Wengers decision making

[armchair]

Following on from another thread where Yankee and Eboue-Why? suggested that not activating Cescs buy-ba[/color]k clause was Wengers worst ever decision, what do you feel has been Wengers single greatest fuck up and also best decision for balance?

Could be anything at all, something trivial or major thats annoyed you or made you smile for years.

Socialist wage policy? Signing Sanogo, Gervinho? Zonal marking?
Thierry? The invincible season? Pushing Mourinho? Vieira?

For me there have been many.
I could never and still to this day cannot accept nor understantd his neglect of the goalkeeping position and defensive tactics and training in general. How many points/trophys this has cost us we'll never know.

On the converse I dont think Ive ever seen a better midfield partnership than Vieira /Petit. Ever. Just a joyous thing to behold.

So post your views on Wengers best and worst decisions before Quartz deletes/re-names/moves/locks this thread.

So far we have.....

Subbing off Bobby after Lehmanns sending off. CL Final 2006
Dropping an on-fire Arshavin for 2009 FA Cup semi.
Not activating Cescs buy-back clause, allowing him to go to Chelsea 2014
Winning the PL for Man U by agreeing to sell them RVP after speaking with Fergie 2012
Decision to implement a "socialist wage policy" leading to hugely inflated wages for mediocre players
Selling Ashley Cole to Chelsea under "socialist wage policy"
Man management of Vermaelen, Podolski and now Ozil
Allowing Pires to go too soon under one year only contract offer policy to players of a certain age.
Decision to field teams littered with "projects" for importnt cup games, eg 2007 League Cup Final
Decision to sign a new contract when he should have left after FA Cup win 2014
Persisting to play a shit comedy Eboue 2008
Passing on opportunity to sign Yaya Toure
Giving Djourou a new improved contract 2012
Persisting with "world class" Almunia for way too long and making him captain
Losing Vermaelen Sagna and loaning Carl Jenkinson leaving us terribly vulnerable at the back 2014

Good transfer decisions eg good money for Merse Song, Ade and nabbing Vieira Henry proved fantastic buys
Persisting with Rambo when it looked like he wasnt gonna cut it

[gp543]

Taking Pires off in Paris instead of Hleb.

[markyp]

dropping Arshavin for the f.a cup semi when he was the form player in the league by a country mile,only to get beaten by the chavs then tonked by utd in the CL semi final which Arshavin was cup tied for,WTF

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

there's so many but the cesc one is fresh especially since he'll probably beat henry's assist record this season

[selsdon]

A particularly unhappy memory that Chelsea semi-final.

Posted this on match thread:

selsdon on Sat Apr 18, 2009 2:28 pm
£100 Arshavin to score at least two goals today at 50/1

£50 he bags a hat-trick at 250/1

COME ON MY SON!

Wenger starts him on the bench, a total what the f**k decision....three days later Andrei bagged all four at Liverpool and needless to say I hadn't repeated the bet.

[Perryashburtongroves]

The Arshavin one in the semi was terrible, as was playing a reserve side in the league cup final of 2007 and getting beaten by the chavs, keeping Alumunia in goal for so long, letting Pires leave and signing Shitvestre, fucking up every transfer window in the last decade, selling RVP to Manure, letting Cole join the Chavs, freezing out players like Arshavin, Podolski and Vermaelen, giving huge contracts to average players like Denilson, Bendtner, Almunia and Diaby then not being able to get rid of them, putting out a weakened team in a cup game at Old Toilet and losing 4-0, leaving Henry on the bench in the cup semi in 2004 and losing, signing a new contract when he should have fucked off in June and cunting about for so long when dealing with transfers that most decent players walk away and join another club. Fucking hell, there are so many that I've come up with those off the top of my head and didn't really have to think too hard at all.

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

The Arshavin one in the semi was terrible, as was playing a reserve side in the league cup final of 2007 and getting beaten by the chavs, keeping Alumunia in goal for so long, letting Pires leave and signing Shitvestre, fucking up every transfer window in the last decade, selling RVP to Manure, letting Cole join the Chavs, freezing out players like Arshavin, Podolski and Vermaelen, giving huge contracts to average players like Denilson, Bendtner, Almunia and Diaby then not being able to get rid of them, putting out a weakened team in a cup game at Old Toilet and losing 4-0, leaving Henry on the bench in the cup semi in 2004 and losing, signing a new contract when he should have fucked off in June and cunting about for so long when dealing with transfers that most decent players walk away and join another club. Fucking hell, there are so many that I've come up with those off the top of my head and didn't really have to think too hard at all.

funny post but sad and true at the same time

[QuartzGooner]

Taking Pires off in Paris instead of Hleb.

This.
Pires was the best player on the pitch until the substitution.
We know for sure that was Wenger's decision, unlike the one year contracts for 30 year old players (Probably the Board's) and Cesc going to Chelsea (I think Cesc chose Chelsea).

[augie]

Far too many to mention BUT one left field one that stands out is when he should of decked pardew at upton park a few years back - that sneaky despicable c.unt came down into our technical area goading wenker after they scored, and personally I would have respected le cock more if he put the b.astard on his arse for all the world to see I don't condone violence normally but sometimes a man needs to lay down a marker to ensure others don't take the piss further down the line

[armchair]

Taking Pires off in Paris instead of Hleb.

This.
Pires was the best player on the pitch until the substitution.
We know for sure that was Wenger's decision, unlike the one year contracts for 30 year old players (Probably the Board's) and Cesc going to Chelsea (I think Cesc chose Chelsea).

I think everybody knows and the debate is long over that Its Wenger and Wenger alone who decides who stays, goes and who comes in to the squad. His squad.

[clockender1]

not going to real madrid in 2007.

[officepest]

The Arshavin one in the semi was terrible, as was playing a reserve side in the league cup final of 2007 and getting beaten by the chavs, keeping Alumunia in goal for so long, letting Pires leave and signing Shitvestre, fucking up every transfer window in the last decade, selling RVP to Manure, letting Cole join the Chavs, freezing out players like Arshavin, Podolski and Vermaelen, giving huge contracts to average players like Denilson, Bendtner, Almunia and Diaby then not being able to get rid of them, putting out a weakened team in a cup game at Old Toilet and losing 4-0, leaving Henry on the bench in the cup semi in 2004 and losing, signing a new contract when he should have fucked off in June and cunting about for so long when dealing with transfers that most decent players walk away and join another club. Fucking hell, there are so many that I've come up with those off the top of my head and didn't really have to think too hard at all.

100% agree.

It was this example of incredible hubris (and don't anyone give me any shit about 'keeping faith with the team that got us there') and we threw it away. If we had taken it seriously we could have won a pot, and gotten and a particulrly large monkey off of Wenger's back to boot; namely beating Mourinho.

Instead, we send out; Hoyte, Aliadiere, Legohead and Armand fucking Traore against Chelsea's first eleven.

[greengooner]

"Er...I'm married...should I bang this French rapper or not?, ah I'm sure it will never get out"

[QuartzGooner]

Taking Pires off in Paris instead of Hleb.

This.
Pires was the best player on the pitch until the substitution.
We know for sure that was Wenger's decision, unlike the one year contracts for 30 year old players (Probably the Board's) and Cesc going to Chelsea (I think Cesc chose Chelsea).

I think everybody knows and the debate is long over that Its Wenger and Wenger alone who decides who stays, goes and who comes in to the squad. His squad.

I do not believe that.
He is a very powerful manager, but not all powerful.
There is a school of thought that suggests Arshavin was bought by Gazidis, and that the summer supermarket sweep of 2011 saw others bring in players with Wenger signing them off in panic.

The one year deals for over 30's were surely not Wenger's idea, they were imposed on him by the board.

[Ed Hunter The Gooner]

Destroying Arshavin as a player by playing him out of position. He was becoming world class central attacking midfielder at that time and we all saw what that guy was capable of when he joined. Chunking him on the left was criminal and it did destroy him as player piece by piece. You can always argue what kind of person Arshavin was and that he was lazy fucker who cared nothing else but money. I don't think so.

Now wenker is doing that same to Özil if he keeps playing him on the sides. Both Arshavin and Özil has proved to all the world what they can do playing in their natural role BEFORE they joined us so claiming that they are just shit or lazy players is laughable. There is only one to blame and that is a man who makes the tactics and builds the squad.

Letting Cesc go to chavs is another criminal decision from him that I can't never forgive. Again, we can debate until the end of the world if Cesc actually chose chavs over us. Well, can we really blame him for that? No matter what's the truth, we had the possibility to sign him first and we should've make that happen no matter what. Such is the importance of this player to his team so not signing this kind of player is fucking appalling.

There are so many insane and mentally twisted decisions that this man has done during the past years and to me all these negative decisions overshadows the possible positive decisions, so it's very difficult to find genuinely positives.

The best decision of all would be if he just decided to fuck off from Arsenal and never look back.