Has Wenger taken us as far as he can?

[Airknight]

No

In fact i'm wondering if anyone would take us higher than him, not a billion dollars, not a ref manipulating team.

He does some absurd things from time to time but few managers can claim they can get UCL places with their eyes closed and clear financial restrictions.

 

[karl]

I still think Arsène is the man for the job, but it's complacency that is killing this team. Manager, board and players have been raising their salaries massively, while lowering expectations at the same time in being happy with 4th place in the league. The problem is, if you aim for 4th, you might fall short of that too. They need to wake up and realise their abilities, because this team may not be best ion the league, but a lot of this years results are way below what should be achieved.

 

[GunnerGetYah]

The thing is, though Wenger has many faults, like not inspiring the team and not being hard enough on them in training etc so they just walk all over him, there aren't many managers that could do a better job than him overall. If we were to replace Wenger, we'd have to replace him with someone who is totally respected who could get these players into shape. Personally the only two I would consider is Mourinho or the wildcard, Thierry Henry.

Mourinho's achievements mean that players would instantly respect him, his tactical prowess is well known as well as his no-nonsense approach with players. He'd make sure players fight for their place in the team, he wouldn't put up with poor performances and he would rigourously train the players in defending set pieces and organisation at the back, something we could really use.

Henry would be respected because of his status at the club. I'd be willing to give him a go just because it could be genius. He is known for being able to read the game very well as a player and I think this could be translated as a manager. His arrogance means that he wouldn't be walked over; all top managers are arrogant. It would be worth a punt in my opinion, but it is risky of course.

I don't know if Wenger will leave anytime soon, but I personally think the stress will get to him in the end. He seems to be becoming increasingly depressed with the way things are going, football has changed, Wenger hasn't. Sad but true.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Appointing Mourinho would undo all the hard work Wenger's done over recent seasons.
Mourinho brings you success yeah, but at the cost of long term stability and mostly finances. It would require loads of money for him to build a side with which he can challenge I assume - that basically means the last decade or so, would be for nothing.

No thanks, really.

 

[evoh_1]

Henry the manager, no thanks. Being a great player means nothing in managmentm look at roy keane and mourinho as examples one a great player one a great manager but neither both.

Wenger may have tkaen us as far as he can as the tactical element and motivation he generates in the squad are just too far below par, he makes up for it in player development and acquistion but whats the point whne his wage structure ensures we can't keep these top players?

Lets not dine out on history, Wenger needs to prove he can do it in this modern age off football not just his past 1600 games etc.

 

[DiamondGooner]

Appointing Mourinho would undo all the hard work Wenger's done over recent seasons.
Mourinho brings you success yeah, but at the cost of long term stability and mostly finances. It would require loads of money for him to build a side with which he can challenge I assume - that basically means the last decade or so, would be for nothing.

No thanks, really.

Just proves one thing really doesn't it? winning often comes at a price, the problem is Arsenal are so seldom willing to pay it.

That's not just finances by the way that's everything, training, determination, adapting tactics, buying the right players/characters, investing in the team.

We do all these things but not enough, not as much as our rivals, were probably only equal in training tbf.

Arsenal do not do what it takes to win and that is self evident in our results, also more telling is the way we lose games.

 

[truth_hurts]

We no longer play attractive football which was the one thing we used to be able to hold onto during our trophy drought. The only thing good about us these days are our finances. On the pitch we are no longer an elite team and teams such as Dortmund have taken our prototype and bypassed us.

 

[Revolution]

Yes. Yes he has.

 

[marv3llous]

We no longer play attractive football which was the one thing we used to be able to hold onto during our trophy drought. The only thing good about us these days are our finances. On the pitch we are no longer an elite team and teams such as Dortmund have taken our prototype and bypassed us.

And that is purely down to financial restrictions too. If we would shop in top bracket the football would be as beautiful as ever. We simply have too many average players who cant execute the game plan.

 

[DanDare]

does ANYONE really know enough about what goes on at the club to answer this question?

Of course not but if we were to ask this question in every thread the forum would be very quiet...

People enjoy discussing things even if they know little about it.

 

[leo_ense]

Sol Campbell: Seeing & hearing abuse directed at Arsène is very distressing for me.He's made Arsenal into the club it is now. Respect is what he deserves.

 

[Jury]

Sol Campbell: Seeing & hearing abuse directed at Arsène is very distressing for me.He's made Arsenal into the club it is now. Respect is what he deserves.

That's easy for Sol to say though, isn't it? He doesn't have to balance a budget so he's able to put food on the table for his family AND support his club.

Those fans didn't cross the line of disrespect IMO, as much as let Wenger know in very short footbally chanty way that they're not happy with the way things are. I'm sure if Wenger gave them the time one on one, they'd have been able to expand on how they felt in a far less dismissive manner!

He knows how it works, and he's getting things wrong.

 

[Mckenna]

At the end of the day, this comes down to getting the maximum out of your resources. Wenger is the frontman for a lot of the Board's decisions, so he gets the flak, rightly or wrongly. The Board raise ticket prices, but you see no corresponding increase in spending on the team. The Board sell our best players, but again no corresponding increase in spending on the team. To be honest, all you get is an increased tax bill to HMRC, which is a complete waste of our money...

At the start of last season, the AST estimated we had approx 30m to spend. Given the summer, player trading etc, I wouldn't be surprised if we started this season with at least 50m. It's just sitting there. This is without commercial deals etc. This is the hard earned money from TV, and most importantly, the fans. It has not been spent.

I see no reason to expect Arsène's behaviour to change just because he's got even more money. At the end of the day, we're into the old "I'll just give it back" comment re: his transfer budget. It is my suspicion that Arsène will not be happy until he (very unlikely) wins the title spending zero money with a team of players he himself has created (again, ridiculously unlikely). He is so determined to leave the squad depth at an absolute minimum, and put the team's fate in the hands of players so injury prone it beggars belief.

The problem Arsène has is that he adjusted expectations up to titles, and has now very successfully adjusted them down to top four. However, the club are taking more and more money from the fans, and not doing anything with it. If I paid more money for my ticket and they actually did something with it (even if it was a transfer that didn't work out, at least I could say they'd tried), that would be one thing. But they don't even do that. Why bother charging for tickets at all? They could probably let fans come in for free the way their spending patterns are currently!

All we have to judge him on is the information publicly available. The accounts of Arsenal are publicly available, they show a cash-rich, team-poor club (for the position we are aiming at). Time is, once again, the only method we have to evaluate Arsène, and given the board, I have no doubt we'll have plenty of that, top four, midtable or otherwise.

 

[Jury]

Those fans didn't cross the line of disrespect IMO, as much as let Wenger know in very short footbally chanty way that they're not happy with the way things are. I'm sure if Wenger gave them the time one on one, they'd have been able to expand on how they felt in a far less dismissive manner!

lol. You're assuming Wenger could hear them above the noise of knuckle-scraping.

And you're assuming our loyal disgruntled away support are mere knuckle draggers. That's quite poor, Ant.

 

[infineon]

Great news for Arsène and the Board. They might only have to get us 7th in future!

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20523405" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20523405</a>

 

[DasBootist]

Have a look at the Arsenal finishing positions in the league for the 20 years prior to Wenger. That will give you your answer, 2 league championships but only one other year in the top 3 from 1974 to 1996.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arsenal_league_positions_1947-2012.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arsen ... 7-2012.png</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wenger is the best thing which happened to the club, the idiots chanting at the weekend should have been encouraging the team.

No-one is saying Wenger wasn't an improvement on those that came before him, when he first was appointed as manager. It's just many believe that at this point he lacks whatever is necessary for the club to move forward.

Wanting change isn't a display of a lack of gratitude. It's just the widely accepted belief that the current manager isn't the man to take Arsenal to the next step any more.

 

[tap-in]

I am certain if Wenger had a different board behind him, players like RVP would still be playing for us. I would like to see Wenger with better finances before deciding if his time is over. I'm not just talking about player purchase, but wage structure, that is the main reason we cant retain players.

 

[goonerwarsh]

Great news for Arsène and the Board. They might only have to get us 7th in future!

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20523405" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20523405</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I believe we have ze right spirit and mental desire in ze team, to finish in ze top seven for consecutive season shows remarkable consistency"

By the way, that's a bad Wenger impression and not Joey Barton

 

[redanddread]

This is the million dollar question-I surely don't have the answer but would dearly love him to win something at The Emirates. Lets hope he can prove the pundits wrong again and get us in the top 4 this season. However, the ambitions of the club must change soon if we aren't ALL to become (more) disillusioned with where he is taking the club.

 

[goonerwarsh]

I think the fans are more disillusioned now than ever before. Strangely enough, Wenger has bought himself more time with two big victories over Sp**s in two years. I remember the vultures circling quite badly beofre the game last year and again this year had we have lost that game, I dread to think what the response would have been.

What bothers me the most, is a few years ago I always believed that we were just two top class players away from winning again - and always thought that Wenger would do what is nessesary to strengthen the team - he always spent money at Highbury. Now, I think the problem is far deeper rooted, to the point where we're on the verge of losing Walcott who is one of our best players but yet a whole few levels down in the calibre of player that we've seen play for us just a few years ago.

What hurts us all, is we don't feel the club has done it's best with the resources available to make us competitive on the pitch which I don't care what anyone says is the most important thing.