Arsene Wenger says that it’s his job, and that of the team, to deal with the frustration of fans, but also called on people to judge him properly at the end of the season.
Arsenal have failed to find any real consistency so far this term and defeat to Stoke at the weekend resulted in angry scenes which saw the manager on the receiving end of some invective from some fans.
However, asked if the abuse and criticism was getting him down, he replied, “No, not at all. We have to cope with that – it is part of our job.
“We want to be judged at the end of the season, not after every single game when emotion is very high. We are professional footballers and football people.
“Let’s get our stability back and see at the end of the season where we are. I am a competitive person.
“What is important is the next game. We cannot always look for excuses. We are down. Everyone feels it. When you have a disappointment you have to respond in a strong way.”
The manager took the rather unusual step of announcing his team for tomorrow’s game a day in advance, handing starts to Lukas Podolski, Yaya Sanogo and Joel Campbell, as well as welcoming back Mathieu Debuchy for his first game since September’s clash with Man City.
Players left behind include Santi Cazorla, Alexis, Kieran Gibbs and Laurent Koscielny, all of whom are coping with various aches and strains, while there’s also no place for Tomas Rosicky who missed the weekend’s trip to Stoke but who was in the training pictures today.
LISTEN
To hear myself and Gunnerblog discuss the Wenger situation, including the video, the train station and whether or not the board have a part to play in the way things are going, check out today’s Arsecast Extra.
‘Judge me in May’. Pretty sure I’ve heard that before,,,,
well it’s fair enough, isn’t it? we’re hardly going to see a relegation battle unfold. Hopefully.
and let’s face it, last week people were saying martinez was a first class ‘keeper who should hold his place down when Sczezny came back, this week we might as well have george wood between the sticks for all the angst around the place, so you’d be insane to make long term decisions based around the short term reactions of fans
Except it’s not really short term is it?
Constant injuries
Continual lack of defensive cohesion
Squad unbalanced
Usual defeats to Utd and Stoke
Second in Champs League group and probably thumped in the next round.
Diaby not available
You could list all those problems over the last ten year seasons and NOTHING changes!
Okay we’ve won the fourth place trophy over the years and we should be grateful for that to a degree but we have the money and yet the same old problems remain.
Please admit you are just a little bored of all this?
no, it was grinding. but clearly there were severe financial restrictions arising from the stadium build and under those circumstances it’s entirely possible to argue AW overachieved. The purse strings loosened, we got Mesut and Alexis and won the FA Cup. I’d love to see us challenge like we did last year and see it through, we all would. If AW can’t deliver that as a bare minimum over his contract I don’t think it should be renewed. But you might want to have a look around and when you do, you’ll notice things like the fact that other teams… Read more »
You’ve made some good points there and I do agree that keeping us in the top four immediately after the stadium move was both extremely important and a good achievement, however based on the competition at that time I don’t think its quite the miracle it is made out to be, but still a good achievement. Quite how much we had to spend we’ll never really know, but I know that we were not relying on free transfers at that time. My belief in the Manager started to go in Jan 2008, although we were top and Arsene couldn’t forsee… Read more »
Glocken, you say you know we were not reliant upon free transfers. This is true. We were reliant on selling off players for profit, which is a far worse predicament. Diarra didn’t want to be a gunner, so there is nothing inexplicable about that. Two central defenders? Yeah, that’s been mentioned here and there…mand I agree. It’s indisputable. But I still am surprised at how so many do not see potential and a shift very much in the direction we want. It doesn’t happen in a single year of available means. Ask all of the clubs that finished ahead of… Read more »
We’re back on to this stadium finance crap again. Wenger’s policies made us uncompetitive at the time not lack of finances. These include: 1. Not offering players over 30 more than a one year contract, which lead to the removal of experience and winning mentality from the dressing room 2. Project youth and the refusal to buy experience because he didn’t want to “Kill” Denilson, Diaby, etc etc 3. A Socialist wage structure, which had so many detrimental effects it’s not worth listing. None of this things had anything to do with Stadium Finance and everything to do with the… Read more »
Chaps – the unfortunate refrain running through most of these posts (those that are remaining positive at least) is ‘it could be a lot worse’. And whilst it most certainly could, this is NOT the attitude of champions and – as a supporter of 45 years standing, not the ‘Arsenal way’. Look to settle for the default position, to avoid the worst-case scenario… and you can be sure that it all you’ll ever do. I am hugely respectful of Arsene and what he has done for this club – yet, there does seem to be a recurrent glossing over of… Read more »
Absolutely, AW kept Arsenal on top not with finance but by getting more out of the team than the sum of the individuals.
That was the reason, when players left us, they struggled to have the same impact.
However like Blogger has been pointing out, the team has more potential on paper and we seem to be underachieving!
Yes, I’m quite sure Wenger’s massive ego was telling him he didn’t want to be competitive for titles with the best players. That makes a lot of sense. John, just think about those policies. I don’t like them, and any team without limits to their means would be fools to enact them. But they are absolutely engineered for one purpose: the bottom line. More experienced players are more expensive and do not want to limit themselves to a wage cap. The numbers say they get injured more, and longer contracts often mean a year or so at the end without… Read more »
Song may certainly be a more prototypical – and when playing where he is supposed to – a better DM for the right games, I totally agree. But he wanted to leave, and was a part of the unsettled mood pervasive in the camp at that time. I wouldn’t invite that back. I would love for us to have Jenks with the squad. He would be great to have on the pitch and I love his attitude. But we bought 2 RB’s. While Chambers might have had a few good performances at CB, I doubt he was considered more than… Read more »
A socialist wage structure does not help the bottom line in any way what so ever, it is uncompetitive in every way and there is no defence for it. I’d respect you more if you just admitted it was wrong instead of defending the un-defendable. Wenger has come out himself that he wanted a create a young team and that was just part of the policy. It was part of the utopian dream, which the stadium debt created a perfect backdrop. Yes young players should be cheaper and it’s a fact of life that some people will be either over… Read more »
See, now that’s just it. I’m not defending it. Obviously I was not invited when the discussions to set up wage structure were held, but -and this is where our opinions I think are just going to have to differ- I don’t believe for one second that the structure was chosen purely because the manager thought it would be a neato experiment. With how doggedly adherent Wenger is to the finances I can only believe those were a significant part of it. How? I don’t know. Keep players from wanting to move on before we’ve gotten our pitch and sell… Read more »
Sorry MPLS, this isn’t my opinion, it’s the reason he himself gave. The socialist wage structure was an ideological one not a pragmatic one.
My point still stands. I still don’t buy for a second that it is purely personal whim. Financial structures will always have financial reasons as part of the mix with how he handles budgets.
Glocken, I think you’re pretty close to spot on there. It’s repetitive aspect of all this. I tend to side with arseblog on the fact that we shouldn’t be calling our greatest ever manager a cunt, but we have to accept that he’s brought all this upon himself. Stupid people tend to struggle to articulate so somebody is either amazing, or a cunt to them – we have to accept it. It’s the same as Giroud, he’s not shit, and nor is he amazing. He’s just very good – but nobody can ever be described as very good – we… Read more »
I would never ever use the ‘C’ word to describe Arsene or any player for that matter (except John Terry, everyone should call him that). Arsene deserves our eternal thanks and gratitude but that doesn’t mean we should be blind to his mistakes or question whether long term he can push the club forward. The frustration for the fans is a) the issues I have described above but also b) the fans have no means except protests or banners to communicate with the club or voixe displeasure. Even the shareholders in the club have to submit pre-approved questions. Another big… Read more »
What does being ‘bored’ have to do with anything? This is the problem isn’t it, fans are bored. Bored of the same thing each season regardless of weather they can reasonably expect more or less.
Well that’s not how to judge a football clubs performance, that’s how you judge a TV soap.
You want the ‘characters killed off’ (sacked and sold) and new ones (transfer signings) brought in like they do on Corrie, it’s this whole storyline culture pushed by the media.
You’re watching the wrong channels mate..
Spot on
Totally disagree. What fans are ‘bored’ of is the same issues not being addressed on the pitch.
Teams wins and lose, have good amd bad seasons, that’s fine, that’s football, that’s part of the fun.
BUT, when repeated mistakes over a long period keep occuring you are well within your rights to ask questions.
If we buy a centre back and Def midfielder and improve defensively and results pick up then fans will be less split,,,,but the transfer activity is a big if,,,does Arsene have it in his locker to shake things up? These are legitimate questions.
Its not the same issues, not AT ALL! Last year it was ‘world class CF’, we buy Alexis.. the year before ‘spend some fucking money!’ we splash £40m on a player… For years now it’s been X amount of years without silverware, win win a cup…. This year ‘ not enough defenders’ well we had surplus CB’s last season to the point one had to leave.. These aren’t the same issues, like every club each season brings its own problems and the fans come up with new sticks to beat the manager with. Look at the situation at Newcastle, sackpardew.com… Read more »
You’re being pedantic. Bored is just a word. I’m sure you got the jist
Sorry Hurensohn but Football has always been a soap opera and part of the entertainment industry it hasn’t just become one. Every season has it’s own story arc and quiet frankly it has got boring watching the same script for the past 9 years. You wouldn’t pay to go to the cinema 40 times a year to watch the same film would you? No, you wouldn’t and you certainly wouldn’t do it for 9 years running. Wenger has stripped all the joy, excitement and passion out of the club and being bored of what he produces is as good a… Read more »
No it hasn’t and isn’t. Never in any football match, ever, has a player walked on to the pitch thinking this is another episode in a TV soap. If you honestly believe that then you’re wrong. It’s sport, they walk on the pitch to win, that it entertains is a byproduct which is being milked by the media.
I have been thinking the same for a while. All the anger and frustration is not down so much to lack of a trophy or lack of improvement, its down to people being bored with having Wenger as manager. Having the guy in charge for 18 years must be tough for some – it is like putting up with your dad who always tells you the rights and wrongs but you want to just have some fun… I get the boredom people have, but I can’t agree with all the problems being the same and with no effort being made… Read more »
Top footballers are called Stars for a reason, and if you don’t think the top stars like Ronaldo and Messi don’t go out on to that pitch to perform then you’re truly mistaken. They go out preening like a peacock, especially on the biggest stages, just look at Ronaldo’s reaction when he scored in the Champions league final. As far as he was concerned the world was there to watch HIM and he let everyone know it. As far as he’s concerned it is the Ronaldo show and he can do it because he’s a winner!! Not only that but… Read more »
John – if you don’t like watching the films on offer you don’t go. What you don’t do is scream like a girl and throw your toys out of your pram until someone does what you want and puts on the Care Bears Movie. The sense of entitlement and need for validation from some fans is astounding. Let’s be clear here; everyone is agreed that football is, like it or now, now big business and that our Board is largely disinterested in the football side of things provided we’re still raking in the money. The answer to this is not… Read more »
@Hurensohn, bored is a very valid word to use in this context. Truth is, the fans are tired of seeing pretty much the same thing repeated in different ways. Arsenal has always been two or three signings from being one of the best team in England (if not in Europe). Last year it was very obvious that we needed one solid attacking player to complement the efforts of Giroud, this year it is very obvious we needed a good CB and DM to complement what we already have. This and some other ancillary reasons contribute to the repeated heart aches… Read more »
Gus Caesar I do vote with my feet as I do not attend any more because several years ago I got fed up of the lies and the general feeling I was being used as a cash machine. I certainly don’t feel entitled to anything, but I want to see my team try! They don’t have to win but when they’re in with a chance I want to see heart and desire not capitulation and the ball-less displays we saw against Liverpool and Chelsea last season. If you contrast our last 3 months of last season with that of Liverpool’s… Read more »
Jon – I have a bit of respect for you because clearly you’re one step farther down the line than most dimwits on here. You’ve decided that you’ve had enough and thrown in the cards and that you’d rather not keep supporting the club – well done, you’ve exercised your right to do what you want with your life. So why are you here then? Why does it matter that a club that you have stopped supporting don’t show the heart or fight that you’d like to see? Shouldn’t you now be trainspotting or helping the missus do the shopping… Read more »
Yes Wenger has made mistakes, but some fans need to have a look at themselves. They are killing this club, poisoning the atmosphere. Wenger is not going anywhere until at least the end of the season and then probably not for another 3 years. This needs to stop. It is simple really, supporters need to start supporting.
Why don’t you mention that we actually won the FA cup in your rant? last season wasn’t the same as the ones before was it? If you write a list, at least include our silverware mate.
I think you’ll find that I did make reference to the cup win above.
I was there in May and it was a magnificent day.
It’s very disappointing that after the cup and the players purchased that there hasn’t been improvement, in fact we’ve probably gone backwards.
Yo be fair In them 10 seasons we went unbeaten and won 2fa cups, yeah some of the sheet had been repetitive but don’t make out we been tortured like other teams below the top 4
I’m very bored of all this have a read of this…
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/08/booing-arsene-wenger-arsenal-fans-media
Read this last night. Excellent article
“Abusing him now, and with such bile, feels a bit like like whining at your parents for only getting you five, not six, everlasting gobstoppers, the behaviour of the Veruca Salts of the the footballing world: shrill, entitled, stomping their tiny feet over perceived inadequacies of the in-house chocolate waterfall.”
Spot on
The thing is, when he first said this in 2010 or whatever, he meant “Judge me in May 2017”.
So, that clears that up.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/judge-me-at-the-end-of-the-season-not-now-356520
He began saying this line in 2008.
I could have placed on bet on that response. ‘It’s part of our job”
glad debuchy is back .
Need him bad !
First comment about the actual match
he isn’t as good as you think he is
Well, if you compare our defensive record with Debuchy in the team and to that with him out of the team, the contrast is startling.
I just hope he isn’t being ‘rushed’ back, risking the compounding of his ankle injury. Last week he commented “I hope to be back by the Boxing Day fixture against West Ham” and today is only the 9th of December.
Off topic but can I ask how we expect referees that are paid annual salaries equivalent to one week wages or the players they are adjudicating to behave ‘fairly’? In any other walk of life that would be a massive signal of weakness in a system that is susceptible to corruption. Are the FA too thick or are we all expected to believe refs do it for love. Any punter earning £40,000 a year judging outcomes that allocate millions/ tens of millions will enrich themselves from their position of privilege. How many refs do you think we will see retiring… Read more »
Glad it’s not only me who’s been wondering this. I still maintain that referee for Aston Villa on the first day of last season had been paid off by someone. Having said that, I don’t think we’d have won on Saturday even if we’d paid that bastard off. We were shocking.
Same ref both times. Don’t want to sound paranoid here but I almost get the feeling that Mr Johnson doesn’t really like us all that much.
Or Mr. Taylor, for that matter, who was the referee for those two matches.
Of the 18 Premier League ‘elite’ refs, only two of them come from FAs South of Watford and both of those are from Wiltshire. Read into that what you will.
We,ll judge you when the window is shut in January arsen
Why do we have to wait for yet another transfer window. He’s had about 20 since we last had adequate defensive cover
Did we not have adequate defensive cover last season? I seem to remember that one of our players even left because he wasn’t getting enough game time…
Well, you don’t get top class defenders in january. Which is why most people are frustrated. We need a CB and a DM. As an absolute minimum. We need a £150m spending spree in the summer and cleanout of manager and deadwood. Nuff said.
…and look fucking stupid if he goes on to win the league (Yeah, I know, but if you judged everything at the half way point then
Crap crap crap!!!
I’ll judge him at the end of the season after we finished 4th, which we will and say this please arsene time to go.
While the fans’ behaviour was quite unpleasant, I sincerely doubt that it’s anything that Arsene can’t handle. He’s not a shrinking violet; beneath the polished exterior is a man who has worked in football for over four decades, encountering uber-cunts from Fergie to Mourinho. A few angry fans aren’t going to do him lasting damage.
I agree AW will not lose much sleep over the criticism but I’m also old enough to remember the final days of Terry Neil. There is a definite similarity to how many fans are turning against the manager now and ultimately once the groundswell of opinion reaches a certain level there is only one outcome. I find it sad that AW will end his reign in this way as I can’t see us winning the prem or UCL which would somehow be a fitting end to what has been a largely successful time. Unlike Terry Neil AW has won loads… Read more »
I completely agree with you. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him half a dozen times from the age of nine right up until a couple of years ago in my mid-twenties. On each occasion he was very warm and polite, and never patronising when I was a kid or crass in the way that so many footballing types are; a civilised, decent man. It makes me very sad to have to agree with you that I think his time is probably up (or soon will be) and so disappointed that he likely won’t go out on a high. That’s… Read more »
What did Rosicky do? He’s found himself in the doghouse rather suddenly this season.
Podolski, Campbell, Sanogo all being polished up for a loan out this January.
Wenger won;t loan out so-one-goal, he’ll sell off Poldi (as inter officials were at Emirates vs Southampton for talks with reps in regards to Poldi moving (he also posted in italian on his facebook pic and quote update usually you only see german and english but to see italian there an all clinches it really) Campbell wenger is being a c**t too – states at the start of the season about him being integral – blocks a move for him – and then proceeds to bench him to sell off in jan with no injuries – Rosicky i wouldn’t be… Read more »
Wenger can’t win, if he keeps players for depth, then he’s a c**t, if he doesn’t have enough players in a certain department then he’s incompetent.
He’s been pretty bad when he’s gotten on the pitch, it’s not too far-fetched to think he might be showing signs of deterioration in training too.
Podolski and Joel campbell never gotten the chance by ARSEne Wenger,
It is an odd one, i’m assuming that he’s trying to save Rosicky to be fit for post-Xmas but he could still have played more than he has.
I don’t like what happened at the train station. BUT, in every team sport the manager or coach gets judged for decisions made in each game. To tell us not to judge until the end of the season is ridiculous. Many have been holding judgement for the last few years, so I think it is fine to turn up the scrutiny. Especially since there is a lot of consensus among the fans. It’s as if everybody sees the obvious and the boss doesn’t. That said, if Arsene goes, can we trust the ownership to bring in someone who can improve… Read more »
So what actually happened at the train station?
Did Stoke City Cunts abuse Wenger to his face?
Did Sp*rs Cunts abuse Wenger to his face?
Did some gang of Cowardly Cunts abuse Wenger to his face because they feel brave in a crowd of like-minded Cunts?
Tell us which team these Cunts support so that we can boo them next time we see them at the football.
I believe they support a club named Arsenal FC. Not Arsene FC. No manager is bigger than the club. #COYG
“At the end of the season”? When we scrape into fourth place having gone out of the champions league in the first knockout stage, and Wenger tells everyone what a success we are, no thanks Arsene.
I don’t expect us to win the league every year, but I do expect us to at least mount a half decent challenge. I think the real issue here is the difference between Wenger’s view, and the fans view of what a successful season actually is.
Guess TR7 days at Arsenal are over. Very sad!
We’ll judge you on the last ten years, thanks. You have made the same mistakes again and again, OK you were hamstrung for a few years with a smaller budget however that doesn’t mean you can male the same mistakes over and over again such as not signing enough defensive cover, conceding in exactly the same predictable manner game in game out, folding when playing any big team (and stoke), and finally boring football. The budget has been expanded but yet we seem to have gone backwards in the last 2 years, a long way backwards. The 2 players that… Read more »
Well said mate.
A long way backwards? F.a cup, charity shield, top4 (i.e ch.l money) and critisised for not winning the league (heh…when mou bottled it at home against s’land), ozil, sanchez … in a calendar year. Backwards? You sure?
So, if i get this right you lot saw 2013-2014 some restraints lifted in finances and thought wed do the treble in 2014-2015?
No we didn’t; we also did not expect to have our worst start in 32 years.
I find it strange you think we’ve actually made “progress”?
So winning two trophies and adding two world class players is not improvement to you guys? Ok…maybe its time you guys go to a psychiatrist instead of ‘urging’ us to sack wenger for the good of arsenal…
No you’re the one who needs to get their brains checked. Tell me how we’ve “progressed” when this time last season we were top of league and know we’re languishing in 7th place? Enough with the FA cup excuse already…a club as big as arsenal should not be happy with one trophy in 10 years. 11/12- 3rd place 12/13- 4th 13/14- 4th That’s progress right?? i only care about the league and champions league(Likewise wenger hence the reason he came up with the “4th place trophy” talk). Like i’ve said before and will keep saying; only a club like spuds… Read more »
4th place and charity shield are not rly silverware. Well Charity Shield is in a sense, but bare in mind we played a weak city side in that game. Adding two trophies in 10 years for a club of arsenal’s status is unacceptable. Not competing for the league title is also unacceptable to take season after season. It is all about the Champions League and Premier League. He added 2 world class players? Yet we see no progress? That says a lot more about wenger tactics than anything else, he fails to give us the results we need. He fails… Read more »
Its not progress losing to Manchester United every time we play them, never beating City, never beating Mourinho in 14 attempts, losing leads that any world class manager wouldn’t consistently lose (Newcastle, Swansea, Anderlecht, etc…), not figuring out how to deal with crosses, etc etc etc
I love our style and love our coach but I hate having a nice Saturday ruined (more or less) watching the same old mistakes. The fact that everyone on here is arguing so much just shows that we aren’t making progress.
Charity shield isn’t a trophy. Its a friendly ffs.
We started the 10 years as reigning champions of England. We won two FA Cups We made the Final of the Champions League. We finished the last 10 Premier League seasons (Not the Championship, League One, League Two, or Conference) in 2nd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th. Even a pessimist must admit that means we are at the very least the 4th best team in England in the decade in question. This is better than 99% of other teams out there. That makes us lucky football fans. Supporting Arsenal doesn’t come with any guarantee of success.… Read more »
Well – and succinctly – put Defrolla. Let me state at the outset that screaming abuse at the Manager of the club you purport to love is NEVER, EVER acceptable – especially one with AW’s record. But what the more sane and reasonable amongst us do nonetheless need to take on board is that there is a growing frustration with the club’s enviable consistency never translating into anything more/greater… Arsenal FC are better than 4th… we are better than one Trophy per decade… and whilst there is no excuse for treating our manager (and therefor, by extension, our club) with… Read more »
I completely agree with you. We shouldn’t be entitled to success, but considering what the fans pay for season tickets and how the club is marketed, we expect to at least be competing for the title. The Emirates was built as a stadium where Arsenal FC could move forward, but it hasn’t. Arsene Wenger starts every season claiming that we have what it takes to challenge and even win the title, but we don’t. Ivan Gazidis has been piping on about how he wants Arsenal FC to become the next Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, but it doesn’t seem likely… Read more »
Well with the amount we are charged for tickets, WE ARE entitled to expect a VERY competitive arsenal team; not a team where your second choice lb is used as a cb.
No you’re not. You’re entitled to be allowed into the ground to watch the game. Anything beyond that you put your money where your mouth is – don’t like what The Arsenal has to offer? Don’t give them your money. Stop whingeing just because the going’s got a bit tough.
Is that you Arsene?
Well lets see how you and Wenger survive if the fans get tired of crap results and stop watching the team.
Lucky for you the owners and administration don’t have your dumb mentality.
P.S DON’T TELL ME CRAP ABOUT “WHINGEING JUST BECAUSE THE GOING’S GOT A BIT TOUGH”
I doubt if you’re more of an arsenal fan than I am…just because I don’t accept mediocrity in the guise of being “optimistic” or “positive” doesn’t make you more of a fan than I am.
This is ARSENAL FC, not ARSENE FC. Get that into your head.
Ha ha, you’re a caricature man. Not that it’s in the remotest bit relevant to the above to compare c*ck size but I’ve been going to Arsenal every season since I was 6. In my first season we finished 10th. The next 5 seasons we finished 6th, 7th, 7th, 4th and 6th. There was no European Cup for us and one League Cup win was the height of our achievement. You see, when you’ve stuck by the club for many years you realise that finishing inside the top 4 of a league of billionaires and playing Champions League football year… Read more »
About the ticket price thing…. Don’t get me wrong. Ticket prices increases are ridiculous across the board in England. Treble the rate of inflation – http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29614980. However, concerning Arsenal. I think the club gets stick because our most expensive match day tickets (and season tickets) get bandied about the media. Yes, they are expensive, but its all the club level seats that none of us scamps are going to buy anyways. As a humble red level member I never paid more than 35 quid for a ticket last season (ok maybe not so many category A games, but they are… Read more »
Lets get one thing straight here, even the most frustrated of arsenal fans which includes myself are only dissapointed in wenger because he is not dealing with THE glaring obvious. Before i state my case, why was mertesacker not all over crouch but left bellerin and chambers to challenge him for the ball for the third goal he’s 6ft whatever but always shrinks from a challenge. did you notice he was nowhere to be found when crouch won the header and where was he when gomis scored swanse’s winner hiding at the near post leaving monreal to challenge 6ft 3… Read more »
“a couple of central defenders and I mean quick ones”
What shelf are they on in the footballer supermarket?
Do you buy them as a pair so that they’re brilliant from the very first game they play together?
Are they guaranteed to remain injury-free for the entire season?
Sounds like they would have been a brilliant buy. I wonder why Manchester United didn’t snap them up when Wenger so pathetically ignored them?
Manolas and benatia were available; or are you trying to imply that they aren’t CBs or something?
Why did wenger not make much of an effort to get one of those 2??
I knew he wasn’t really trying when he started playing monreal at cb…thought he could convert him just like he did with henry, toure, etc
Well we had campbell and Toure. I rest my case.
our French porcupine is back! good to see Debuchy in the squad.
Fans like these need a kick up the arse. Sure Arsene is culpable for not getting a Cback which has been detrimental to season thus far, but they are disingenuous with their criticism at best, at worst infantile. We lost to Stoke due to mitigating circumstances at the back for lack of assets. But we beat Southampton just the week before! Clearly the team whenthe pieces are together is not a bad one and Wenger is not as tactically inept as they would suggest. He also beat Klopp recently whom many feel is more tactically astute than wenger. What’s the… Read more »
Agreed. Funny you mention Newcastle as they’re a case in point. One minute the fans are calling for blood, the next Pardew is a hero.
Arsene is right. It’s early days still. Let’s see where we are at the end of the season (and if it goes really pear shaped then fine, #WengaOut brigade will win), but until then, let’s get fully behind the team and Arsene and support our club like this chap in the north stand who sings Red Army from start to finish, whatever the score, whatever the weather.
Whose fault is it for the “lack of assets at the back”…the fans??
Manure beat southampton away 11 vs 11 yet you don’t see their fans calling van gaal god…at least van gaal was man enough to admit they played shite unlike some of you akbs.
The problem with what you say is that you seem to see the world in black and white, completely ignoring the hundreds of shades of grey in between. So you don’t need to keep on buying players or swapping managers, what is needed is that the correct due diligence is conducted and the right personal is recruited just the once. The same approach must be taken to squad building. Whilst 6 defenders is not enough that doesn’t mean you need to buy 10, no there is an in between of 8, which is enough. Do you see? 6 is not… Read more »
Walcott, Podolski, Campbell, and Welbeck will never play attacking mid. Ozil and Gnabry are injured. Now you’re down to 4, most of which have the versatility to play elsewhere on the pitch.
So, grey areas.
Have you ever played football yourself? I am gonna be 100% honest with you, the reason we lost at stoke is because of the lack of physical presence. Most of our players are midgets in comparision to the stoke wrestlers (they look more like wrestlers than footballers). It was written in the stars that they would go from the flanks and hit crosses in to the penalty area, where they have an unbelievable advantage over us. Calum Chambers got huge potential but he is not really quick enough to play with Per Mertesacker who is way way too slow for… Read more »
I generally agree with you. One of the major things I found astonishing about the Stoke match was in the pregame press conference Wenger said that Alexis was in the red zone physically but still chose to play him. Alexis is about 5’6 and Cazorla 5’5 and both started, surely against Stoke you go with the more physical players in your squad like Podolski or Welbeck? It’s not that difficult is it?
Good to get this response from Wenger. There needs to be a reaction on his part to what’s going on, and hopefully being backed into a corner will bring out the fighting spirit in the man. People decry Newcastle’s fans behaviour earlier in the season, but how their season is coming together. Obviously it would be ludicrous for those fans to take any credit, but suffering that abuse should be all the motivation a coach and especially the players need. Are our players ready to fight on the pitch for Wenger in the same way Newcastle’s players did for Pardew?… Read more »
Oh dont bet on it….after all we only got ozil due to fan pressure dont forget…claude and his mates brought ozil to arsenal.
Lets take a minute to remind ourselves that fully grown men took time of their day to sit and wait for a 65 year old man at a train station to scream and swear at him over a football match.
What motivation is Wenger supposed to get from being shown, in all it’s ugly detail, that Arsenal have some ignorant fans as well as some decent fans?
And in turn, the players.
it’s baffling. wenger constantly talks about the challenges coming out of a world cup and then decides to change from last year’s proven winning formation to this 4231/4141 hybrid that clearly isn’t working. he should have at least bedded in the new players and phased this new approach in after gaining some confidence and comfort within the team. i also think that you can see the toll this type of pressing takes on players when you look at dortmund and arsenal’s extensive injuries. and to persist with this strategy when you have a makeshift defense and it clearly doesn’t seem… Read more »
Takes the best part of a season to bed in a player in most cases in the PL. For the first year you usually only get flashes of what they’re capable of. We’re only 13 games in? Lots of injuries? No settled team as a result? That has nothing to do with anything? Our only problem is Wenger then? Wenger is to blame for our losses and pure luck is responsible for our wins? Not too many months ago we were soooo happy to cheer Wenger for re-signing out young English/British core of players. Then we buy an Ozil and… Read more »
Ok, i’m not English and sorry but i don’t give a s*** for the English national team. Arsenal is not a nursey for it and you don’t convince a guy like Mesut Özil to tell him the year after “Ok, now, we’re gonna build an English team, so be a good guy and go where you’re frustrated to accomodate the future (?) English stars. After all your wages are paid.”… This guy has other ambition that serving the national cause. And now after being first for 3 months least season with Özil in the middle, we’re 6 and struggling.
wenger should’ve developed a british core 10 years ago when we needed stability and loyalty in a time of limited finances. loyalty isn’t a problem when you have money to pay top salaries (which arsenal is doing based on comps with other top teams). the problem now is keeping your stars happy by constantly competing for trophies. if you can’t do that then you’re not going to keep or attract top talent. we have a british core of good players, but let’s not be fooled that any of them would make it in the starting line-ups of bayern, chelsea, real… Read more »
I agree with you about Ozil being shoved out wide to accommodate Jack W. It is an insult to Ozil, imo as I have remarked before. He seemed so downbeat, off pace and dispirited before he became injured that I fear that he may be seeking a move to another club. It may have been post W.C fatigue, playing with a pre existing injury or disillusionment with the manager be cause of playing out wide in the team. Ffs, I would be disillusioned if I was displaced for Jack’s benefit. There is no comparison between the two. Ozil has all… Read more »
Spot on! Thank you! I fear the very same…
This. Wenger knows how mentally fragile ozil is and the real reason while he left RM was being played on the wing.
Yet wenger is repeating the same mistake and expects ozil to smile about it?
I love wilshere; but he hasn’t earned the right to play as a no 10.
Mesut is not mentally fragile. You don’t reach this level (world champion, for example) while being mentally fragile.
15 games have past you have got 23 points. I can judge you right now and say that if you want to make an improvement on last season: you need to grab 57 points on 23 games. You are almost half past the league, ofcourse fan can judge your performances on the pitch when they are poor. “Judge me in may” – only acceptable is a run in the CL or in the FA Cup at this stage. Or an improvement of the squad in the right area’s in January (will never happend..) I am against any disrespectful criticism. But… Read more »
It is a shame. And fucking bizarre because we totally outplayed the manc twats the whole game but still lost thanks to fucking De Gea and a random own goal.
Well it is not an co-incidence either. his last 11 games against the manc twats have ended in 1 win and 2 draws and 8 losses. They have an easy time beating a wenger side.
The problem with Wenger is that he is so stubborn now and will never going to listen and learn. I think we were top of the league at the beginning of new year and everyone was looking at January window as a great chance to bolster the squad especially after all the injuries to our key players. Who did we get??!! Kalstrom for god’s sake!!! we could have ended a season with a double if he only had a good January transfer window. After a horrendous second half of season, what did he do in summer in order to bolster… Read more »
*___* This guy….If nothing else you have to admire the pure delusion and stubbornness that emanates from Wenger whenever he speaks.
There lies the problem. ‘We have to cope with fans’ frustration’ shouldn’t be the philosophy. ‘Let’s not leave the fans frustrated too often’ should be the principle. I’m not part of wenger-out brigade, but I think he has to give some serious thoughts about his philosophies and tactics.
Would have preferred if he had said: “We have to fix the fans frustration” as it would have indicated a desire to improve, rather than the shrug of shoulders business as usual & nothing changes that I took from his comment…But perhaps that’s just me.
The fuck is rosicky?
“Judge me at they’d of the season?”
He’s totally lost touch. SMH.
Can’t help but come to the conclusion that the team is having some teething problem with bedding in the new full press defensive approach. Those efforts are certainly not being helped by the fact that the club is experiencing a horrendous luck on the injury front. With a bit of time and the availability of more first choice players, I’m sure results will improve.
The standards Wenger is being judged on are the standards he has put in place. We have had remarkable consistency over the last 10 years or so that i’d bet 90% of supporters of other clubs would have loved to have had.
Wenger/Arsenal are probably due a bad season, and I believe it could be a good thing It will hopefully be a kick in the arse to the manager, players, board AND some supporters (who are have no pre Wenger history) who are now taking our success for granted.
Yep, we are remarkably consistent in the competitions: one good game, two bad, 4 good, 1 horrible.. etc etc..
Its not the losing on Saturday that bothers me but the way they lost.
These guys get paid money we can only dream about but i have seen better organised non league teams who at least show heart and desire
Steve Bould one of the most underated defenders ever i may add seems to have little say in the way the team is set up and often looķs utterly pissed off
dear fans I have a theory: Whilst at other clubs managers are more seen as employees, at Arsenal Arsene is more perceived as a father-figure. He has been around for a long time, he is quite fatherly and he is old enough to be a father/grandpa of many of us. Herein lies an underlying issue of resentment, like a grown-up child might have towards its parents. Other clubs would give their “right arm” to achieve such consistency over the years, even if it is “just forth” place. As such, other clubs evidently face similar issues to ours ( injuries, no… Read more »
We will never win any silverware with Mr Wenger in charge. By silverware I don’t mean an odd FA cup in the last 10 years.I mean the EPL or the CL (I mean getting past the usual hammering of 2nd round and well ….mind stops thinking beyond this) There is no guarantee that the new person who takes charge will be better than AW but this is equally true that with him (or his core team) running the club like a dictator, we will continue to be a top four target team. 10 years is a big enough time to… Read more »
Here we go again, shifting the goal post. Win an FA cup and they will say it is a small thing. Which is why I mentioned League cup was practically a waste of time because you will never pleased the doom mongers. They are so negative they cannot imagine us coming back from 2 nil down to Hull and winning an FA cup. Tell them you were going to go unbeaten in a season and they will say it is impossible. Tell them you can beat Dortmund tactically and do ti and they will say that club is in transition… Read more »
Even with everything going against him he still shows his class…. fair play Mr Wenger
Arsene Wenger is effectively becoming the new Brian Clough.
Wenger sure knows how to wind people up, I’ll give him that. First there were his comments about there being “lots of positives” from Saturday’s game (as alluded to in the Arseblog Extra) and now he has to “cope” with fan’s frustrations.
Cope.
Tollerate.
Edure.
It’s as if the fans are just some pesky insect buzzing around his ears, distracting him from his stubborn refusal to fix the broken areas of his squad. Maybe a better word would have been “address”.
Nice trolling Mr Wenger, nice trolling.
Do you think SAF or Mou would sit down for a heart-to-heart? They’d either ignore altogether, tell them to do one, or pass the buck to the squad (some of which might be fair).
You don’t listen intently to or ‘take into consideration’ a small mob screaming obscenities at you.
If those things are considered ‘winding up’ there is far too much unreasonable anger.
To be honest with you I don’t think Alex Ferguson or Mourinho have ever treated the fan’s of their clubs with such distain.
As BigTA has alluded to, Wenger should show far more respect to the paying fan’s as they are ultimately his employers. The word “cope” makes him sound both arrogant and completely classless.
This is a bit of a fallacy. High ticket prices do not pay for everything. The fans also owe Wenger for building the club up to where it is today. Without Wenger’s acumen and sound management of the club’s assets, his market dealings, we won’t be where we are today. Interesting to ntoe that our wealth was even below that of Chelsea pre-Abramovich days. We are now a self sustaining club with a new high capacity stadium and ability to come close to financially competing for big name players like Aleixs and Ozil. We could not do that without Wenger’s… Read more »
Wow you speak rubbish. All of Arsenals revenue streams come either directly or indirectly from fans. TV money, Champions league money, sponsorship money all comes indirectly from fans. Wenger is not responsible for the change in financial fortunes, again that’s the fans who pay and the introduction of the premier league which revolutionised the finances of the top division in this country. He was merely the beneficiary. And where you get this nonsense about having less wealth than Chelsea pre-Abramovic I don’t know. Ken Bates sold because Chelsea was about to go bankrupt and he in turn bought the club… Read more »
Wenger out!
Good luck with that. Keep wasting all your energy on something that’s not going to happen until the man says so. I’ll rather put my energy into supporting my team – THE ARSENAL!
The ball is round