The Sad Truth About The Demise Of Arsenal FC

We’ve seen this all before.

Nothing has changed over the last 3 seasons, bar a scintillating 8 months last year. We are witnessing the same old performances week in week out. Unfortunately though this season in particular the disappointing displays are happening every other week. I can’t remember the last time in the Wenger-era we played so badly against teams like Middlesbrough, Stoke, Manchester City, Fulham and Hull City. And two of the games we’ve lost this season were against newly-promoted teams!

And don’t expect anyone to come in January. We all want some strengthening in the transfer window but no-one ever comes to help the young squad. I always laugh when the papers link us to players like Yaya Toure and Obafemi Martins – does anyone actually think we’re going to sign experience?

We’re just spun the same old story ever week, and it really is getting boring now. Arsene talks about having faith in his young players and how he believes they can challenge for the Premier League.

I can’t listen to Arsene Wenger anymore.

But the sad truth is that while Arsene’s philosophy is to nurture the young talent and teach them the ‘Arsenal way’, he has in fact created a bunch of pampered kids who can do no wrong in his eyes. The only player who has the desire to improve and you can actually call world class is Cesc Fabregas.

We are a one man team.

I touched on this in my last post, but players like Song, Denilson and Diaby are an insult to Cesc Fabregas. They are not good enough, and Cesc deserves quality players alongside him who are also winners. Players who will fight, and not just stroll through games and pick up their pay cheque. When Patrick Vieira was captain of Arsenal, he had people like Petit, Bergkamp, Henry, Overmars, Campbell, Adams, Keown and Seaman fighting alongside him. In fact, the list of players goes on because Dixon, Winterburn, Wright, Lehmann and Gilberto were also winners. And there were countless others who I haven’t mentioned.

And Fabregas, who is only a young man himself, has to literally lead a team that consists of Song, Diaby and Denilson. I’m sorry, but even Diego Maradona in his prime would struggle making a success of that side.

The sad fact is that most of our current squad are over pampered and over paid slackers.

Would Sir Alex Ferguson put up with the majority of the performances we’ve put in the season? Would he hell.

Arsene Wenger is not just failing the fans, but he’s also failing his players. Cesc Fabregas is world class and should have a team around him that can win major honours. I’m not asking for 11 superstars here, but at least give the kid some team mates who actually put in some effort. People like Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto weren’t headline makers but they had passion, commitment and desire. Is that so much to ask?

Because players like Diaby and Song don’t even put the effort in.

It’s a huge insult in all honesty.

I honestly dread to think what Fabregas must be thinking when he sees these kind of players lining up alongside him. Wenger is the master of spin but I’m sure even Fabregas must see how far we are from having a title-winning squad.

We used to be good to watch but we’re not even that anymore.

Another disappointing trend of this season is the attitude of the players. Going into games against Manchester United and Chelsea this year, we’ve been the underdogs who have gone into those matches in poor form. Somehow we’ve managed to win those games and the obvious reaction from those positive results would be a rejuvenated squad who would kick on and mount a title challenge but on both occasions we’ve played poorly in following matches.

We beat United and then lose to Aston Villa and Manchester City. We beat Chelsea and then lose to Porto and stutter against Middlesbrough.

What the hell is that about?

Over the last 3 seasons, where Arsene has had to create a new team we have steadily improved. We lost Vieira and struggled in our last season at Highbury – but an excellent Champions League campaign masked our poor league form. And at our first season at The Emirates we managed to get more points in the league, and then last year we did well to sustain a title-challenge for the majority of the season.

But this year we have gone backwards, and you have to say his experiment in using youngsters has failed. And it’s not even Christmas yet.

You get the impression Wenger is stubborn and his principles are more important than winning honours with Arsenal. The problem is that in days gone by teams would fear playing Arsenal Football Club. They knew we could rip them apart and win in devastating fashion given half a chance. But now, everyone (and I mean everyone) thinks they can take points of us. I mean Stoke City and Hull City for Christ’s sake. They were in the Championship last season!

One thing I would like to know is does Arsene Wenger have any idea how disillusioned Arsenal fans have become over this current and frankly average team?

Does he know there is a high level of negativity amongst the Arsenal supporters?

You will get those people who will spout the obvious “you’re not a proper Arsenal fan” just because I’ve made criticisms but where do you draw the line? No football team has a divine right to be in the Top Four or in the Champions League every season and while it might be an extreme example look what happened to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United. Those sides were at the top of their game and look where they are now.

I’m not asking for much.

I would just like to see a football team that is willing to compete. Over the last 10 years I haven’t seen a team lacking in fight, spirit and desire as much as this current crop of players.

I don’t want £40 million signings like Kaka or Messi. Just players who have pride in wearing an Arsenal shirt. Players who realise that it’s a privilege to play for Arsenal Football Club. We’ve had players in the past like Ray Parlour and Mathieu Flamini who weren’t the most gifted footballers but they always gave 110% every time they crossed that white line.

They knew what it meant to play for Arsenal.

It actually hurts me when I see players like Eboue, Song and Diaby just stroll through games. Where’s the heart?

Wenger keeps asking us to support the young squad but it’s difficult to do that when you see gutless performances like we’ve had to witness this season.

 

50 thoughts on “The Sad Truth About The Demise Of Arsenal FC

  1. Amen. The emperor has no clothes, and the fans realize it. How can Wenger expect us to challenge for a title with the midfield we have? It beggars believe. Even when we have everyone healthy, how many real wide players do we have? One, and Theo is a horrible crosser. Rosicky (who may never play again anyway)never plays wide for the Czech team or for Dortmund. Nasri almost always played the number ten role for Marseilles. We have three players with pace Theo, Kolo, and Clichy. Everybody else has no pace, especially Denilson and Song. Song looks slower than many players in my amateur league. Another thing is effort, nobody seems to even try. I’m watching Chelsea now, and even though I hate them, every man on the pitch is undoubtedly dedicated even though they are well-established players who make outrageous sums of money. Why aren’t our young players displaying the same hunger? Because Wenger has created a kindergarten where mediocrity is excused because of potential. But how much potential do players like Bentdner, Song, Denilson, and Eboue have? Not fucking much. Mark Noble’s young, but he’s already performing at a high level every week. It’s obvious Song or Denilson will never be half the player Mikel or even Diarra are…fuck me, this is depressing.

     
  2. AW says Arsenal can still win the title. Well i’m afraid his sentiments are not shared by the bookies.These guys are 90%accurate.i don’t know what’s eating AW to make these statements.To neutrals he could be acon man or he is getting dementia.
    In all honesty,only at most 20% of Arsenal fans think they can win it.he shd have a sense of perspective and stop making bold statements which could make him a laughin g stock.
    Of course he could still have the last laugh.The holiday fixtures are an ideal time for him to make a statement of intent.

     
  3. Dude, please shut the fuck up, you need to change your blog to “AFC spoilt wingers”, I get so bored of seeing your latest messages of gloom appear in all the search engines… you don’t deserve Wenger, and he doesn’t deserve your sort of attitude… only a couple of weeks ago I was reading one of you blog losers trying to start up a petition for Wenger’s sack… one comment drew attention to the fact that whoever was behind this kind of stupid behaviour could only have come from someone who has supported Arsenal for a matter of 10 years. What Arsene Wenger has brought to Arsenal and England on the whole has completely revolutionised premier league football. I think what he is doing now is meritable… he’s not getting sucked into panic buying, and he’s focusing on developing a team patiently. Ok in your defence, some of our current crop are not performing to a high enough standard week in week out, but it might be worth you looking at the rest of the league and noticing that we are only 8 points short of the top, and that we’ve won the big matches, with the exception of Villa. Money has changed football dramatically over the last 5 seasons, more so than any other time, and realistically, it’s totally destroying some serious aspects, loyalty being the most obvious factor. If like the other top four teams, we had been able to keep last season’s team together, we would be looking pretty serious right now, unfortunately a couple of our players had their heads turned by glamour clubs offering big packets. let’s face it for the first 2 seasons, Flamini was no one’s favourite player, but he was really starting to come good in his last season… that is the reward for patience, I see these new players developing in a very similart way, while teams like United and Chelsea go round competing for international celebrities and ignoring the inevitable collapse of their financial structuring. Right now evidently confidence is an issue, and not an easy one to deal with… when your confidence is low, the slightest error can cause you to panic and then you start to make mistakes, Look at Clichy, one of the best players Wenger has produced, he’s having a pretty bad time right now, he never gives up, but you can see that as soon as he’s made one mistake in a match he starts to question himself far more than a player at the height of their confidence, where the odd mistake is completely over-looked.

    I could go on for hours, but right now my point is get behind the team and the manager, have some faith or you are more of a problem than any of the players are.

     
  4. You are soo dump and disillusioned that I won’t even bother telling how much…crap article
    Blame Wenger for playing Song, Denilson, Diaby out of position and saying things like “Diaby and Song don’t even put the effort in” is nothing but big bad piece of smelly shit.

     
  5. Stop all this Fabregas shite,if you want to complain about the team do that.
    Arsenal FC is an entity and Fabregas is also an entity period with fabregas there will be Arsenal without him there will be Arsenal,he also is not playing well this year untill he was appointed Captain even with that he is still below par (so that he will not go on transfer) so this in an intrisic motivation,not true commitment.
    The whole problem lies with AW who turn this team to boys team where they use it to catapult themself to limelight and leave us crawling.
    Stop prasing Fabregas,it has turn to all of you people head,if Fabregas play fair it is better if he plays poor it is Denilson fault or song,stop that hypocritical behaviour if a player fumble say it and if he is okay say it.
    Gallas said it the heaven fell on him (the players are not commited anymore) now Almunia said it in the press afetr Porto game are you going to sack him too,why nobody talk now.
    To me i am very dissapointed in the players all of them,but more importantly very very very disapointed in AW for draging us into this shite.

     
  6. i agree with everything you have said, this has been going on for the last few year where we are not even replacing players now let alone strengthening the squad its getting stupid.

    that said in recent years wenger has done an amazing job keeping us in the top 4, and it annoys me when pundits and the press talk about arsenal in the same way as the other top 3 as has having loads of cash with the ability to buy the top players. we dont, look at what villa, spurs, man city even fucking suderland spend on players! we are no way near that, one out one in at best and we havent even been doing that recently!

    im not trying to tell wenger how to do his job but i only wish he would realise the boost it would give the squad, the young players, the fans and show the rest of the league how ambitious we are by bringing in an established quality player. can you remember how good we all felt when we signed bergkamp? we need that shot in the arm, this lot know they can play shit and get away with it because our squad is so thin wenger has no choice but to play them week in week out.

    how long will it be until fans stop paying for one of the most expensive tickets in the premier league??

     
  7. The criteria for selection has to be performance levels. Arsene Wenger has abrogated all responsibility for team selection by operating a truly bizarre pecking-order system whereby the next one in line plays whether he deserves to or not and whether he is out of position or not. The latest examples have been seeing the hapless Eboue, a reserve right-back, played wide on the left and the simply awful Diaby give one of the worst perfomances I have ever seen in an Arsenal shirt at Porto and be immediately rewarded with a first team place wide on the left where, like Eboue, he is the squarest of pegs in the roundest of holes! Were I Vela or Wilshere watching this managerial incompetence I would have a very low opinion of Arsene Wenger. Of course we should have strengthened during last summer but that doesn’t alter the fact that we would be doing much better if our manager didn’t make weekly mistakes with team selection, tactics and substitutions. Southgate put a man out wide to keep Clichy occupied yesterday. He hardly had to worry about the others. Denilson and Diaby as Arsenal wide players! Give me strength.

     
  8. Spot on post – it pretty much sums up how i feel.

    disillusioned…

    The problem is i can’t see Arsene buying anyone because of what appears to be a blind faith in the young players.

    when i saw the formation yesterday, yet again with 4 central midfielders, i knew we wouldn’t win. denilson isn’t good enough in the middle so why the hell play him out on the right? diaby, well i dont know what position he is suited to. hes a talented guy, but i dont think there’s a place for him at the club. song is just an average player. arsenal arent average, well we shouldnt be, so song is not good enough.

    story in the mail today saying a board meeting cleared arsene to buy players. who honestly believes arsene will buy what we need in january? chiellini in for gallas? why would chiellini want to leave juve? they are a bigger club than we are, even though theyve had their scandals! david villa? we already have 5 strikers! why would villa want to join us anyway.

     
  9. I think wenger is tired and loose confidence cos since he came i have never seen him make mistakes the he is doing this season. How can he have vela on the bench and play nasri or diaby on the left flank. i think he is just playingwith our mind.

     
  10. I agree entirely with your article. Even when Nasri and Walcott are back , we still will be very ordinary. I am afraid Rosicky will never come back and Eduardo will take a long time to reach match fitness. Wenger still talks up this team – I think he must think all fans are fools. Judging by the expression on his face during yesterday’s match- he knows the game is up – this team will win nothing and maybe 4th position will be beyond them. If no one new arrives in January – stand by for more mediocre performances!

     
  11. absolutely spot on mate, couldnt have articulated it better myself. quite frankly, I am disgusted by the attitude that we witness week in and out. we only fight and show commitment when we play the big teams, and in no other circumstances. the number of games i have been to and come away from just feeling like none of the players really cared or were horribly complacent.

    i am the ultimate wenger loyalist and never want him to leave, but equally have had enough with every ridiculous post-match interview that I witness. I have had enough of: “we lacked sharpness”, “we were a little unlucky”, “i still have a lot of faith in this young team” “we showed great spirit.” Quite frankly, I have only seen that spirit twice this season (united and chelsea). I dont expect us to win every game, all i expect is 90 minutes of total commitment and pride in the arsenal shirt. I just want someone to put a boot up their arses and let them know how important it is to wear that shirt. It’s not much to ask, i dont care about anything else.

    a frustrated, but ever-loyal gooner.

     
  12. It is all you Arsene knows fans who is the real villian you all just sit back and take no notice of how wrong wenger has been with his decisions and squad selection over the last 4 years.Yes we came close last season but who chose to wreck it all in january by not reinforcing the midfield and adding another capable defender when all the signs were that Hleb was tired you are correct if you answer Wenger.He let Diarra go and never replaced him leaving a very thin squad and that is exactly what happened when we got punished on the thin squad.And the constant belief that every player can play out of position has led to an Arsenal side that plays as slow and lethargic as my local pub side my god if you watch a dvd of the invincibles in their heydays you would believe that this current side is actually learning how to play football it is that bad and that slow.

     
  13. well said danish gooner.
    Wenger has tried to con us for the last 3 seasons that our squads are good enought to challenge….but simply they are not..
    I`m totaly fed up with the Arsene knows bridgade too and glad some blogs are starting to acknlowdge the fact that yes he is our best manager to date. and the football at times we play is the best around but we have no plan B
    Last time we won the league we had one of the worst discipline records.
    The last 4 seasons we have had the best i.e. least booking and red cards yet what have we won sweet F.A.
    We lack the Parlours and Keowns. Dixons and Winterburns not all the same type good on the ball comfortable players and no bite.

     
  14. Amen Brother!!! This current team lacks quality AND desire. Arsene needs to be re-directed to his winning ways by force or shown the door. EVERYONE saw this coming except Le Boss.

     
  15. To be honest i’m sick and tired of Wenger, last season the PL should and would have been ours if it wasn’t for Wengers stubbornness, this man is taking the club and all the fans for a ride, I know a lot of fans will say Wenger is untouchable but c’mon people think about post 2004 – this guy has said Arsenal are in transition but it’s a joke. On a personal level I have supported this club all my life but I’ve got to the point where I have given up, no longer will I pay a penny towards my membership, no longer will I give a penny towards this club until Wenger leaves. As much as it pains me to say this I will no longer support this club, I’m sick and tired of Wenger and the mediocre player he has in the starting line up such as Theo, Eboue, Almunia, Denilson and a captain such as GALLAS WTF! I’ve said my piece and if anyone else wants to keep discussing the issue with me then fair enough, but just remember what I said – also for those who think I’m a plastic fan get a life, I’ve been supporting this club all my life through the good times and the bad but this time its that w*nkers fault.

     
  16. Wenger, bring in a new midfielder now, prepare to be sacked. Wasteman. (we need a creative natural left-footed winger). All Wenger goes on about is “bla bla you have to remember that we have injuries”… Well that doesnt EVER seem to change, so the smart idea would be to BUY COVER and stop trying to prove a point to every. Honestly, i dont know why Wenger does the opposite of what everyone tells him, its getting VERY annoying and if we dont win any silverware this season or get a top 3 finish i will be hoping that the board see enough sense to replace this tight b*stard. And i really dont give a f*ck about your little statements “wenger knows” and… “in wenger we trust” bullshit, everyone can see the errors and what needs to be done, yet consistently HE DOESN’T DO IT. We have fallen short far too many times for my liking. I support ARSENAL FC and not WENGER FC, just because he is the manager doesnt mean everyone who supports the club has to support him, nobody is bigger than the club. I hope you all remember that.

    PS. Eboue wouldn’t have started on the Fulham team. Not sure he’ll start in Totenham or Hull’s team. – why on earth is he an Arsenal starter?

     
  17. Am liking this a lot, a lot of fans is feel the way I feel for a long time now.
    IS TIME, IT IS ABOUT TIME. We need a new era and it starts from the top all this guys are taking us for a ride. We want our club back from all this dumbness going on.
    For F sake we are a top four club and we got player who are not even good for the bottom 3 BPL this is F**K up

     
  18. its all to do with several players being not good enough for this level. Den, Diaby, Song, Eboue and maybe Bendtner are not good enough, neither is Randall. If they play, arsenal are weakened. OK so all 5 of the above players were brought to the club as youngsters and ‘developed’. except they have not developed. they reached a celing at the limit of their abilities and can go no further.
    as long as wenger persists with these few poor players, arsenal will continue to be mediocre.
    as long as the team is mediocre, getting 60000 fans to part with £60 every week will be vvery difficult indeed.

     
  19. Yeah sack him! Lets get Redknapp in. Or Allardyce. Curbishley would be great. Honestly! Criticise Arsene but show the man some respect. There are some balanced and fair criticisms here but there are also some idiotic and insulting vitriol directed at Arsene. “Pay per view” if you “will no longer support this club” because we are 8 points off the lead then we dont need your “support” thanks. I think the club can get along without you. Maybe you will come back to the fold when we are top again. Me? I will support the club no matter its fortunes or who manages it but I am a foolish, naive breed that we call a supporter. Oh and why should Wenger listen to anybody. He didnt consult us before he signed Thierry. He’s the bloody manager. A professional.

     
  20. I could not agree more with the content of this blog piece. Arsene’s range of mellifluous statements over the course of the past three months alone have left me baffled.

    I have said this before and I will repeat it: as fans of the team that nets the highest annual turnover in world football, better standards need to be applied. I have already begun to hear some apologists claim that ‘we do not have Chelski’s resources’.

    Whilst a correct assertion, it fails to explain the fact that Arsenal have contrived to lose to teams such as Stoke, Hull, Fulham and were humiliated at home to the Villa (now in fourth place and as I have reiterated, a stronger team than Arsenal in terms of personnel).

    I literally shook my head in disdain and disgust as I read that Arsenal have conceded as many goals as the Spuds. Imagine that. A team flirting with relegation has been as (in)competent as we have at the back.

    That is a disgrace to Arsenal teams past. From back to front the defence is shoddy and bereft of collective resilience. I honestly cannot envisage how we have gone from the Invincibles team- who had the best defence in the league the season we won it, a point now overlooked by Wenger – to this.

    More absurdly, I read people getting excited at the fact that Wenger may be cashing in on Gallas come January. Unreal. Look. I agree Gallas should leave Arsenal but this should not occur until the end of the season. Arsenal are not in a position to release Any player with a semblance of top-level experience. Gallas was outstanding yesterday and Djourou will learn plenty from him. Already the noises appear to indicate that Gallas will be sold, and that Senderos will be brought back to ‘make up’ for this.

    Can people not see the outrageous financial restraint and contingency behind this? Sell a player for some quick profit and replace him with a player that has gone on loan but was not deemed good enough to start matches, or good enough to even consider retaining. Then back to square zero.

    There have been a range of concerning statements from Wenger that have gone unnoticed but I shall remind people of the choice few:

    1) ‘Our objective every year is to sell before we buy’.
    2) ‘The fans should feel lucky to have such an outstanding young team’
    3) ‘Buying players is not the solution. People need to believe in the talent this team has’.

    This is not mass psychology theory. Because Wenger repeats a statement one hundred times, it does not necessarily ring true. He has reaffirmed in the French media that it is ‘unlikely’ that he will be active in the January transfer market. Wenger is a man worthy of all our respect but his ego is beginning to impinge upon his job description – and that is notably, to win trophies for Arsenal.

    Our one crumb of comfort of the past seasons was that as fans we were given value for money. Our football was always outstanding on the eye. Some individuals’ problem is that we are not winning trophies – but that is not my gripe with this team. I do not mind so much missing out on trophies now and then, so long as we have a team with heart and desire.

    Our football is ponderous, laborious and strenuously predictable. Teams like Boro have the plan of putting a defence of 10 men in a narrow formations. The only way to unpick such unambitious teams is with width. Arsenal used to have Pires or Overmars to step up and complete this job for them. Chelski won the league when they alternated between a rampant Arjen Robben and Joe Cole.
    And of course we all know of the United wide-men.

    Arsenal cannot rely on width because for some bizarre reason, our manager has taken the decision to deploy four central midfielders. This is a formation unheard of in the composition of any successful side. Munich – Ribery and Schweinsteiger. Barca Iniesta, Alves and Messi. Madrid Robben and Drenthe. Inter Milan Maxwell and at times Maicon.

    Arsenal: ?

    I have had my say on the axis of Evil i.e. Denilson, Diaby and Song. It is patently obvious that these are all players of mediocre and unsatisfactory level. I would say that factory level is more their level of prowess and I am not being harsh here.

    That midfield is not as balanced as even Everton’s or West Ham’s.

    Drawing at Boro is not good enough – but it isn’t just the result but the method of the result. The week before Arsenal faced Boro I watched Marlon King and Geovanni of Hull tear Boro to shreds. They absolutely massacred Weater and Riggott. This is a team whose ‘first-choice’ is Justin Hoyte.

    Yet Arsenal left their corpulent reserve keeper Turnbull relatively untested throughout 90 minutes. That is unforgivable. What is more frustrating to all the supporters is that in Fabregas, Wilshere, Vela and Ramsey there is definite potential there.

    Again however this is being restrained and herein lies the paradox of the ‘youth’. Vela, Wilshere and Ramsey all sat freezing on the bench as third-tier level players like Song and Diaby ambled about abjectly.

    It hit me last night that something is not quite right with Wenger as I watched the El Clasico derby from Spain last night. Pep Guardiola is a manager that only stopped playing professional top-flight football just over five years ago. He is a novice.

    Wenger is a man who has seen it all and knows much more about the game than Guardiola. Yet, I saw that after just 60 minutes of the game, Guardiola wasn’t happy about the ball distribution Eidur Gudjohnsen was giving the team in midfield and he was hauled off. Replaced by Sergio Busquets.

    So here we had a dual situation that mirrored the Riverside: a manager making a tactical substitution; and in the process, giving a youngster the opportunity to shine in the biggest game in club football. Result? Barely five minutes after coming on, Busquets times a run into the area and wins Barca a penalty.

    I have always maintained that substitutions are one of the most important aspects of managerial competence and it explains why Ferguson has won so much. Look at what United did when they players us this season. After 60-odd minutes, Ferguson could see that Neville was costing the team and hauled him off.

    His replacement Rafael De Silva (again – the irony of youth) comes on and scores a screamer and changes United’s dynamic on the wings.

    Yesterday I am still amazed at the fact that after 83 minutes; Arsene Wenger had not even told his main subs to prepare for action. It is incredible.

    Plenty of people have slung mud at the sub-standard players we have and I see why. The one thing that principally infuriates me about these players is the following: not everyone can be as good as Fabregas.
    Fair enough. One thing absolutely every individual can do though, every single one of an athletic disposition, is run their heart out.

    Song, Diaby and to a lesser extent Denilson are some of the laziest and disinterested footballers I have ever seen. Wenger has built all his teams around pace and athleticism. Yet a man of Diaby’s size continues to be bullied off the ball. Song cannot be bothered to break into a sweat. Denilson struts. If one lacks the technique then application is key.

    However the central theme is quite simple: only one man is responsible for continuing to select such mediocre players and deploying them in the most absurd formation I have ever seen at any top club.

    Alex Ferguson is no fool. He has won everything. Mourinho is no fool, moron he may be. David Moyes himself is no fool. If a manager like Moyes, who works for a club on budgetary constraints such as is the case at Everton; can go out and spend £15 mil on an attacking midfielder then I have absolutely no clue how a club that turns over £234 million a season is still looking back to £13.5 mil Sylvain Wiltord as our record signing.

    The solution is not necessarily to sign a raft of fantasy players and I ocncur with Wenger on this point. The whole ‘stability’ argument for me works in three phases:

    1) Retain all your best performers.
    2) Add just one or two players per season.
    3) Sign youngsters to supplement the others.

    This has not happened at Arsenal. Our situation is not conducive to scenario because it is a revolving door policy. Look at the Diarra example? Comes in during the sunset of the transfer window, gone in the January window. Flamini has one full season as a regular and then he is gone the next. Gilberto Silva is temporarily assigned captain duties and then he is overlooked; sold the following season.

    We let Ca$hley go because we had no choice I agree. However. At the time we let him go, Chelski were shelling out ludicrous amounts for players. Paulo Ferreira £14 mil. Kalou £12 mil. Arsenal had all the cards at their disposal and instead of eliciting a huge fee for the C*nt, Wenger insisted on Gallas plus a small fee. Though Gallas was a good signing at the time; the better option would have been to take the huge fee and sign a replacement.

    I rate Gael Clichy but he has now become a ‘one mistake per game’ defender, much the way Senderos is. Going forward he is superior to C*nt but in terms of his primary job description i.e defending, then there is no competition.

    The lack of stability doesn’t just stop there. Does Wenger even have a best eleven? I don’t think he does. Forget Rosicky he is not a footballer any longer. He is finished. Our defence is a rotational policy. What has happened to Toure? This look like yet another experienced professional on his way out does it not?

    The situation with Gallas this season summed it all up for me. That is when one needs strong managerial decisions. Either Wenger stripped Gallas and dropped him altogether until a decision is taken to sell him in Jan. Or else strip him of the captaincy but keep him in the team as quite simply, he is our best defender.

    Decision? Stripped of the captaincy and dropped for the City game. Having to play the likes of Hoyte in defence meant a resounding 3-0 hammering. Yet Gallas was reinstated for the Champions League game in which we won and kept a clean sheet.

    This is not good enough in terms of managerial decisiveness. The final point I will make is on the general attitude of the club.

    It is a point worth repeating but I think it is stinging indictment on the club that our wage bill is comparable with United. I find it disgraceful that Song, Diaby and Denilson are on as much as Hargreaves, Anderson and Rafael. It isn’t right but is anyone really surprised that these aforementioned players demonstrate such brash cocksure persona on the field?

    What have these players done to deserve parity with a team that has consecutive league titles and a European cup?

    Every time Arsenal go out and perform like we did in Porto it is an indictment on the club. The performance in Porto was unacceptable. As far as I am concerned it comes back to strong management decisions yet again. Either Wenger shows total disdain towards the match and fields a full youth team; or else he fields a team storng enough to win the match.

    I said this after we got thumped 4-0 at OT in the FA Cup last season. Fielding a team of youths has no effect on the first team’s confidence and gives credence to the excuses about our ‘youth policy’.
    What you cannot afford to do is to mix and match. He rests Ade in Porto but plays the disastrous Almunia. Denilson, Song and Diaby all start but seeing as they are now considered first-teamers; where were Coquelin and friends?

    Last season Wenger again made the same error in the Beer Cup. Doing things in measures: keeping Fabregas on the bench to come on with Adebayor, mixing and matching. This is not decisive management. It is doing things in half-measures: either you have a youth policy or not.

    Arsenal are a confidence team. Going to Porto and being embarrassed in such fashion does nothing for the image of this club; and even more so when it is first-team players getting humped in a Champions League match. It may not have been our strongest eleven but then again; a year ago I would have told you that a midfield of Song, Denilson and Diaby was our reserve Carling cup midfield.

    Signing players is not always the answer. But it is now. It has been overlooked for too long. I am aware that Wenger has ‘his principles’ but his principles should not overlook the fact that despite all this talk of financial prudence and ‘doing things in the right method’; Arsene Wenger continues to be annually renumerated to the effect of almost £5 million, directly funded by the fans.

    Arsene Wenger’s salary packet is in line with the current football climate and in turn, his ideas should also be. Arsene Wenger will never win the league with this group of players, as talented and gifted a manager as he is. If he could not achieve this with Hleb and Flamini last season; then I have no idea whom he believes he is duping.

    His ego is not more important than the prestige of Arsenal FC. Yet it is beginning to obfuscate the issue and hamper the team. Wenger remains a highly capable manager worthy of every Arsenal fan’s respect, but the team should never be as weak as this.

    Is it right that in direct contradiction of the manner in which our board sold us the Emirates dream; that the Arsenal midfield is collectively inferior to the midfields of Everton and West Ham?

    Is it appropriate to start crucial Champions League matches with four central midfielders when your club is making more money than it ever has?

    Like I said. No team has a divine right to trophies. I do not mind Arsenal going years without a trophy, but the image and attitude of this group of players is shocking. Defeat only seems to genuinely bother Gallas (whom Wenger wants to sell), Fabregas and Van Persie.

    No one else cares. Almunia has the Arsenal disease of opening his mouth and talking a good game in the press; but it’s a shame he continues to be the worst Arsenal ‘first choice’ keeper I will ever see.

    In short: January is quite simply the most important transfer window of Wenger’s Arsenal career. This cannot continue as it has been. It simply cannot.

    A centre-back and central midfielder are only the beginning of what is needed. I shall repeat: no team has ever won a Premier League title or Champions League with a non-international keeper. People can invent as many myths about Almunia being ‘solid’ as they so feel, if he was solid then at least San Marino would nationalize him to play international football.

    Arsenal need a new first-choice keeper. Arsenal need a centre-back. Arsenal need a holding midfielder to replace Flamini. Arsenal need a wide attacking midfielder. Arsenal also need a playmaking number 10 who can turn a game in the blink of an eye.

    This is an overlooked matter but Arsenal lack individual creativity and a point of reference to individually win matches.

    This may sound like plenty of signings but, if the manager has consolidated by adding just one quality player per season since 2004; Arsenal would possibly only need one extra player.

    We shall see but I am a betting man and I would lump my life-savings on Wenger’s pride getting in the way and Arsenal making only signings of young ‘promises’. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

     
  21. As disappointing as the result was against Boro and as frustrating as this season has been, can you imagine what Cesc was thinking when you watch the Barca – Real Madrid match later that day? My guess is that it would have been something along the lines of: “what the fuck am I doing on this sorry fucking side? I might not even qualify for the CL next season …I hope Xavi leaves Barca soon. Maybe I can take his spot in their midfield.

    I the Classico was an impressive sporting spectacle. Unless of course, you were a gooner taking in the match. You can’t help but wonder where our mighty club has gone. When we rely on the likes of Song and Denilson and worse yet Diaby. Song would be slow in Serie A footy! We’ll never know about Diaby because he has played in his central position once that I recall (vs. Fenerbache). Denilson is simply not ready yet to parner with Cesc.

    Judging by AW comments, this is what we are: a mediocre club happy to draw with Middlesborough. I wonder if that’s enough for our captain? I know it’s not enough for me.

     
  22. Shut the hell up RomfordPele

    You Know there are better Manager out there who can do a good job at arsenal.
    You talk about respect where was it when hull beat us at our home ground, ahh you tell me? Look I love arsenal and I love when we Win cups and for that we have not won one for about four years now. So you tell me is it not time to get a new Thierry and win cups ?
    what a fool go supporter Newcastle or west ham if you do not want to see your team do well you fish.

     
  23. Just an observation, but the more articulated posts are from supporters who see that there are real problems with the current Arsenal set-up. And it’s interesting to note the fans in the ‘Arsene knows’ brigade don’t have any explanations for our shocking performances and bad results.

    How long should be have faith for? How bad do things have to get?

    Great post by Respects Highbury. A major problem is not doing the basics of improving a team which is to retain our best players. If a player (i.e. Hleb) goes to Wenger and wants to move we grant them their wish. It seems like Arsene is more concerned with what players think of him rather than what’s best for the team. If Ronaldo wanted to leave United what do you think Fergie would say? He’d tell him to f*ck off and get on the pitch!

    And Danish Gooner is spot on as well. There are too many fans who are completely oblivious to what’s happening at Arsenal. Yes, Wenger has done a fantastic job at the club (that’s not what we’re talking about here) but at the moment it seems like he’s lost the plot. I mean 4 central midfielders against Middlesbrough? That’s just insane. And it’s clear he doesn’t have the respect of the players, because most of them strolled – like they have for most of the season. Performances like yesterday don’t say to me that this set of players are willing to fight for the cause. I’m not even sure Arsene even gives out a team talk before games anymore because most of the players look completely clueless!

     
  24. Yawn! Boring! Arsene and his failure again. Guess what, the board has authorised Arsene to reinforce the squad this January. As usual, Arsene has already lined a bunch of kids.

    When will the board wake up to the fact that we’re not going to make CL next season. That’s a huge income loss.

    Yawn! Boring! Depressed! We fans just keep singing “Arsene knows”.

    Arsenal deserve him because we are stupid.

     
  25. Respects Highbury, I couldn’t agree more with your excellent article. Wenger has left the club in a shambles and if he wants to remain in the job then he MUST buy in January, otherwise yet another season is down the drain.

    The only thing I disagree with what you’ve said is that I think Arsenal should be winning trophies most seasons – I can take one or at most 2 years without a trophy but no longer. Particularly after a season not so long ago when we finished unbeaten. I cannot understand for the life of me why Wenger deemed it necessary to take apart that team. We have been regressing ever since.

    One of the biggest mistakes Wenger made was selling Vieira – we have never recovered from it. I find it simply amazing he has never been replaced after 4 years. Vieira didn’t even want to leave, he was forced out the club. If the club really needed the money, there were plenty of other lesser players they could have sold. It has all been downhill from there. The stats say it all – we finish unbeaten with Vieira, he leaves and we lose 11 league games in one season. He has won the league nearly every season since in Italy and in that time has lost a handful of games.

    Then there is the farce of getting rid of 3 defensive midfielders in 6 months – Diarra, Flamini and Gilberto, and not replacing ONE of them. That is simply criminal. Diarra should never have been allowed to leave, Wenger should have been aware of Flamini’s departure at the time so he wasn’t allowed to leave. And quite why Gilberto was allowed to leave as well is beyond belief. It would have been ok if two players had come in to replace them, of international standard, but NONE?

    And yet we’re expected to pay exorbitant prices to watch our team. Even to watch Arsenal play Plymouth the cheapest ticket is £38. I for one won’t be wasting my hard earned cash. I cannot understand how the club can charge prices like that but then not invest it in the team. Oh and who remembers the £7m we got from the Bentley transfer to Spurs that we hadn’t even budgeted for – where on earth has that money gone? Certainly not on the team we spend our money watching.

    SORT IT WENGER OR GO!

     
  26. Don’t blame Diaby. This season most of our first team have looked pretty average except for the big games. The real problem is Song and Denilson together. We can cope with one of them as a holding midfielder. That is all they can ever be. They can’t go on the wings, they can’t cross, they have weak shots normally. When you have two players like this in midfield it breaks up the team and everyones performance suffers. By all means keep Denilson and Song but never put them in the same midfield! All Diaby lacks is consistency. If he can stay injury free he will be awesome.

     
  27. Well,

    Ljunberg gone, Pires gone, Viera gone, Henry gone, Gilberto gone, Wiltord( Remember?) gone, Bergkamp gone, then the generation, Hleb gone, Flamini gone etc. I could go on and on. Their replacements are people like Alex song, Denilson, Bendtner. Nasri is a bright spot though.

    Wilshere, Simpson and co are the future. But we do need a present. The years we watched our team been depleted, other teams like Aston Villa, Newscastle, Liverpool were building theirs.

    It is really simple. Arsenal has suffered a drastic slump in form because the replacement for quality depatures are not good enough.

    In Arsene we trust??

     
  28. I think your reference to not playing hard is the problem, I do believe our players are good enough, they have proven it when they decide to show up. It was evident against middlesborough that we didnt give 110% in the act that we lost so many of the loose balls, players pulling up as if they were afraid of the tackle. We are playing without pace and vision and our side void of Nasri and Walcott is very unbalanced. I hope every time we play to see the fight and it is a you said up for the big boyz and down for everyone else – confused!

    Hoping for renewed vigor and the speedy return of our injured!

    Lets go Arsenal!

     
  29. as much as people many claim that wenger is building a new side without the financial pitfalls of our other rivals the fact remains that this approach will simply see as get worse year in year out…the best will leave to win things (fabregas adebayor etc)and be replaced by players who may have potential but no real experience while are rivals continue to add players(and crucially keep their best ones) to their already superior squads…

    lets face it guys the big games we have won this season man and chelsea have definately been a bit on the lucky side (nasri deflection and van persie shot going through terry’s legs)i believe in both games the maximum we have deserved on chances have been a point..in both matches i felt both man u and chelsea missed good chances and we were hanging on a bit at the end- on another day we could have lost both games quite convincingly

    i think with our full strength side we have quality but we are a least a world class and i mean world class defensive midfielder with exceptional physical and mental abilities at least (i.e yaya toure,m.diarra,l.cana sort that rarely gets injured) a no-nonsense towering centre half with some pace and positioning abilities who just attacks everything in the air in both boxes to replace gallas who is surely gone..bonus if they get goals too…

    maybe move vela wide for a season or two, get rid of some of the dead wood in the striker and wide positions (i.e bendtner and eboue and replace them with one striker of the highest order..the only one i can think of although i know it would never happen is david villa now imagine a fully fit and sharp eduardo along side in my opinion the best techinical striker in world football-villa)chances we create will be ending in the back of the net.that would give as a foward line of adebayor, villa, vanpersie and eduardo with so much options

    (a world class goalie would be good too almunia in my opinion is no more than a very good deputee)

    i really do think those are the minimum we need to win the premier league but it will never happen while we have this transfer policy simple…..

     
  30. 1. Wenger should be accountable for one particular and crisp mistake: The problems with renewing Flamini’s contract renewal arose well before Diarra asked to leave. Being his natural, if not better, replacement he should have held on to him. He was a player with a brand new contract and had no right or pull to get out of it. Today he would have been the bull in the middle we so need and Song would be well, a song. Wenger should leave contract enforcement to the clubs lawyers.

    2. If Flamini felt the shirt he wouldn’t have left. He’s not playing in Milan. That said Wenger needs to reward player improvement and consistency with money otherwise the bleeding will continue. Business is business and the young too have the right to money if they are to be starting every game.

     
  31. What the fuck is happening to my beloved Arsenal? We are a complete joke. I always said I’d follow them to the end – but I just don’t know how to these days. Just watched the Villa highlights on MoTD2 – only to see the AW/MO’N fracas in the technical area – which after all the radio hype earlier turned out to be no more than handbags at 20 paces. And how are our players getting injured during warm ups for Christsake? I think we’re on our way out. BBC pundit asked AW after the match he really believed we were still in the title race. “Of course!”; wry smile, exit left. Fuck me.

     
  32. Err, our best football of the season took place when Cesc was out of the team; Song, Eboue and Denilson are the most improved players in the Premiership (stats) and we finished 4th, and were in two semi finals, when most oundits were writing us of.

    I have supported Arsenal since 1950 and most of the people who write here don’t have a clue about how bad things were. We now have a great stadium, the nucleus of a great team and a lot of shit supporters who need to understand economics. Money may be available for us to buy players, but to spend the sort of cash some of you would like would ruin the club in the long term. Remember Leeds! Wenger has a plan. He has transformed the club from a bunch of also-rans into a world class outfit and all you can do is moan in the most illogical way possible. I am gobsmacked by how many who say they agree. Fortunately, I know far too many supporters who don’t agree. Who would you have as manager in place of Wenger? To me there are only two: Hiddinck and Capello, and they are not heading in our direction any time soon.

    Look how boring Chelsea are. Would you want The Arsenal to play like them? That would cause me real nightmares.

    Get a life and support your team, not slag them off all the time.

     
  33. You have a point. Which is everybody sees the state of our centre backs, and no proper midfield holders + adebayor, we only need minor changes.
    flemini is available at AC milan would wenger take him back I don’t think so.
    However I disgree with song , I think he is the only tough player we have with time I think he will be top.

     
  34. When will people like you learn. We have no money comparered to the other 3 Wenger is producing miricles with transfer defasites less than, Spurs, Sunderland,Aston Villa to name a few. Go support Chelsea you plastic fan.

     
  35. All I want is snivelling little turds like you that don’t understand the finances or mechanics of a big club, and the constraints we took on when building the new stadium, to either shut the fuck up and stop talking shit, or fuck off down the road and support Chelski.

    I don’t think you understand how many genuine Arsenal fans think gobby little turds like you are nothing but CUNTS.

     
  36. Can you change the name of your blog to gloryhuntingfuckwitjohnnycomelately4life please? We’d all know to avoid it then.

    Thanks in advance.

     
  37. wenger is still beleive on his philosophy to develop the younsters but the young players are good not at every fields . at least you need the experiences at the defence and most important to win the title you need the sharp goal scorer but not the simple striker.

     
  38. as a fan u can criticise,but be sure u got the facts right////
    if u want Arsenal to warm the bench with 30M/40M players…its not the

    clubs problem…
    its is ur problem my dear…
    shut the fuck up and better start supprting someother club….
    A true gooner shud stand by the team at bad times…
    and ours is not too bad as u expect…..
    IF WINNING TROPHY ALONE IS UR DEFENITION OF SUCCESS, IF U THINK

    SUCCESS IS JUST A DESTINATION AND NOT THE PATH LEADING IT….then
    i have only one advice 2 u,,,,,FUCK OFF….

    Be ready to acknowledge the truth,.,,
    the truth is WENGER is given NO MONEY for the past few yrs coz to

    balance our sheet for STADIUM Construction….

    NO other coach will entertain such a thing in their tenurew and would

    have left by now…
    If same amt of money is given to Fergie Benitez Ancellotti n even the

    shit-mourinhonsense….they will be screwed up n will be fighting

    relegation by the end of the season…
    But instead Wenger showed the gut n character for the benefit of the

    club…and he switched to youth policy….just for the club n for

    football as a whole….

    HE TOOK THE RSPONSIBILITY BEFORE THE PUBLIC>>>>NEVER EVER SAID MONEY

    WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO HIM EVENTHOUGH THTS THE FACT…..WHO ELSE IN THE

    WORLD WILL DO THT?>>>ALL FOR THIS CLUB…NOT TO FOSTER HIS IMAGE…

    RESPECT the MAN…Hes still regarded as the greatest manager to have

    influenced the way the game is palyed all over the world and the way a

    club shud be managed…

    Without winning any trophies we,our youg child gunners are regarded as

    greatest club in Europe in any of the current ratings…
    After all our team is not that behind in qualiy…

    HAving said tht in order for cup success we have few things to rectify

    Ofcourse any policeman out there knows it….DMF and a strong CB….
    Alonso/YayaToure or Cheillini/Hageland….

    and may be a striker in place of Adebayor….

    I have only two things to change from the current squad…
    ITS THE HIGHLY TALENTED BULLSHIT-DIABY…
    Hes a gr8 alented player with nil/zero passion to play for the club,,,
    Under Wenger he may grow n become Worldclass…
    But since we r desperate…I think just we shud ask him to fuck off,,,

    Secondly SAGNA shud improve his crossing in the box….
    With the quality hes having,If his delivery in to the box is perfect n

    consistent…then we can fire up our right flank with walcott n

    SAGNA…

    AND…about SONG…I THINK IF U HAV WATCHED ANY MATCH HES PLAYED and

    STILL READY TO VOICE AGAINST HIM…I have only one thing to till

    u…kiss ur asss….
    Once he was on my most hated Arsenal players list,.,,But this season

    hes in par with Cesc n VPersie as one of my favorite squad player….
    HES A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR ANY DMF WE R GOING TO BUY THIS SEASON….HE

    CAN BE OUR OWN O’SHEA TYPE OF PLAYER…HE now plays with passion n

    intensity n is a big Physical presence in da pitch….

    So until we wait for our 2 major experienced sgnings pls RESPECT our

    Boss n wait n hope for the better….
    We became a major cup winners under him only…then why ask him out…
    no other man can take Arsenal HOTSEAT and anybody knows it….its the

    most riskiest business of all..

    IN ARSENE WE SHUD TRUST…and FOREVER WE WILL>>>>

     
  39. @dc…ur a true gooner….

    TO ALL REAL GOONERS OUT THERE

    ” hey true gunner fans,,,,lets show this fool how much we like n respect LesBoss…flood it with replies showing respect to our Manager,,,,”

    UP WITH WENGER….U R THE BEST EVER AND WILL ALWAYS BE….

     
  40. The demise of Arsenal! It shows how long you have been supporting them.
    I remember Arsenal when we were really sh*t, mid-table, not competing in Europe every year.
    Did you start watching football during Euro96 cause you enjoyed the “Footballs coming home” sing alongs?
    Then you joined the Premiership bandwagon of hype where you think you’re entitled because Arsenal are known as one of the “Big 4”.

     
  41. arsenal fans are w$nkers you all love arsene wenger when he is selling your club down the swanny hahahahaha

    no trophy in how many years even tottenham have won a trophy more recently, yes even tottenham and still arse fans love wenger what knobs what a buch of knobs

     
  42. He didn’t forget. He wrote this before all that happened. But he fels to proud of his silliness he put it up again.

     

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