Anyway for all the wenger sycophants: 26 years before AW: 3 League titles, 3 FA Cups, 1 League Cup, 1 Uefa Cup Winners Cup 26 years with AW: 3 League titles, 6 FA Cups. Get him outta here
This Arsenal team is bang on average and Arsene knows it. What has allowed us to flourish for many years (since 06) is Wenger's ability to efficiently use 2-3 world class players to finish top 4 because that is all we could afford. The Cesc-Nasri-Ade era is a prime example of that but it also had Gallas. The last 3 were problem children and to a certain extent Cesc too. Then we had the RvP era. He was the best player on the planet not named Messi or Ronaldo for 2.5 seasons before his tantrums were too much for AFC to handle. Now we are in the Ozil and Alexis era with Kos as our only other world class player. Cech is a spent force almost. Frankly, this really needs to end. And it has to end with Wenger. It is a mindset of mediocrity and perversion...and by the last word I mean all consuming hubris that makes him think he can use Song/Denilson/Sanogo (insert your marginal slightly above average player here) and win big. Not gonna happen any more in this environment.
Do you have any links to those press briefings? All I've seen on Arsenal.com is the pre-Bayern presser by Arsene & Per, which was fairly fascinating/awkward, but in which Wenger said about Sanchez's bust-up "nothing happened" and it's "completely false", i.e. fake news by people needing to sell papers. This may be true, and yet he's our most important player this year, as echoed by Mertesacker in today's presser. Could we design a better team without him? Sure, but he's what we've got at the moment, and more than any other player, he's the guy who's brought us to the dance. As you know I've generally been appreciative of Sanchez, his contributions, his passion, his skill, his effort. But I've also grown a bit tired of his childishness, selfishness, and at times his freelancing style. I continue to think he's the more likely to leave this summer, compared to Ozil. But even Mesut has seemed relatively unhappy so even if Wenger stays we might lose our 2 marquee players. Honestly, I'm not going to be too broken up about that if it happens. If both players were on-fire simultaneously (when has that happened?!) and we were truly challenging for the EPL or the UCL, then I'd probably feel differently, but they aren't and we aren't. And since it seems completely plausible that Wenger stays another 2 years, then I'm OK with rolling the dice with new signings again... certainly not ideal, but my expectations have unfortunately been lowered lately.
I'm with you, but let's be accurate. 20 years with Wenger, and this ignores the significantly better league position under Wenger.
that is true...in those 20 years before AW it really was a gamble as to where we would finish in the league (we generally were a top 10 club tho...kinda like an Everton or thereabouts).
Alexis is a guy who looks like he is doing a lot more than he actually is. One of the Sanchez slander articles pointed out that he actually ran the least of anyone in our starting XI that day, but fans wouldnt pick up on that. Meanwhile Ozil got killed for his lack of "desire" yet he made 5 tackles that day. what @mebeSajid meant is that the Arsenal PR team leaked stories to the press about Sanchez. Thats where these articles have come from.
I know there's quite a bit of apathy or disgruntlement about the Arse these days... But seriously, nobody wants to step up and start the next MD thread? (I'll do it, if I have to. Just was hoping someone else would...)
One thing this Alexis story tells me (and this is something I have felt for a long time), is that our players are soft. That Alexis throwing his hands in the air and gesticulating at teammates should have been dealt with by the other players AGES ago; If I played with him I would have told him to cut that shit out or I would slap the fire out of him.
What tantrums? The only ones I remember were during the summer he was sold. Chances are he wouldn't have had those if the club signed him to a contract and bought some other good players.
hustle and bustle always look impressive, regardless of whether they were for anything. he does often press keepers and defenders from the top but, just as often, he wanders around the midline. the camera just tends to ignore that bit.
He runs less than they do. He just gesticulates a lot. That doesn't mean he wants to win more, it means he might be a prick
I disagree The players get frustrated because they can't implement whatever Wenger's tactics are supposed to be And that is where all the sniping and blame game starts In England there is always a tendency to reduce every issue to mentality But it is hard to have a winning mentality when so much about the team is wrong and you are into your 3rd year of failure
From my perspective what we are now seeing is the symptoms of the problem not the cause Of course now the wheels fall off there is a rush to find scapegoats. e.g. lets blame Cech But the bottom line is Arsenal's big players like Ozil (last season) and Alexis have stepped up and shown what they can do. The squad has loads of quality. But the same old issues with no functioning midfield and no defence.
Jitty, i am waiting for the comparrison to nz rugby still That is at least 3 posts without mentioning it
The squad has quality in attack. But the midfield has been a turnstile ever since Cazorla got hurt, partly because of injuries, partly because Coquelin sucks in possession, and partly because Arsenal need to play a midfield three. But a midfield three would require some combination of Coquelin, Xhaka, Elneny, and Ox (assuming Ramsey and Cazorla don't play again this season). Ox and Xhaka are fine players, individually, but that's not a midfield that causes anyone any anxiety. The defensive issues are because the backline has no protection at all from the midfield. This is the worst Arsenal midfield I've seen play double digit games, including the Arteta/Song/Ramsey trio.
never heard about bould, that's interesting. definitely remember the ramsey bit. the 220K is understandable.