Arsene Wenger Needs To Stay At Arsenal

I don’t usually read other Arsenal blogs or websites, partly because I try to keep my views on Arsenal objective (what’s the point of rehashing the same opinions as someone else?) and partly because there’s so many sites now I wouldn’t have the time to read them.

Anyway, I did take a quick look at the Arsenal links on NewsNow, and I was pretty shocked at the vast majority of Arsenal fans who seem to want Arsene Wenger out.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as disappointed as the next supporter, and I was at that disgrace of a game at the DW Stadium, but despite all that I firmly believe Arsene Wenger is the man to take Arsenal forwards.

First of all, as regular readers will know I am definitely not one of the “Arsene knows” brigade. I know Arsene Wenger has his faults; he can be extremely stubborn and some of the decisions he makes are baffling. But Arsene’s positive attributes far outweigh the negatives.

There is no co-incidence that the building of the Emirates has coincided with the clubs most baron spell in terms of honours. Yes, we’ve had 5 seasons now without any silverware but in 3 of those seasons, a bit more luck and we would have won two Premier League titles and a Champions League.

You might baulk at that suggestion but we reached the Champions League Final in 2006. Despite Lehmann losing the plot we still managed to go ahead, and if Almunia wasn’t so sh*t then we could have amazingly hung on. We all know about the title challenge of 2008 when Eduardo suffered that horrific injury, and even this season, with a fit again Robin Van Persie we would be top of the league right now. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.

Now people will point the finger at Arsene Wenger for all of those “unlucky” periods. They will say it’s his fault for having a rubbish backup goalkeeper, he should of had better cover for Eduardo back in 2008 and that this season, he should have brought in players in January, and that the squad was not strong enough.

But where do you draw the line?

One thing I find surprising when it comes to Arsenal blogs and websites is the ridiculous amount of transfer speculation going around during the year. We’re somehow linked to a million players and I can’t believe some Arsenal fans haven’t figured out that we only buy 2/3 players per summer and to ignore all the transfer rubbish from the newspapers.

I actually agree with Arsene Wenger when he says you can’t just bring in players when some get injured. What would you do if we brought in a striker and then Bendtner and Van Persie come back from fitness? You can say that for the rest of the team as well. You need to think long term.

People will go on about the 5 seasons without winning anything but football is about ifs and buts. You can’t legislate for certain things. What would Manchester United do if Rooney suffered his injury earlier on in the season? The same goes for Drogba or Lampard at Chelsea. Alex Ferguson clearly doesn’t have a backup plan if Rooney was missing for any real length of time yet he might win the Premier League this year. Yet if he pulls it off, I don’t think any Manchester United fan would be calling for him to be sacked.

As I’ve mentioned, Arsene has been hampered by the new stadium. Once we are back on track financially Wenger will spend, there’s no doubt about that. He has said many times that he won’t put the club in financial ruin and surely that’s a sensible thing to do. And the funny thing is that he is the one that has his head on the chopping block. If Arsene had the money of course he would spend it!

People forget the first few seasons – Wenger wasn’t afraid of spending big back then. He fact is he can’t right now. I don’t understand Arsenal fans who are calling for his head – a change of manager isn’t going to suddenly make a massive transfer budget appear from nowhere.

That said, I do believe that Arsene does need to change his priorities.

Arsenal should take the Carling Cup and FA cup more seriously. The Invincibles are all but gone and with that so has the winning mentality. We’ve seen against Wigan that no-one in the current squad (apart from Sol Campbell) knows how to win. That’s not a slight on the players, but it’s a fact, they haven’t won anything before at Arsenal. Arsenal need to instil that winning mentality by winning something, it doesn’t matter what. Arsene should see the domestic cups as a priority because they are trophies and Arsenal are more than capable of winning them.

And I don’t think Arsenal fans would complain about a trip to Wembley and something in the trophy cabinet.

Success breeds success and Wenger needs to realise this. And a good cup run would add to the “mental strength” that Arsene keeps referring to. Domestic cup competitions were great because you gain that “siege mentality”. You’re playing one-off games and need to win at any cost. That’s why Manchester United and Chelsea are so good at it (and were finalists this year if I’m not mistaken?). And it’s also the reason why they don’t lose stupid leads like we did against Wigan. The Carling and FA Cups would give our young squad the mentality to close out games because that’s the nature of the competition.

The Champions League doesn’t do that. It’s a glitzy Broadway show and a lottery to win. I personally wouldn’t mind sacrificing Europe for a successful domestic campaign.

Can Arsene Wenger change? I guess we will see this summer.

 

21 thoughts on “Arsene Wenger Needs To Stay At Arsenal

  1. It’s not the ‘vast majority’…just a very vocal small minority.
    Explaination and reason will not change these people’s minds, they have either forgotten or where not born during the lean years and have no idea or memory of life as an Arsenal fan before Arsene.
    A look at the club with have now as opposed to the club we were…oh, i was about to explain to them…pointless!

     
  2. totally agree…

    Another point to note is that if you look at it – the teams downward spiral seems to co-incide with the departure of David Dein….I think he was clearly the Yang to Wengers’ Yin – an opposing force in the decision making process that was (is?!) sorely underestimated at the club. He pushed for acquisitions that might have gone against some of Arsenes principles and I would say responsible for some of the big spending gambles, some of which didn’t work out – but the ones that did led to one of the best teams of all time.

     
  3. To repeat someone else – I wouldn’t say it was the vast majority of fans, but still quite a disturbing number (although I believe still very much in the minority). I believe that this pre-season we’ll bring on board a couple of top players (Chamakh as good as confirmed and we’re reportedly favourites for Joe Hart), and perhaps say goodbye to a couple of players who for one reason or another have been unable to reach their full potential this season (As much as I love Eduardo and would love to see him return to his pre injury form, his injury followed by the media witchunt against him after the Celtic game, it might be best for both parties if he moved on?)

    Any silverware next year would go down nicely (including League Cup), even if it’s just to shut up these people saying it’s been X years since winning anything

     
  4. you are right he only buys two or three players (as well as letting players go and thus the net is never a plus) but unfortunately it is not enough this time we absolutely need a need a new goalie, two centre backs, defensive midfielder and a new forward. if he isn’t prepared to address those areas he might as well go now. he also needs to change the 4 3 3 which has been utter crap and is suited to the players we have at the club.

    the problem with him is as much however his team selections, tactics and substitutions. he is so inept it is unreal that he is supposed to be one of the best managers in the world. there couldn’t have been one person watching on Sunday that didn’t know with 20 to go and wigan improving that RVP should come on, and then to take of rosicky and walcott after they scored and bring on Merida, unbelievable, game after game he is too passive and never does anything to change a game.

    totally agree about the cups, i can not believe the club find that acceptable. he won’t change that and that shows to me he has lost his hunger as manager. a new manager like hiddink and ancellotti were dying to win any trophy as they were new and needed to prove himself. wenger doesn’t care. he even blue birmingham and almost wolves to save players for a barcelona game we were never going to win.

    he has one more year will see it out and i think he won’t renew unless something drastic happens this summer and we actually looklike winning again. whatever happens he peaked in 2004 and will never get back to that level again.

     
  5. Couldn’t agree more with Dan… Arsene Wenger’s tactics this year have been appalling, Hence the reason we were comprehensively beaten by Man U, Chelsea, Wigan, Barcelona and to a certain extent Tottenham @ WHL.

    This may not be a great example but I hope some people can relate to it. I play poker for a living, and the game is constantly evolving/changing, to combat this I always need to re analyse my game, learn and adjust.

    ^^^ I don’t see a change in Arsene Wenger, I just see a stubborn man who is under some dilusion that his strategies are going to work some day.

     
  6. if someone can tell when in the past few years whenhe ever did something from the bench to change a game i would love to know.

    with song out we should never be playing 4 3 3 and yet he persists game after game with denilson being utterly over ran and doing nothing about it.

    he is so stuck in his ways i can’t see anything changing his views on the transfer policy, domestic cups, playing style of no plan B and his refusal to accept so many of our current players are too average, that we will be here in 12 months time having the same conversation we were having 12 months ago. if at the end of the season having failed yet again you say you need exactly as what you needed 12 months prior, ie the players stated above and more experience and winning mentality then something is seriously wrong with a manager getting paid 6 million a year.

    too stubborn and time to move on.

     
  7. Directed at Don. In support of the article, I agree we’d be top had RVP not been injured all season. Thus would 433 still be crap? I think it’s a great formation. It’s brought out the best in Fabregas, Song and Diaby. It allows Arshaving and Walcott to be closer to the attack. Our injuries have been ludicrous, yet it does need to be addressed. We can say RVP and Theo are luxury players, not to be relied upon. We can say Eduardo is finished at Arsenal (well either keep him and shun Carlos Vela or…..), we can say our keepers are awful. We can no midfield cover for Song and Arshavin is erratic. Chamakh is in which is great news. Joe Hart, a couple of centre backs and Eden Hazard for the flank and suddenly we look strong.

    Annoying thing is that Man Utd look so weak this year, that midfield has no pace whatsoever, so they were there for the taking.

    Dan, give me another manager (outside Mourinho maybe) that would have us playing Champions League football 10 years in a row with our less than glamorous budget.

     
  8. you play the formation based on the players available not the other way round, with no rvp, song, cesc and arshavin, 4 3 3 is a complete waste of time, this week he even played eastmond, who did ok but was so out of his depth in such a big game. Bendtner is not mobile enough, eduardo too small he should have played 4 4 2, nasri and diaby in the middle, rosicky and vela on the wings and walcott and bendner up front. 4 3 3 leaves the full backs unprotected, it is no coincidence sagna and clichy have had crap seasons.

    as for the manager, the past 10 yaers is irrelevant, it is now that matters, moyes, morinho, hiddink, capello could all come in and do the same job and better as they would be hungry to win and have shown themselves to be better tactically than wenger.

    people say we play great football, bar the porto game (who were poor) we haven’t played well since november.

     
  9. interesting how inter made barca look so average. a proper manager with a winning mentality who know tactics and how to win games. gaudiola called it yesterday saying how much harder inter would be than us.

     
  10. Great post mate, I hope Wenger realises that most of us appreciate all that he has done and is doing for our club. You are always going to get wankers who think they have a devine right to follow a team who wins all the time. A couple of them have left comments on here. I`d like to know when these cunts started watching The Arsenal, it was probably during the Wenger years. They`ve been spoilt and now judge all Arsenal teams on the 04 side. I remember the shit I fell in love with in the early 80`s, a good cup run and a top half of the table finish was seen as acceptable. One thing is for sure, whoever takes over from Arsene will have an outstanding chance of being successful because of the foundations that the great man has laid. I am hopeful that won`t be for a few years yet though. By the way to the prat who wants to know when the last game changing substitution Wenger made was, he made one couple of weeks back against a team called Barcelona at the Emirates, but I guess you probably didn`t notice it, or even understood it.

     
  11. The Barca manager said unflattering things about the Arsenal manager .

    Messi ran riot in the second leg. I bet that he was going to be stifled.

    Inter 3-1.What does that say?A strong defence plus atop quality goalie

    is required.

    Yeah its good to play attacking soccer but your backline must be tip top.

    It’s the first leg only but it does show the tactical acumen of Mourino

    compared to Wenegr.

     
  12. Interesting that the article points out we lost the 06 Champions League final because of Alumina being so rubbish. And yet four years on who is still our keeper?

    Honestly even with van Persie in we will never win the league with that useless plank between the posts, it has been one of Wenger’s great errors in keeping him there.

    And if we are all saying we could have won the league with van Persie in, perhaps we should have replaced him in January when we had the chance?

    Personally I’m sick of Arsenal repeating the same mistakes and feel it is time for a new manager, but I respect the opinion of those that disagree as Wenger has been brilliant for the club. However, the past 3 seasons have been awful, watching us get smashed by Chelsea and Man Utd and fold towards the end of the season.

     
  13. Gud article… I think wenger needs 2 think more of his overall approach than anything else. At d start of d season when things were going well i felt wenger got too comfortable with the team’s tactics n his so called “Spirit ” to keep going to finish teams off. Once he saw the results of it fruitful a few times … I guess like he says u cannot doubt d spirit of da team. Yet even when we did win a few times i hv seen performances as bad as the ones against barca n wigan, players like fabtastic cover tings up so none of other players frailties get noticed! Now Must be the time to get 2 players who hv underperformed n make them step up totally. He may say he does not want 2 go into individual errors but fact is he has to. While the “spirit” of the team is gud, its only the best line up that actually lives up 2 the “spirit”. The likes of eastmond, n silvestre n fabianski r not part of that so called spirit, so how can we judge the team as a whole then?

     
  14. My suggestion for now is to work on the players who hv underperformed now in pre-season 2 get them 2 be part of the team properly. Force them 2 show credentials like scoring a vital goal 2 win a match or making the match winning saves 2 save a game… Its things like dat that give unswaying confidence 2 young players – Not allowing for players like fab to cover up time n time again n to say d whole team is gud… I would suggest 4 arsene 2 field his worst possible team n get them 2 step up n actually win games in preseason. N Surely players like silvestre n almunia who i believe hv a lack of ability n was only bought due 2 our recession n to make up 4 numbers should b replaced NOW!

     
  15. As 4 newcomers, since wenger often suggests a get-to-gel-with-the-team period of 6 months i tink he shud play them in fa cups n carling cups n preseason friendlies … Shud b enough dont u tink?

     
  16. Interesting post. I liked it. Yes, Mr.Wenger should value the domestic cups like Carling and FA cup. Because, these cups can inspire the players and give them a winning mentality for the major cups CL and PL. This is what I believe Arsene overlooked for the past 5/6 seasons.

     
  17. i am sorry bringing on walcott with 20 minutes to go in a game you are getting killed in and one in which eboue is doing nothing going forward (as he isn’t a forwrad anyway), is no great tactical coup. you can name every substitute he makes and the minute he makes them. although that wasn’t the case on sunday which was a debacle!!

     

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