Wengers decision making

[northbank123]

I think the single worst decision is not bringing Fabregas back. The Pires substitution was a bad one but there were considerable mitigating circumstances. The Arshavin Chelsea one is also right up there because it was based on utter fools logic, but in terms of damage the Fabregas one will haunt us for years.

[armchair]

I think the single worst decision is not bringing Fabregas back. The Pires substitution was a bad one but there were considerable mitigating circumstances. The Arshavin Chelsea one is also right up there because it was based on utter fools logic, but in terms of damage the Fabregas one will haunt us for years.

The decision not to activate Cescs buy-back clause and the sale of RVP to Man U are the decisions of an ego-fuelled dictator who is prepared to put his own agenda in front of the best interests of AFC.

RVP to Man U won them the PL and Cesc to Chelsea with his prolific assists tally may well do the same for them.

BTW nobody gonna post any views on Wengers "best" decision?

[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.

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.

I agree about Arseshavin and I also think Ozil was signed by, possibly Gazidis but the over 30's rule has Wengers M.O. all over it. And the "supermarket sweep" of 2011 saw Arteta coming in leaving that over 30's rule in tatters.

[VoiceOfReason]

So many, that I really don't know where to start. Many of those I can think of have already been mentioned, but the first thing I thought of before reading through the thread was subbing Pires off in the CL Final. I'm not sure that was his biggest mistake, but it's certainly the one that upset me the most. He'd already started phasing out Pires that season, and this was the biggest insult of all. I still believe that Wenger was fucked off with Pires over the Man City penalty incident earlier that season, which led to him being benched for many crucial games in the aftermath. AW also wanted to introduce Hleb as the future, and knew that taking him off in the final would send completely the wrong message.

(Dis)honourable mentions... breaking up the Invicibles too quickly with a misguided belief that he could replicate the success with virtual nobodies... throwing the league cup final in 2007... allowing David Dein to leave in 2007... putting out the reserves at Man Utd in the FA Cup in 2008... persisting with Eboue in 2008 even though the fans made it clear his performances were no longer welcome at the club... not signing Yaya Toure (multiple occasions), despite him making it clear he'd like to join us... persisting with Almunia in 2010 despite him costing us points on a weekly basis... doing the unthinkable by offering Djourou a new contract in 2012, despite him being one of our worst ever players... not taking back Fabregas in 2014... allowing Podolski to leave in 2015... watch this space, because the list will continue.

And for what it's worth, if Wenger's going to continually claim that he was 'close to signing (X) player', as if it's some kind of accomplishment, then I'm going to highlight these as poor decisions too: not signing Ibrahimovic in 2000... not signing Ronaldo in 2003... not signing Messi in 2004... why Wenger would want to draw attention to himself for these, I honestly don't know.

[armchair]

Im still trying to figure out Vermaelen. Surely he could have made a decent DM. And loaning out Carl Jenkinson at the same time leaving us decimated at the back. Fucking crazy decisions.
Oh yea and Sagna to City too ffs

[officepest]

BTW nobody gonna post any views on Wengers "best" decision?

Although I loved him as a player, getting £5m for Merson made sense. It was good money and, more importantly, it allowed Ray Parlour to blossom into an important player for us.

Shifting Song for £15m is up there too.

The best? It has to be bringing in either Vieira for £3m or Henry for between £8 – £11M. Oh for players of their calibre now.

[gp543]

BTW nobody gonna post any views on Wengers "best" decision?

Although I loved him as a player, getting £5m for Merson made sense. It was good money and, more importantly, it allowed Ray Parlour to blossom into an important player for us.

Shifting Song for £15m is up there too.

The best? It has to be bringing in either Vieira for £3m or Henry for between £8 – £11M. Oh for players of their calibre now.

£25 million for for the Togolese mentalist.

[Herd]

We have a thread with 15,000 plus comments on it and all of his failings are listed there ,again and again and again .

Do we really need another FFS ?

[armchair]

We have a thread with 15,000 plus comments on it and all of his failings are listed there ,again and again and again .

Do we really need another FFS ?

Excellent post.

[Theoperator]

One of the worst Wenger decisions was selling Petit on, with PV they were immense, can never understand why the invincibles were dismantled so fast either.

Best decision in the last year was to keep Gibbs on the post in the FA cup, and for sticking with Rambo perhaps

[remigardeshair]

One of the worst Wenger decisions was selling Petit on

Disagree with that one, Petit was a fantastic player in the 97/98 season but the knee injury he got meant he was never the same player again. In fact the £25m or whatever it was (more maybe, I cant remember) for him and Overmars from Barcelona was an incredible bit of business, ditto £13m for Hleb and £15m for Song. No wonder Barca dont like us

[Robin_L]

Jug-ears Jeffers for £10m is among his worst value-for-money signings, probably scarred him from signing English players for at least half a decade.

[olgitgooner]

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

To be fair to AW....you didn't need to be an experienced lip reader to get that he said to Pardew " you're a fucking disgrace!"

[olgitgooner]

We have a thread with 15,000 plus comments on it and all of his failings are listed there ,again and again and again .

Do we really need another FFS ?

Fair point. But with 15,000 comments, it's about as daunting as trying to read the whole of the English Oxford Dictionary.

[Theoperator]

One of the worst Wenger decisions was selling Petit on

Disagree with that one, Petit was a fantastic player in the 97/98 season but the knee injury he got meant he was never the same player again. In fact the £25m or whatever it was (more maybe, I cant remember) for him and Overmars from Barcelona was an incredible bit of business, ditto £13m for Hleb and £15m for Song. No wonder Barca dont like us

Interesting, I seem to remember him being great for all 3 seasons, I was v surprised he was sold, wiki says 32m for the 2, 9m for Petit. Thought it was Bobby P whos knee was more of a problem