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Morleys Mesut Özil > You and your mum, chief 4,431 pts

What happens if we finish below Leicester & Spurs?

Posted by Morleys about 8 years ago · 83 replies

I posted this on Reddit as a rant after the United match. Don't know how anyone can disagree:

I understood standing behind Wenger in the barren years. I was alongside everyone wondering 'imagine if Arsene had money to spend'. We've bought Alexis & Özil, won 2 FA Cup's yet there's a case to made that there has been 0 progress as we're likely to finish below Spurs & Leicester this season.

I absolutely love Arsene and all he's done for the club, but if that happens he has to leave. Resign, get sacked or whatever; it'd be a new low for our football club. If Leicester win it, it makes our transitional period look absolutely hilarious considering we had more funds then than Leicester do now and still never managed to win a single thing. Spurs winning the title would be the ultimate humiliation for Arsene, our supporters and most importantly the club. That being said, I don't believe our board cares. They'll still charge ridiculous ticket prices and not give a single fuck because they'll be too busy counting the quids and it makes me feel sick.

I honestly think Spurs will do us at WHL and put the final nail in the coffin. Leicester will get unstuck when they go to these clubs who sit back and soak pressure for 90 mins (every team will want to rain on their parade) and Spurs, credit to them being the most consistent, having the best manager & being set up wonderfully, will cruise it. Whether we're 1 point behind or 10 points behind, that would be a catastrophic failure for everyone involved in the club - except for the board of course. Wenger needs to go if that happens. I don't really understand any arguments against it. It's previously been 'who offers better that would be available' to simply 'what does Wenger offer us?'

This job is one of the most lucrative and open roles in World football. Many, many quality managers will be vying for it. We missed the boat massively with Pep, Klopp & Ancelotti. But if we finish as I think we will then we have to gamble on the next best, whether that be Simeone, Tuchel, Unai Emery or Sampaoli. It has to be done, otherwise it will definitely show that Arsene is bigger than the club, which is unacceptable behaviour.

What do you believe should happen? (FWIW, I honestly believe our board is so content with the money the club generates that they'd keep Arsene in charge no matter what. There is no possibility he gets sacked)

83 Comments

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

How can you justify bigger clubs messing up, with lot more money invest, but you single out Arsenal.

Because as I said, we don't have the problems the other big clubs have. We have a manager of 20 years with 100% control of what philosophy and tactics he wants to use and 100% control of what players he can buy. He has the full backing of the board and is beloved by the supporters. He has spent years building the type of dressing room atmosphere he wants, and yet he STILL can't get his players to click or his tactics to work consistently.

Chelsea and Man Utd are failing because of reasons that don't apply to us.

I don't understand how you can still defend Wenger when he's being outclassed by not just one other mid-table team, but two. That's not a fluke. Ranieri and Pochettino have outclassed Wenger this season, and the former has only been in charge for ten months.

Wenger keeps telling us managerial stability is key: clearly it only takes a few months for Ranieri to build a Premier League-winning team. Chelsea brought in Hiddink and suddenly the team plays well again. So that argument is gone.

Wenger keeps telling us we shouldn't bring in too many players at once: Spurs and Man City are buying players as if footballers will be the only valid currency in an impending zombie apocalypse, and yet they perform fine. So that argument is gone.

Wenger tells us we're playing great football: but we're not. Passing for the sake of it is not beautiful football. Slowly looking for the perfect pass instead of thundercunting the ball into the net is not automatically beautiful football. Wenger has this perverse idea of emulating Barca but he hasn't understood WHY they have so much possession, he just thinks they pass a lot. He has missed the part about efficient high-energy pressing. So that argument is out.

Wenger keeps insisting on the exact same formation every year, regardless of opposition or scenario: this 4-2-3-1/4-2-1-3 we've been playing since 2007-2008-ish is simply not working, as evidenced by our trophy cabinet. But instead of changing it to try something new when we enter the 11th title-less year, he just keeps trying it, like a toddler trying to bang a square peg into a drawing of a round hole. One would think that if it's not working after 500 games, perhaps it's time to try something different?

Wenger keeps telling us it's glorious to be "self-sustainable": so why then does literally no other club care about it? Everyone else are spending, but Wenger keeps riding that imaginary high horse of economic integrity. Why? What does he think would happen if we splashed £150m on a few world class players? He says he wants to compete on the same level as Barca, Real and Bayern...but he's still trying to find unknown gems and gets Elneny as the only signing in a VITAL January this year.

...and so on. Everything Wenger says is either a) designed to excuse a mistake, or b) only valid in 2003 when Wenger's football philosophy was still relevant.

It's time.

poodris 2,818 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by poodris

Perhaps, instead of making wild unfounded accusations of cheating, we should be more concerned about how out of touch mr. wenger is to dismiss per suffering a concussion a not serious. This idiot is stuck in the past.

VA10 Football God 4,806 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by VA10

Perhaps, instead of making wild unfounded accusations of cheating, we should be more concerned about how out of touch mr. wenger is to dismiss per suffering a concussion a not serious. This idiot is stuck in the past.

Arsene doesn't check the player for concussion. And there are not serious concussions. Ask rugby players they get two per week.

Omglol 3,323 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Omglol

Perhaps, instead of making wild unfounded accusations of cheating, we should be more concerned about how out of touch mr. wenger is to dismiss per suffering a concussion a not serious. This idiot is stuck in the past.

Can you please stop insulting with every post you make one of the greatest person that served Arsenal? Disagree with him, rightfully, as most do in this period.

But when you can't post once without insulting him with variant of awful words then i think you go to far. Its weird that you devalue others opinion calling them "12 year old", when you with your behavior don't set higher standard then that. You are free to insult me, i'm here, we can interact.

Little niggle
Little bit niggle
poodris 2,818 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by poodris

And, no, I can't insult you because that would violate the terms and conditions I agreed to in order to post here.

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

Bought a brand new car in 1996. It was brilliant. Took me from A to B without a hitch. Stayed that way for 7-8 years and then problems started popping up. Wouldn't start, handbrake got stuck, sometimes it made a rattling noise. Today it's a 20-year old scrapyard car with a seized engine, but I keep hoping it will start one day, because...well...Wenger knows best.

If you tell me to buy a new car you are being disrespectful to this car that was once brand new and flawless. Because we all know quality is constant. This car is automatically fantastic, because it once was fantastic. Therefore it is always fantastic. It once started, so therefore it could still start.

If we keep believing in the car it will magically just start one day, despite the fact that the engine is dead.

Wenger Knows Best.

No
Uh, "no"...
VA10 Football God 4,806 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by VA10

Just because something was good before doesn't mean it can't be even better now. To return to your rather inadequate comparison, a Shelby Cobra was good before and is even better now.

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

Just because something was good before doesn't mean it can't be even better now. To return to your rather inadequate comparison, a Shelby Cobra was good before and is even better now.

Unless we have actual facts proving the opposite. Wenger once won league titles. He doesn't anymore. Are you saying he is now better at winning league titles than he was ten years ago?

VA10 Football God 4,806 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by VA10

poodris butting in with his iq of 0 again. Anyways to answer you Ix you can be so smart when you want to... There's this thing called circumstances. I believe the man himself had an interview where he discussed his rather "unsuccessful" years. Have a read if you find it but I'm sure you know which one I'm taking about. So in short, one word: circumstances.

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

poodris butting in with his iq of 0 again. Anyways to answer you Ix you can be so smart when you want to... There's this thing called circumstances. I believe the man himself had an interview where he discussed his rather "unsuccessful" years. Have a read if you find it but I'm sure you know which one I'm taking about. So in short, one word: circumstances.

But again you are insinuating luck, or at least a huge element of luck playing a part. And again I have to inform you that luck is random. One or two seasons, maybe even three...I could buy misfortune in that case. But consistently having the most injured squad for 15 years, or consistently ending 3rd or 4th in the league for ten years...luck has nothing to do with that.

If you on the other hand are referring to the stadium move as being "circumstances", don't forget that other teams have also built stadiums in this time period. Bayern got a new stadium, and they're today competing at the highest level. Man City built a stadium and they have won the Premier League twice since we last won it. Barca are now building a new stadium and there is no way they will go trophyless for the next ten years.

VA10 Football God 4,806 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by VA10

Well again with the comparisons. Tell me a project Bayern, City or Barca had to lose because of that stadium? David Dein said Arsene was asked to make money for the club through transfers. We lost every key player Wenger wanted to build the team around due to lack of funds which were caused by our stadium and the wage/transfer policy the BOARD installed. We lost absolutely everyone. Had we kept Nasri, Cesc, Hleb, Adebayor, Van Persie you'd see the end result of Arsene's project. And there was of course Edurdo getting his leg chopped off.

poodris 2,818 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by poodris

So now it's the board that is holding Arsene back? You need to just admit you're wrong already.

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

Well again with the comparisons. Tell me a project Bayern, City or Barca had to lose because of that stadium? David Dein said Arsene was asked to make money for the club through transfers. We lost every key player Wenger wanted to build the team around due to lack of funds which were caused by our stadium and the wage/transfer policy the BOARD installed.

Yes, exactly? Because of this self-sustainability approach that was adopted as club policy where somehow debt is awful. I'm glad you finally agree that the reason we are in this mess is because of our economic model and debt phobia.

I think you have your history a bit wrong though. Wenger was (and is) very much in favour of this club policy. It is a result of both the board and Wenger. Just because Wenger wanted to keep his best players doesn't mean he wasn't in favour of self-sustainability.

Had we kept Nasri, Cesc, Hleb, Adebayor, Van Persie you'd see the end result of Arsene's project.

And yet when we had them we still couldn't win anything.

And there was of course Edurdo getting his leg chopped off.

There's that pesky luck again.

Ix Techau Evil Mastermind 14,278 pts
Posted about 8 years ago by Ix Techau

VA10 and poodris: since you obviously don't like each other why don't you just stop replying to each other? No one else finds your constant digs at each other interesting. Just because you get the last word doesn't mean you have won anything. Just walk away, ignore.

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