By Tony Attwood
As everyone who reads the mast head knows, this is a pro-Wenger site – a site set up to balance the very anti-Wenger approach of some other blogs.
The site has had a little difficulty over the past 18 months as readers who are against Wenger have used the site to express their point of view. No one has stopped such commentaries, although I have occasionally removed comments which clearly have nothing to do with the original article.
What’s been frustrating (for me as the editor of this site) is that knocking Wenger on this site seems to have become something of a sport – a way of knocking the manager, and of disrupting the putting forward of a point of view.
Furthermore it has also been the case that very few people have decided to debate the often complex points raised on this site by those who write articles for the site – but perhaps that is another matter. A well-argued 1000 word article is dismissed by a reader who says, “if you think Denilson is a good player who are a cretin”. There seems to be little point in subjecting the readers who come here for a serious debate of the major issues from a pro-Wengerian stance to this sort of prattle.
Anyway, what I have decided to do is offer this space for those who think that a pro-Wenger site such as Untold should be carrying comments which criticise him. I will however continue to look out for comments which are simply abusive either towards the manager, players or others in the club, or correspondents. Anything that is pure abuse will be removed as and when I find it.
All articles published after this will be written by and for those of us who believe that Wenger is doing an excellent job in the face of wholesale ref fixing, corruption and an economic system which itself distorts quality management, and thus commentaries which are simply attacks on Wenger and his staff without taking into account and debating the arguments developed on this site over time, will simply be deleted. So if (for example) you wish to excuse the ref fixing, or if despite the evidence presented here in the last year you don’t believe it exists, then you can write about it here.
In answer to any argument that says, “that proves you are wrong about Wenger, you won’t even allow an open debate” my point is that we don’t have an open debate here. Writers on this site present a mountain of evidence about (to take the same example) ref fixing, and then we get lots of commentaries about how such and such a player should be axed, or how if we can’t be [slot in the name of one or two teams] we are clearly useless. There is no debate going on about the validity of the ref fixing claims, save by the occasional reference to an individual incident or two. No one is seriously challenging Dogface’s pre-match analysis of statistics, nor Walter’s post-match analysis, over a set of games.
So, here’s the space if you want to criticise Wenger and ignore all the evidence about financial matters and the fixed nature of the league. Normal service will be resumed in the next article.
Wenger out! 😀
It’s true he’s done well with the money he’s spent, but I can’t help but believe that tactically we are too rigid, and this contributes to a lot of points dropped. Teams know how to play against us now, so rather than us being 90% likely to win, we are often giving ourselves a 50% chance, or something like that..
A small tactical change helped us to beat united recently (song playing deeper and essentially marking rooney), and I think a we should be making tweaks like this more often to account for our oppositions.
Also I think the youth policy has bred a culture which focusses on the individual, rather than the team. Giving these kids vast sums of money before they have proven their worth to the side (denilson & bendtner are reportedly on over 40k pw, and walcott was on 60k pw last season before he’d played well twice in a row). I don’t think this is healthy for the club.
Overall I think these are actually quite minor points because we have dropped enough points just because of referees this season that we could be top at this point, particularly given the points Utd have gained because for the same reason. They are the dirtiest team in the league by far, but almost never get punished!
“account for our opponents*” – wtf?
booooring…..”we are pro wengerian!” … “we are anti wengerian” … “BUT we are pro wengerian!” … change the record man, this old Vinyl is way out of date.
Quite amusing thus far, I’ve deleted ten emails that were just pure abuse. And Amr, this is the end of the record. That’s the point.
wenger needs to do what is right. Get rid of players who are not arsenal level. Promote youth he thinks should be given a chance and buy quality players. Not 40 million, or 50 million but 10-15 to perhaps 30 for one top striker. Van Persie is isolated and alone. Denilson not arsenal level. Diaby maybe. Squid=joke. We no longer need a goalkeeper because again wenger is right number 53 is the future and now he is the present. Bad decisions and refs may be an issue here and there but lets not kid ourselves. This team will not win a trophy or a trophy other than the carling up as it is. I respect Wenger but he looks broken and lost. He needs to make some changes with new faces. A team fighting to the end and that will finish at least second in the EPL even if they do not win. Another late season collapse and I will be on the “wenger out” campaign realizing its the end of an era.
@Tony
Good work. 🙂
@tony, dont delete them yet! I wanna read what the idiots are saying! 😀
After another season of frustration, I as one of Arsenal numerous fans disagree with Wenger’s methods.The first is his team selection for matches. Wenger does not seem to take into consideration the opponent’s’ strength and capabilities when selecting for matches but merely believes in Arsenal’s abilities to excel at all times.But his opponent’s exploit Arsenal’s weaknesses and that is why Arsenal is the most predictable team in the Premiership and can be beaten by any team no matter how poorly placed on the table.
Wenger does not believe in buying expensive players but we have seen that some of these players add value to the teams who buy them. The idea of not giving players above 30 years old long contracts have rubbed Arsenal of experience.This means that players like Drogba, Giggs, Ferdinand, Van der sar, Lampard, etc would not have been Arsenal players. You can see the value these cadre of players are adding to their teams.If Arsenal under Wenger has to bring back smiles on the faces of their fans, there must be a change to some of these issues. Best of luck, next season
@Stevie E
You have a point. 🙂
wenger needs to sign experienced players and able maintain the ones we have. the big problem i have discaverd with arsenal unlike man u is lack of capable substutes especially when get injury. For example lack of fabrigas/nasri tend the home mach loose. lack of vamelen weaken the whole difence. Team must have capable players on the bench. for man u injury of fednand, valencia were cavered accordingly for real we didnt see any difference. For me i think is the time for arsenal to cash in arsene wenger and find another manager.
wenger need to be sacked if he doesn’t want to do the right thing. the worst-part is that he knows the right thing to but he didnt want to do it. He doesn’t care for the supporters, last time we all hard that an arsenal fan killed his self bcs of our poor management, bcs our share holders and manager doesn’t care for us.ON my own opinion wenger must be sacked if we want to regain our position nest season.
I love Wenger but why does a website have to be pro or anti wenger?
Shouldn’t it be pro-Arsenal and pro-Arsenal only?
Also, I hate to say it but the level of debate presented in some of the blog entries is absymal. For example your entry on what Wenger could have done wrong was devoid of any constructive criticism.
That’s too bad, because some points you raise about the ref situation are very interesting, but your systematic bias (which is just as misguided as the anti-Wenger blogs) and ironically, the one-liners you use to dismiss posts with valid criticism (such as this one) don’t make this blog a very good place for those who want a constructive debate.
Why can’t you be a bit more open-minded and accept/encourage constructive criticism?
He is Rigid. If his plan A doesn’t work why don’t he shifts to Plan B.
b/c he is rigid.
Successful managers know the meaning of success and sometimes consider others opinion ,am I Right?
Tony I agree. You should delete the comments of those who will not defend their points of hatred with reason and evidence.
I think arsene must be given one more season to prove the critics wrong..If he misses again in the next season Arsenal must fire him and bring in Pep Gaurdiola.Since Pep will be out of contract in 2012..Wish to see him in Arsenal..We require a strong decision makers in the Board of directors group…
AA Tomas Rosicky Emmanuel Eboué Marouane Chamakh Sebastien Squillaci Manuel Almunia Thomas Cruise Arsene Wenger and Peter Hill Wood should leave our club
The real problem, is that the way certain people are behaving, if you criticize AW you end up being Anti-Wenger which should not be the case. I believe your referee analysis and bias towards Arsenal is right on the spot so i will not comment on that.
I personally love AW, for me he gave this club a style of football i like watching every weekend. I consider the fact that he maintained the club at this high level with the funds he had available close to a miracle and i sincerely doubt if anyone else could have come close to it. (as a matter of fact i doubt anyone will in the future as well).
Having said that i now feel free to express my disappointment in certain things on the boss which have been true in my book for ages:
1. I hate that we are a team that almost never threatens from a corner kick.
2. When are we finally going to feel confident and not bite our nails every time our opponents win a free kick or a corner?
3. Been so close to winning the league these last years its obvious we dont really need Messi or Tevez to do so. Was it so difficult to find a good keeper or keep the likes of Flamini, Dhiarra, Hleb, etc. Young Players are great, but we really need some experienced players to show them the way and take them out of frustrating positions. So we can either keep our players that gain that experience or buy some (sorry boss). A great example was a couple of years ago, we could have gotten Alonso from Liverpool when Benitez wanted to get rid of him, but we didn’t for a couple of £m.
These are my main points 🙂
@Stevie E
I’ve now read enough of them 😀
I’m not part of the Wenger out brigade but would like to add some information in favour of the argument that things need to be done a little differently.
Having a look at the careers of Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger at their current clubs and comparing they’re achievements, I have the following info. Bearing in mind, Wenger has been at Arsenal 15 years, I have taken my stats for Fergie to relate to his first 15 years with Man *%&$.
Fergie (numbers in brackets relate to total wins for 1986 to 2001)
First League 1993 (7)
First FA Cup 1990 (4)
First League Cup 1992 (1)
First Europe Triumph 1991 (2)
First Community Shield 1990 (5)
First European Qualification ???? (12)
(if anyone can enlighten the first year he competed in Europe, please do so)
Wenger (numbers in brackets relate to total wins for 1996 to 2011)
First League 1998 (3)
First FA Cup 1998 (4)
First League Cup N/A (N/A)
First Europe Triumph N/A (N/A)
First Community Shield 1998 (4)
First European Qualification 1998 (15)
From the first 15 years of each managers careers, we can deduce that Man Utd have won Four more league titles, a league cup, two Europe titles and a community shield extra. (there are also inter-continental super cups etc which I have missed out)
This is obviously not the whole picture of each managers careers and obviously both managers would have inherited teams of completely different abilities and financial circumstances.
We have been spoilt with Arsene by not having to wait at the beginning of his tenure but many would not even realise how luck Arsenal have been to have him on board (although I also think he struck Gold being offered a job in the UK compared to Japan)
Guyz simple question tell me
1. How Arsenal became 3rd most richest club of the world?
2. Moved to Emirates Stadium?
3. With such low budget Wenger managed 2 qualify for UCL every year ?
IN AW I TRUST
@pete, hang on in there mate, the after work crowd will be on soon, they’ll have read the Standard etc and will have had their opinions formed for them… They’re always good for a laugh 😉
One thing we have to accept is that our Manager has lost touch with reality and should be replaced. The reality that football is about winning and nothing else but winning. Every season our team is a team for the future this absurd. when the future comes, the players who promised it to us are moving to other clubs in search of honours. Our team builds up individual players and the ones who are good in a teamwork playing style can not make it in our team. Chamack, a scoring machine at his former club, he is a mere ball chaser at arsenal, See how Eboua plays with his national team, ‘prolific’ at Arsenal he is just a bench warmer, there are things which are instilled in a player by the coach. when you saw the goal scored by Yaya against Stoke, that would have been another pass to another player in our team. Lots of passes bores, but lots of goals are a fun watching. Look at how the fans go crazy with each and every goal scored, it does not matter how, but a goal, it does not matter how many passes you make, only a goal is what matters. Most Managers simply tells their players; “Simply go for Goals” fullstop.
Wenger states that things have turned sour since the cup final defeat against Birmingham city. However this is not the case and he knows it. I believe it all went pear shaped after the away game at Newcatle. That was the game that mentally destroyed the team and I do not think any other team in England let alone the premiership could have surrendered such a lead with 22 minutes left to play. Infact Newcasle almost won it with the last kick of the ball.I think that we all love him for what he has done for Arsenal in the past. but his poor tactics and decision making plus pure blindness to the obvious makes me believe he must go, both for his own good and that of Arsenal, as it would be so sad if he ended up being remembered for the wrong reasons , but I am afraid that is what going to happen
Hi Tony and Walter,firstly thanks for your great Website,of which i am a regular reader.Your articles are always well written and obviously the subject matter is well researched.Like your goodselves i am also a Wegner Fan,he is by a long way the best Manager we have ever had/have.However this does not put him above criticism.Now he has either lost his way or he has/is working under some kind of financial restraints.He has remained very loyal to some squad members,who really are not deserving of his Support,their performances over the last couple of seasons does not merit them remaining at the Club.To name names,Rosicky,Bentender,Denilson, Vela,Arshavin(just this season)If possible he should sell these players,and either buy some quality players to replace them,or promote some of our numerous promising youngsters to the first team squad.Also he should sell Fabregas who has proved by his performances this season that he would rather be somewhere else,and has also demonstrated that no way is he going to get injured.As for Nasri,Clichy,then if they are not happy with their current contract conditions,then sell them as well,i find both of them vastly overated,to me Clichy is a perpetual ditherer and should be given a Compass every time he plays, Nasri in my opinion is the French version of Hleb.Where Wegner is most open to criticism is in the coaching of the Team,not just the Defence but all over the field.Our defensive players have recieved a lot of criticism,i find them to be good players not as good as some other Premiership Plyers,but better than most,it is not the players who are at fault,but the system they are required to play.In Midfield we lack ‘Swashbuckling’player ‘a la Viera’.In attack we simply do not get enough bodies in the box,Walcott is often unjustly criticized for his ‘Final Ball’,it is not Walcott who is always at fault,but the lack of competent coaching for not having more players in the box to get on the end of crosses.I could of course go on with this in much greater detail,but i will not.Instead i will name the three players who in my opinion would make a substantial difference to us next season.Gooners do not just dismiss what i am going to suggest,firstly think about it.Samba(definitely not Cahill) Joey Barton,and Jermaine Defoe.All proven Premiership Players,all apparently looking to make a step up,Samba to improve our back four,Barton to improve our Midfield,and Defoe to support RVP,and to grab the occasional poachers goal that has been so missed since our beloved Eduardo left.Gooners remember this Whilst we may not always have had the best team,we have always had/have the BEST CLUB!!
I thank you, sir!
WENGER OUT! KLOPP IN!!!
LOVE ARSENAL FC! HATE ARSENE FC!
Much better!
** UPDATE TO MY EARLIER POST **
I think Man UTD with Fergie first qualified for Europe in 1988
First of all, internet should only be allowed for 21+.
and then onto arsenal, first off im not really an arsenal fan (well now I am ofc), but more of a Wenger fan after I enjoyed his football/methods/values/honesty/many more at monaco aswell.
But I do wonder why its going (so) wrong because we all know what the players can do on their day and we all know that Wenger can be a tactical genius.
Me thinks there r just to many factors going against us, like refs, or camera angles, or media, or their own fans, or opposite fans, or bribes? or nutty players doing nutty things against us and thinking it is totally normal. The game aint a honest game anymore and arsenal players are brought up to be honest, have values, be kind, play the right way. That I think is the biggest problem and to solve it we have to become bastards as well and have no pity for our opponents, not play fair, not actually play football but what the other teams do aswell, which would result in having no fun anymore in the game they love. I know I woudn’t be able to sacrifice all that for the beautifull game but to win troffies thats the only way im afraid.
Thankfully i dont give shiiiiiiiiiiiittttt about trophies 😀 I just wanna enjoy “foot”ball.
Can’t wait to read Walter’s ref review for the Villa game because I do think that this time around we have been slaughtered by the referee. Three shocking decisions. And we didn’t play that bad this time around. So I don’t think all the booing was for that specific game, but for what the team showed to us these last few months which… well there is no words for it. I have never seen such a collective “looser” spirit in my life. You almost get the feeling that they are trying to fail…
Anyway, I have written about AW’s responsibility again and again and again (sometimes the comments were deleted, sometimes not). I have written where I think he is right and where I think he is wrong, I have commented on his mostly pathetic excuses and also made some proposals for the future, on how to improve things. I will not do it again. I am tired and it makes sense that you are tired reading these things too. We all have our opinions and it seems that nothing is going to change them.
It is good for the blogosphere to have a fully dedicated pro-Wenger corner and I support your decision not to allow open public debate about it all. I am starting to read some pretty extreme things out there (constant failure and disappointment makes people thinking blur and unclear, sometimes me included) so it is good to keep the balance a bit. Therefore, I will not comment on this blog again, although I will continue to read your usually interesting articles.
Lastly I want to remind you of two things.
First, Arsenal FC is NOT Arsene Wenger. Arsenal FC is the only constant out there, all the people in it are the variables, the people who serve it (and they usually being paid handsomely for doing so). We don’t care if AW, Fabregas, Nasri, Jack etc succeed, we want Arsenal to succeed, it’s the club with the cannon on the badge that we love. That’s the target, that’s the goal and to achieve that nobody is irreplaceable.
Second, unlike what people want to believe, football is a generally fair and rewarding sport. When you do the right things in running a club on and off the pitch in the long run you will be rewarded, you will achieve the targets you set on a frequent basis. Reversely and consequently, if you constantly don’t achieve these targets, there is something wrong with the way you run the club and you have to try to make it right. There will always be excuses (some valid, some not) but the problem will remain there, it won’t go away on its own and you will constantly fail.
Hoping for a better Arsenal…
Just to clarify my answer to the regular comments we get that we should be able to criticise Wenger.
My position is that there are many web sites out there which allow readers to criticise Wenger, but many of them don’t allow people to develop positive arguments about Wenger.
I have tried for the past few years to buck that trend by saying that we are a pro-Wenger site, but of course all comments are welcome.
The problem with this approach is that the anti-Wenger comments are mostly (not always but mostly) very simplistic, and are a repeat of what is on the anti-Wenger sites. As a result of this, the pro-Wenger readers get fed up with being here, because our commentary section becomes just like every other commentary section.
In short we’ve tried to be open and have a genuine debate, but it gets sunk amidst the abuse.
And of course, everyone can set up their own blog, you don’t need to be here.
I’m not going to criticize Arsene Wenger but I would like him to admit that this season has been at least a partial failure due to (a)inadequate coaching (we conceded more goals from set pieces than any other team in the EPL, while on the other hand we rarely profited from set pieces in our favour; (b)failure to strengthen the defence in the January Window (when it was obvious that Vermaelen’s injury was not a minor one);and (c)the
decision to persist in the fast, close-passing game, regardless of the fact that massed defences had sussed out our plan and we had no alternative tactic.
Wenger should resign, his buys in recent have been dreadful….we have the money to buy class players. Most embarassing season ever!
The thing I am tired of Tony– is watching Arsenal bang away at a defence when the best defenders on their side are the officials. If we had been given EITHER the goal or the penalty, the chances are we would have won by a street– so superior were we in open play. Villa looked like a pub team in the second half. They won.t win a one-sided game like that again for a long time. And– when was the last time you saw Villa or any other Prem team totally dominated like that for so long– except by Arsenal. We must be doing something right!!
Quito, I suppose this is why I put this article up. “Most embarassing season ever”.
Do you remember Rioch’s season? Do you remember Graham’s last season? Are you aware that we had a manager called Billy Wright? Have you ever looked at our league record through the whole of the 1960s?
I would liken Wenger to Phillippe Petit, the man who tightrope walked between the two towers.
Every year he does the near impossible, creating excellent teams on a shoestring. When I say excellent, I mean teams that beat the “best team of all time” aka Barca. That get to European Cup finals, etc etc etc
Every year he inspires a team to produce in spite of the hopeless odds of playing in a league where a caste system has developed.
I mean by that you have the Brahmins aka Man U
the normal teams aka red English blood teams
and the Untouchables
aka Arsenal
Arsenal seem peculiarly loathed, and we now note extreme forms of malpractice at every level, but particularly in refereeing and Media disingenuity, closely followed by foul play from other teams. …by foul, I don’t only mean flying tackles….
Now the crazy thing is that when Phillippe Petit finished his miracle on the wire, he was beaten up by the NYPD.
Nice.
I liken our ‘supporters’ to the NYPD.
WENGER NEEDS TO ADD SOME DECENT PLAYERS SQUILL,SILVESTRE JUST WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND THE FACT HE TRIED TO BUY SWARZ-FULHAM SAYS IT ALL.
I DONT MIND BUYING YOUNG TALENT BUT PLEASE PAY FOR QUALITY WHERE WE NEED IT
I SEE ALOT OF COMMENTS ABOUT HOW GOOD HE DOES WITH WHAT HE HAS – TRUE INDEED. BUT BUYING A FEW EXTRAS COULD GO A LONG WAY
Are you guys serious, Arsen Wenger is delivering an Constance challenge in Europe football league not only EPL, in terms of preducing players, playing sexy football and he is there in every competion challenging bigger teams with much more power of spending we plying in fire with this man, if he leaves your arsenal will collapse and we have to Waite for long time to have a manger similar to him and we wont find 1. I KNW HE HAS TO IMPROVE HIS SQUADS AND BRINGING NEW KILLERS NOT BABYS. I SWORE ON WENGER EVERY SINGLE MATCH BUT SERIOUSLY GUYS THIS MAN IS ONE OF KIND AND HE WILL DELIVER TROFYS IN COMMING YEARS. I WOULD RATHER TO WAIT ANOTHER TWO YEARS OR MORE THAN TO SEE WENGER DOING IT WITH DIFFERENT TEAMS
I don’t arsene wenger go,but i want him to prepare for the next season,he should money to buy experience players for the next season,because we want a trophy agianst next season.this is the sixth year of no trophy
@ Marcus
Just to add to what you are saying there with regard to foul play from other teams, I think this is a very valid point. Arsenal were the team of the moment when the like of Pires were around offering their what some might refer to as foul play or cheating the ref. Maybe that’s what it takes now.
Wenger Out – We conceded more goals from set-pieces than any other team.
Wenger in – We conceded fewer goals from open play than any other team.
Balanced View – Overall we have a reasonable defense as shown by having the fourth lowest goals against, but if we want to win the league this needs to improve.
It’s all a matter of perspective. Personally, I am happy to see Arsene stay. I don’t see the need for wholesale changes, but I can see a fair few departures over the summer along with a couple of new faces as well. I’m sure the manager will look to improve any area he can.
lets get realisitc, in any employment if we performed like this arsenal team have this season we would have been fired!! if we performed like wenger over the last 5 years we would have been fired!! for the past five seasons fans have been calling for quality players, not the ronaldo, the kaka’s of this world even though it would have been nice, he has invested in crap, just watch the defence for starters, midfield we need a commanding midfielder, a player that has balls like a viera, in attack we have 1 excellent striker in van the man the others are just so over rated bentdner needs to get his head out of his arse, he would barely make leicester football clubs first team, chamakah plays like a disabled monkey on speed, now the defence where do you start, wenger needs to shut the excuses, and the verbal diahorea, arseneal football club are only interested in filling the pockets of the shareholders, not winning trophies, kroenke should go back to the states, and i hope in the future the russian billionaire will take over because i believe he has arsenal interest at heart, they hiked up ticket prices by 6 percent expecting arsenal supporters to watch this crap, and my opinion is WENGER OUT!!! your performance this season has been a disgrace, and when we pay the sort of money as we do to watch these games then i certainly expect us to be winning every game, you knew what posistions needed replacing and you went out and bought more crap, in any job we would have been sacked,so why are you still in the job ?
I am sorry but anyone who professes to be either ‘Pro-Wenger’ or ‘Anti-Wenger’ is displaying an equal level of Luddite stupidity. Attempting to draw such a polarised line in the sand means that this blog is displaying the same level of unjustifiable and untruthful argument as anyone who screams ‘Wenger out’ without a valid and substantial litany of evidence.
I would remind you that defending any entity without question is the mentality of an extremist – we have far too many of those in the world don’t you agree? If you cannot offer a balanced opinion on Arsene Wenger (i.e provide both a negative and positive evaluation of his practices) then you will never be able to be trusted on any other report for fear of another, more subversive motive.
Failing to question those we hold in high regard is a dangerous and regressive thing to do. The only way you can get better is to iterate, work out what went wrong, work out what went well and act on that information.
Perhaps instead of attempting to stoke the angry bee hive for your pleasure at a time where people are understandably upset and angry you could offer a balanced and intelligent review of our manager, his tactics, his team selection etc over the past year?
@Tony: I think that Walter’s end of season report will go a long way to presenting the counter-balance to the Anti-Arsene bandwagon. I think that you should then exercise editor’s rights to post comments that stay on point. when we have a whole season’s worth of REF-ROT to digest, it will then be possible to ask and answer better questions: like what it the likely impact of so many game changing/deciding calls and non-calls – which the players are well aware of, more so than blinkered fans-in-denial – on the players’ mood, desire, hunger, expectation, mental toughness. This said, it is not OK, in my view, to then say that the match-fixing alone is the sole reason for poor player performance (or level of talent). Again, we need to analyze the interplay of both the Bent-Ref factor and any Substandard performance in order to get our feet on the ground for sound solutions. Right now, the AA wounds are too raw and open to expect much more than Amr/Dan Vomit which they turn to salve the wounds and console their powerless lives. Surely we can welcome constructive critique of all that is Arsenal and destructive critique of all that is Bent in the EPL. Both sides, both at once, will help right the ship. Walter, your report will do wonders to raise the current bar for analysis hereabouts; and Tony, you could well knock out the postings that then willfully go off topic. (And Dan, please wipe.)
Wenger,the day arsenal was created u were nt there,so ur stay is just temporary,six yrs no trophy wht do u xpect frm us,lies,stories,news,,keep the the faith,i will buy,fake policy,wht again..??leave us alone,every our fans allover the world commete sucide bcos of you.for these players nasri,van p,fab,sagna,koncienly,vaminator, go to teams with trophy ambition coz am out of gunner i will b back wen ever wenger has leave
Err… come on guys. Sending in racial abuse against Wenger is pointless. I am going to cut it, and if I miss it, someone else is going to see it and tell me and I will cut it.
I mean I will run Bob Hope’s line “lets get realisitc, in any employment if we performed like this arsenal team have this season we would have been fired!!” even though I think it is just daft, but not abuse (as I have said.)
And Bob, if I ran a company that existed in a world where in all likelihood some of our competitors were bribing the tax officials and the monopolies commission, and yet we were still in the top four companies in our sector, and still making a profit, and we had wonderful premises (far better than the opposition) and still had a chance of doing well next year, yes I would keep him in the job, and beg him not to leave.
That’s commercial realism for you.
Tony, you seem to be open to an argument and constructive thoughts…i have some humble questions that i have been long serching answers for..may be you with all your wisdom can give justifications…
PS: dont delete it in the name of abuse cause it is not !!
1) what is the motive of running a football club or for that matter playing any sport?? my yrs of playing semi professional cricket and universtiy level football tells me that its the desire to win to succeed and to be champions…now you would say that loosing is a part of the game…completely true..but then when you loose you take your lessons and you make it a point to overcome those fralities in the future…bring that into perspective..what has been the lesson for that last 3 yrs (i leave the 3 yrs before that as i did use to believe that it was a period of transition)…what did wenger learn from and manage to address from our shortcomings of last season?? we have shipped 41 goals..the most from set pieces..and all he can give is that we have let in the least number from open play..well nursery level players know that if you opponent has a weakness you try to exploit that…how many goals have we scored from set pieces our selves?? how many from corners? how many from freekicks?? does that point out that we dont do the necessary bit while in practice?? who should take the blmae for it?? where is option B and option C??? we are flat and we get lost each time some one comes and parks there bus (why wont they..if we cant crack thyrough it then its our fault and not theres)…
2) so we sold toure and adi and brought in who?? schillachi and chamak…now tell me man for man would you even compare king kolo with Schillachi..on counts of ability, experience of playing at the top ( i know he does have a few caps for france..but would that stand for what kolo has done)..as much as i hate ADI..i think on any given day, he would contribute more than chamak…he could hold on to the ball..he could shoot and he was a livewire…chamak is naive…he has got 2 left feet..i know it is his first season..but is he seriously better then bendtner?? if not then y bring in another dross?? where did all the 35 odd million that we made from the above 2 sells go?? y not spend ??
3) so wenger sold all from our golden generation and what did that achieve?? there is something called the spirit of a club that the young ones pick up from the old..y do you think ManU keeps holding on to the old dead woods in the likes of neville..scholes..giggs…i will tell you y..cause they act as mentors and help the young kids understand what the club stands for..the heritage and the passion that goes along wearing the badge..the likes of fabregas and RVP learnt from genuine characters…who would do that now?? y sell gilberto?? campbell came in and gave our kids a real stick after a few games…sad that there are not many such characters around..dont blame Cesc for what he said..cause he spoke the truth and nothing else…
3) denilson..the subject of your affection..what has been his contribution??? tell me in one word that today if we leave him..would he be picked up by any top club?? and if he does, would he play every week for them…the answer is no..almunia…please try justifying his selection..i remember his efforts in the CL final against barca…and those goals that the let in through his legs and at his near post..would Fergi hav given hima 2nd chance?? how can someone who is as diablical as Almunia wear the arsenal colour for so long?? abou diaby?? how many matches has he played in the last 3 yrs?? just how many..i dont care for his ability..he is a crock..end of…same goes for rosicky…how many mathes and what is the kind of money that has been spent after them??who decides there contratcs?? the list is endless…the amount of dead wood that we have on our pay roll is just unimaginable…
4) so we play the most attractive game in the the league…and then we screw up and the manager has got all possible reason to put up..sometimes its the field while at others its the reff..he has turned himself into a laughing stock..and what more the lads in the team knows that the manager wont Q or give them the stick that some one like jose or fergi would…be man enough to accept that we were poor and lost deservedly..y cover up this over paid twitter addicts?? what have they done to gurantee that????
5) which was the last tactical master piece that wenger dished out on a match day??? may be the one against barca away…with the midfield wide men coubling up with the wide backs to give extra cover…Fergi had our number using those clown twins as midfield winger at OT…we dont have a tactical brain anymore..we are flat and devoid of ideas…
may be i just igve up..cause you wont patience to read though all that i still ahve left….just want to make a simple and clear point..
no one is bigger than the club…we were big and had pride before wenger came and we will have life after he goes!! its the club that matters and not a certain individual !!
@tony & @pete, I stand corrected, it appears when you give the aaa a place to vent, they come over all pro wenger! Irony, it seems, is not without a sense of humour 🙂
Well to me Arsene wenger is a good coach but they have to let him go,His to greedy pls sign quality players,How can walcott,Diaby,Denilson,Bendtner,Arshavin be in that team,What are they contributing pls let them go.
Mr Monkey…
I am sorry but anyone who professes to be either ‘Pro-Wenger’ or ‘Anti-Wenger’ is displaying an equal level of Luddite stupidity.
Well, maybe you should look back at the history of this site. We have analysed and analysed; consider all the work we have done on the position of referees. We did not reach a conclusion that Wenger is doing a wonderful job without reference to all the statistics and facts and analyses. Then we drew the conclusion.
The trouble is that we are daily being attacked by the anti-Wenger mob, to such a degree, that our voice is now being lost, and those who have followed the analyses are unable to have proper debates because of the noise from those who have not followed the analyses.
To accuse us of being machine smashers suggests you have not bothered to read the in-depth articles on this site.
@Tony: (assuming you meant me, not bob hope:) yep, I totally agree with your commercial realism as you state it – totally; and would like to pair it – add to it – with as astute an eye for quality-control on the pitch. These can co-exist, and should co-exist in my company. It’s not one or the other, or the company will fold.
Please don’t be too harsh in your censorship Tony, I particularly enjoy the posts telling YOU what YOUR blog should be about.!
I truly admire AW for his part in bringing Arsenal forward economicaly.
He had no need of tactical skills, because all the other teams were blinded by the way Arsenal played, but now they have managed to work out how to counteract that style of play, AW has no response.
This is my ONLY complaint about Arsenal FC. There have no alternative ways of playing, and it does not matter which players join Arsenal, if this does not change, then at the end of the season will be the same results.
What Arsenal need is 1: A defence coach, one who coaches the defence how to defend the castle, in all ways, defend, defend, defend.
2: An attack coach, one who teaches our players how to shoot at goal, when to be quick passing, when to be holding the ball, when and where to let the other team have it, these are tactical issues, that i (and many others) have long realised that AW does not have.
3: If 1 and 2 can be embodied in a new Manager, then so be it, else they should be two individuals, who are brought in, and AW should step upstairs, (if in case that is what the new owners have in mind, i am now not so sure at this, time)to leave those coaches to run the team.
If we do not develop other ways of playing alongside the way we play now, then Arsenal will not be playing CL after next season,
especially as many other teams are already knocking at the top 4 places.
Arsenal has stagnated, i am sorry to say, and if the only way to change that, is to remove AW, then so be it.
I would even go so far today as to say, that the last match of the season should not be attended by any Arsenal supporters or fans, to show how serious the matter is.
It is not enough to be in the top 4, we want to be PROUD of the club, the players and manager because of their effort, skill and determination.
To all gunners, may the many changes that are needed, happen so we all can be PROUD of our team again.
@Tony
‘We did not reach a conclusion that Wenger is doing a wonderful job without reference to all the statistics and facts and analyses. Then we drew the conclusion.’
Is that not somewhat disingenuous? As I understand it, you founded this (excellent) site as a pro-Wenger site – you didn’t start with an open mind and then come to a conclusion. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but to suggest that your articles, statistics, analysis etc has all been done with a completely open mind is stretching the truth somewhat.
Tony
I feel that all AFC fans want some level of change. Some want a new manager, formation, tactics etc.., but all seem to agree that we need some change next season.
I believed that wenger did too until I asked myself this question…
If (for example) we are struggling with set pieces in January, why doesn’t Wenger change this in Feb/march/April/ rather than wait until next year?
This ( like many other problems) seem to reoccur week after week, season after season.
It leads me to believe that wenger does not value what needs changing but simply wants to work on our strengths.
So, as many suggest wenger therefore comes across as stubborn.
Here is my question….
Why do you believe that a man in his sixties who has proved over many seasons to not have the desire to fix problems during the season when it could have made a difference is going to change when we are not playing?
Cheers
Mike
– Wenger shouldnt have won the carling cup in 2007
– Wenger shouldnt have won the league in 2008 while trashing Manu 4-0 in the FA cup
– Wenger shouldnt have humiliated Manu in the CL semi home and away in 2009
– Wenger shouldnt have humiliated Barca 4-1 in 2010, instead he should have bought Silvestre
– Wenger shouldnt have won the carling cup in 2011, instead Arsenal should have played replays against Huddersfield, Leeds and Ipswich
– Wenger shouldnt have won the cl trophy in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and counting
– Wenger shouldnt have won the uefa cup in 2000
– Wenger….man its too easy
Unfortunately as we know AW has seems to have great loyalty to some players which i can not fathom.
We have a core of about 5/6 players who we have had for years who basically have not improved. When do you call it quits – let them move on and reduce the wage bill.
We all know who the usual suspects are, but what about the likes of Clichy and Walcott even.
Walcott. Is this his 6th year with us coming up. Improved, but at such a slow rate i am now getting worried – he’ll be a good footballer when he gets to 30. He was so static yesterday and if Wenger wants to play 4-5-1 then we need somebody better in this position. If AW is not going to move Theo to a central role (and we have been waiting for this for a while now)our main striker will not get enough support.
Gael has been going backwards for a couple of years now and has been, as far as our opposition is concerned an obvious weak link. Every team we play attacks down our left flank. Sell while we can get some monies. Shame Gibbs is injury prone but AW should of let Gael go last year and strengthened that LB position.
In short i would get rid of around 7 members of the squad. Of course we are not going to replace with 7 signings, but get min. 3 or even 4 experienced players and bring over 3 or 4 from the youth team. At least the squad will have a new feel to it.
I am getting concerned that the only players we now attract (or think we can sign)seem to be French ones. I am not racist, a better mix of attitudes is needed. Do we now take it that AW is only respected on our and French shores now and not beyond as i don’t hear other players saying they want to come to us too often now.
….. and lastly – for gods sake Wenger, get better defensive coaches. George Graham cant be busy – ask him if he wants a Defensive Consultant position for the next year or so – he’ll scare them if nothing else.
Wenger has shortcomings.
He is not as quite as shrewd a tactician as Mourinho.
But then Mourinho has none of the vision of Wenger,the vision to create a near legally unbeatable team for instance 😉
Wenger also doesn’t have the toughness of Ferguson…in the past he relied on Viera and his team members to instil fear, where necessary.
But when it comes to things like spotting talent, nurturing talent, developing technique, developing players, developing teams, I would say he is almost without peer.
All in All he is one the worlds’ premier coaches of all time, which is why he won Football Manager of the decade, ( and not Ferguson or Mourinho).
Firstly i’d like to state that I am niether Pro-Wenger or Anti-Wenger, I am an Arsenal Fan. I support them while Wenger is in control and i will support them when we have another manager. The way I see it I have no control over who is our manager so why waste time wondering/ arguing who should or shouldn’t be our manager.
What I can do is look at what has happened during our season and form my own opinions as to what went right and what went wrong. In doing so I can admit that Wenger did a lot of things right and I can also admit he made some mistakes which cost us dearly.
In my opinion Wenger is naieve and this has passed on to his players. He refuses to buy what is needed to get the job done for fear of upsetting some of his players. This is something you can never accuse Ferguson of.
He has purged all experience from his squad over the past 4 years and has expected players at the dawn of their careers to learn overnight what is needed to win Trophies.
He refuses to take the other team into consideration when preparing his own. He employs the same tactics and the same personnel no matter who we play and this has led to unsurprising losses against inferior opposition. Leaving Bendtner & Chamakh on the bench for Theo & Arshavin v Stoke!?
He does not show a ruthlessness that gets the best out of his players. He indulges them far too much and they repeadedly let him down.
He is too “nice” when faced with diabolical officialdom. Ferguson knows the worth of picking up a touchline ban or a fine if it motivates his players and puts the spotlight on the officials. Wenger didn’t even mention the ref after the Villa match!
Wenger is arrogant in his attitude to defending. Last week he said of defending set pieces “it is the easiest thing to correct on the training field”! How can he utter those words when we are renownd worldwide for being awful at defending set pieces?
Worst of all is his public admissions that he would be happy finishing second and that it would be a successful season. The collapse after that statement proves his lack of ambition and motivational prowess has led to us going from title contenders to 4th in the league and champions lge qualifiers.
Wenger was lucky to inherit such a group of tough, single-minded English warriors when he came over. The foreigners in the Invincibles were schooled by Adams and Keown and Parlour – Bergkamp talked of how they instilled a will to win inside even him “How much do you want it?!” would be their battle cry.
Wenger misses this badly and our team is lost without it.
@Gooner49
In my opinion Wenger is naieve and this has passed on to his players. He refuses to buy what is needed to get the job done for fear of upsetting some of his players.
Horse manure.
Wenger has actively chased key players…
Schwarzer …
Given…
Cahill….
Ronaldo.
to name a few we know about.
But if George Soros came to buy your shares, would you not too up the price?
What is to be done? Arsene is in a double-bind. If he does openly battle against Bent-Refdom, then he is mass-attacked by the bent-media as a Bad Loser and Whinger. If he does not openly battle against Bent-Refdom, what then I fear what is the impact on young players who do not have the tough voices and attitude of older/experienced warriors to steel them against the Shitstorm (Bent Refs-Hitmen) on the pitch and from the media. Clearly Arsene understands his bind. One way forward, I think, is Walter’s end of season report to come. It could have – with large fan support and widening publicity – the potential to help break this bind. To be a voice for the club (or a club for the voice) that fights for a level pitch. To spearhead a demand for, at minimum, video replay, post-match referee press conferences, and publication of the official post-match ref reviews. Another way forward, I think is Arsene’s deputizing and empowering other internal/back staff voices – a renewed Pat Rice, Bergkampf, Henry, Defensemen – to come in and take on the tough love part of the motivation that he may not relish or is being tuned out. More of a committee approach, under his overall power, to demand accountability on the pitch. I don’t feel that Project Youth alone is sufficient without the spine and savvy that authentic folk who have been through it can bring to this club, both in training and on the pitch as experienced, even 0ver 30 players. Something in the culture of the club needs to be changed and I think a two-front war – against Bent-Refdumb and for Experienced Leadership – needs to be waged at the same time. If we keep arguing only for internal changes and ignore the bent-ref plague; or only against the bent-ref plague and ignore the need for changes in the back staff and on the pitch, then we will endlessly bicker with each other and not push for the two-front offensive that, in my view, our Club needs going forward.
Frosty, yes I agree that can be fun, and those of us involved in the blog do have quite a few chuckles about this. the only problem is when the negative feedback is so strong that it drowns out the message. I do love the people who come here and give a complete vision of reality in three sentences without ever having read any article on the site, let alone the article they are commenting upon.
Above all else, two things have to change for next season. Regardles of who is pulling on the shirt, 1. we have to change our style of play from pressing high up the pitch to lying deeper and then hitting teams at pace. At the moment, even the most limited teams are finding it easy to stifle our play. 2. Stop playing this crazy offside trap and start defending the edge of our box properly. This, Wenger has to change as it is quite clear that the back line is being told to step up all the time. Most of the goals at home have come from this tactic. It is just lazy defending and exposes Wenger’s lack of defensive expertise. Even with some of the players we have who should not be there, changes these two things and we would become far harder to beat.
4 seasons or so ago,wenger said he will buy quality experience players in the defence and what did he do?he bought a washed up injury cursed silvetre.3 seasons ago,we needed a combatitive box to box player.wenger said he will look for “qualitee” and what did he do?he bought a french tosser who hasnt played competitive football called amaury bischoff.(he is half portugese blah blah).last season we were calling for an experienced “qualitee” defender and who came through the door?one dude who had a bad injury record called seb squallaci.am sorry folks but bar vermalean,all his buys over the past few season either suck on the pitch,suck on the injury front,suck in the head(adebayor and hleb),or just plain suck totally.face it guys,wenger cannot take us any farther.he cant motivate,he has no plan b,he is happy with failure etc etc.the board are also dumb people for accepting failure every season and now they want to have an increase in tickets and steal our money?6% YOU ARE HAVING A VERY FUNNY LAUGH!!!!
If Arsene was a manager of Real Madrid,Roma,Chelsea or any other big club he would have went in january. FACT. He seems to be dragging us into the gutter. I no for a fact that if Arsene went to another club during the summer he would not have tight pockets he would buy the Benzemas and the Harzards in a heart beat.
I hope Wenger this summer puts it right.
I think we now have the finances available to buy two good players maybe a centre back and striker and to bring in a defensive coach , Release those who arent making it and continue promoting youth.
Its looking like its effecting his health both mentaly and physically.It would be a shame if he doesnt after all he has done for the club.
I think I have just heard about every Negative comment an anti wenger fan can make, please can someone tell me something interesting because I am bored
In Arsene we believe..The improvement between last season and this season is we had won against Barca,M.U and Chelsea at Emirates.We always closer to win the title but the same story happening.Firstly, the player self don’t believe with the team..I think there is some problem with Wenger’s motivation..The team don’t have winning mentality at all..I want critic about our defense..Specifically, goal keeper and center back..We need a professional goal keeper and and one more center back..The mid fielders and strikers are fine..Now we need to pray for Man City to lose or draw against Stoke and we win against fulham.I scared both cannot happen..If not we are going to drop to 4th in the table…It’s make me very sad…If Arsenal finish 4th than this is the worst season..I assume we already finish this season…Looking forward to next season…
Erm….I am not especially well endowed, I lack intelligence, my life has not panned out as planned, I was rejected in the first stage of a britains got talent audition. And I read the sun and listen to talkshite. A trophy would make everything so much better so I blame wenger for erm….everything…
Is there any possible movement on Ref reforms …
I’m upset we did not wind or come close to it… Wenger loosing his Job out of the question … Should never happen if its done I believe we should topple ownership.
We are now a team that has lost its way, its belief, and its mental strength..(if we ever had that!). we have a mediocre squad and a team that plays possession football that carries little penetration or threat. We have no plan B, consequently making us the most predictable team around. We have no real leaders of the style of adams or vieira. We have centrebacks that are way below the standard required for a team challenging for silverware. In fact the weakness at set-pieces is so significant that one expects a goal to be scored.We have 2 tall strikers, one that plays left/right wing, the other struggling to make any impact and that rarely has a shot on goal.We cannot hold a lead, 4-4 away to newcastle must be the lowest point of the season as it must have finally confirmed that we are not worthy contenders for trophies.
Finally we have a manager that has seen these failings,( as these deficiences and weaknesses go back many years) and has failed miserably to correct them. I won’t accept the argument that the project youth or project wenger can only be fully realised after some formative years, 6 years is time enough and we are worse now than back then(despite manipulation of statistics and clever wenger spin).
We have become a part of the footie banter and some expressions are becoming commonplace for example: “do an arsenal”. is to choke at the final crucial matches.
Win lose or draw i used to proud of arsenal and being a gooner…..the teams before this miserable run of empty seasons used to carry the famous arsenal spirit…..it was associated with us and exemplified by george graham. He made us tough and hard to beat and you could be inspired by the characters like adams bould keown etc, that would die for the cause.
Wenger didnt have to copy that style, but some ingredients of that “bulldog spirit” would have been a very basic and sensible consideration to continue with. Instead he continues with his mistakes.Radical change is needed, its far too radical for Arsene Wenger…HE IS NOT UP TO THE TASK
@Stevie E
… can’t … take … any … more … 🙂
I am amazed that AW can keep going, when you think of what he has been up against. I’ve never seen a season with so many dodgy decisions going against Arsenal. I also don’t remember such a negative press. Frankly, I’m pretty much in awe of the man’s dignity – the way he can come-across with humility and a sense of humour even under such impossible circumstances is something I find rather inspiring.
OT: don’t get me started on the Sky commentators – if I could disable it, I would. ITV are no better. The negative dross they come up with is enough to make me shout at the TV set. Very embarrassing. 🙂 Arsenal TV commentary is very good IMO – but of course never in sync with the TV pictures, thanks to different lags… if only Arsenal could provide their own live coverage…
Wenger was THE up and coming manager when he joined Arsenal, players knew this and Dein wheeled and dealt effectivley to bring potential world class players in. Wenger did the rest with his all round fitness regimes. He also inherited the Arsenal spirit in our defence. We now know how great these players were but the team under achieved at European level. Why??..tactically Wenger was ahead of the domestic game but not in Europe..we had no plan B even in the early days. We still do not have a plan B. Domestically everyone has caught up and we no longer have the solid Arsenal defence and indeed spirit. Wengers limitations are now exposed but deserves another year to bring us back up again. Project Fabregas and the youngsters has not worked, so he must spend on quality as he did with Dein. Already mistakes are being made in breaking up the FA Youth cup winning side and not tapping into that team spirit with only Jack retained. Man U had six great years on the back of their youth cup winning side. The players have let him down this year. With David Seaman, Steve Bould and Martin Keown around the place how is it we cannot defend properly?.
My god there are some idiots out there!
How can even the most ardent Wenger fan taake anymore? he is dragging us back into the dark ages with bad judgement in the transfer market and lack of quality and experience in the team all managers seem to have more tacticle knowledge
And the worst news of all is that the cardboard cut out on the bench next to wenger pat rice is staying for another year.I thought a decent number two might make the difference.
Wenger out Martin O,neil in
Wenger stays Arsenal not in the top six next season simples please save this post as this time next year it will be i told you so
Tony, either your filtering has just improved, or the comments on this article will make a good case study for some psychology class. Some of those comments are the most measured criticism of Wenger I’ve read on this site. Makes a change from the mindless abuse.
I’m going to make a probably universally unpopular statement, because we all love talking about it. But I think tactics (apart from being a seemingly vague term) are overrated in their importance. And of course all too often considered good or bad only on the basis of the final result, no matter their actual contribution to it. Tactics have a role to play, but it is more the execution that matters. Last year Inter Milan under the great tactician Jose Mourinho set up exactly the same against Barcelona as we did. It’s just that they played better (and got quite a bit of luck too)
I get the talk of Wenger not being up to the mark tactically. I don’t think that is correct though. He has changed tactics in terms of formation and in terms of being defensive in the past, and he has made brilliant substitutions (I assume that comes under tactics). He makes some subtle changes quite often, and he does read the game well. I think he is just sometimes reluctant to change it and would rather see his team just play better. And actually when we do play well, we are F***ing unplayable. Of course, I’m only guessing as to his motives.
I and my fellow gunners just don’t buy Into the media Inspired attacks on Aresnal F.C. The constant abuse towards Wenger for excample Talk rubish sport & 5 live and of course “Mark Loro I am English Or Irish” he has already written us off again for next season saying we won’t be anywere near challenger’s What a expert’ did he not say that at the start of this season ?
Yes the team have let us down, But they know that, Wenger has made mistakes But He knows. However I remain convinced that some Referees were out to build their reputations at the expense
of Aresnal FC .I belive If just 5 of these unprofessional decisions had taken place in another country they would be Investigated (N/castle WBA Man U A?villa Everton and many more)
Therefore Wenger can change our team buy as many players as he wants It won,t matter One bit unless The Club & the FA confront
the treatment metted out by A handful of bent officals who will have knock the confidence out of our team at every opportunity with their unjust, bais decisions. untold keep up the good work and lets hit back at this ridiculious Media ,Referee Bias
@petebishop I think your comments amount to some serious bishop bashing. That is a bizarre version of aw . The man brought in viera – a guy on the bench in Italy – petit, Anelka – a complete nobody at that stage, pires , a sensational winger…. To put these amazing signings down to abstract forces is crass . Look, wenger was years ahead of everybody in 97. Now people have caught on a bit. That means no-one will sell Aw a player for x mill because they know if aw is interested he mustbe worth 3x mill. AW remains a legend . Were it not for the scammy nature of professional football I have no doubt he would have won bags more trophies all on a shoestring . Nuff said
While it is wonderful that people try to analyze things (which typically means statistics here), we had for our last referee analysis based upon a single game in the EPL. As standard deviations should be on the basis of N-1, anything that this referee did in the only game before this should have been washed out by the expected infinite standard deviation. The only thing I am looking for out of the last game, is how Vermaelen (sp?) did in the eyes of others.
But, when a person has lots of numbers to deal with, you can do a bit better. But you also need to call a spade a spade. Let’s say that Arsenal had the same 11 playing every game, except that some of the time it was Koscielny and sometimes it was Squillaci.
According to most fan sites, this would offer the perfect opportunity to compare Koscielny and Squillaci. And they are WRONG! What you really want are parallel universes, and in one universe Koscielny plays and in the Squillaci plays. Sorry, we only have one universe, and any analysis of who is good and who is bad always comes along with a healthy dose of uncertainty.
Arsene Wenger has a good approach, and has been unlucky to not have gotten more recognition in terms of wins and silverware.
Apparently Arsene does not want to restrict players from participating in the press (be it the twit thing, or the paper press). I can live with that. But to me, the biggest thing seems to be some of the players convincing themselves in the process of talking to the press, that the upcoming gaming is going to be “easy”. Of course, if you think the game is easy, you come into the game in neutral, and what we found this year is we are quickly down by 1 or 2 goals because everyone thinks that the game doesn’t start at the kickoff.
Forbidding players to talk to the press (formal or the twit variety) doesn’t solve the problem. What needs to happen is for players to not psyche themselves out, and believe that the next game is “easy”, and so they can start the game in neutral.
Does having an English player in the starting 11 fix this? No! Does having an “experienced” player in the starting 11 fix this? No. Let’s say we have 10 players in the starting 11 from the current roster, and somehow Arsene finds the “super-experienced” player to bring in. And he is the 11th player. If the game starts, and a significant fraction of the other 10 are in “neutral”, what is this player supposed to do? Kick his own players? Punch them?
A single player cannot turn things around.
Okay, let’s go back to the manager. Let’s say that Arsene gets some “Magic” technology which will tell him how is going to enter the game in neutral. You go to the game with 16 players, and more than 5 come up as being in neutral with this magic technology. Do you start the game with less than 11 players?
Sorry, this is too long, bailing.
First of all i am an arsenal fan not an arsene fan so i criticise him when ever he is wrong and i don’t care if he stays or departs. i do like him for what he has done for my club but he has shown obvious weaknesses that he is refusing to adress. here are a few..
my first point is about his broken promises about improving the defence. this is from August 2009:
“we know that last year we conceded 37 goals and you cannot win the championship in England conceding 37 goals no matter how good you are going forward. That is something we have to address and correct compared to last year”.
And this, is from May 2010:
“When you concede 41 goals you don’t win the title. I want to rectify that”.
now this year we have already conceded 41 goals with 1 game to go instead of improving it he has taken the best cb out of the team each year, Toure last season and gallas this season. the Cbs who represented us this year in the league had no experiance of playing regulerly in the league.
my second point is set pieces as a whole. we cant take advantage of it but other do. when was the last time we scored a beautiful direct free kick goal. brummies away courtesy of two deflections and thats the only one this year i think. and conceding from set pieces has become a joke now.
my third point is about wengers lack of tactical awareness and predictablity. you always know who he is going to start you wont see him change the starting line up to tackle diffrent opponents instead others take advantage and work us out.
the problem with wenger is he works more on his strengths then weaknesses in which case you sometimes get lucky(past 2005 era) and some time you don’t(last 6 years). he is hated so much these days by his own fans because of his attitude and sttubornness. most fans turned against him not because of the results in last six years but because of refusing to address the obvious problems or failing to do so even though we could afford to as we are one of the richest club in the world and have the 3rd or 4th highest wage bill in the league.
i can’t see the point of being pro wenger because i cant see any anti wenger blogs or websites, if you can then please let me know. the extremist blogs like le grove, Just arsenal and the media do go over the top sometimes in critisizing wenger and the club but they do give credit somtimes where its due. dont take this the wrong way but your bias towards wenger and the club makes u worse then all of them and your stance of being pro wenger even more pointless.
balance is the key my friend for you and your godfather wenger.
Some Arsenal supporters deserve Sam Allerdyce for a manager.
I was looking for Ludd on Google earth and my computer crashed, spooky eh?
Tony keep on keeping on. Ironically those who seek to build (debate)often are the target for the destructive. Perhaps it is because building takes talent and effort and forces the destructive to question themselves. If and when they do, they don’t like the answer and in an all to human way, lash out.
@pete bit of fun for my lunch break 🙂 Never will return to this page again! 😀
Does the buck not stop with the manager? Mediocre players, no team spirit. No winning mentality. No leader. No defence. Manager who refuses to listen. Fabregas and Nasri ann Arshavin off. No decent players want to play for us. Failed youth policy. And you still get pro-wengers: F**K OFF AND WAKE UP – THIS CLUB will be lucky to finish sixth next season. No CL football, even less money — be sixteenth place season after and finally bankruptcy and relegation. WENGER my bollocks.