Another rant at the Doomers

[asserghozlan]

http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1902

What total, and utter rubbish!

You begin by brushing off Arsène Wenger’s critics and the disillusioned supporters by claiming that they are “spoilt brats who believe they are owed a trophyâ€

[I Hate Hleb]

[mcdowell42]

[quote="asserghozlan"]http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1902

What total, and utter rubbish!

You begin by brushing off Arsène Wenger’s critics and the disillusioned supporters by claiming that they are “spoilt brats who believe they are owed a trophyâ€

[asserghozlan]

Sometimes words just HAVE to be said

[marcengels]

Sometimes words just HAVE to be said

Good critique.

We are already spending a lot of money in English and European terms on sustaining the experiment. We are not some benevolent charitable trust battling against the forces of out of control capitalism. We have bought into the system, and wish to sustain ourselves at the top table, sometimes even by snapping up the youth products of other teams at very cheap prices.

Part of the argument surely must be how funds are spent, otherwise one accepts the model without question. If one does not question, then one does not progress.

Arsene Wenger's wish to keep Arsenal on an even keel is admirable. What is not is his ignorance of those factors which enable the team to best compete for a league trophy he himself is so desperate to win, and for allowing his new found ideology to get in the way of really competing, or even acknowledging weaknesses.

[6OONER PETE]

The last seasons when George Graham was manager we were desperate for a defensive midfielder. Arsene realised this and the first thing he did was to buy PV. He has also not been afraid to spend money on other players, Petit, Overmars Henry etc.etc

Under Arsene we had world class players in a world class team. It was us or United for the PL. Arsene built the Invincible team. What a team and what a season! Great memories.

Then Abramovich arrived. This affected us more than any other team ( Mike Riley also didn't help!). For one man to come in and affect the lives of millions of football supporters should not have been allowed to happen. Especially as it is probably not his money in the first place. I don't count any of Chelski's "achievements" as achievements. They have just bought success.
However,with their spending power Chelski raised the bar. United went with them. We did not because of our financial situation. Arsene did well to keep us in with a chance of competing.

We now have money to spend. We don't have to go on a mad spending spree but we do have money to spend.

Unfortunately something seems to have flipped in Arsene's head. He was having to compete without spending power and did as well as he could, BUT we now have MONEY TO SPEND and Arsene still refuses to spend. He can't seem to get it into his head that it's ok to buy players to improve the team if you need to. I just don't get it.

We need a new keeper WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!
We need to defend better WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON A DEFENSIVE COACH AND/OR BETTER DEFENDERS!
We need another defensive midfielder WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!
We need a top class striker WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!

How anyone can still defend Arsene's decisions is beyond me. I was paying £45 pound a match with my season ticket. I just can't justify that any more, season after season with no investment to improve deficiencies in the team. And Arsenal can't justify it either.

Arsenal are in my blood and always will be but at the moment that blood is boiling over in FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!

[I Hate Hleb]

(No doubt McDowell was just about to write that!!)

[Bring Back Pires]

Going unbeaten for the season looks like it's turned out to be a double-edged sword. Everyone told AW that he could never do it, and lo and behold, a season later he's done it.

He must presumably think he can also prove people wrong by winning the league on a shoestring budget, and his 'experiment' is thus achieving exactly this. Sadly, he's had five cracks at it and has miserably failed. And is now so blinkered that he's only got a one-track mind. Very, very sad.

[mcdowell42]

(No doubt McDowell was just about to write that!!)

You took the wor ah never mind

[Bring Back Pires]

(No doubt McDowell was just about to write that!!)

You took the wor ah never mind

Makes a change from taking something else out of your mouth!

[mcdowell42]

(No doubt McDowell was just about to write that!!)

You took the wor ah never mind

Makes a change from taking something else out of your mouth!

That was never proven there was a perfectly good reason ah never mind

[Trevheff]

Sorry Sammy Mooner but your article is nonesense. I take it you are one of those people who believe there are just two camps for Arsenal fans; 1) Those who back Arsene to the hills and won't hear a bad word said against him or 2) Those who want Wenger sacked today? There is a middle ground of course and varying degrees of the middle ground. That's where I, like many, sit.

For the record I don't think a trophy every season is our devine right. I do however believe that a regular genuine title challenge, or at least one in the space of 5 seasons (capitulating with 4/5 games to go does not count as a genuine title challenge) is not too much to expect for a club with our resources.

I also don't believe that we need to go out and spend £30 - £40M. I also don't think we neccessarily need to spend an excessive amount on a single player in any position. I do however think that, having returned such impressive financial results and having such a clear weakness in our team that David Blunkett first spotted, a refusal to pay an extra £1M-£2M for a goalkeeper who Arsene identified as his top target beggered belief.

And once more I agree with you that throwing something/someone away the minute it doesn't work is not the way forward. But how long do you give it Sammy? How many seasons trophy hopes (5 and counting) do we allow to be frittered away because our keeper(s) are sub standard compared to our main rivals? How many big games should a Phillip Senderos, Fabianski or Manuel Almunia be excused for throwing away before Arsene should decide to replace them? How many games in a row against our closest rivals should we accept being bullied out of or torn to shreds on the break before we begin to question the physical make up of the side or the tactics employed?

I'm not calling for Arsene's sacking but I do believe he has lost his way. Not because we are not winning trophies, not because he won't spend big but because season after season he fails to address the most obvious and overwhelming of weaknesses and frailties which continue to undermine the many strengths we have elsewhere in the squad.

A true supporter is allowed to be critical Sammy and it makes me no less of a fan for doing so. The reason I show my disapproval is because of how much it hurts seeing our great club underachieving on an all too regular basis.

[USMartin]

[quote="asserghozlan"]http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1902

What total, and utter rubbish!

You begin by brushing off Arsène Wenger’s critics and the disillusioned supporters by claiming that they are “spoilt brats who believe they are owed a trophyâ€

[USMartin]

The last seasons when George Graham was manager we were desperate for a defensive midfielder. Arsene realised this and the first thing he did was to buy PV. He has also not been afraid to spend money on other players, Petit, Overmars Henry etc.etc

Under Arsene we had world class players in a world class team. It was us or United for the PL. Arsene built the Invincible team. What a team and what a season! Great memories.

Then Abramovich arrived. This affected us more than any other team ( Mike Riley also didn't help!). For one man to come in and affect the lives of millions of football supporters should not have been allowed to happen. Especially as it is probably not his money in the first place. I don't count any of Chelski's "achievements" as achievements. They have just bought success.
However,with their spending power Chelski raised the bar. United went with them. We did not because of our financial situation. Arsene did well to keep us in with a chance of competing.

We now have money to spend. We don't have to go on a mad spending spree but we do have money to spend.

Unfortunately something seems to have flipped in Arsene's head. He was having to compete without spending power and did as well as he could, BUT we now have MONEY TO SPEND and Arsene still refuses to spend. He can't seem to get it into his head that it's ok to buy players to improve the team if you need to. I just don't get it.

We need a new keeper WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!
We need to defend better WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON A DEFENSIVE COACH AND/OR BETTER DEFENDERS!
We need another defensive midfielder WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!
We need a top class striker WE HAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON ONE!

How anyone can still defend Arsene's decisions is beyond me. I was paying £45 pound a match with my season ticket. I just can't justify that any more, season after season with no investment to improve deficiencies in the team. And Arsenal can't justify it either.

Arsenal are in my blood and always will be but at the moment that blood is boiling over in FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!

Apparently the Board has no problem with any of that, which should be a curious development, to say the least, no? Something to ponder perhaps.

[DB10GOONER]

Sorry Sammy Mooner but your article is nonesense. I take it you are one of those people who believe there are just two camps for Arsenal fans; 1) Those who back Arsene to the hills and won't hear a bad word said against him or 2) Those who want Wenger sacked today? There is a middle ground of course and varying degrees of the middle ground. That's where I, like many, sit.

For the record I don't think a trophy every season is our devine right. I do however believe that a regular genuine title challenge, or at least one in the space of 5 seasons (capitulating with 4/5 games to go does not count as a genuine title challenge) is not too much to expect for a club with our resources.

I also don't believe that we need to go out and spend £30 - £40M. I also don't think we neccessarily need to spend an excessive amount on a single player in any position. I do however think that, having returned such impressive financial results and having such a clear weakness in our team that David Blunkett first spotted, a refusal to pay an extra £1M-£2M for a goalkeeper who Arsene identified as his top target beggered belief.

And once more I agree with you that throwing something/someone away the minute it doesn't work is not the way forward. But how long do you give it Sammy? How many seasons trophy hopes (5 and counting) do we allow to be frittered away because our keeper(s) are sub standard compared to our main rivals? How many big games should a Phillip Senderos, Fabianski or Manuel Almunia be excused for throwing away before Arsene should decide to replace them? How many games in a row against our closest rivals should we accept being bullied out of or torn to shreds on the break before we begin to question the physical make up of the side or the tactics employed?

I'm not calling for Arsene's sacking but I do believe he has lost his way. Not because we are not winning trophies, not because he won't spend big but because season after season he fails to address the most obvious and overwhelming of weaknesses and frailties which continue to undermine the many strengths we have elsewhere in the squad.

A true supporter is allowed to be critical Sammy and it makes me no less of a fan for doing so. The reason I show my disapproval is because of how much it hurts seeing our great club underachieving on an all too regular basis.

Excellent post Trev.