under no obligation to keep AW, and not renewing the contract is neither a sacking, nor a firing.

Second, what the Wenger-out fans (and some of us don't howl) were putting forward is that - at some point - this change will come. Be it 2 years, or 5 years from now. Eventually, by some method, he will depart the manager role. And, at that point, these harsh truths about the lack of footballing knowledge will have to be faced, a season or more of transition will ensue as the club is forced to adapt to its new reality. The reason why letting AW go this summer rather than in ten summer was a reasonable option is:

We have observed steady degradation in the team's performance and abilities over the course of a season (the Cup Final is just one match), and this has been observed for many years. The teams around us are agile, heavy spenders, who have strategic visions for the future. They are improving rapidly, with a far more extensive structure beyond one man. What I believe Wenger-In people fail to consider is the likelihood of further, substantial degradation under AW. Already, our best players want to leave us. After this year, money aside, why would new ones want to join?

This transition period, however bad it may be, would be better started from as high a league position that the club can manage. The idea that AW can achieve that any longer is likely a pipedream. The longer this goes, the more likely it is that, rather than starting a transition from fifth, we start it from tenth or lower. Or, even more likely, Kroenke & Co roll out the same spiel about winning the title in two years, even though we just finished tenth, and watch the degradation continue.

At some point, the club have to face the music - the truth of their situation. And the fans, as the people who care about the club most, have to maintain a critical voice if needed. I'm all for uniting behind the team, but that does not mean giving Wenger and the Board carte blanche to repeat serious errors in judgement without any accountability.

A1 Post

 

[Don D]

When we are in possession we don't have a level of professionalism and focus that I see when I watch top teams, we make silly errors. Also when I watch us play it's like any player can always run through our middle and when it comes to defending on the wing our players don't have the same desire as other teams to stop the cross from coming in. When in attack we move the ball too slow and end up outside of the box free styling when the oppositions whole team has gotten behind the ball. Our players are weak therefore cannot hold the ball when under pressure they get scared when opposition come near them. Who thinks Arsène will finally address these issues after however much years we've been this way?