THE WENGER THREAD

[northbank123]

Don't know if it's just old hat rehashed...

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/ ... sM.twitter

[SteveO 35]

I'm not sure if it angers me more that a lot of people saying that ''last was was the final straw'' - LAST NIGHT?? How long has this shit been going on for and you lot only have enough LAST NIGHT!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does Wenger not consult for PSG and advise them on who to sign? So while they sign Pastore, Ibra and Thiago Silva we sign Gervinho, Ramsey and Sebastian Squallachi

It angers me every time I read people saying that one individual match was "the final straw". Was last night more embarrasing than 8-2. I think not.

I'm quite happy to bet hundreds of pounds that this time next year he will still be our manager

Pretty much from the instant Kroenke took over I have said that the only power fans have is to boycott games - fuck banners and marches, cozy little Q&A sessions with Gazidis, radio phone-ins and internet forums. Change can only come when Kroenke's sole aim i.e to increase his return on investment, is under threat. That comes from the biggest source of income i.e. matchday revenues taking a severe knock through fans voting with their feet.

The daytrippers will soon file away to where they came from once we don't have CL football - another major loss of income - and we'll be playing on Thursday nights (at best) in front of a half empty stadium. That is when the owner will listen. 60,000 sell-outs and the Virtual Trophy and Wenger is lining his pockets and you might as well shout into a void

[1989]

Just what will it take for this piece of shit to finally fuck off?

Relegation???

[Chippy]

This from F365 amused me.

Whatever you think of Arsene Wenger as a manager, one thing cannot be in doubt - his bloody floor-length sleeping bag-style cocoon coat is ludicrous. It's just not that cold in England most of the time but at the first signs of frost, out it comes and he stands there on the touchline like a giant blue maggot, seemingly unaware that he looks vaguely ridiculous. In fact, it looks like the coat could stand on the touchline on its own without Wenger. Maybe they'd be better off if the massive waterproof tubular creation took over as boss.

I call it The Coat Of Doom. Like Gervinho's hair, while it can't be held totally responsible for them being rubbish, you can't help but feel that it's somehow a malign influence.

Even Steve McClaren, the last managerial exponent of lack of self-awareness, learned from his umbrella-based humiliation and has not appeared with one since. But not Wenger. Stubbornly he refuses to change attire, presumably in the belief that his choice is the right choice regardless of the fact that looking like a giant caterpillar undermines his authority and credibility. Clothes do, to some degree at least, maketh the man. You can't go into battle wearing a tu-tu and you can't manage a football club from inside a polar explorer's sleeping bag.

While his stubbornness can be seen as self-belief and firmness of mind; the kind of determination to go your own way which all top managers need, in Wenger's case, with an under-performing team, it just looks like the exact opposite. It looks like lack of character and understanding.

This trait seems to keep running through his side. There's no doubting the football ability of most of his signings, at least in theory, but it is all too often, for too many years now, undermined by lack of character. Too often for too many years, a multitude of players simply don't look like they fancy the going when the going gets tough.

The game against Bradford was typical in that respect. Suddenly, a team of very good footballers looks like a youth team who are playing the grown-ups and are intimidated by them. It's not lack of talent that defeats them, it's lack of guts and grit. This is visible in perhaps the majority of current Arsenal players. In fact, sometimes it appears that Wenger has bought them or selected them for exactly this limp, unfocused, lazy characteristic in the mistaken belief that it is football intelligence. At some point, skill isn't enough, you need balls, big bloody balls. Too often, Arsenal players appear to be eunuchs.

It is impossible to divorce this characteristic from their manager. This is his creation. It's not without quality but it so manifestly lacks strength of character on a regular enough basis that it is impossible to excuse him. They look like they need a big shot of alpha male in them but if they turn to the bench and see their boss looking like a massive puff pastry cream horn, it clearly isn't inspiring them very much or very often.

Too often Arsenal look like boys in a mans' world and their manager like a bewildered man dressed for a camping expedition.

[Goonerpath]

It’s fair to say yesterday was BY FAR not the “final straw” as we have been in steady decline for years. The “Wenger Out Brigade” have been out for sometime (this thread being a prime example), but regardless, the fact of the matter is more and more people are joining “The Brigade” and that can only be a good thing, no? There has indeed been a divide for some time. I’d be the first to admit I have been sat on the fence for sometime in the slim hope that we might regain some of our former glory seeing as it was Wenger who revolutionised our style, brought us some trophies etc. However, this season (and probably since we left Highbury) it’s plain for EVERYONE to see, there is no quality in this current side and Wenger is not the man to take us forward.
If I wanted to see Championship style football, Championship quality players I could do so easily and cheaper, but I love Arsenal F.C. and it pains me to see where this club is going.
We are all reading from the same page / or at least beginning to. I for one do not want to see Wenger to take us into the next season, this season is pretty much a write off. I just hope more and more pressure is put on this board and more fans unite towards a common goal. I know who I'd like to see us going forward, how about the rest of you??

Whatever campaign / protest is going on to stop our club being run as a Company as opposed to a Football Club I’m there, if that includes Wenger out too that’s a bonus.

[A dallying Gus Caesar]

Wenger out.

I cannot believe there is still anyone out there that wants him to stay (apart from his mates).
The evidence is clear as day, he just has to go as I seriously believe he can make us even worse if allowed to stay.

[N1Goon]

[N1Goon]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... nager-poll


Get voting!

[1989]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusi ... eakingnews

Save us Pep.

[N1Goon]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusi ... eakingnews

Save us Pep.

Of course it is, that is hardly a shock, we are the most suitable club for Pep in England by far.

[Robin_L]

What do you think is the current proportions of AKB vs WOB?

If under the WOB banner you are including the extremists (those who physically loath the man and call him names from behind their computer screens) and the increasing number of moderates coming over (those who respect his legacy but want his resignation in the summer rather than any contract extension), I would say they at least match the AKBs in number.

[StuartL]

A quick question that I hope someone can answer...

Has Wenger ever dropped someone for having a stinker ?

As far as I can recall he doesn't drop players, he appears to want them to play back into form, but this is to the detriment of the team as below par performances are tolerated and even indulged.

The players don't appear to bust a gut, worried that they will be facing the axe, so even if having a 'mare the workrate would still remain high.
(this is posed on the back of Forehead's performance last night)

I cannot, so far, think of a match this season where Gervinho has actually looked like a (top notch ) striker, so why on earth does he persist in playing him there ?

(I know, cos he's Arsene and he knows )

[flash gunner]

A quick question that I hope someone can answer...

Has Wenger ever dropped someone for having a stinker ?

As far as I can recall he doesn't drop players, he appears to want them to play back into form, but this is to the detriment of the team as below par performances are tolerated and even indulged.

The players don't appear to bust a gut, worried that they will be facing the axe, so even if having a 'mare the workrate would still remain high.
(this is posed on the back of Forehead's performance last night)

I cannot, so far, think of a match this season where Gervinho has actually looked like a (top notch ) striker, so why on earth does he persist in playing him there ?

(I know, cos he's Arsene and he knows )

I remember him dropping Lehmann for a couple of howlers at the start of his last full season with us he never got a look in again really but he was replaced with Almunia but thats about it

[northbank123]

Yeah, and as you say with Lehmann it was a series of howlers rather than just a stinker.

Pity because for me Lehmann was class, would have been great if he was 5 years younger when we signed him.

[goonersid]

Quite a few of the Wenger out camp, (augie, flash, db10) to name but a few were confident that we would still finish top 4, I was wondering do you still feel the same? surely not on the evidence of the last few weeks.