Arsene Wenger says that the reality of football is based on performances and not how much money you spend in the transfer market.
With the Gunners understrength in key positions going into the new season, the Arsenal manager has apparently hit out at the obsession over transfers, saying that it’s unrealistic to think that will solve all of a team’s problems.
Speaking to Amy Lawrence in today’s Observer, the Frenchman said, “If you want to make everybody happy, then just buy 20 new players and everybody is full of hope until the first game starts and then we’re back to reality.
“Vibrancy doesn’t make you win games,” he continued. “What makes you win games is the quality of the performance and the quality of your football.
“You have to focus just on that. It is very difficult in the modern game. There is always demand for new – but new is just new. After six months it’s not new anymore. If every time you don’t win you throw everything out, it is not the best way to win.”
Of course nobody said anything about buying 20 players, and it’s also very easy to draw a parallel between the quality of a performance and the quality of the players you have at the club. If the former is lacking, addressing the latter usually helps.
Arsenal have spent this summer, £35m on Granit Xhaka who is expected to make his debut against Liverpool today, but at centre-half and striker reinforcements are required. Asked if was still in the market for a forward to take the load of Olivier Giroud, he said, “We have Sanchez. We have Walcott.”
And with 20 year old Rob Holding possibly pressed into action for a first Premier League start, the manager said this was part of what football is about.
“It is very challenging but it is as well an opportunity,” he said. “All the players, no matter how big they are, they started at some stage to play at the top level. And top-level sport is about grabbing opportunities.
“When you get it, you have to be ready.”
The club and manager have been on record to say they’re ‘on the market’ and looking for new players, but it feels more and more as if we’re settling for what we have. Fans will remain sceptical and dubious until such time as those players are actually pictured in red and white.
Fingers crossed the players we do have can do the business today.
Why can’t arseblog stop publishing such articles from arsene and Ivan till some body is actually signed.I am going nuts reading the philosophy again and again..
Totally agree. Mustafi would not go directly in defense. That is a fanciful idea, but at the end of the day would be irresponsible. He would, as would ANYONE else, from outside the EPL, need time to adapt. Williams, on the other hand, would have been another story … He would be accustomed to the pace but would also need time to find his teammates.
Haha… Yeah, anyone is better than what have!? Glad to see Wenger doesn’t read this blog. Don’t believe the hype, even midfielders that cost 35m need time to adapt and won’t start in front of players of Coq and even Elnenys experience.
“Will you get a new striker?”
“We have Sanchez. We have Walcott.”
Yawn. How surreally fucking predictable.
Arsene Wenger on 13 May: with welbecks injury we’re a little bit short up front.
Welbeck is still injured. Only three things explain the current thought process:
1: he was not being truthful then
2: he isn’t being truthful now
3: he’s changed his mind.
4. He’s utterly failed to attract the required quality of striker.
Predictable? Good, he’s trained us well to be think seriously and not be flighty.
Truthful? He’s playing war with the sellers. Truthful, never hopefully.
Failed? I don’t think so. Schweinsteiger, Pogba, Smogba, I am not impressed,..you may be.
Sucks that we missed the boat on Smogba though.
That was before he decided on Sanchez as an option down the middle… I am actually quite happy going in to the new season with Sanchez and Giroud as our main strikers, both are quality players.. We also have the best midfield in the premier league Imo, the only question mark for me is at centre back, I am hoping we secure one more experienced defender, then I am happy with what we have!
Until Sanchez and Giroud are both injured at the same time and then we’re fucked.
And Nuggz…what happens if Giroud gets injured? What happens, god forbid, if Alexis and Giroud get injured? We absolutely lack depth up front. Welbeck is out until what december? he is coming off a serious knee injury it is going to take some time to get back up to speed so lets say mid to late Jan before he is really contributing. This is the same issue we were talking about at DM last season and even at striker (before Welbs got crocked) and it cost us. I said to myself at the end of the transfer window last year,… Read more »
That’s football, you cannot buy 6 top quality strikers and keep them all happy.. It doesn’t work that way, if players get injured we have to look within, we have plenty of young players eager to impress, I think we are in a good place!
He even got mugged off by Vardy. Yep, Jamie Vardy.
He is just patronising us now.
20 players bollox. 2 players to be able to compete that’s all the paying fans are asking for. Spend the money that the fans have put into the club that’s all we ask.
“We have Walcott”
Yes we do, Arsene. That’s part of the problem.
(This is an attempt for sod’s law to have him score today)
I can understand what he’s saying, Alexis and Walcott are both capable of getting goals through the middle. What’s difficult to understand is why he would want to be quoted saying it. Just seems deliberately provocative. Refuse to believe that he isn’t aware how many would be upset by the suggestion that we don’t need to recruit there. I don’t think he reads much media, but every now and then he dips in. And I bet it makes him absolutely furious reading other’s opinions on how and what he should be doing. This interview feels a bit like a “I’m… Read more »
I say this with all respect to Arsene, but your last paragraph sums up so much of his issues right now IMO. He just seems so determined (and stubborn) to win it exactly his way that he is not adapting to the team. His way is to develop from within first and purchase from without in areas where we are short. Problem is he has such extreme faith in his players that he cannot see where we are short sometimes. The confusing thing is he went after Vardy so he must know, dam I hope this is all a rouse… Read more »
Absolutely disagree with him on the striker issue (as everyone else) but I think he might be right to test Holding against Liverpool to see if he can play a role this season. If he doesn’t convince he still has 2 weeks to solve the CB problem and has gained additional information of the squad. Still would expect at least 1 CB signing.
Yet potentially dropped 3 points?
yeah but its not like if we play Koz we are 100% certain to win are we?
Oh well. Judge at 1745 I guess…
Judge after a few months I think, or at least a few games.
Wenger seems to think that what we have is good enough. At least he is saying he can’t find a way to make things better. Bit hard to accept, but we are where we are. What we have was good enough for a large part of last season to be fair. We have made additions and may still make further additions, and improvement is posible without new signings.
It’s absolutely valid and rational to say judge after X num of games. However sometimes ones got to look to the past as well. We finished second and if we had addressed the squad is in time, last season was an wonderful opportunity to have the League title in a decade. Most of our transfer dealings have been reactionary, very few that was proactive. Examples of the former – the trolley dash after the 8-2 humiliation, Sanchez was bought after we put all our eggs in the Surez basket that a season later, when it was clear that we needed… Read more »
I don’t disagree with you on any particular point but it seems like this is the way it is going to go so we might as well just make the best of it.
Everybody is talking like it is a foregone conclusion that we will fail but it isn’t, and even if we do we are not shit. Luck plays a part and we were pretty unlucky last year.
We would certainly have a better chance if we made a couple more additions.
I give you a tick because I like your optimism, we need some more of that. It seems you also accept that we aren’t learning from our mistakes, but its what we have got. Its true with a bit of luck we might pull it off
(just bloody wish we would increase the odds a little)
I never thought I’d say this but I can’t wait for Wenger to leave now 🙁
Jesus Christ. This is what annoys me. Of course it’s nice to have new players but it’s not even about that. It’s having a full squad to challenge and yet again it seems Arsenal are going to start the season short. Arsenal were after a striker last summer as well and a year later and the club still don’t have proper targets. So bleeping annoying.
Exactly. I’m so so bored of Wenger patronising Arsenal fans. We know the market is crazy. We know we have a decent squad. We know young players need a chance. We also know we’ve been 1-2 players short for about the last decade and he doesn’t seem capable of acknowledging that.
Agree, could have gotten players like Ben Yedder, Marcel Janssen for decent prices. Both could have flopped badly yes, but would really want to see a new option up front. Hope he still has a plan to sort things out and is just trolling atm. If Alexis is used as a CF we definitely need a new wide player (Mahrez?)
Yes, Mr. Wenger, but if you buy 20 new players, no one can accuse you of not trying hard enough.
Whereas if you lose matches with the current set of players (when everyone knows that the team needs them), then you leave yourself open to blame due to negligence or worse, satisfaction with mediocrity.
So, avoiding blame is the role of a football manager? What a ridiculous statement! If this is Wenger’s last season and he has not bought anyone then it shows the following:- 1. The guy is not a cunt like Maureen but thinks about the long term future of the club. 2. He does not have anyone available who would improbe the squad. I think if Wenger does bring anyone in this window in the first team, it will be somebody who can improve the overall quality. Just because someone is playing in another league does not make him better. Beware… Read more »
Point number 2 is absolutely stupid though. Nobody can improve over Walcott as striker? I’m having what you’re having mate
He’s been thinking long term for ages, when is that long term plan going to come to fruition?
He tried to buy Vardy. I do not for a second believe we could not find a striker of Vardy quality in this market, Mane, Janssen, Batshuayi, or dig deep and sign fuckng Lukaku who was involved in 24 primer league goals last season, 1 less than Ozil and 2 less than both Aguero and Kane, that while playing for a dismal Martinez.
Agree, and you can’t tell me if we didn’t just slap 45 million quid down (or maybe even 50) to leicester for Mahrez they would be able to reject it with all the rumblings. that wouldn’t bankrupt our club and it would give us much more depth up front as Alexis could be more free to play the striker role and Theo, Apkom, Campbell as the depth guys in case of emergency.
Its not absolutely ideal in terms of absolute strikers, but it 100% improves the squad for talent, balance and depth
So this means we’re gonna bring Mustafi in and we’re done with business this transfer window.
At least I won’t be wasting my time checking transfer rumours five times a day hoping for a striker anymore
Even Mustafi might be a bonus, wonder what he would think about our clubs ambitions on the back of statements like this. Its so disappointing because after supporting Arsenal for 18 yrs, it’s difficult to imagine us without Wenger. If only he acknowledges the deficiency in the squad (which to be fair he absolutely does) and actually address them (the internal solutions haven’t worked always) through the means available to him (no one is asking him to do a Mourinio), he would both be bringing more success to the club, as well as have the fans clamouring for his contract… Read more »
Yawn
I’m worried that both Holding and Mustafi are only 6ft. Entering the season with the shortest defence in the prem you’d think may be a problem.
I also wish Wenger would stop saying things like we can’t compete with Man U/Man C or we can’t buy 6 players.
Stop insulting our intelligence. None of us expect you to spend like them. None of us are asking you to. All we’re doing is asking you to invest in the right places and each summer he makes the same excuses.
Shocking behaviour.
Koscielny isn’t the tallest. Neither were Baresi nor Cannavaro. Height is only one part of the mx required. Otherwise the only players at centre half would be second row forwards or basketball players.
Neither is Bonucci, widely accepted as the best centre half at the recent World Cup.
Or Euros rather.. Shit.
Well if that has you worried let’s hope he doesn’t sign the alleged plan B that is being reported – 32 year old Jeremy Matthew or whatever it is from Barca – think of him as a cross between Silvestre and Squillaci.
COYG
I think buying an Ozil or Sanchez definitely makes a difference to a team but buying pkayers below that level is definitely a risk & not necessarily an improvement on existing players. There’s plenty examples of players bought that have failed to deliver. If we’re buying, let’s buy proven top quality players.
Yeah, surely we don’t want to be buying last year’s Kante, Mahrez, Alli… what? How about taking some of the masses of cash and having a great scouting organisation.
Seriously, mate, watch what Pep does over the next couple years. It won’t simply be spend the most. He’ll find guys you barely know about and turn them into stars. He’ll develop the players he has into even better players than they are. He’ll have opponent specific tactics and a Plan B for every match.
Yeah amazing pep, he was amazing yesterday with his process. Got out tacticced by an unlucky David Moyes.
Hey I’m pep and I’m so cool i put Sagna at number 10. Everyone bow to the pep.
He has already spent massively. Buying Stones for 50 million is not a sign of a genious. He is a great manager but surely few clubs could spend 50 million on a CB after signing Otamendi and Mangala for nearly as much in the recent windows. People forget easily how much money they have actually spent without any real improvement during the last few seasons. City still won the league with the signings Mancini made.
Was Kos proven top quality?
Was Xhaka?
Monreal?
So look at what Manure have bought I. The last two years. All ‘proven’ players with reputations who have not done the biz. Please stop talking.g blocks about transfers and just get behind the team!
With that mindset we might aswell just stop buying players and just depend on the academy. And the club can keep all of the money it’s millions of fans pour in to it for themselves.
This is so typical of Wenger’s recent years in charge. No ambition and delusional. Arsenal will not win the title while he remains in charge, and a change of manage can’t come soon enough.
Waffle King
Pretty certain that we’ll get a new attacking option on the final day of window. Not convinced it’ll be a striker as options are limited.
I think Sanchez can definitely work in that position.
COYG!
Head in sand ‘level 10’.
How can someone so intelligent and experienced talk such shite these days?
I’m mean Walcott as a viable striker that’s going to win you the league.
The only positive today is that Liverpool also have injuries. I’d take a draw, as a defeat on the opening day will create an increasingly poisonous atmosphere around the club.
Keeping faith with the same consistently under-performing, always injured players over the years,there is a reason we haven’t won the league since ’04..
Does this man ever learn?
We have NEW MONEY TOO. Very shiny. This shiny money has a feature called ‘spend me’
In all seriousness. Just go buy mahrez and or Draxler. Both are improvements on the squad. If mahrez is a unrealistic target then we are truly not attractive enough.
New many.new players. New possibilities. Stubborn manager.
Hoping for 3 points today.
Completely agree – new is new….and the same old shit that delivers failure is the same old shit that delivers failure. His arguments that he won’t strengthen unless he can improve the squad provide him with a convenient excuse but don’t stand up to any scrutiny simply because perpetual failure to strengthen a team that can’t win the league guarantees that team will never win the league. Hopefully this season is his last. Fail to strengthen the team & the toxic atmosphere late last season will likely seem like a picnic & it’d be safe to assume any players in… Read more »
Tight, tired and totally out of touch with the modern game.
For heaven’s sake please fix the broken record.
I’m curious, how many pairs of shoes do you have Arsene?? If it’s more than one then you have been cheating this club.
New means hope for a positive surprise. Theo means death by frustration. I mean, who knows, maybe Holding is this year’s Alli? If people knew Alli was going to be ALLI, then Spurs wouldn’t have got him for £5M. Kante, Mahrez, Iwobi, etc etc. We know Theo’s not it. Ox, Wilshere, Giroud, BFG etc we already have a good sense how far these guys can take us… and it’s not as far as we’d like. Elneny and Xhaka (and equally, Iwobi) already seem very solid bets to make the squad better than we were before them. That’s why I like… Read more »
Wenger is on a mission to prove everyone wrong and it will end in tears of joy or tears of pain, I know which is more likely.
Football is crazy but that doesn’t make you sane Arsene, just a different type of crazy.
Given he all but openly blamed the home fans for some of our poor performances last season, you would think he might appreciate what a bit of vibrancy could bring to the atmosphere around the club – which includes the fans.
Forget the talk. Today is Football.
Full of Dread. Full of Hope.
COYG!
A hiding to nothing – if we win then we just got away with it. If we lose the managers a cunt to fulfil all the little weasel comments. No chance of a win followed by any acknowledgement of a job well done and any unreasonable and uninformed whining. Of course I’d be happy to do the job for 8m a year (or in fact nothing in my case) but fucked if I’d care what whiny little fuckers who never actually managed their own arses to a toilet actually thought. Here’s to freedom of expression and 3 points today –… Read more »
I know I’ll get voted downed a lot for this, but times like this is when I can sympathise with that Dutch skunk RVP. Imagine playing for the man and hearing this every single year and when you speak with him and tell him the squad isn’t good enough, he tells you Theo is World Class?
Now imagine how Ozil and Sanchez will feel hearing this too? You think they’ll wanna hang around to experience the same Groundhog Day we experience every year?
He made that dutch skunk!! The ungrateful shit!
I’ve never had an issue with RvP leaving, all players leave at some point, but it was the way that cunt left that pisses me off. Strung everyone along and thought he was the fans mate when he stuck the knife in at the people who gave him his chance. Have said previously that top players want to play with top players. Can’t imagine that Ozil, especially, will look forward to all the work he does go to waste when Walcott or Giroud make a gash of it. It would be easy for him to be disillusioned with things especially… Read more »
I still think we will buy 2 new players before the end of of the window. I don’t think AW is getting his first option at striker and that is why he is reluctant to overspend on someone he does not believe is worth what is being asked for – even allowing for the inflated market. I think he is prepared to buy Lacazette but not for more than 40mill. Same with Mahrez. And I tend to agree. Even with the stupid inflation caused by the new TV deal – neither is worth breaking our transfer record for. That should… Read more »
A very reasonable review that will be wasted on the doomers I expect.
Mine own was much less reasonable but is stuck in moderation I think.
Just beat the mugsmashers today and then worry about the next game.
Ah football begins today, hello knot in my stomach, long time no feel!
COYG!
Whilst I understand AW comments regarding an obsession over transfers, saying that it’s unrealistic to think that will solve all of a team’s problems…It’s also amazingly niave, & well…reckless, to state that going into a season (again) short on another striker is going to solve our problems. We all know our history when it comes to injuries, players under performing as they are worn out, & having a lack of options in key areas. These are all facts. They have both played a part in lord knows how many seasons now. If he (& /or the club) doesn’t actually want… Read more »
Last summer of hearing this shit hopefully
F*ck me this is so depressing. the fact he has to identify Walcott as one of his striking options when the player himself has admitted he isn’t up to the role shows just how utterly lacking in ambition the club is right now. the sickening thing is that the club seem to believe that 2nd place was somehow an endorsement of their recruitment policy and not simply a reflection of an entirely bizarre season when 3 of our main rivals grossly underperformed .
Let’s see what happens today, I’m praying we win 3-0 and all this pessimism will evaporate, however should we lose at home, the atmosphere will be toxic.
But let’s just see how it goes first, let’s get right behind the lads and give them all we’ve got..
And Theo, for fuck sake bring your shooting boots….COYG
Arsenal need a backup striker and not Theo Walcott. Sanchez is not a perfect striker but can deputize for Ground. As an arsenal fan I won’t wish for a lost but that will push wenger back into the market.
Will Odiong Ighalo not improve our team as it is?
Giroud
Nobody’s asked him to buy 20 players. The fans are tired of constantly being two new players away from mounting a serious title challenge.
He keeps ignoring the last crucial pieces over and over.
So, new is new and after 6 months it’s not new any more ? – right, well, I suppose you can’t argue with any of that Arsene you wise old, patronising, disingenuous old manager you…..
Told you guys wenger has lost it. New is new, old is old. You complain about not having a 20 league goals a season striker, yet you say you have Giroud, Alexis and walcott. What is wrong with this guy??
4 seasons now and Giroud has done nothing to prove he’ll score 20 goals or that his good enough to lead us to the title.
Until we address this striker issue, we will never win the league. We do not have ANY player capable of scoring 20 goals a season.
It’s the Walcott thing that bugs me the most.
He ain’t no striker. He’s admitted as much himself. Wants to play on the right he says. Not defensively good enough to play on the right Wenger says.
WTF ? I says. Confusion reigns.
No one’s asking for 20 new players. Just one striker and one defender. That is all.
I agree it’s difficult in this market, but it’s certainly not impossible. We need a body up front and a body at the back. That is all. Don’t know how players are more attracted to non champions league Chelsea and man united
“Don’t know how players are more attracted to non champions league Chelsea and man united”
It’s because our CL performances always end with nothing.
I wonder if that might be because we are always two players short?
Yes I am looking at you Arsene…
£££££££
Also wish Arsene and the board would stop talking this nonsense. Somehow spending any money is translated in the fans wanting the club to spend big. Arsene’s mantra has always been we’ll spend if we can improve on players. Fans don’t want big money signings, we want quality signings, there are deals to be had for quality players that won’t cost the world. Now he’s talking about people (i.e the fans) wanting the club to sign twenty people! Look love the guy but this kind of condescending passive aggressive of talking out the side of your mouth with regards to… Read more »
Argument is a logical fallacy – noone said we want 20 players. We only want 2, a quality striker and experienced defender. Kindly make it happen, and enough with the bollocks please.
Is it possible that he’s blowing smoke to keep his rivals and the press from seeing what he’s up to? The idea that he’s cooking up something big for the very last moment is intriguing. And I suspect that the less people know about it, the less its talked about, the easier it is to get it done. Chelsea have already grabbed Kante and were linked with Mustsfi. Draxler now linked to PSG. When your rivals know what you want, and can afford to buy that player, need or not, it’s a problem. So, maybe Wenger is just playing coy… Read more »
People said the same thing last season when he didn’t buy any outfield player. “He’s being coy and playing games” they said.
Till the window closed and we didn’t sign anyone.
And when was the last time that type of strategy actually worked out?
Hell, just name me at least ONE time it worked out…
Positions that need to be strengthened to compete for the title. That’s it.
Not change the entire squad.
Wenger out
He’s right of course, but it overlooks the fact we have players that have not delivered consistently over an extended period of time. I won’t name names (we all have our own ideas of who they are) but they are the players that should be replaced with ‘new’.
If those inconsistent players aren’t making much of an impact, is replacing them really that much of a risk to the teams cohesion?
But the reality is that how a team performs on the pitch is also tied to the quality of that team, and in most cases quality players cost more money. Clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester United, just to name a few, have always won things because they have always had money to spend on some world class players. There are exceptional cases when a team like Leicester City just comes up to win EPL. Manchester City had not always been one of the top premier league clubs until quataris bought it over and invested heavily to… Read more »
This is patronizing to the point of trolling the fans. The manager raises a ridiculous straw man argument with the buy 20 players quote. My patience with Wenger is almost exhausted. He’s already damaged the team by not bringing in players in time for a proper pre-season. I am beginning to hope this is his last year. I have no doubt that out refusal to spend crazy comes in part from Stan, but that’s all right as no one wants Arsenal to spend like the sugar daddy clubs. The refusal to buy realistic targets has to be at least partly… Read more »