THE WENGER THREAD

[armchair]

Okay, gotcha Quartz. Thanks.

Thats you told off.

[nexum5me]

get in!!! camel!!!

[Top Londoner]

Okay, gotcha Quartz. Thanks.

Thats you told off.

Lol, You mean uncle Quartz wrapped me knuckles..... No, he saved me from meself armchair,,,,,,,,,,almost.

[nexum5me]

oh well

[Vinny1967]

Okay, gotcha Quartz. Thanks.

TL is on the Naughty step

[highburyJD]

Our manager is now "not good at anything"
what a ludicrous statement, he has flaws, but if he's "not good at anything"
HTF do we consistently out perform so many teams?

a refusal to recognise any ability whatsoever can only mark the poster as delusional
Wenger has many many flaws, but if he was really "not good at anything"
we would be nowhere near our goals, we consistently achieve our baseline target
(that imaginary CL qualification trophy)
and until last year's lucky 3rd place, we've consistently challenged for trophies

achieving that with a manager not good at anything is straight impossible
(Wenger changed formation and personnel last night in a creative way that won us a game - amazing)

[Herd]

Sounds like a Banksy creation

Banksy never created anything,he is a mere stencil copier who took his ideas of street art from blek le rat or for that matter that mad bastard who painted shadows all over the lower east side in Manhattan in the early 80's which I fucking loved !

The few of his I ever liked were the Anywhere one @ Archway and the reservoir bananas in Old st !

Since he dissed the Mighty Robbo and thus Arsenal he is persona non grata !

[northbank123]

(Wenger changed formation and personnel last night in a creative way that won us a game - amazing)

Aside from the fact he could hardly keep things the same when we were creating very little at 4-1 down, that's one of the very few times when he's made bold substitutions/tactics to a positive extent in the last several years. What's amazing is that we ripped Reading (shit, but a PL team still) apart when we were playing 4-4-2, with Feo not stuck out on the touchline for the whole game and Arshavin playing centrally behind the strikers, yet we all know that for the rest of the season we'll revert to type and play 4-5-1 with Feo on the right wing and Arshavin will be limited to a few subs appearances out wide, regardless of past and future failings with that approach

I don't know how last night could have highlighted the perennial deficiencies in our system any more, but what's the betting after the Swansea game in a month's time that we're still questioning why Giroud is isolated up front and why Gervinho and Ramsey are playing on the wings?

[DB10GOONER]

Our manager is now "not good at anything"
what a ludicrous statement, he has flaws, but if he's "not good at anything"
HTF do we consistently out perform so many teams?

a refusal to recognise any ability whatsoever can only mark the poster as delusional
Wenger has many many flaws, but if he was really "not good at anything"
we would be nowhere near our goals, we consistently achieve our baseline target
(that imaginary CL qualification trophy)
and until last year's lucky 3rd place, we've consistently challenged for trophies

achieving that with a manager not good at anything is straight impossible
(Wenger changed formation and personnel last night in a creative way that won us a game - amazing)

"delusional"? Really?

Nice to see you reverting to form JD, won't be long now before you stomp off in another huff, huh? Just hate it when someone disagrees with you, don't ya...? I love the way you PM me complaining about name calling but have no issue with it when you are the one doing the name calling...

My opinion, which I'm entitled to by the way, is that he is not GOOD at any of the key management skills he should be good at and THAT is why we have not been succesful since 2005. Success for me as a football fan is winning trophies, NOT making a profit, or qualifying for an overbloated competition that had to extend it's qualyfing catchment area to include all the big clubs and generate bigger profits.

Your problem is you think we "achieve" 4th place because we are so good, but the reality is we achieve it because the majority of teams in the PL are quite average or even poor. You can't accept that our opposition's quality is a qualifying factor. But it is, whether you like it or not.

I say Wenger isn't good at the things he should be good at, but would accept that he is good enough to get that 4th spot, that doesn't make him "good" though, just good enough to "achieve" 4th.

[SteveO 35]

Can we rename this the "Highbury JD and DB10 Gooner I hear what you say, but..." thread

[g88ner]

Our manager is now "not good at anything"
what a ludicrous statement, he has flaws, but if he's "not good at anything"
HTF do we consistently out perform so many teams?

Who are these "many teams" that we consistently out perform?

Certainly not United, Chelsea and Citeh. The one's that count, as they gobble up all the trophies.

Liverpool, perhaps. They're on a similar wage scale to ourselves, although they've hilariously imploded in recent years. so perhaps comparing ourselves with them kind of misses the point. Their turnover probably falls short of ours too.

Who else?

Sp*rs? Everton? Villa? QPR? Fulham? Norwich? Accrington Stanley?? - true, we "consistently" out perform all of them, but as their financial resources cannot match our own, I'd say we should EXPECT to out perform these clubs, shouldn't we?

In fact, I'd say 4th is par for Arsenal, and should be expected from any decent manager given our financial footing relative to our 4th place rivals (Sp*rs, Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, etc.), and finishing lower than that would certainly be underachieving.

So given that 4th is neither under or over-achieving, I'd say we should be a tad underwhelmed that that is being hailed as some big achievement by the club... especially when it's accompanied by zero trophies in 7 years.

I don't think Wenger has done anything special in recent seasons. Just achieved the minimum requirement... consistently.

[SteveO 35]

I don't think Wenger has done anything special in recent seasons. Just achieved the minimum requirement... consistently.

Nail on head and surely not even up for debate. Yes we know the Chavs and Citeh have got unlimited resources, and we know United are the richest of the clubs that live within their means.

Have a look who is next on the rich list - whether its revenue or shareholder wealth. So anything less than 4th is below par. I would argue that we are also underperforming in the cups - surely we should be regular semi-finalists/finalists. Lets remind ourselves who has been knocking us out of the FA Cup in recent seasons - Sunderland and Stoke

[RNTGOONER]

Our manager is now "not good at anything"
what a ludicrous statement, he has flaws, but if he's "not good at anything"
HTF do we consistently out perform so many teams?

Who are these "many teams" that we consistently out perform?

Certainly not United, Chelsea and Citeh. The one's that count, as they gobble up all the trophies.

Liverpool, perhaps. They're on a similar wage scale to ourselves, although they've hilariously imploded in recent years. so perhaps comparing ourselves with them kind of misses the point. Their turnover probably falls short of ours too.

Who else?

Sp*rs? Everton? Villa? QPR? Fulham? Norwich? Accrington Stanley?? - true, we "consistently" out perform all of them, but as their financial resources cannot match our own, I'd say we should EXPECT to out perform these clubs, shouldn't we?

In fact, I'd say 4th is par for Arsenal, and should be expected from any decent manager given our financial footing relative to our 4th place rivals (Sp*rs, Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, etc.), and finishing lower than that would certainly be underachieving.

So given that 4th is neither under or over-achieving, I'd say we should be a tad underwhelmed that that is being hailed as some big achievement by the club... especially when it's accompanied by zero trophies in 7 years.

I don't think Wenger has done anything special in recent seasons. Just achieved the minimum requirement... consistently.

Very well put. All of this surrendering because we can't compete in the market is bullshit, so if a billionaire buys Everton are we all happy to be 5th every year after that, or would we expect to spend some of our resources and try and pip the teams above us once every 2 or 3 years for a trophy

We should be buying in the 25 million pound market (that is the size of club we are) and directly replacing any top players that leave on top of that, shifting on the players don't make the grade.

There should only be a dozen or so players in the world we can't afford because we are one of the top ten richest clubs in the world.

[highburyJD]

Nice to see you reverting to form JD, won't be long now before you stomp off in another huff, huh? Just hate it when someone disagrees with you, don't ya...? I love the way you PM me complaining about name calling but have no issue with it when you are the one doing the name calling...

I PMd you about a slanderous accusation - against the manager not against me
Your post is a strange misrepresntation, you know I've never complained about anything said to/about me
what you have written gives an impression of a tattle-tail - as if I was moaning to mods about people being mean to me.
That's never happened. I've defended the club I love and the manager on here.
Never been sensitive about insults directed at me.

I said a statement was ludicrous - not a poster. That part highlighted isn't name calling.
(and the idea that any Prem manager holds onto their job despite being good at nothing is IMO pretty silly)

I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt by the word delusional.
I've used it about myself (and Wenger) in other threads. Its just my opinion on one POV.

I was interested in a dialogue about the strengths and weaknesses of the manager.
I found it amazing nobody could acknowledge any strengths whatsoever...

[highburyJD]

I don't think Wenger has done anything special in recent seasons. Just achieved the minimum requirement... consistently.

agreed, can quibble about whether par is 4th or 5th, but we have recently just cruised around that level
3rd last year was a good 'bogey' in league place terms, but a bad season in that we did not challenge
obviously Chelski's 'mare under AVB was a major contributor to 3rd

where we depart is for me a manager who can consistently deliver 'par'
who can keep the club, always, at least at the level it should be - is doing a great job
consistency is key

many many managers fail to take their clubs to where they should be, or to keep them there.
AVB at Chelski the example mentioned here.

We all want more, I'm not suggesting those imaginary CL qualification trophies are enough,
but dismissing the ability to achieve them every single time as nothing,
dismisses 99% of the managers in the world.