So a lot of Wenger out campaigns and articles going on at the moment. I was thinking last night how has left and decided that under Wenger, in the last few years, he's still signed and produced some of the very best talent, they've just all left.
It's hard to imagine this team not winning anything:
Szcz
Sagna Mert Verm Cole
Song Wilshere
Walcott Cesc Nasri
RVP
Bench: Clichy, Adebayor, Flamini, Hleb, Aliadiere
Would Wenger really make all that effort to develop these players and just let them leave, or is something else going on? I expect everyone has re-evaluated whether they're now 'Wenger out', but it would be such a shame to get rid of him and find that it wasn't actually him.
Interesting articla about Kronke on the BBC site today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20721492
Who's really to blame?
posted on 14/12/12
So to answer the OP, i would say the share of the blame is 55% Board and 45% Wenger. Both are sizeable chunks and therefore both need to go.
posted on 14/12/12
I see us as in the position of having a direction to get to the position of competing for trophies but for that, we need top four, to give us the platform, to buy better players and get the funds required to get them. Arsenal have continuously reached the level of qualifying but haven't taken advantage of it whereby instead of adding to quality, your risking it by selling and hoping to replace it.
posted on 14/12/12
From an outsider, I'd say if you had different owners, Wenger could get you there. If not, the France national job atthe end of the season beckons.
posted on 14/12/12
Wenger has to accept some blame since it is apparently his decision to have a certain degree of parity over players wages - thus we have the likes of Djourou, Squillaci on £40-50k alongside Wilshire, Walcott etc. - this will obviosly cause some discontent. However I think the Board are not as willing to spend as they would have everyone believe. Wenger has to do business without full control of the wallet. I think it will be crass stupidity to let Walcott go either in January or at the end of the season on a free because this just confirms many people's belief that the Board will let any player go if the price is right, or they think their demands are too high. Top players ARE way overpaid but if we don't pay them the "going rate" Chelsea, Man Utd. or Man City will, and everyone knows it. Wenger needs to keep Walcott and insist he gets, and uses, the £70m that is alledgedly available to him. Send out a clear statement that Arsenal as a club do have some ambition.
posted on 14/12/12
Rooney released a statement stating that he wanted to leave cos the club couldnt match his ambitions, RVP released pretty much the same statement a few months later.
What did Utd do? offer Rooney a contract he couldnt refuse!
What did Arsenal do? sold RVP to United
SAF believed Rooney was indispensable and made sure he stayed whereas Arsene thought RVP was dispensable and that's the difference
Every player is dispensable to Arsene and im not willing to wait until he thinks the same of Wilshere.
posted on 14/12/12
United fan here. Actually Rooney signed the same contract that was on the table. I thnink the difference was that SAF ws able to convince Rooney whereas Wenger could not convince RVP. Another main difference is that Arsenal seem to leave the contract of top players till the last year or thereabouts before negotiating another one. I really find this strange.
posted on 14/12/12
DeboyUnited
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I cant pretend to know more about United than a Utd fan.
But im pretty sure, Rooney was given a bumper pay rise
What was the best contract we were willing to offer RVP, £120k a week maybe!
What is he getting at United? definitely more than we offered.
So given the choice of earning more, play with better players, have a chance of winning trophies at United or earn less, watch key players sold every summer & win 4th place trophy at Arsenal?
What would anyone chose?
Its a no brainer
posted on 14/12/12
I've asked the same question before, why would Wenger let those guys leave? for me its not his choice the players that have left have always spoke highly of Wenger which tells me he aint to blame, Wenger in some respects is probably the best manager in the game for unearthing young talent only to see them sold on again which is a great shame if over the 7 yrs he was allowed to build a team and keep them together i'm sure you would of won something. The board are to blame for me.
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Why don't you wake up and smell the coffee.
Is it the board that plays Podolski out wide and Gervinho as top striker? Is it the board that fails to change the tactics/formation, during a match, especially when its not working? Is it the board that fails to make changes till late in the Game?
Get real.
posted on 14/12/12
Let's make it 10 years,
Fair point. Just wanted to point out that Rooney signed the same contract on offer (he had already been offered a substantial rise in the contract and did say that the money on offer was not the issue when he refused to sign).
Even as a United fan I kept saying that there was no way we'd get him for any amount until the very day he signed. I'd have been livid if we had sold Rooney to City for whatever amount.
While I am looking from the outside, I do still believe that Wenger should be given another season (at least till the money from the shirt sponsorship starts coming in) to sort out the mess. A start would be to get rid of this rigid wage structure and ship out the deadwoods like Gervinho (reminds me of our own Djemba-Djemba).
posted on 14/12/12
To DeboyUnited:
Well said
I still hope he can somehow salvage his reputation cos he really is walking a tight rope and personally the sale of RVP was the final straw!
However the Theo situation just shows how much Wenger & Arsenals stock has dropped! With all due respect, a player like Theo should not be holding us to ransom.
And to be fair to Arsene(& Arsenal) they are not bowing to his demands but unfortunately he's our best attacker and we'll be losing another key player, just because we dont want to pay the extra 10k - 15k a week he wants.
We did the same with Cashley and let him go to Chelsea because we refused to give him an extra 5k a week
At that point we all agreed that he was just being greedy but with hindsight the club made a massive mistake and i just dont want us to repeat the same thing with Theo.