The Arsenal Society VIII

I hace to say after reading Wenger's press conference, my faith is growing a little bit. Especially when he came up with this gem



We're looking at you Lord and Saviour of the Universe Harry Redknapp.

I miss Henry

I really think Weneger needs to go, but that's a good point he made, something I am constantly going on about. It's not always about winning. Unfortunately most football fans are not intelligent enough to understand this.

Look at Birmingham now, can you seriously say they have acheived more than us? (I will be expecting some people to say yes btw, which will further reinforce my point about football fans being unintelligent)

However in our case 6 years is approaching our limit. Now it's got to the point that winning is imperative.

I really think Weneger needs to go, but that's a good point he made, something I am constantly going on about. It's not always about winning. Unfortunately most football fans are not intelligent enough to understand this.

Look at Birmingham now, can you seriously say they have acheived more than us? (I will be expecting some people to say yes btw, which will further reinforce my point about football fans being unintelligent)

However in our case 6 years is approaching our limit. Now it's got to the point that winning is imperative.

Sounds like he's making excuses there. It's like "ok we've not won anything for 5-6 years BUT compared to the teams around us..." He needs to take the blame and responsibility for things sometimes.

He's made mistakes in his management during this period. As has every other manager in the league....

Arsene apparently has had money to spend in the last 5-6 years but because of his footballing/financial philosophy, he's been unwilling and arguably too stubborn to spend money? Even when there's been a need to do so to strengthen his team and his team's chances of landing some silverware??!

It's whether you're happy with the style of football you play and your seemingly sound business model or whether you're prepared to risk the latter and perhaps the former in landing some silverware to satisfy the fans cravings and as a consequence, shutting up the critics and the media etc...

The way Arsenal run things is respectable, deserving of more respect than say what Man City are doing, splashing cash here, there and everywhere to win/buy success - a process that arguably devalues the winning of things, making the pursuit and achievement of success arguably souless in this respect.

Depends what the individual values in the sport tbh, values differing from one individual to the next.

You do well in most competitions, sometimes very well and you play very attractive football, sometimes very naive football. Things could be a hell of a lot worse tbh. You could support Liverpool. Imagine having to watch that boring dross week-in, week-out? Doesn't bear thinking about.

You have contradicted yourself there you say it's not all about winning but it is now imperative to win.............

Are you that daft?

From an outside perspective, I'd say its more important now than ever to keep Wenger.

Chelsea and Man City can and will throw money, they can make massive losses and not care, they can and will find a way around the financial fair play rules. They will always buy winners from other teams and established stars and keep in the top4 for years to come (even if they have the odd blip, they will buy their way back in).

Man Utd will continue their dominance at the top or near to it, they have such an established system in place which has worked for so long, even if another manager comes in, they can reap the benefits of the stability for years to come. They have a number of young quality players and proved they can go buy more when they need to. A club of their stature will always bring in a top quality manager (for example rumours of Mourinho)

So already 3 of the top4 are likely to go to these guys every year.

Spurs do not have the year on year consistency yet but they did very well last season and more importantly they have a core number of young quality players. They have a feel good factor around the club and could either keep pushing up or fall back, but it's a risk that Arsenal need to be wary of.

Liverpool have been at their lowest but the new owners will bring stability, they've said all the right things, taken the correct and considered decisions and their success at the Red Sox means they may slowly improve.

This isn't me saying Arsenal will fall back, just that 6 teams will now be competitive over the next few years for 4 spots.

Arsenal have improved their financial position significantly in recent years with the property development and the new stadium, but what next? Can Arsenal really increase their revenue by another 30-50% in the forseeable future? Probably not.

As soon as you fall into the trap of paying inflated sums and inflated wages, it screws up the structure and suddenly all your players want higher wages.

I only bring up this example because I believe that is what has happened at Liverpool. We gave Gerrard a massive pay rise to keep him away from Chelsea, and in turn players like Reina, Kuyt, wanted (and rightly so) higher wages. The worst example is given Carragher stupid wages when he's at the twilight of his career.

Will it be easy to reverse our inflated wage budget? No, it's going to be a painful and slow process.

Admittedly I think Wenger has made a few mistakes recently and the extra risk in buying a quality player here or there could make a massive difference, but likewise it could be a massive failure? Bear in mind that most of the current players have been moulded in a certain way and also a certain mentality, you have to wonder how much could be upset by bringing in a few players.

I suppose its more a case of, if you do get rid of Wenger, who do you bring in? Will young, promising players stop signing for Arsenal since they know they wont get as much of a chance to succeed as before? What happens if the new manager drops out of the top4 for a season? Do you then sack him? Stick or twist?

I think Wenger should go for a new number 2, a new assistant manager who has a different approach to him, someone to question and someone to be aggressive in mentality with a desire to win. Perhaps that could provide the right balance to make Arsenal winners?

It's a shame though, I think a small taste of winning would do significant things for the team.

Fair points.

However I really couldn't care less if there were 8 teams challenging for the top 4, we're simply too strong a side not to finish in the top 4. While Wengers style may not be suitable for winning the league, for the top 4 it's quite effective, since we usually have about 15 home bankers every season. (and we usually bank most of them)

With players like Sagna/Fabregas/Wilshere/Walcott/Nasri/RvP we're just too strong to finish outside the top 4. However it is not impossible, just very unlikely.

Also Spurs will have to sell a few players this summer when they fail to qualify for the CL. Liverpool are no way ready to challenge for the top 4.

Man City don't have any European games.

Do we have any?

Nope, but Man City look in decent form, especially after the 5-0 thrashing of Sunderland.

Arsenal have drawn their last 3 premier league games.

And Chelsea seem to be grinding out results now.