By Zuruvi
- Change is often good.
- Change is sometimes bad.
- Change can bring new excitement.
- Change can bring great despair.
- Change (like taxes and death) is a constant feature in our lives.
- What can change bring to Arsenal?
Arsene Wenger has stated that Top 4 is NOT Arsenal’s target. He stated at the beginning of the season that his target and Arsenal’s target is to win the Premier League title. Wenger is therefore in sync with most fans who no longer see achieving Top 4 as the target. Any target which is continuously achieved becomes a way of life and taken for granted. This is the way of life.
A team that continuously finished 17th every season for 10 years years will not be satisfied to continuously be in a relegation fight. If that club finished 14th or even 15th they would regard it as a step forward.
Arsenal being a top, top club has achieved Top 4 for 20 years consecutively. This is an impressive record and most of the credit for this magnificent achievement belongs to (Arsene Wenger) our manager.
Wenger is a great manager and a great human being. I am a great admirer of Wenger but he certainly isn’t without weaknesses. Wenger has many strengths and he certainly has his fair share of weaknesses too. Some of Wenger’s big stregths are also his big weaknesses. I think having loyalty to your players is a big strength … but, keeping an average (or poor) player at Arsenal for five, six or seven years is a weakness.
Some players are regarded by many Arsenal fans to have been of poor quality yet they amazingly had a long career at the Arsenal (Nikolas Bendtner and Almunia come to mind). We also acknowledge that Wenger gave us some of our most exciting football by bringing top talents like Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Kanu, Anelka and the mercurial Thierry Henry to the Arsenal.
Back in the day, Arsenal had physically big players with most of the players well above 6 foot tall. We had giant players with amazing technical skills. We had strikers who could shoot straight. We had strikers who could curve the ball from unbelievable angles (remember Kanu’s goal from the touchline against Chelsea anyone?). We had defenders who could defend corners and dead balls. We had players who made the Arsenal proud. We had players who could go a full season undefeated. Arsene Wenger gave us those good times.
Wenger changed the style of Arsenal football from Boring, boring Arsenal to a club where every big star in the world wanted to play for Arsenal. Wenger style of attractive and winning football was impressing not only to the Arsenal fans but even the opposition fans. Remember Thierry Henry being given a Standing Ovation by the Newcastle fans and also Aston Villa fans after Arsenal had destroyed them?
And then Arsenal changed. We started buying cheapies. We started buying short midget players. We started buying average quality players (compared to the Invincibles and players bought by our opponents. Since then we have not won the league. Since then we have endure many embarrassing defeats like 5-1, like 8-2, like 6-0, like 5-2, like 5-1 …..
So do we need to change something at our beloved Arsenal? Albert Einstein did NOT say “If you keep repeating the same thing and expecting a different result you certainly are mad”. No he never said that. But if for more than 12 years we have been failing to win the league because we didn’t buy or keep the best players and we continue in that direction and expect to do a Leicester we certainly are just gambling and not strategizing. We may indeed be mad.
Does Arsenal need change?
What do Arsenal fans think of change?
(1). Some say the Board should change.
(2). Some say the shareholders should change.
(3). Some say the board’s financial policy should change.
(4). Some say there must be a change of manager.
(5). Some say Wenger himself needs to change his ways.
(6). Some say Wenger should change his buying strategy to move towards bigger and better players (and not just look for the cheapies).
(7). Some say the fans behaviour must change.
(8). Some say the quietness in the Emirates stadium must change.
(9). Some say aiming for Top 4 just for the money and not with the aim of winning the Champions League must change.
(10). Some say being regularly embarrassed by huge defeats (6-0, 5-1, 5-2, 5-2, etc) must change.
Certainly we need change. Quite a few things need to change.
I’m certain nearly every Arsenal fan will agree with several of the above points for change.
What do you as a fan what to see changed at our great club?
Latest tales
- Arsenal and the broken telephone: the perfect example of non-debate
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- Arsenal Ladies 10 Tottenham Ladies 0; FA Cup fifth round – a good end to a bad week
- Referees’ organisation repeats its 98% accuracy claim: but how on earth do they get that figure?
What do you as a fan what to see changed at our great club?
1.a powerful fixer dein type figure at backscene level to handle refs media and be lighting rod for fans
2.section at north bank for standing and singing…tickets there to be 500 pounds maximum and no families or children allowed in there.
3. one of our players..the next time a ref fucks us to go and punch him and the rest of squad to walk off the pitch with him. fuck you sky and your product.
Change gonna come
We don’t necessarily need to change the manager. Wenger seems as though he’s going to stay on for a bit anyway, so he just needs help at the top from someone more active than the Kroenke acolyte Gazidis and ineffective (invisible?) Dick Law. These are changes that must be forced onto Arsene whether he approves or not.
And what does Steve Bould actually do?
I think this must be the last contract before Wenger moves upwards, sideways or out.
A change is as good as a holiday
I want to see the the supporters who abuse Arsene and the team support them instead. That is what supporters do. Then we might see an improvement in our results.
Leon…
That’s a bloody good point about Bould.
Isn’t he supposed to be the Defensive Coach, yet where is our major problem at the moment?
Probably been like that since Pat Rice left.
Would Arsenal need a technical director to oversee Arsenal transfers if Le Prof at the end of day remains the Arsenal manager beyond this coming summer?
Since Dein left Arsenal, most of the players Le Prof has been recruiting for Arsenal first team squad have not won the PL or UCL titles. Why? Is something the matter with the players he has in the last ten years recruited that has made them fall short to win the PL or the UCL?
Or is that by Le Prof giving his players too much freedom to express themselves in the dressing and on the field of play is no longer doing the magic for the Arsenal first teams of the last ten years or what? Does Arsenal first team need a kind of Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid kind of management style to turn around the lacking of winning the PL and the CL in the last ten seasons or so?
If Le Prof remains the Arsenal manager beyond this coming summer, will he change from his old ways of managing Arsenal to a new modern ways of managing the team by introducing new innovations in his management of his first team squad by overhauling his team with correct additional top new quality players in addition to keeping Sanchez, Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi and Koscielny at the club 4 of whom are looking to be the effective standout top quality players this season in his current first team while he’ll be patient to see the young Xhaka developed at Arsenal?
Will he allow the aging players whose playing skills for Arsenal have considerably regressed thus making them to be liking a living at Arsenal instead of them to be earning a living there? And will he allowed the dazzling playing looking players at Arsenal but generally not effective in scoring goals or giving assists to score for Arsenal and cash in on their huge sales to balance the books as he buys?
Will he allowed the perennial injury prone and underperforming players at Arsenal who in the last 5 seasons have not helped Arsenal to reach the promised land of winning the PL and CL titles and cash in on their sales to balance the books as he spends in the transfer market to properly rebuild his first team squad next season? And wiil he keep some of his loaned out players who have excelled in their loan clubs such as Calum Chambers and who else, in his first team squad next season? I think he ought to do that than to continuing keeping the deadwoods at Arsenal.
And would the Arsenal board afford to give him at least £150m to bring in a top top sriker, a top top winger, a top top DM, a top top left back in addition to keeping Gibbs some of this amount he’ll balance up as he sells some players too. Okay, he can keep Bellerin, Jenkinson and Paulista as his 3 alternate right wingbacks next season. But he MUST coach them properly to become effective in scoring goals and giving assists to score goals regularly for Arsenal as from next season campaign. 15 goals contribution from the the 2 Arsensl wingbacks position wont be bad but good next season. And the CBs MUST make a significant goalscoring additions to Arsenal goals tally next season too. This difficiency has become noticeable this season which has made Arsenal to be in the current 6th position in table the are after playing 27 games which shouldn’t have been the case had the defense line given their quota in goalscoring.
I want Le Prof to please answer positively all the questions I’ve put forward to him in this my comment posting to convince me he’ll move his team up some steps next season.
I’m with Mick , get behind the manager and the team and cheer them on . They are fighting against the odds after all .
1). Some say the Board should change.
Absolutely. If nothing, they have to defend their company by making a strong action against PGMO-caused damage on the pitch.
(2). Some say the shareholders should change.
See above.
(3). Some say the board’s financial policy should change.
It’s something we don’t see. I think Arsene should have enough money available to prevent players such as N’Golo Kante today or Antoine Griezmann tomorrow from joining our rivals.
(4). Some say there must be a change of manager.
Nope. If conditions for a new manager remain the same, the results will be the same or worse.
(5). Some say Wenger himself needs to change his ways.
More stick and less carrot for some players that sleep on laurels. Asking for The Board to help him in order to relieve some duties off his back.
Also, he should be more careful with his words. He doesn’t help himself by saying: “I was close to sign this player” or things that can be misinterpreted.
(6). Some say Wenger should change his buying strategy to move towards bigger and better players (and not just look for the cheapies).
It depends what is “cheapie”. Kante’s fee was lower than the one of Granit Xhaka. I’d say Arsenal should do the transfer job as early as possible in order to assemble the squad before 13-15th August and make the team prepared from Day One.
(7). Some say the fans behaviour must change.
Absolutely. They have to stand behind the players and the manager, especially at home. They have to be our 12th player on the pitch, especially when the opponents get their 12th player on the pitch from Mike Riley’s pocket.
(8). Some say the quietness in the Emirates stadium must change.
See above.
(9). Some say aiming for Top 4 just for the money and not with the aim of winning the Champions League must change.
I don’t think anyone would say we aim for Top 4. We enter all 38 games with a desire to win. We enter all Champions League matches with the same idea.
(10). Some say being regularly embarrassed by huge defeats (6-0, 5-1, 5-2, 5-2, etc) must change.
Regularly?
Your first 2 points:
* Change is often good.
* Change is sometimes bad.
In evolution, most mutations are not successful.
I agree that change can lead to bad or good. Change produced by random processes and change produced by un-intelligent processes will more likely lead to bad results. Change as a result of intelligent processes _may_ lead to good results, it depends on the process used. If the process is something like GIGO (garbage in – garbage out), it is probably doing to lead to a bad result.
I want a player to quit the EPL and expose how incompetent refs are together with their dark arts. No player ever seems to talk about refs. any reasons why?
Footage of influenced matches should have a TV channel.
‘No player ever seems to talk about refs. any reasons why?’
Because they can be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and receive a fine & ban.
Ex players often discuss referees on radio & TV.
Is it just a North South divide? No managers come from the London area, no refs come from the London area.
Kick the bloody southern softies, our clubs oop norf are better than yous.
If it more sinister… Why?
The WOBs tend to be the thicker and more base section of our fan base who unfortunately suck up every thing the papers and particularly the spurs loving Talk Sport radio station tells them.These so called half wits need to do as many of the writers on here do and look into the facts instead of just parroting what the Anti Arsenal tell them.
What needs to change…..
Agree with all the comments that we have to be a bit less passive on the refs and the lack of protection given by said refs to our players…..which leads me to agree with Hunter on a Dein type figure…..Ivan just doesn’t seem the type, not saying change Ivan, just get someone else as well
Change in manager…..not for me now, but if the manager and board were to agree change is now needed on a sporting level, it should be done, less procrastination which is harming the team. Out of respect to the man, The manager should only stay on his ability, not on sentiment, not because there is nobody else, not because he has too much power, or the board are a bit timid.
Personally, I hope he does stay as long as he genuinely believes he can turn things around…..and change a few things
Change in club structure…..absolutely, this board …at the moment , and things may change…., look weak. Get in an arsenal man as DOF or whatever you want to call him….perhaps a strong presence, who can give the pgmol and media a bit of hell, rather than the current lot who hide behind Wenger.
Change in owner…..may or may not be the worst idea, can see some merits,,and some pitfalls, depends on who it is
And above all, whatever Mr Wenger decides, the club need to start thinking on a succession plan, with the managers support
Wenger’s writ runs right across the club. If the structure is the way it is, it’s because Wenger wants it that way.
A veiled admission that Arsene is going to sign a new contract. On the subject of Ozil and Sanchez new contract talks he said..
“We have decided to focus on the end of the season and talk about it in the summer, it is the same situation with Ozil because once you don’t find an agreement and it [the negotiation] lasts, it is not good so it is better you get it out and sit down in the summer.”
The Dein type of position is key to being able to address the issues that are shaping our club. The very obvious FA & PGMOL organisations are not going away easily.
Arsenal need to open up the FA & PGMOL corrupt methodology with direct Police involvement. It is only the Police that can quickly investigate fraud & money movements. Problem is if the Police are stopped by the ‘old boy network’ that is involved in the social upper classes, then nothing good will come out. In fact even in this day and age Arsenal could be banned from competing in the leagues. The power of the corrupt is more than the game would believe.
Off topic but how about that Podolski rocket against England!
Congratulations to Podolski!
Teach the man how to cook a donair, and look at what he can do.
Seems to me there was a story about Mesut cooking donairs in London, maybe he is due a goal like Podolski’s soon?
At half time they were discussing Vardy’s diving technique & what he needs to do to improve it.
Bizzare!
Off topic non football related:
My condolences to the victims of today terror attack in London. Our lives could end at any time, so let cherish what we have and spend more energy with our love ones. Stay safe all and let’s hope we humans can find a solution to end these type of tragedy from occurring.
It puts things into perspective Polo..
What are we moaning about again?
Someone elses success that we have tagged onto..
Westminster Deaths/Injuries
I don’t know how many other deaths or injuries happened in London, but I suspect that this happening is not a statistical blip. The only reason it is in the news, is because it happened in proximity to the house of commons.
It isn’t nice that people died. I suspect the emergency surrounding the deaths was inflated far beyond what it needed to be. For instance, I think the police can ignore human rights issues far more easily when there is a “terrorist” episode happening. Even if the particular thing being investigated has nothing to do with the incident the “terrorist” flag was raised for.
As near as I can tell, the total for today (in a terrorist accounting) is that a police-person died. Some collateral damage. Hardly the threat to society that calling it a terrorist threat is meant to invoke. I suspect, that the long term effect of this, is just that police in the UK got to stamp on human rights a bit more than they usually do. On a whole lot of issues that have absolutely nothing to do with Westminster.
===
My thoughts go to those that died today; the policeman and others on/near the bridge hit by the vehicle. Regardless of the reasons why they died.
nice write up….some said we should just keep on supporting the manager and the players but what support do they need again
1 Do we need to be supporting average players without commitments and hope they come good
2 walcott 10 yrs+,oxlade 5yrs+, jenkinson,sanogo, tell me what these players have done and how long do we need to be supporting them to get good ( you cant give what you dont have)…..
3. How long do we need to support the non-chalant attitude of arsenal players on field( ramsey against westbrom,watford, e.t.c)
4..How long do we need to support wenger that accept the non chalant attitude, low commitments from his players…
some arsenal fans accept inside them what arsenal really need to change the mentality but they come on blog to post diff things because they want people to see them as a wenger supporter….Wenger will soon go and the difference will be clear…
Cockroach Theory –
A beautiful speech by Sundar Pichai – an IIT-MIT Alumnus :
The cockroach theory for self development
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear.
With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.
It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.
Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life.
I should always respond.
The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.
A beautiful way to understand…………LIFE.
Person who is HAPPY is not because Everything is RIGHT in his Life..
He is HAPPY because his Attitude towards Everything in his Life is Right..!!
Amen to that Brickfields.
OT what a goal from Lukas Podolski yesterday evening…. I still have a very big soft spot for him and I found it sad it didn’t work out as hoped it would be at Arsenal. But I have to admit his defensive workrate was too low I think.
GRATITUDE –
There was once a bird who lived in the desert, was very sick, no feathers, nothing to eat and drink, no shelter to live in and kept on cursing his lot in life day and night.
One day an angel was crossing that desert, and the bird stopped the angel and inquired ” Where are you going?” The Angel replied ” I am going to meet God.”
So the bird asked the angel, ” Please ask God when will my suffering come to an end?”
The angel said ” Sure, I will.” , and bid goodbye to the bird.
The angel reached God’s place and shared the message of bird with Him.
The angel told Him how pathetic the condition of bird was and inquired, ” When will the suffering of that bird going to end? ”
God replied ,” For the next seven life times the bird has to suffer like this, no happiness till then.”
The angel said, ” When the bird hears of this he will surely get disheartened. Could You suggest a solution for this ?”
God replied , ” Tell him to recite this mantra ‘ Thank you God for everything’.”
The angel met the bird again and delivered God’s message.
After seven days, the angel was again passing that same path and saw that the bird was so happy, feathers had grown on his body, a small plant grew up in the desert area, a small pond of water was also there, and the bird was singing and dancing cheerfully.
The angel was astonished on how it all had happened. Had not God said that for seven life times there will no happiness for the bird? With this question in mind He went to see God.
The angel then asked this query to God , who replied,
” Yes it was true there was to be no happiness for the bird for seven lifetimes, but because the bird was reciting the mantra’ Thank you God for everything’ in every situation-
When bird fell down on the hot sand it said ” ‘Thank you God for everything ‘ ; when it could not fly it said, ‘ Thank you God for everything’ , so whatever the situation may be the bird kept on repeating ‘Thank you God for everything’, and therefore the seven lifetimes karma got dissolved in seven days.”
The purpose of sharing this message is to make all of us aware how powerful is the power of gratitude is. It can reshape our life.
A simple word, a simple thought, which teaches us to be grateful for everything what we have in our life has power to dissolve the karmic baggage which we are carrying from so many life times. Lets recite this mantra continuously to experience the shift in our life.
Be grateful,and see the change in your attitude.
Be humble,and you will never stumble.
” Thank you, Arsene for everything.”
” Thank you, Arsene for everything.”
” Thank you, Arsene for everything.”
WOW !! It really works ! Go on , try it !
Absolution –
Man confessing to his priest via WhatsApp ..
Man : ” Forgive me Father for I have sinned .I have WhatsApped dirty jokes and viewed naked women’s pictures on my smart phone .”
Priest :” Forward all your sins to me .”
Daily Express reporting that Arsene will stay for two more years to help build the structure that will eventually replace him. Express also says Ozil, Sanchez and others will be sold to help fund this “re-invention”.
Surely, the “re-invention” should be created around those two players – not replacements for them. My feeling is that if they are sold, we might manage to get £55 million for the two of them. What can we get for that? – especially if we’re not in the CL.
Looks like we’ll be replacing our two best players with one stellar signing.
Wenger needs to get rid of the likes of Walcott, Gibbs, Wilshire, Ramsey, Welbeck, Pauletta, these are the players that have failed for many a seasons.
dan
I think you are being very unfair on Welbeck. He can’t very well succeed if he has horrible injuries.
When he does play, he is generally very good. Apart from WBA, but then the whole team was collectively shit!
Welbeck and Walcott would have both buried the opportunities presented to Delli Alli and co last night.Unfortunately our players are so scrutinised with every mistake blown out of proportion it’s always been popular to not give them a chance.England have always turned their backs on our flair players preferring the hit and hoof closing down styles of spurs and Liverpool and other ridiculous sky balling outfits.
Well, Alli was missing his bestie wasn’t he. If he had scored, he’d have nobody to dance with. 🙂
Cricket scores are often the result of a bad day at the office, and should generally be disregarded as they are no guarantee of a decrease in quality. That team of ‘giant players with amazing technical skills’ was walloped 6-1 at Old Trafford in 2001 – basically the same one which went unbeaten not long after. Incidentally, in that match Arsenal equalised through Henry on 14 mins to make it 1-1. What does it say about the collapse which followed based on those we have seen in recent seasons? That the same team found a level of mental strength to become the Invincibles, yet somehow Wenger has been unable to replicate this mentality in subsequent sides replete with world class players. Is that down to Arsene losing his touch, or was that great Invincibles side simply an anomaly?