THE WENGER THREAD

As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
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Ed Hunter The Gooner
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by Ed Hunter The Gooner »

VAVAVOOM 14 wrote:
QuartzGooner wrote:

Kroenke's son Josh wants Thierry Henry (right) to take over from Wenger sooner rather than later

That though is based as much on Henry's status as an Arsenal legend and his profile in the USA after his stint with the New York Red Bulls rather than his managerial expertise.
:shock:

He wants Henry to become manager because of his "profile in the USA"?

He's willing to overlook the fact Henry has fuck all experience and put him at the helm because he is more recognizable to Americans?

Jesus fucking Christ.
What we actually can take out from that article is that Kroenke's are actually beginning to see the truth and are at least considering other options. Isn't that at least something?

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StuartL
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by StuartL »

Bradywasking wrote:Article on Irish Independent today by Richard Sadlier..basically saying Arsenal are a victim of their own success and that success is down to Wenger. He explains that qualifying for the Champions League year after year is success and ultimately more successful than winning domestic trophies. If winning domestic trophies was success then Wigan, Portsmouth etc would be as successful as Arsenal and they are not....
Richard Sadlier is a former professional footballer from Dublin who had his career cut short by injury. He is now a TV pundit and journalist. Personally I think he is Ty in disguise.
The key word omitted was 'financial'
Financially successful yes, no question, healthy profits and cash reserves.

Guess it depends if you value trophies or £.

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OneBardGooner
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by OneBardGooner »

VAVAVOOM 14 wrote:
QuartzGooner wrote:

Kroenke's son Josh wants Thierry Henry (right) to take over from Wenger sooner rather than later

That though is based as much on Henry's status as an Arsenal legend and his profile in the USA after his stint with the New York Red Bulls rather than his managerial expertise.
:shock:

He wants Henry to become manager because of his "profile in the USA"?

He's willing to overlook the fact Henry has fuck all experience and put him at the helm because he is more recognizable to Americans?

Jesus fucking Christ.
Wiggy and Wiggy Jnr are first and foremost business men - They (along with many other american entrepenuers) have a knack of making short term investments which reap high profits - because of the situations at those times....Arsenal IS slightly different in that because of the model the club adheres to - money before trophies - they see it as a cash cow - But, because they are american business men - they see TH as a 'face' famous to them and american soccer (football) and as we all know america sells via famous faces etc - They associate a famous face who has had success in one arena - with being able to bring that 'fame' and 'success' to a new arena....

Both are cun.ts - and whilst they may have mooted the name of TH - there is no way they are going to jeopardise the cash cow of Arsenal (with Wenger) that brings in a steady stream of moolah - Moolah that enables them to increase their ownership stakes in their other businesses/merchandise's - Unless of course we fail to make 4th and CL qualification - Then things might be're-arranged'.

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OneBardGooner
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by OneBardGooner »

Bradywasking wrote:Article on Irish Independent today by Richard Sadlier..basically saying Arsenal are a victim of their own success and that success is down to Wenger. He explains that qualifying for the Champions League year after year is success and ultimately more successful than winning domestic trophies. If winning domestic trophies was success then Wigan, Portsmouth etc would be as successful as Arsenal and they are not....
Richard Sadlier is a former professional footballer from Dublin who had his career cut short by injury. He is now a TV pundit and journalist. Personally I think he is Ty in disguise.
Shouldn't that be McTy :? :D :wink:

Riotof91
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by Riotof91 »

Bradywasking wrote:Article on Irish Independent today by Richard Sadlier..basically saying Arsenal are a victim of their own success and that success is down to Wenger. He explains that qualifying for the Champions League year after year is success and ultimately more successful than winning domestic trophies. If winning domestic trophies was success then Wigan, Portsmouth etc would be as successful as Arsenal and they are not....
Richard Sadlier is a former professional footballer from Dublin who had his career cut short by injury. He is now a TV pundit and journalist. Personally I think he is Ty in disguise.
:banghead: Oh for fuck sake. The way some 'fans' & 'experts' bang on you'd think he pulled a Cloughie & dragged us from the lower league mediocrity to English & European Championships.

Arsenal in the 8 seasons before Wenger: 2 League titles, 2 League Cups, F.A Cup, European Cup Winners Cup.

Arsenal in the last 8 seasons : F.A Cup.

Spot the successful football club.

When he took over Arsenal were tied with Man Utd with league titles, now look how wide the gap is...

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the playing mantis
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by the playing mantis »

great piece by souness in todays su nday t imes:

'He wouldn't get away with it at another club'
It’s not good enough. He’s too nice to players, won’t control their indiscipline and won’t spend on players

AT THE start of each season, we talk about favourites for the title. We don’t talk about Arsenal in that breath. Then we get to what Arsenal will do this year, but already know the answer. Arsenal will do what they have done for the last decade: they will look fabulous when bashing up small teams at home then get rolled over by the big teams. Their recent win at Manchester City is the exception that proves the rule.

We also know that they will qualify for the Champions League, come through their group and lose their last-16 tie. In the past four seasons they have gone out at this stage to Barcelona, Milan and Bayern Munich (twice) and, barring a phenomenal performance in Monaco, it will happen again.

In the past, Arsène Wenger has portrayed those losses as narrow ones on aggregate against European heavyweights and, in the cases of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, potential winners of the tournament. That simply does not wash for Monaco, who scored four goals in six games to win their group. We all expected to see Arsenal smash their glass ceiling against them.

I like going to The Emirates because there is a lot to admire about Arsenal when they are on the front foot, but it was easily the worst game of football I’ve seen there from their perspective. Monaco played well but will be properly bashed up by any of the big teams, and I expected Arsenal to do that too.

I don’t buy the ‘we are building this beautiful stadium and that’s where our money has gone’ line Wenger has often used. Arsenal could have gone heavily into debt at any time in this period to get the best players out there. That is a choice. They have decided not to go down that route.

If I’m the Arsenal manager, getting it in the neck from journalists and know-it-all pundits, my professional pride will make me go into the next board meeting, stamp my feet and say: “Enough is enough, I want the money now.” He’s accepted that and I find that really hard to understand.

It also amazes me that you never hear any of his former players criticising him. It’s impossible to be a manager and not fall out with players, for the simple reason that they are young men with enormous egos and you have 25 of them and only 11 can play. The only one who came close to saying something detrimental was Lukas Podolski when he went on loan to Inter last month.

Maybe his players don’t have a bad word to say about him because he never falls out with them. If you can sit on the bench, as manager of Arsenal, and allow Danny Welbeck to be as positionally indisciplined as he was on Wednesday, right in front of you, you either don’t see it or you are not prepared to stand up and shout, “Get out here,” to him. Pep Guardiola said that to the great Thierry Henry, a World Cup winner, at Barcelona: “Stand out there and stretch that back four, or you will be sitting with me.”

You have a shape when you have the ball and another when you don’t have it, but it was as if nobody had told Arsenal that. Welbeck was playing with zero discipline. Alexis Sanchez, too. As a wide player, you have to hold your position. The best I played with was John Robertson, the former Nottingham Forest and Scotland winger. He used to actually stand off the pitch, trying to drag his full-back towards him, to leave his centre-forward one-on-one with a centre-half.

When Spain started to dominate in football, Wenger seemed to decide that small midfield players with a low centre of gravity was the way forward. I’m sorry but, provided they have an equal amount of ability, a big guy will beat a little guy.

Arsenal are trying to play a type of football that has to be perfect, where you are relying on being on the front foot all the time, because the players you have in your team are all over the place when you are not dominating the ball. There will be a period, no matter who you are, where you are not bossing it and it’s how you deal with that moment in the game, whether it’s a five-minute spell or half-an-hour.

Arsenal are far too easy to play against because they have all these little, gifted midfield players who, if you asked them to be honest, wouldn’t want any part of the defensive side. Other than maybe Francis Coquelin, they don’t really want to do it. The best teams have a mix of players, different types, but Arsenal’s are all peas from the same pod. When they were winning trophies, Patrick Viera and Emmanuel Petit would be saying, not verbally but by the way they played: “How do you want it today, a game of football or a war? Because you can have either.” Now, a war isn’t an option.

The only one they might have on their hands is a civil war over Wenger. All I will say is for a club like Arsenal to win one trophy in nine years isn’t enough. It wouldn’t happen at Manchester United, it wouldn’t happen at Liverpool, it wouldn’t happen at Manchester City and it certainly wouldn’t happen at Chelsea. Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League in all of the past 15 seasons, but starting against Everton today they have a real fight on their hands to maintain that sequence.

Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham will be pushing hard and the latter two will be significantly stronger for not having the complication of Europa League ties now. Arsenal have still to face Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United in the league and, given they have taken 31 of a possible 105 points from their past 35 games against fellow top-four finishers, those matches could prove pivotal.

courtesy ST and Graeme Souness

monkswell
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by monkswell »

We've become a byword for bad attitude in the world of rugby union now - just heard John Inverdale ahead of Ireland v England asking what on earth Arsenal were doing all week if they weren't properly mentally prepared for the Monaco match.

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OneBardGooner
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by OneBardGooner »

The players were doing one or two of the following:


1. Getting another tattoo
2. Buying another top of the range car
3. Getting a another diamond stud earring
4. Banging some Bimbo from sarf of the river
5. Buying their mum a holiday
6. Buying another pair of db headphones
7. Playing Fifa game manager
8. Getting a new hair cut
9. Telling their agent to negotiate more money
10. Wondering who they would be playing in the QF's of the CL after they had waltzed past Monaco

:evil: :banghead: :cussing:

clockender1
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by clockender1 »

George Knows :

Ex-Gunners boss Graham also openly castigated the current coach, questioning his team selection and stating that simply achieving a qualifying berth for the Champions League each season is not good enough.

"There are a lot quesions to be answered at Arsenal right now, not only about the positioning of Danny Welbeck, but also why is Santi Cazorla playing wide left and why is Mesut Ozil playing wide?" Graham said on Radio 5 Live.

"Only Arsene knows the answers but I am sure he knows what he is doing and Arsenal will finish in the top four again this season.

"In my mind, though, that is not enough. Arsenal should be among the challengers to win the title."

Sam59
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by Sam59 »

If Wenger keeps playing Bellerin and Gibbs, both bombing forward, we're going to get punished by all good sides. That reserve FB for Everton today put in umpteen good crosses. Luckily Lukaku had one of his lazy games (apart from flattening Ospina).

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wibble
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by wibble »

OneBardGooner wrote:Another well written piece on Beeb's website - by Amy Lawrence - She presents the FACTS extremely well.

The evidence is there for the world to see but of course Kroenke the cun.t, wenger the deluded one and the greedywhores on the board will not see or have any of it...and of course the pampered pussies we have as players are too busy counting their stash to care or speak up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31662274

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Goodness. The BBC have changed their writing style!!

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StuartL
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by StuartL »

wibble wrote:
OneBardGooner wrote:Another well written piece on Beeb's website - by Amy Lawrence - She presents the FACTS extremely well.

The evidence is there for the world to see but of course Kroenke the cun.t, wenger the deluded one and the greedywhores on the board will not see or have any of it...and of course the pampered pussies we have as players are too busy counting their stash to care or speak up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31662274

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Goodness. The BBC have changed their writing style!!
The banner got shown at the end of the article too :barscarf:

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augie
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by augie »

Bradywasking wrote:Article on Irish Independent today by Richard Sadlier..basically saying Arsenal are a victim of their own success and that success is down to Wenger. He explains that qualifying for the Champions League year after year is success and ultimately more successful than winning domestic trophies. If winning domestic trophies was success then Wigan, Portsmouth etc would be as successful as Arsenal and they are not....
Richard Sadlier is a former professional footballer from Dublin who had his career cut short by injury. He is now a TV pundit and journalist. Personally I think he is Ty in disguise.


Sadlier is a knob who was only a milwall level player even before injury finished his career :roll:

Personally I think listening to sadlier and/or brian kerr on tv and radio, is absolute torture and their elevation into prime footie shows has straight away degraded them :roll: :oops:

mcdowell42
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by mcdowell42 »

:barscarf: the miserable Augie is back. :wink:

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augie
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Re: THE WENGER THREAD

Post by augie »

mcdowell42 wrote::barscarf: the miserable Augie is back. :wink:


Have had a very stressful two weeks in personal life and I'm not sure if it has made me angrier or more non plussed :?

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