Who Will Step Up this Year?

[highburyJD]

so any manager who hasn't won the CL is "shit"
it's a competition for which we've never even been one of the favourites

no manager who hasn't won it has a record even nearly as good

[franksav63]

If Gibbs, Vermaelen, Koschielny, Sagna are injured then the others will be dire.

hmm
if Cole, Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic are injured I don't think Betrand, Luiz, Ferreira, Van Aanholt are that great
(no better than Santos, Bartley, Mertesacker, Jenkinson)
and they've spent insane money building that squad

I actually meant if even one of these are injured then we are doomed. I should not need to point this out.

do you think if one of Chelski's defenders is injured they are also doomed?
for me a combined backup defence would be no worse than a 50/50 split

Players have come out on .com... I said this before, I think it was WS and JD, claiming how Bould has already made improvements....I did already say this...

.com needs to generate copy. Players are only gonna say positive stuff. This is not news

We have plenty of shit players still at the club, quite a few of them were seen in the friendlies, half of these wouldn't even register an interest at most Premier League clubs, yet we're stockpiled with them... thanks to Wenger and he's faith in them... Faith he shows by giving them long and big contracts that now we can only unload on loan.

when we lost Hleb, Flamini, Nas$ri and now RVP everyone moaned that they weren't locked in. Who is on a longterm contract that you wish we could just release? Denilson - I presume SaoPaulo pay part of his wages. Diaby - can see the argument but still hope he proves us all wrong. Bendtner, Vela and Flappy we should get fees for. Not many players left on longterm deals accept last years signings (Park was the only bad one IMO) + Vermaelen & Koscielny - 2 highly rated players we could make a profit on if we sold.

For every 4-5 shit players, yes a gem is uncovered, Cesc, RVP... but once RVP goes, I can't see many other big clubs after any of the other players we have left... our amazing consistency in finishing 3rd or 4th... 19-25 odd points off the top..... whilst it shows consistency in finishing in the CL, what's the fucking point? We'll never win it?? One final in 15-16 seasons is a shit record, ..... the sooner he goes the better.

a few points on this rant
1-there must only be a handful of managers in the world with a better 15-16 year CL record, harsh/unrealistic to call it shit
2-over that period we have finished over 20 points off the top how many times??? not "consistently" that's for sure - a silly thing to say
3- Wilshere, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Sagna, Ox and even Song would have dozens of top club suitors willing to pay good money if available. By the end of the season I hope Giroud and Podolski would also be in demand.

Let's have a look.. Wilshere... out for a year... who really would touch him at the moment... will he ever play again?
Koscielny... one full good season in the Premier but part of a defence that conceded 49 fucking goals... Vermalelen slightly injury prone... part of that same great defence... I think he's overrated imo... Sagna... I don't think he looked the same player after he came back from the 1st leg break... how's he going to be after coming back from another??? Ox... well I'll give you that one... but he was a no brainer when it came to being bought... even Wenger got that one right... Song.. I don't believe at all at the rumours that Barca are in for him... if I'd willingly applaud the club if they gave Barca money to take this overrated wanker off our hands... in fact I'd hardly shed a tear if the majority of these players and others were sold as I can't stand any other them.. weak willed, weak in mind... really a reflection of the chump we have in charge.. and YES, Wenger's record in the CL is fucking shit and appalling..

[highburyJD]

in fact I'd hardly shed a tear if the majority of these players and others were sold as I can't stand any other them.. weak willed, weak in mind... really a reflection of the chump we have in charge.. and YES, Wenger's record in the CL is fucking shit and appalling..

very surprised to hear that about Vermielny/Bac let alone Wilshere who could be our greatest youth team product in decades

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

[franksav63]

in fact I'd hardly shed a tear if the majority of these players and others were sold as I can't stand any other them.. weak willed, weak in mind... really a reflection of the chump we have in charge.. and YES, Wenger's record in the CL is fucking shit and appalling..

very surprised to hear that about Vermielny/Bac let alone Wilshere who could be our greatest youth team product in decades

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

We're never going to agree JD... this is a bit like a tennis match.. if you're happy with this then great.. I'm not, I can't wait for this *word censored* to leave... you probably want him to stay forever... perhaps even like Mr Dead in Harry Enfield and Chums...

[mcdowell42]

so any manager who hasn't won the CL is "shit"
it's a competition for which we've never even been one of the favourites

no manager who hasn't won it has a record even nearly as good

No not saying that but hes had 15 attempts and never won it came close in 1 final id swap our record with the chavs in this competition.Less years in it than us but got to 2 finals won 1 lost 1 also victim fc in it less than us got to 2 finals won 1 lost 1 then theres us 15 years in it 1 final.


So not winning is a good record ok thts alright then they should update our history and put that in it.Cant wait to tell my grandkids of the golden years where we qualified for the CL 15 years in a row and never won it I call it abject failure but obviously some fans are happy with that

[I Hate Hleb]

in fact I'd hardly shed a tear if the majority of these players and others were sold as I can't stand any other them.. weak willed, weak in mind... really a reflection of the chump we have in charge.. and YES, Wenger's record in the CL is fucking shit and appalling..

very surprised to hear that about Vermielny/Bac let alone Wilshere who could be our greatest youth team product in decades

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

The fact of the matter is that he should have done better, especially with the players at his disposal from 1998 - 2006. His lack of tactical acumen certainly contributed heavily to those failures.

[highburyJD]

just because I'm not as suicidally maudlin as you lot doesnae equate to being 'happy' with not winning things

comparing an individual managers record to cherry picked best results of Benitez (with Houllier's team) Avram Grant (with Mourinho+Scolari's team) and De Matteo (with Mourinho+AvB's team) isn't really a fair parallel.

Also qualifying consistently is ridiculously being used as a stick used to beat Wenger with.
Liverpool+Sperz wish theyd qualified every year - they might have shiny new cashcow stadiums

also I never said "not winning it is good" which would be ridiculous
although not quite as ridiculous as saying any manager that hasn't won it is shit and awful
(every manager that has not won the CL has a worse record in it than Wenger)

[mcdowell42]

chavs and victims have won it we havent and he has had more time than other managers to win it and he hasnt.Maybe EUFA will come up with a trophy for being in the CL for 15 years in a row.


What does it matter whose players helped benitez/de matteo/grant the FACT is besides from grant they have won it.I suppose if a new manager came in now and he won the CL next season your arguement would be it was wengers team so actually he won it for arsenal.

[highburyJD]

it is truly bizzaro world when the fact Wenger's consistently qualified his team for a tournament (his primary pre-season aim) is evidence he's rubbish
success = failure

Wenger has a better record in the CL than all non-CL winners - is this point even disputed...?

also this:

What does it matter whose players helped benitez/de matteo/grant the FACT is besides from grant they have won it.

is pure genius. Would love to see you in court
"my evidence you honour is FACTs A, B and C... apart from C"

[mcdowell42]

fact d arsenal have only got to 1 final in the 15 years he has being in charge.

[highburyJD]

fact d arsenal have only got to 1 final in the 15 years he has being in charge.

Fergie's been around nearly twice as long
with twice as much money and got there 3 times, hardly a huge difference
Benitez has 2 and thats it - if 'getting to the final' is your metric Wenger wins Prem Bronze
(would you rather we hired Rafa?)

[franksav63]

in fact I'd hardly shed a tear if the majority of these players and others were sold as I can't stand any other them.. weak willed, weak in mind... really a reflection of the chump we have in charge.. and YES, Wenger's record in the CL is fucking shit and appalling..

very surprised to hear that about Vermielny/Bac let alone Wilshere who could be our greatest youth team product in decades

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

The fact of the matter is that he should have done better, especially with the players at his disposal from 1998 - 2006. His lack of tactical acumen certainly contributed heavily to those failures.

Yep, totally agree with you on this IHH, it's a joke how Wenger is hero worshipped by some, despite his appalling record when actually getting to finals.. especially with the teams in the years that you quoted above.

[highburyJD]

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

The fact of the matter is that he should have done better, especially with the players at his disposal from 1998 - 2006. His lack of tactical acumen certainly contributed heavily to those failures.

Yep, totally agree with you on this IHH, it's a joke how Wenger is hero worshipped by some, despite his appalling record when actually getting to finals.. especially with the teams in the years that you quoted above.

the way some post on this forum you would thing everything positive that happened 98-06 was natural phenomena
Wenger didn't get the players playing revolutionary football, extend and transform the famous 5 (and Romford Pele's) careers, sign world class players for peanuts and build awesome teams
- he just had teams turn up 'at his disposal'

[I Hate Hleb]

apart from the halfdozen mentioned nobody has a better record than Wenger
thinks its harsh to call one of the 6 best "shit and appalling"

The fact of the matter is that he should have done better, especially with the players at his disposal from 1998 - 2006. His lack of tactical acumen certainly contributed heavily to those failures.

Yep, totally agree with you on this IHH, it's a joke how Wenger is hero worshipped by some, despite his appalling record when actually getting to finals.. especially with the teams in the years that you quoted above.

the way some post on this forum you would thing everything positive that happened 98-06 was natural phenomena
Wenger didn't get the players playing revolutionary football, extend and transform the famous 5 (and Romford Pele's) careers, sign world class players for peanuts and build awesome teams
- he just had teams turn up 'at his disposal'

He can have done what you suggest AND still failed to do the very best with the quality players at his disposal. The two things aren't mutually exclusive!! Indeed some people would argue that not only has he fallen short in Europe, but that he should have won more than he did domestically with those same players. However, it doesn't (and shouldn't) lessen the impact he did have and the success he brought. But this isn't the same Wenger we are talking about nowadays and the passing years and continued failures have exposed additional weakness other than the ones we already knew he had.

[highburyJD]

99-00-01 arguably Wengers worst years