Wenger - Where It All Went Wrong

It's sad to see things come to this as we feel that we'll be more able to move forward without this man but after a dream start for the Professor at what point did it all change? Was it:
1. When Henry left?
2. When we moved stadium?
3. After CC final 2011?
4. Was it always coming when the Invincibles were broken up?

The Invincibles was a fantastically assembled side and I think the best thing Wenger did for that team was putting it together rather than really tactically manage it. Everyone played a 4-4-2 in those days so it was a case of who has the better team man-for-man hence Arsenal & United's dominance at the time. We were playing on a small field with only 2 or 3 players (Ljungberg, Cole, Lauren?) under 6ft in that XI we were monsters absolutely destroyed any team that visited and played our own way successfully, blew teams away it was almost unfair. The mentality was also there and the rivalry with United got a rise from us. Wenger v Fergie. Vieira v Keane. Henry v Ruud (goals). Pires v Neville. We were way to big to go hiding and wanted it so much! Good times

Referring back to that list I think things turned significantly after one of those incidents and I'm actually going to go with No. 3.

When the Invincibles were broken up I thought the right time had come they were all heading into their 30's but the mistake might have been not keeping them around as squad players. Only Henry & Ljungberg then later Campbell played at the Emirates (correct me if I'm wrong). Wenger was in too much of a rush to start his next project and wanted the stadium move to be the emblem of it. Look how long SAF kept Scholes, Giggs, Rio & Neville for?

The project however were more than capable however but the mental state wasn't there we all know what the Eduardo injury did to them and that was the problem they couldn't re-group but I felt that a few years down the line if that side stuck together they'd go on to big things and though the CC final isn't exactly the most glorious trophy losing to Brum the way we did was a major set-back and I think put a real cloud over us. That summer Nasri & Cesc departed and we became a mess in the transfer window.

I've not always been too eager to see the biggest of names because I used to trust Wenger bringing in unknown talent but he's lost his ability to do that now. The last gem he signed was probably Ox who everyone was after anyway so was hardly a find the price we paid would back that suggestion too. He seems like he's trying to get by now rather than the forward thinking he used to possess. Though many complained about buying to much youth and blah blah the experience players he's bringing in are still not good enough bar Mert. Arteta, Flamini, Monreal, Giroud are players that simply shouldn't be playing for our side week-in-week-out, would make great squad players however.

This is the issue, we've seemed to have lost our direction and are just reactionary rather than proactive but considering Theo & Rambo's injuries coming when they did prompting Wenger to still do nothing I can't even call him that anymore. The stubbornness destroyed Wenger there's no shame in listening to advice but he'd rather not. It took a circus day of defending at WHL to finally let Wenger give in to the Bould-factor something that begun very well last season then suddenly cancelled out.

Lastly I also remember 1 interview with Wenger when he said he saw the Spain image when lifting the world cup and said this is the future of football, small technical players but unfortunately he has ignored the league we play in where physicality is a must! We were even lucky that Flamini just dropped into training one day to show us what we've missed for so long, we never planned to get that type of player AW was content with converting Arteta.

In summary I'd say after the Invincibles were broken up things slowly started to unravel season by season but the chance to reignite the club came in 2011 however failure to win silverware made things a lot worse and from that summer onwards the club has become a real mess! Now however the foundations are certainly there to take this club forward a few key additions, a proper fitness/training regime and unfortunately a new manager all together and we could take Europe by storm. The new modern day style is leaving Wenger behind and we really need to jump aboard. Tactics are more vital than ever now