by James Burnett
Although Arsene Wenger has admitted that he thinks Arsenal are still in a weaker financial position than rivals Manchester City, he maintains that his club has come a long way from the days when their best players were departing for the Etihad Stadium.
Between 2009 and 2014, Wenger lost five of his players to Manchester City, with Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna and Samir Nasri all left the Emirates for the Etihad. And, during a period in which Arsenal were struggling to cope with the financial strength of their Premier League rivals, Wenger made the decision to sell Robin van Persie to Manchester United where he would become one of the top players that season at Old Trafford, although just for one season. After that he became a financial millstone around the neck of the club, paid far more money than he could ever possibly be worth.
Good Clients
During his Friday press conference, Mr Wenger joked about City, describing them as ‘good clients’. However, he went on to assure fans that the club is in a much stronger financial position now, as he feels that today, they are able to give financial satisfaction to players whilst supporting further ambitions and values that make the team happy. But, although the financial gap, which once made it difficult for Arsenal to compete, has been reduced, Wenger is under no illusions and admitted that it ‘is still there’ at least to some degree.
Wenger’s reflections on the improved financial situation at Arsenal comes amid a backdrop of media instituted uncertainty surrounding the futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Although Arsenal are attempting to secure two new deals for two players with contracts ending in 2018, the story is they are yet to find a breakthrough.
Recently, Sanchez is understood to have received a staggering offer of £400,000 per week from the Chinese Super League, which he is reportedly using as leverage in order to gain a pay rise. And, the situation at Arsenal is not being helped by the absence of financial regulations in the Chinese transfer market, which have distorted the usual expectations in European dealings.
But the problem is facing Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Manchester City too. They have become utterly used to being the financial superpowers, able to manipulate the market to their own ends. Suddenly they are minnows compared to Chinese state funded football. The difference between Arsenal and Man City is nothing compared to the difference between Man City and any club in China that has access to state money.
The Race is On
Arsenal have just lost two games in a row as we all know, and have slipped to fourth. Suddenly all the anti-Wenger campaigners are out in force again – it only took two games. 10 wins and three draws and they stay quiet, two defeats and they are out in force.
Wenger may have been disappointed with the results, however, he stated that he knew his team managed to remain in control despite losing the first game and noted two offside goals causing Arsenal to lose in the second. To place a bet on either side in the next game, check out Bookmaker Ratings.
Learn from Mistakes
Speaking of the defeat from Everton, Wenger said that during the second half, his team were ‘completely in control of the game’, putting it down to sheer bad luck that they lost. His reasoning for this was that it was not a corner, and he also reported that after watching the video footage of the game back, it was clear where the mistakes had been made. But, he still believes that his team did have what it takes to win despite that.
In the next match he admitted the team did not play well but noted the way decisions went against them. He says that at this point, it is important for Arsenal to look at their past games objectively in order to analyse what they do well, and what can be improved for the future in order to claw back some points from the next match and improve their chances of winning the Premier League title this season.
He’s also reportedly encouraging his players to not look for excuses, but rather to be analytic and see what they did and where they failed to win the game.
Arsene Wenger may have seemed hopeful that he’d lead Arsenal to another victory three years ago, but with his time almost up, this has yet to happen. Do you think he can do it this season?
In the end it may all depend on the fans.
“In the end it may all depend on the fans.”
Well said. It will. We are quick to massacre our team after the loss. Last week is the evidence of it.
What can we do? We can at least put pressure on the referees. Referees aren’t worried when desicion goes against ARSENAL. They know they can get away from it without too much scrutiny, unless obvious. Man city goals are the example here….
Get behind the team and moan later.
Go Gunners.
James, despite the absent of the application of the Video Assistant Referees – VARs to diffuse the Pgmo’s match officials continuously plotting against Arsenal in their games, I believe Arsenal still have what it takes to negate the Pgmol’s match officials officiating against them in their games and will unfailingly lift this season’s English Premier League trophy to the amassement of their doubters.
The reason why I am of this believe without any iota of doubt in my mind is, Arsenal have the right caliber of Gunners in their 1st and backup team squad to successfully accomplice this task despite their latest 2 PL games lose we’ve recently witnessed.
I believe the present Gunners who are to be reinforced as from January next year with many of their colleagues who have been on the sidelines will use their next 3 PL games as a wake up call from slumbering and win these 3 winnable games to regain some lost grounds which they’ve lost in the table and to position themselves very well than ever for the 2nd phase of this season’s campaign in all competitions.
IF, the managers, coaches and players, are being paid millions per annum, then the top referees should be rewarded accordingly.
That the referees receive a decent salary of circa £70,000 per annum, this well in excess of the national average salary.
Pay the referees, pro rata to the top managers and players. The monkeys and peanuts, will soon be demoted to the non-league competitions.
The other match officials, again should be paid the going rate for the best league in the world??
methinks Notoverthehill is married to Riley’s daughter.
It may be that there are people out there that can be superrefs but they may be earning far more than £70,000.
Silly money wages might entice them but would they still follow the rules of engagement dictated by their leaders.
If Wenger can win the title this year, it will be an incredible feat with so much stacked against them. Don’t have the stats, but seems the recent run of decisions against Arsenal are pretty extreme even for the PGMOL, and I for one am very glad he called them out……in quite a clever way.
As for the gap in finances, I fear the EPL wage version of FFP could hit us compared to some teams, but guess that remains to be seen , not sure we have scope to raise wages too much if those rules are stuck to
Colario….notoverthehill is 100% right! Why should every EPL professional be getting between 20K and 180K/wk but referees earn under 2000/wk? Basically, it is saying to the referees, ¨ you are an uncomfortable inconvenience that we need in order to play so get on with it and shut up while we harass you for 90+ minutes¨ !!!
I would say that as a MINIMUM, any official should start at 10K/week and move upwards based on their performance ratings and assessments done by club managers and FA assessors.
With the type of refs in the PL they’ll never let him win. The way all those in the media and ex refs ganged up to justify those two offside goals as correct demonstrated that no matter how blatant an incorrect decision is against us, they’ll still find a way of explaining it off. I mean they were saying Sane’s goal was correct because it’d have been difficult to see in real-time. That doesn’t make it correct, it’s still incorrect! The correct thing to say is it was incorrect however it’s understandable because of ABC….
The bias against Arsenal is utterly shocking; if it’s not on the pitch it’s in the media. Should a ref fail to card an Arsenal player for an everyday offence he’s hounded out in the media and gets demoted by his paymasters. Even refs that were not too biased against us are learning that in order to protect their careers & enjoy their job they’ve to be harsh against us.
On the pitch it’s even getting worse. I’m pretty sure between 1 Nov and today we been robbed around 9 points, and no team can overcome that level of bias, even the duo from la liga. Last year when their favorites were struggling they even had to promote a side that was 5000-1 before season kicked off. If you look at how Liverpool lied about the Suarez clause, supported by the PFA chairman and the media, you can easily see how being Arsenal is public enemy number one. We will never be allowed to win that thing again. I gave up on that thought long ago, best thing for my health.
Slightly OT,
Keith Hackett thinks moss, jones and mason aren’t up to the task and should be dropped altogether;
https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/ex-refs-chief-rates-every-premier-league-official-picks-four-need-cut-pl-duty/106988
Dont agree.. think Hackett is being generous; out of the lot only a couple at most would stay, the rest should be dropped!
Arsenal is a self-sufficient club so as long as the sugar daddies are still around, I can’t see Arsenal financially overtaking those clubs.
There was an article today saying PSG will attempt to sign AW as their manager for next season, and this time around there is a good chance they will get him. Then another article say insiders are confident that AW will sign a two year deal with Arsenal. Funny stuff.
I like to think that the refs will ease off for now , as we have fallen behind.
But there is always the chance (and hope )that those that manipulate from behind the scenes will screw up sometimes , and that we will take advantage of that slip up.
All the hype about the players and manager leaving is just that – hype. And tripe !
Not too flustered with all that noise.
We need a referee league table with a little(big) refs cup and bonus, that will sporn them on to be a top 3 ref.
Should referees get a better “PAY”?
Absolutely. They should get better wages.
Should referees get better assistance like video refereeing?
YES. They should. The pace of the game has increased to the extent that any assistance given to the referees is a welcome. ALSO the conman’s have increased. So video refereeing can help reducing the con artists.
Should referees explain their decision?
Of course they should. They should be held accountable for every decision they make.
@para, great point.
WALTER and TONY, can we have referees league table here at untold based on the reviews presented here. At least we can have a league table for referees performance vs ARSENAL. Top of the league and relegation too. And in the following years we can see if they have improved or not.
No player (whoever they are) is bigger than the club and should not be allowed to hold the club to ransom. £400k a week is NOT an option for Arsenal. £200k a week is not enough though. So, we need to find a happy medium. Offer them both £250k a week plus bonuses that would bring them up to £300k if we win everything. If they don’t like that, then sell them – or let them go to China.
However, both players have said that money is not the only factor in them signing new deals. Rumour has it that at least one of them wants Wenger to retire; another wants Draxler bought, and one of them has (allegedly) been offered £400k a week to go to China. They should review how long ex European players and managers last in China.
I think our squad needs a serious shake up – I think some “old” favourites should be shipped out to bring in more exiting players who will be at the level of Ozil and Sanchez. One of Griezman, Isco, James, and I want a new keeper – maybe Joe Hart, because to me, Cech is starting to look very slow. For me, Ollie and Rambo can be sold, as well as some of the younger players who haven’t made the grade. Jenkinson, Debuchey, Sanogo, even Campbell and Chuba. Santi Cazorla may have another 18 months left at the very top, and we need to think about his eventual replacement. Then there’s the two problem children – SZCZ and Jack.
Finally, we should be locking in AW’s eventual replacement. If he goes at the end of the 2017/18 season, maybe Simeone should be tied down now, but having said that, he (or any new manager), might want a say on which players come in.
@Arsenal13,
In our weekly review of referees the latest of which was for Matchweek 13 I already include a table giving the referees in descending order of wrong decisions on a per game basis as well as an unsorted table so the total number of correct decisions they have made. I could easily combine the two tables to give an overall rating. Would that give what you want?
@Norman14, this isn’t FIFA 17 where you click buttons to select players and managers and they turn up.
Simeone? How many titles has he won? You might as well get Pulis much cheaper and same style.
Polo:
I do think Simeone is just a bit better than Tony Pulis.
Simeone has won 5 trophies in 5 years at Atletico:
Won the Argentinian Premier League twice
Won La Liga
Won the Copa del Rey
Won the Spanish Super Cup
Won the Europa League
Won the UEFA Super Cup
Runner Up twice in Champions League
In China there is a limit to how many foreign players are allowed to play not sure if there is a limit to the number of registrations. But it makes a change when Conte was worried about the money in China when most clubs were feeling that when Ambramovich came along.
Almost unlimited amounts of money available in China. They never saw that coming did they?
I suppose it’ll be mass Chinese ownership of PL clubs next.
@Norman14, Simeone style of play is boring and in my opinion doesn’t suit big clubs like Arsenal. I prefer attacking football where the players are allowed to show their skills rather than drilled and play like robots.
Simeone is one of the best manager around but I just don’t like his tactics and behaviour, who in their right mind would throw/telling somebody to throw an extra ball onto the field to stop the opposition counter-attack. Is that what we want Arsenal to become, a dirty team? Arsenal is one of the most respected club in world football for playing the right way so let’s not thrash it.
Arsenal has always had what it takes to win the league. What we haven’t had the honest officiating that makes the difference.
.
The money that allows for player purchase makes some difference but the method of play destroys the myth that players are everything. One only has to look back at George Best to see one of the greatest players that didn’t make the difference because of the way the teams played. His success was limited by the teams he played in, yet I believe if the teams played the Wenger way, George would have had International success as well as domestic success. In the days of George Best, the officiating was more balanced. The players still didn’t know the Laws but like most fans assumed the commentators were Gods.
Today’s game has changed because technology has passed the speed of the eye & catches more detail than ever. Despite this officiating has remained in the zoo with the monkeys pretending to be lions. Corruption is protected by controlled interests & law is avoided by diktat.