Why Arsene Has To Go, But Why He Will Never Leave

The last time we won anything was in 2005, when Patrick Vieira lifted the FA Cup after beating Manchester United on penalties. I remember that day well and even remember all of the penalties. Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Robin van Persie, Lauren and of course captain Patrick Vieira all scored in a penalty shootout that finished 5-4. I even remember that it was Paul Scholes who missed their penalty, with Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelroory, Ronaldo and Roy Keane converting their other four.

Since then we’ve come close to winning something. Only the season after in 2006, we reached the Champions League Final. Then in the 2007-2008 season, when Arsene had completed the reinvention of his Arsenal side, did we manage to come the closest we’ve ever had to winning the Premier League again. But fate conspired against us and Eduardo suffered that horrific injury. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I am certain we would have won the title that season if we didn’t have to experience that tragic day – Adebayor and Eduardo were forming a stunningly fantastic strike partnership and we had pace, power and guile all over the pitch.

And since then it’s been a barren few seasons where we have been settling for fourth place. We’ve managed a few third place finishes as well (woohoo) to spice things up, but joking aside it’s been stale. Arsenal have stagnated under Arsene Wenger.

We have reached a stage where it is obvious to absolutely everyone where the club is. It was obvious to the board about a decade ago, the fans new it years ago but now every football fan knows it – we are stuck in purgatory.

Arsene Wenger has to go because change is the only way Arsenal Football Club can move forward. Under Arsene Wenger we will always finish around 4th position. His failings as a manager are obvious but because of the power he yields over the club they will always go unaddressed. Arsene Wenger is extremely stubborn and won’t listen to advice or change his philosophy. It is literally his way or the highway.

Tactically, Arsene Wenger is in the dark ages and this has been badly exposed this season. His whole ethos is placing trust in his players, “letting them play” and only concentrating on how his team perform and not worry about the opposition. You can leave your team to their own devices if you have a talented squad like Barcelona’s but even they have struggled in recent seasons with this approach. Arsene constantly sends his teams out and it is abundantly clear that they are lost and have no idea what to do. How else can you explain why we’ve lost 6-3, 1-0, 5-1, 6-0 and 3-0 against the top sides this season (I include the 1-0 at Old Trafford because this is the worst United team in the last 20 years).

Also, because Arsene’s whole ideology is to “let the team express themselves” the other major disadvantage is that once it’s clear we’re getting overrun and being completely outplayed is that Arsene isn’t capable of turning things around or stemming the flow. Managers such as Rafa Benitez, Brendan Rodgers, Roberto Mancini, Alex Ferguson and (cringe) Jose Mourinho know when their team is drowning if you like and immediately make changes. Arsene Wenger and Steve Bould sit there on the sidelines with confused looks on their faces, seemingly wondering why they are losing 4-0. If Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were losing 2-0 to Everton at half time he would have changed 3 players and either tried to get back into the game or at least not concede any more goals. The failure to address this is why we’ve been thrashed away from home time and time again.

But then again Arsene can’t reorganise because he’s told the players to “express themselves”. Telling the players what to do would negate the “trust” he has in them, and go against his whole ethos.

When you have a Thierry Henry or Robin van Persie who can score a goal from anything then this approach can work, but not when Olivier Giroud is your main striker. You need to organise the players and have a game-plan, but Arsene refuses to do this.

Another major flaw Arsene Wenger has is his failure to address injury problems. Every season (I’m sure you’re sick of this recurring theme by now) he bemoans the injury problems. So his solution? To bring in an injured Kim Kallstrom. Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up. All summer we had a shortage of strikers so we bring in an attacking midfielder on the last day of the transfer window. We still have striker problems but now have Ramsey and Theo out long term so we buy another crocked midfielder. The gross negligence is almost laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.

And then we have his “excuses” for losing these big away games. As Raphael Honigstein and Greg Bakowski pointed out in Football Weekly yesterday, Arsene Wenger constantly cites “fear”, “playing with the handbrake”, “being nervous” and other mentality issues as the cause for our awful performances. Firstly, surely it’s the managers job to address these issues, especially if they keep happening over and over and over and over and over again, and secondly if he keeps spouting this sh*te then the players will believe it. They will know they are not accountable for these poor performances and the manager has a ready-made excuse to justify playing badly. It’s a vicious circle and this season it has been badly exposed.

And now to the really bad news. Arsene Wenger is here to stay. He isn’t leaving, and he won’t get sacked. Even though change is what’s needed, and change is what a lot of Arsenal fans want, Arsene Wenger delivers. He gives guaranteed income to the fat cat shareholders, especially Stan Kroenke who is laughing all the way to the bank. Because of this he will never (and I mean never) get sacked and he has so much control and power anyway. He already “has a job for life” and he has done so much for the club that the board would never “humiliate” Arsene by sacking him. He has to leave of his own accord and that will never happen either – where else can anyone get £8 million per year not to win anything?

So there you have it. The bad news and the even worse news. Think Arsene is going to leave next season?

Think again.

 

16 thoughts on “Why Arsene Has To Go, But Why He Will Never Leave

  1. Do we want arsene sacked? Very easy dont buy the tickets at all boycott emirates dont purchase arsenal’machandise boycott anything arsenal this season see what happens to him and kroenk

     
    • Unfortunately boycotting damages the club more than anything but it may be all the fans can do. If we miss out on the CL and European competition that might also get some notice by the Board, but it will take the club years to re-establish itself. See Liverpool.

      Amongst the millions in the bank and the millions pissed away on underperforming players, the club has now endured a decade of underperformance. Even if Arsene vacates as manager, the Board will probably take him in and he will cast a pall over any new manager. And that worthless muppet Gazidis will see it happen. Who’d want that.

       
  2. This humiliation is just too much, arsenal fans can’t talk outside because of this drought, so painful, if any thing good must come out of Arsenal changes has to be the key word, you don’t continue to do ane tin the same way over and over again and expect a different result, I CRY FOR CHANGE

     
    • Love your cry for change comment.This season has been the saddest for many years.I hope Arsene realizes no job is guaranteed for life especially not in the evol ving world of football.A change must come or half of north london will run out of tissues.

       
  3. It really is time for a change. we need someone else to take us forward. constantly being the 4th best team in england is becoming boring. Wenger has won nothing at arsenal with a team 100% produced by him. lets hope he can win the fa cup then step aside.

     
  4. I’ll suggest a more subtle approach to this change. We know Wenger can’t be sacked so the best thing to do is that we should continuously ring it in his ear that he’ll be the most shameless manager ever to be with Arsenal come next season.

     
  5. for me en all fans around d globe Wenger should go is minimum solution to arsenal’s problem wif Wenger evryfinks ill b impossible…. Jez imaging in January wen we re lead table Chelsea, man city,Liverpool en man united despite dae re nofin aswel telling arsenal fans dt we re just taking care of dtop 4permanent owner isn’t true?….

     
  6. We can do much to get Wenger to leave. Continue smashing him on social media. He deserves it, this impostor who only cares for his 8 million a year.
    Wenger is a Pentium 2 MODEL while all the top clubs have already bought their latest Apple Macs.

     
  7. The toothless bulldogs(arsenal fans) in london will never let the looser leave,why?he is bigger than arsenal!why arsenal fans dont want to see the gd ftbal leave!who said arsenal plays gd currently?toothles buldogs!

     
  8. I pray he does the right thing and leaves. He is so out of date with tactics. Why oh why did he not buy in January with the injuries we have, cannot understand in. If Arsenal had no money in January then just say so.

     
    • what I dislike about your comment is, if we don’t have money just say so. I wouldn’t call you an idiot because that would be personal but that is an idiotic statement. we have loadsamoney mate Mr scrooge just ain’t spending it.

       
  9. Slightly slow article but basically if Wenger were still the man to take Arsenal forward, then his response post the 6-0 Chelsea defeat would indicate this. However, 2 points and 3 goals from 3 Premiership games hardly constitutes the ‘big response’ he said would follow the Stamford Bridge ‘accident’ which, taking the earlier Anfield ‘accident’ into consideration, smacks of Oscar Wilde’s ”to lose one parent is unfortunate; to lose two parents is carelessness” (sic).

    Also consider that in 2003 and 2005 when Arsenal won the FA Cups, they did not parade them (citing the inability of the Met Police to respond at such short notice). The reality is that winning the FA Cup alone after the 1998 and 2002 Doubles was deemed relative failure. Now would it be deemed a great success – even if they fail to qualify for the UEFA CL?

    If Arsenal manage to win their remaining possible 7 fixtures in style now with Ramsey back in the fold and the possible returns of Ozil and Wilshere, one could perhaps forgive the recent blow-out as just that. However, the nature of the Goodison mugging where they took the car radio, wheels and seats without reply begs the question of whether the engine is still working or that the whole cylinderer bloc seized with an undiagnosed blown gasket.

    To some extent AW deserves the chance to build resilience into the team and squad. The question is whether he sees the need to massively ramp up the squad with real quality, instead continuing merely to paper over the cracks as he has done since 2008. Much of that ambition may also be set by the board whose role in all this must be seriously questioned. Depending on how Arsenal responds now will provide the answer, and AW could find himself living on borrowed time in two weeks time instead of just coming under serious scrutiny.

     
  10. Who doesnt knw Wenger just STOP imagining on his behalf,he want some damn profits!
    PEDRO IS THE BEST Arsenal’s news writer he doent beat around the bush to please u.and like he said those backing wenger are also the same fans who can watch their father being beaten up in a club with beer bottles for 90 mins!we know u are bigger than the club you failiar and fans are nolonger important to you but their money,anyway Arsenal(wenger)wount make me feel i was born a looser coz sirie movies can up my spirits instead..bt make sure you dont loose your magic coz all fans are not normal right now,some are still in your dark magic i believe(AKB)

     

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.