Wenger has got to go!

[I Hate Hleb]

Nice post U.F.G. Anfield '89.

[flash gunner]

Let's get this straight, no one can be more critical of last night's performance than I, but i think the reason that so many people are angry about this result is the fact that they allowed themselves to think that we ever had a chance of winning the league.

Our problems cannot be solved purely by signing new players, some more strength in depth would be nice but it is not our primary concern. Denilson and Clichy aside i don't think any of our players put in any bad individual performances last night. I didn't see a team of men against boys, i saw a team with a plan against a team that didn't know what they were doing, i saw gary kasprov play chess against the kid on the front of the fucking connect 4 box.

Wenger has always been tactically naive. In the early days we won stuff on the back of the defence he inherited from George Graham, his ability to find excellent players at low low prices, and his fitness training methods.

Now George Graham's defence is long retired, other club's larger spending power negates our ability to find cheap tallent, everyone else has long ago adopted our fitness methods and the likes of Ferguson are still superior tacticians. The game has moved on, Wenger hasn't, we will not win the league, or any othe competition of note as long as he is our manager.

All that being said we are in very tough times financially at the moment. The bottom line is we must continue to qualify for the champions league every year until the stadium debt is paid off, we must do this while spending very little. There is no one i trust more to accomplish these aims than Arsene Wenger.

We must endure the fact that we are no longer top dogs, we must endure the taunts of the insufferable manch and chav fans, and when the stadium debt is paid off and we see our spending power increase we will politely ask Mr Wenger to retire and take a place in the boadroom.

We have to accept that we are going through lean times. But there will still be good football to enjoy and there will still be some happy moments along the way, just like bolton at home this season.

I will still moan about not taking the cups more seriously, i will still have a go about not making substitutions earlier and i will still wonder what he sees in players like denilson. But you will not see me demanding a resignation. Many clubs have lost all in the mad chase for glory and I will not see Arsenal become one of them.

In the coming years our manager will be deserving of much criticism, but make no mistake, when he retires he will leave the club in a far stronger position than when he came to it. And, despite all his faults, no one, barring Herbert Chapman, will have been a greater servant to The Arsenal.

Good post very well thought out, the mood im in today i want everyone sacked

[LeGinge (Northern Branch)]

Apologies my quoting skills aren't what they used to be

Purely the 'Sitting behind Wenger' part. Just gave me the image of Theo warming the bench . . .

[Connolly55]

Since David Dein left its all gone downhill if you ask me. Why does he not listen to the fans, or use a bit of common sense atleast? Anyone can see we need to buy players. I actually thought to myself today how many premiership teams Almunia would get into, and i struggled big time.

I'd like to be in the clear about the money situation aswell, have we got money to spend? Is Wenger being stubborn? Are we in debt?

As soon as RVP was ruled out for the rest of the season he should have brought someone in. Simple as. Now im all for pretty football, but at the end of the day i'd rather win 1-0, hoofing it long all day, then lose 3-0 by playing attractive football.

[Connolly55]

Since David Dein left its all gone downhill if you ask me. Why does he not listen to the fans, or use a bit of common sense atleast? Anyone can see we need to buy players. I actually thought to myself today how many premiership teams Almunia would get into, and i struggled big time.

I'd like to be in the clear about the money situation aswell, have we got money to spend? Is Wenger being stubborn? Are we in debt?

As soon as RVP was ruled out for the rest of the season he should have brought someone in. Simple as. Now im all for pretty football, but at the end of the day i'd rather win 1-0, hoofing it long all day, then lose 3-0 by playing attractive football.

[g88ner]

I'd like to be in the clear about the money situation aswell, have we got money to spend? Is Wenger being stubborn? Are we in debt?

Yes.

This week on Arsenal.com, Wenger confirmed that if he found a player, even at £30m, he COULD do it.

Over the summer, on Arsenal.com, Wenger insisted there were only about 10 players in the world who were too expensive for us to buy.

Now, those are words directly from Wenger and published on Arsenal's own website, so they are accurate.

So, Arsenal do have money, and lots of it... IF, and it's a big Wenger sized 'if', we choose to spend it... and IF, and it's a big Wenger sized 'if', he can find a better player than Denilson, Almunia, Theo, etc. at under £30m - sounds easy to me, but apparently Wenger and his scouting network are struggling.

I could understand not spending the 'war chest' we're sitting on if this squad was in any way successful or bordering on perfection, but it's not. Quite clearly not, in fact.

[flash gunner]

I'd like to be in the clear about the money situation aswell, have we got money to spend? Is Wenger being stubborn? Are we in debt?

Yes.

This week on Arsenal.com, Wenger confirmed that if he found a player, even at £30m, he COULD do it.

Over the summer, on Arsenal.com, Wenger insisted there were only about 10 players in the world who were too expensive for us to buy.

Now, those are words directly from Wenger and published on Arsenal's own website, so they are accurate.

So, Arsenal do have money, and lots of it... IF, and it's a big Wenger sized 'if', we choose to spend it... and IF, and it's a big Wenger sized 'if', he can find a better player than Denilson, Almunia, Theo, etc. at under £30m - sounds easy to me, but apparently Wenger and his scouting network are struggling.

I could understand if this squad was bordering on perfection, but it's not.

I hope this post puts to bed the people on here who say we dont buy because we are skint. We havent bought anyone so either Wenger is a liar about the cash or not up to the job anymore with so many below average players in the squad that he wont replace

[Bring Back Pires]

I'm simply not going to spend another penny on Arsenal (including tickets) as long as Wenger continues with his youth policy; which will presumably be until the end of his tenure.

I'm fed up of paying £50+ whilst AW flat-out refuses to use any of the money. It's absolutely taking the piss, and I'd be surprised if people continue to put up with it.

Sadly, I have a ticket for Arsenal/Liverpool already. Not an extra penny will be spent on merchandise or catering. Fuck them, I've spent money towards the cause in good faith (not that I wasn't getting in return, mind), but I feel totally abused as a paying customer.

[Titi2]

Very interesting thread this. I thought I was pretty high up the list of the "do something urgently" brigade, but there is clearly a lot of strong feeling, and it is not the product of one bad performance - we have seen it coming for years.

Simple fact: no one, other than AW, believes that this squad is good enough to win the Prem or the CL, and they wont. Trouble is, AW is not interested in winning the Prem, even the CL, any old how - he only wants to do it his way, with "his" team, on a shoestring, to prove everyone wrong. If he were a better technical coach or motivator, it might (only just) be possible - you wouldnt bet against Mourinho pulling it off, with a bit of luck with injuries etc, but there is no way it will happen with Wenger.

One possible solution short of armageddon: replace Pat Rice with Martin Keown, or someone of that ilk. Look what we achieved the year that MK was defensive coach. We need someone who is bigger than AW, who has been more successful, who knows better, to stand up to him. Not only would it make a different now, but it would blood the next successor in the aspects of management that Wenger is good at.

[foxweasel]

Looking at Pat Rice alongside Arsene on Sunday was like watching two people discussing their piles, and to be fair, it was a real pain in the arsene. BUT Man U lost at Fulham 3-0 December 19th, Chelsea lost at Wigan 3-1 September 28th. All is not yet lost.

What depresses me most is that Arsene cannot inspire the troops to better things from the kick-off. If Archavin had popped the ball across in the first fifteen minutes, we could have been 1 or 2 or even 3 up, coasting and confident. If Clichy had snapped at either Nani or Park with enough venom, we could have saved two goals. It was like watching my sons play when they were 9 or 10 - shoaling around like minnows.

Maybe someone like Keown could say what needs to be said - to Archavin "pass the fucking thing!" or to Clichy "take 'is fuckin' legs off!"

[augie]

Time To Support Platini ? No I havent lost the run of myself but I am now beginning to think that le french dickhead's plan to reduce the number of english team in the champs lge might well be the best thing ever happened for our club. If we are to believe that finishing in the top 4 is now the height of the ambition for the manager and the people running our club, and certainly our spending suggests that is exactly the case, then raising the bar for our team to reach might well lift them out of their slumber and shake off the apparent arrogance that we will always qualify for the champs lge. Lets be honest here, the rattling wenger and the board received at last years shareholders meeting hasnt had the desired effect and I have about as much faith in the fans bringing about a change in policy (purely cos I dont believe enough have the balls to make a proper protest) as I do in almunia winning world player of the year so maybe the only way to change this current mindset is the thought of losing money cos it appears to be all that matters right now

Right now I am feeling very bitter about where this team is heading under wenger plus the lack of transfer activity. I am ashamed to say it but there is a part of me that thinks finishing outside the top 4 this season could be a blessing in disguise I dont think that I have ever felt as bitter towards the club as I do right now and we have gone through some dark days in the past. I am so so pissed off with wenger right now that not even winning the champs lge will redeem him in my eyes.....I just want him gone NOW

Am I the only one who feel's that all this talk about bringing in keown or dixon onto the coaching staff instead of pat rice or whoever is just a load of bollox so that we can avoid looking at the man culpable for this situation ? Wenger is the boss so the buck stops with him

[GallasVoice]

I'm sitting behind AW at the Liverpool game, and if we lose conclusively to Chelsea this weekend (as I'm expecting us to), I might take a "Wenger Out" sign.

No doubt I'll be shot down in flames.

I think you'll be pleasantly suprised and find a lot of fans agree with you. Personally i would like to see wenger remain as arsenal manager.

[Quintus]

I'm simply not going to spend another penny on Arsenal (including tickets) as long as Wenger continues with his youth policy; which will presumably be until the end of his tenure.

I'm fed up of paying £50+ whilst AW flat-out refuses to use any of the money. It's absolutely taking the piss, and I'd be surprised if people continue to put up with it.

Sadly, I have a ticket for Arsenal/Liverpool already. Not an extra penny will be spent on merchandise or catering. Fuck them, I've spent money towards the cause in good faith (not that I wasn't getting in return, mind), but I feel totally abused as a paying customer.

Same here. I'm not paying £50 a pop to watch crap like Almunia and Denilson

[OneBardGooner]

Mr.wenger can stay as long he he wishes

[Quintus]

Mr.wenger can stay as long he he wishes

4th place