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I cannot support Wenger anymore after this farce.


By Matty Sadler
September 2 2015

Is Wenger's position still tenable after his failure to strengthen his squad this time round? In all the years I have published Arsenal Times I have never seen such a bitter reaction on this website, there are numerous posts on the site condemming Wenger, I print one of them below:

Friends, Gooners, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Wenger, not to praise him.

I'm sure many of you on this forum will know me as a pretty considered poster. I'm balanced and unbiased. I am not fickle. I'm not one for knee jerk reactions and I rarely go into "am furious" mode, but that is all about to change after the debacle that was our transfer window.

For many years we had to cope with a lot of crap. We sold our best players to our supposed "rivals". We were forced to play a lot of dross that was nowhere near the required standard. We suffered big defeats, none worse than the 8-2 at Old Trafford. We endured some simply embarrassing and unacceptable cup exits, like against Birmingham, Bradford and Blackburn. We were rubbish in the Champions League. Our proud manager, who revolutionised English football and was a pioneer for so many years, was reduced to scraping for a top four finish year after year. Sure, a top four finish isn't a trophy, but Wenger definitely deserves credit for it. I can't think of many, if any, managers who could've done it year after year. All of this was okay because I was of the belief that once we got the stadium paid off we would be able to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Man United in the transfer market, and there would be good times ahead.

The first year we had money to spend was 2013/14. I don't think anyone can deny we should've won the league that year, having led the way for so long. Ramsey was playing the best football of his career, Giroud was scoring and Ozil started off strongly. Unfortunately, over the course of two transfer windows that season, we failed to bring in another striker, meaning Giroud was quite literally our lone striker (no, Sanogo and Bendtner don't count), we failed to bring in another pacey attacker while we were without Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, leaving us toothless and one dimensional in attack, and we didn't strengthen our central midfield adequately. We were also subjected to that embarrassing Luis Suarez £40 million + £1 fiasco. We were poor in the transfer market and it definitely cost us that season.

2014/15 Chelsea won the league without getting out of first gear because they had no real competition. We could've be that competition. We bought in five players that we definitely needed and improved the squad exponentially, but we gambled by not signing a central midfielder (again) or a central defender and it cost us (again). We were awful during the first half of the season and were thankful that Alexis carried us on his own until other player started returning from injury, or finally bothering to turn up. We fell lucky again that Coquelin made a miraculous comeback and a number of "bodge job" centre backs filled in until we got Koscielny back from injury and later signed Gabriel. Aside from the last couple of games, we were pretty amazing throughout 2015, which made it all the more annoying. We could've really gone for it that season but handed Chelsea the league.

I am still only 24, so maybe I am still naively positive. Maybe I am just foolish. For some reason I genuinely believed this summer would be different. I thought we'd learn after two incomplete transfer windows cost us. Our current squad is pretty good, only a couple of players away from being genuine contenders. We needed a goalkeeper, a midfielder (either a defensive midfield upgrade on Coquelin/ Coquelin's back up or just a central midfielder with size and power) and a striker. Personally, I also wanted a younger centre back to step in for Mertesacker over the next few years and a younger left back to step in for Monreal over the next few years, but those two weren't essential.

We signed Petr Cech and sent Szczesny out on loan, something I never thought we'd do. Cech has already proved against Liverpool how valuable he can be. Surely then we'd push on and, at the very least, sign a central midfielder and a striker, so we can press on and really hunt down Chelsea and City.  We could then become genuine contenders.  Nope. Instead, we've pretty much stood still whilst United and Liverpool have strengthened well. If you stand still in the Premier League, you go backwards.

What is the reasoning? Is Wenger that arrogant, or does he genuinely believe the squad we have now is good enough to win the league? You can't honestly tell me that he couldn't find a way to improve a team that finished 12 points behind Chelsea last year. Is he that stubborn, or does he really not see what every pundit and fan seems to see? We all know the money is there now, is he really that tight and stingy that he wont go out and pay the going rate for what our team needs? Maybe I'm overly simplifying things and have my Football Manager head on, but what manager would not want to spend the vast transfer funds made available to them and improve his team?

My view on Wenger in recent years has been that I will back him providing he does what is needed in the transfer market. I could almost, just almost, forgive his often mind boggling team selection, his inability to make tough decision and drop his favourites so we can play a balanced team, our poor tactics, the fact we play, at times,  boring (crab) football and are easy to defend against and lack a plan b, if he'd just give himself the best possible chance, by properly equipping our squad. Yet again he has failed to address what we need in the transfer market.

We're the only team in Europe's top 5 leagues not to sign an outfield player. We're the only team in the Premiership to have signed less than five players. The only team in the league who has spent less than us is Swansea (And in net terms Southampton, Arsenal are 17th in the net spenders league this window. Ed). We're stuck with Arteta and Flamini as our backups to Coquelin, and last season proved that isn't good enough. Giroud is still our only genuinely proven option at centre forward.
I cannot support Wenger anymore after this farce.

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I cannot support Wenger anymore after this farce.
Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 02/09/2015 19:53
Arsenal Times
02/09/2015 19:53
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:09:13:09:36:24 by Padre Pio.

Padre Pio
02/09/2015 20:02
Good post. I am returning to my boycott position, I will spend as little as I can on Arsenal goods and services.
They cant be bothered to spend, neither can I.

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

MattySadler
02/09/2015 20:06
Quote:
Padre Pio
Good post. I am returning to my boycott position, I will spend as little as I can on Arsenal goods and services.
They cant be bothered to spend, neither can I.

Thanks.

Yes, my thoughts entirely. I usually get the home shirt every year and sometimes get a training jacket as well, but this year I have delayed buying it to wait and see what we do in the transfer market. This'll be the first time in a good few years I wont be buying a shirt.

tigerline
02/09/2015 20:11
Welcome aboard, Matty.

younghansolo
02/09/2015 20:18
Really good post mate.

Shane
02/09/2015 20:20
Quote:
younghansolo
Really good post mate.

Beyond
02/09/2015 20:20
You have finally joined the dark side. smiling smiley

Indiangooner
02/09/2015 20:40
good post Matty, not the knee jerk reactions we hv seen on twitter but one point i disagree on is the first year we had money was not 13-14 but for me its 2010

09-10 we managed to get rid of property development debt so any money coming in from property sales shld hv and was probably put to football side.. stadium debt servicing was arranged on a long term basis with 20M a year expenditure

2010 onwards we hv had cash surplus of over 160M in the bank... im not naive to believe we cld spend 160M but those were the times where 30M cld land us a pretty good player who's ready to perform immediately, not 3-4 yrs down the line and that too not a surety

Optimistic Gunner
02/09/2015 20:44
Quote:
Indiangooner
good post Matty, not the knee jerk reactions we hv seen on twitter but one point i disagree on is the first year we had money was not 13-14 but for me its 2010
09-10 we managed to get rid of property development debt so any money coming in from property sales shld hv and was probably put to football side.. stadium debt servicing was arranged on a long term basis with 20M a year expenditure

2010 onwards we hv had cash surplus of over 160M in the bank... im not naive to believe we cld spend 160M but those were the times where 30M cld land us a pretty good player who's ready to perform immediately, not 3-4 yrs down the line and that too not a surety

yup 2013/14 was definitely not the first year we had money to spend

http://i.imgur.com/b1SeVpw.png

MattySadler
02/09/2015 20:53
Quote:
Indiangooner
good post Matty, not the knee jerk reactions we hv seen on twitter but one point i disagree on is the first year we had money was not 13-14 but for me its 2010
09-10 we managed to get rid of property development debt so any money coming in from property sales shld hv and was probably put to football side.. stadium debt servicing was arranged on a long term basis with 20M a year expenditure

2010 onwards we hv had cash surplus of over 160M in the bank... im not naive to believe we cld spend 160M but those were the times where 30M cld land us a pretty good player who's ready to perform immediately, not 3-4 yrs down the line and that too not a surety

Fair enough mate, I don't know anything about that. As the man in the orthopaedic shoes said, "I stand corrected". I only cited 13/14 as the first "money year" as it was the first time we spent "marquee money" on a player.

CazOnARola
02/09/2015 20:58
new deals were negoatiated then. The property buble bust up the plans we only made 4 percent profit so the whole redevelopment project was a management debacle.

We spend about 200mn on wages. two seasons out of chamions league and finishign 7-8 would have set us 10 years back possibly more like liverpool. I assume the money is for those contingencies cause in such scenarios u will have to pay over the odds for players to join and rebuild the squad.

Of course i'm very unhappy we didnt sign anyone. The guy tom was suggesting jonathas would also have been a good addition.

We could have pushed for the league but probably would not have won it. Now its certain that no one will challenge city except maybe chelsea and us in the second half of the season, but will be too late.

Anything below 2nd place finish even with the current squad is a failure, forget abou the transfer debacle.

The current team is good enough to finish second and there can be no excuses for injuries etc. Its an average but still a big group of players



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:09:02:20:59:23 by CazOnARola.

Indiangooner
02/09/2015 20:59
we spent big money in 13-14, doesnt mean we didnt hv it before.... we chose not do it

MattySadler
02/09/2015 21:00
Quote:
Indiangooner
we spent big money in 13-14, doesnt mean we didnt hv it before.... we chose not do it

Not trying to argue the point, I don't doubt that you're right. I'm pretty ignorant to the whole financial side of things with this football club.

Indiangooner
02/09/2015 21:01
Cheers, i forgot im not talking to Merl smiling smiley

CazOnARola
02/09/2015 21:07
Yes we chose not to. precisely for the reasons i stated. If we spent and failed like say e,g, that player gets injured like debuchy, and we dont make top 4 for 2 years.

It wouldnt matter if we fired wenger after that or not, with that money gone it would have set us back by 10 years.

wenger kept in top 4. In case he failed and left or got sacked, the in coming manager would have something like 100 mn to spend to correct things like united spending almost 200mn last year.

Thats exactky how a business man thinks, planning for contingency.

If wenger was planning for contingencies like our bored, he would have bought an upgrade/back up for coqulin. the fact that he hasnt tells me that either he is not a businessmen or he is happy since the target given to him is actuallu 2/3rd place

Indiangooner
02/09/2015 21:20
2010 we cldnt spend 30M on one player, now we cant spend 50-60M.... the world will always remain crazy with so many billionaires arnd... we need to find our way to compete and not rely on stuff like FFP which a majority believed is bound to fail and it certainly has

CazOnARola
02/09/2015 21:32
nope. I never said we cant spend 50mn on a playernow . The deals have been re negoatited in 2013. We can actually sign a player for 50 if we wanted to. We spent close to 70mn last year.

Considering cech was signed for 11, i'm sure we can,

Pbm it seems those players dont want to join us. particularly benzema that wenger is 100 percent interested in i'm sure.

I'm sure we'd play 60 mn for suarez, but he wouldnt come. United are having more money than us and facing the same pbm.

THe kind of players they need dont want to join them. They spent 40mn on martial.
Do u know why? cause their first choice pedro went to chelsea for a much lesser fee.
do u know why? cause pedro simply didnt want to go to united once chelsea were an option

Cavani and Benzema simply dont want to come to us, much like sanchez wouldnt want to join liverpool.

I know u dont buy it, but actually there is more money in the market than quality players.

United still havent signed hummels whoever top CB they wanted to sign last year.

We should have signed schniederlin.

younghansolo
02/09/2015 23:02
I don't buy that though. Players are motivated by money. That's the reason city and Chelsea have no problems attracting the worlds best players.

We're just cheap

raygun47
02/09/2015 23:12
it seems we all want to win the league by doing what everyone else is doing ,that's buying the league. we have players coming through who are either on loan or will be back ups for new players settling in to their new roles ie coquelin , why @#$%& up the way we bring young players through by ostracizing players who might be the future.

full credit to wenger for letting the future prosper ,very short sight are the comment here

Padre Pio
02/09/2015 23:34
What young players have been brought through?
Gibbs isnt good enough, and Wheelchair never fit, Szczesny is out on loan.
Walcott and Ox were bought, and yet to fulfill potential, Bellerin is from Barca.
Arsenal havent developed anyone in years

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

Boston Gooner
03/09/2015 00:33
Top post Matty.

All fuc*ing Wenger seems to be moaning about is what Martial cost Manchester United.

What the f*ck is it to do with him what they spend.

At least they are trying to strengthen there team, unlike us.

“ 𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 𝓖𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓼 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓗𝓪𝓻𝓶𝓸𝓷𝔂 ”

Merlion96
03/09/2015 05:27
I'm sure many of you on this forum will know me as a pretty considered poster. I'm balanced and unbiased. I am not fickle. I'm not one for knee jerk reactions and I rarely go into "am furious" mode, but that is all about to change after the debacle that was our transfer window.

.............................................................

Knee jerk reaction.
Only 4 games played in the season with Wenger being measured, judged, found wanting and must be hang, quarter, disembowel, beheaded and dismembered.

Wait for May 2016 to render final judgment.

Act 2 "Carmen" - return of the Matador and Carmen not dead yet.

I am compiling a piece on financial background of Arsenal FC since 1995/96 to show the gross profits we made. Hope to be ready next week for publication.

Merlion96
03/09/2015 05:38
I bought (Alexis) Sanchez, I bought (Mesut) Ozil, I bought Cech, I bought Gabriel last year.

‘The problem at the moment is finding the players who guarantee you are a better team after, and that example last night shows you very well.’

Wenger was referring to the £36m Manchester United spent to sign France youngster Anthony Martial on Tuesday night.

Martial, 19, became the most expensive teenager in history when he signed for Louis van Gaal’s side from Monaco.


Wenger appeared to criticise Manchester United's 'absolutely huge' investment in signing Anthony Martial (R)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was available from PSG, claims that Arsenal did not reach out to sign him

The deal could rise to £59m, and Wenger said: ‘Martial scored 11 goals in the French championship — that sums it up well.

‘Martial is a huge talent — he is 19 years old — but the investment is absolutely huge as well.’

Martial has made just 29 senior starts in spells at Lyon and Monaco. He only earned his first call-up to the French national team last month.

Wenger added: ‘It just shows that there are not many players in the world who can strengthen these teams.’


Read more: [www.dailymail.co.uk]
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Well then, it is up to Alexis, Giroud, Walcott, Welbeck, Ozil, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere and Arteta to prove he is right to stand by them.

Plus by December 2015, youngsters like Chambers, Reine-Adeliade and Iwobi are ready to step to the plate to strengthen the squad.

Indiangooner
03/09/2015 06:02
yet again, one simple question to Arsenal amidst all this drama..... With all the money we have available, thr r no players better than Flamini n Welbeck that we cld buy in 3 months?

Most fans wld hv been happy with that, certainly me

MattySadler
03/09/2015 07:18
Quote:
Boston Gooner
Top post Matty.
All fuc*ing Wenger seems to be moaning about is what Martial cost Manchester United.

What the f*ck is it to do with him what they spend.

At least they are trying to strengthen there team, unlike us.

Cheers, and my point exactly. We may mock teams like Liverpool and Tottenham for being beneath us, and we may poke fun at Cheslea, City and United for "buying the league", but at least they're actually showing ambition and intent!

Quote:
Merlion96
I'm sure many of you on this forum will know me as a pretty considered poster. I'm balanced and unbiased. I am not fickle. I'm not one for knee jerk reactions and I rarely go into "am furious" mode, but that is all about to change after the debacle that was our transfer window.
.............................................................

Knee jerk reaction.
Only 4 games played in the season with Wenger being measured, judged, found wanting and must be hang, quarter, disembowel, beheaded and dismembered.

Wait for May 2016 to render final judgment.

Act 2 "Carmen" - return of the Matador and Carmen not dead yet.

I am compiling a piece on financial background of Arsenal FC since 1995/96 to show the gross profits we made. Hope to be ready next week for publication.

Merl, my post had nothing to do with our (let's be honest, pretty poor) performances in the league so far this season. It was in relation to our lack of movement in the transfer market.

Merlion96
03/09/2015 10:55
Matty, it is the same pertaining to our lack of movement in the transfer market.

Wait for May 2016 to judge Wenger.

My KPI to him is:
- At least Top-2.
- semi-final appearance at Tin Cup, FA Cup and CL Cup.

Padre Pio
03/09/2015 11:40
If he doesn't win the league cheerio

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

CazOnARola
03/09/2015 12:09
I dobt think so yhs. United spent do much money on martial am sure they could have offered money for Pedro. Pedro simply didn't want to Play for united if chelsea were an option. A bit like suarez. He was ready to join us since he knew he didn't want to stay at pool, but if barca or madrid had come in, he would have happily ditched us

Bergmars
03/09/2015 18:40
Great post Matty and all the more condemning by the fact that you are certainly not a reactionary,I had enough of Wenger a while ago his management is stale and a change would in all probability do him good as well as the club.
I have thought long and hard as to why we signed no one and cannot fathom it why tie your own hands its bizzare,as for not slowing down young players progress thats just a crock and the sort of excuse that has allowed the club to get away with this parsimony.

AR-16
03/09/2015 21:25
Top post Matty!!

I would like to add, failing to sign reinforcements (I strongly stand against the notion that there were ZERO quality players available throughout the span of the past window) places a tremendous burden on our current squad of stars - the media will focus on and sensationalize all of their shortcomings throughout this campaign. This is completely unwarranted considering we have ($/Euros/Pounds)200 million+ AVAILABLE at the BOARD'S/HIS (are they one thing now? because I really do not see the function of "A Board") disposal.

If Wenger hasn't deduced that point of view, HE IS NOT MENTALLY FIT TO LEAD (MANAGE) OTHER INDIVIDUALS.

De Times
04/09/2015 15:14
Matty cannot support Wenger again, lol, as if anyone cares.

"A club is a union between players, supporters and directors". - Wenger.
Arsene wenger has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has... Every single year, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary. -Gazides.

MattySadler
04/09/2015 15:33
Quote:
De Times
Matty cannot support Wenger again, lol, as if anyone cares.

Well it was made into a feature and a few users have complimented it...

How'd you betting tips feature do again?

Bergmars
04/09/2015 18:34
Matty is far more relevant than your inane meanderings.

celine dion
05/09/2015 13:10
Quote:
MattySadler
Quote:
De Times
Matty cannot support Wenger again, lol, as if anyone cares.

Well it was made into a feature and a few users have complimented it...

How'd you betting tips feature do again?

I'm currently launching legal proceedings against De Times after I lost my house.

Shane
05/09/2015 14:08
In which case he'll defend himself and successfully prove via the use of repeated asterixes that he is in fact not responsible for the loss of your house.

"Your honour, I've written up a list of the reasons why I was and was not responsible for Mr Dion losing his house. The ones I was not responsible for is denoted by an asterix. Now if you'll excuse me. That big cash won't accumulate itself."

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