I won't bother responding to the rest of your post but Walcott was injured on the 4th Jan so that's absolute bollocks.turricaned wrote: Walcott wasn't injured until later in January
turricaned wrote:Who said I'm an AKB? I don't think he should go yet (not least because to my mind there's no-one available to take over next season who could do the job as well, let alone better), but I don't think the guy's impotent!BFG4 wrote:As I always like to do when I am talking to an AKB, I would like a well thought of explanation, as to why Wenger waited until the final day of the January transfer window to attempt to sign a striker, when he knew we needed one last summer, and had seen Walcott get injured during January, and how the man who supposedly works night and day to bring the best talent possible to the club, managed to come up with Kim kallstrom? How can you honestly defend Wenger on that issue?
kiwomya wrote:It's unfortunate that people can't really have differing opinions on here.
turricaned wrote:OK, this is going to be an interesting one. I'll admit I followed PhunckyTimes over from the Graun, not least because he's developed an unerring habit of getting the last word in before they close comments on an article.
First off, I'm not a slavish devotee of AW by any stretch of the imagination - what I do believe is that from where I see things, he's currently a lot better than any alternatives I can think of, and he's got a lot more stick than he really deserves.
So - bit of Devil's Advocate. We know that when the club settled on Ashburton Grove as the new location, it'd leave them with serious money issues, and the board agreed with Wenger that to try and minimise the hit, the squad would have to get new blood from younger players - wage bills aside, massive one-off transfer fees were not going to happen until the stadium costs were offset by something else. In short, they were asking Wenger to try to build a squad with one hand tied behind his back indefinitely - and most managers in the modern mould would likely have walked at that point. AW actually had the cojones to give it a go, when he could quite easily have gone back to the continent and taken his pick.
The sponsorship deal inked just before this season finally removed that restriction - the only problem being that the transfer market over the summer and in January was pretty feckin' dire in terms of the talent on offer. If you don't believe me, consider that the Spuds spent around £100M in that window and got bugger all out of it - they've been nowhere this season. Whatever AW tells the press, what actually seems to have stayed his hand striker-wise was that there was no-one remotely decent worth buying (at least no-one who would work within the squad).
Sure, Sanogo hasn't lived up to assurances - but on the other hand I saw our support giving AW hell for taking Poldi off against West Ham in the semi and keeping Sanogo on - but Poldi (still recently back from injury) was obviously not 100% even at the start of that match. Poldi then takes a central role in annihilating Hull the following week - a pretty good argument that taking him off against West Ham was the right call.
If AW's preferred methods end up limiting defence, then fair enough - but I'd argue that by bringing Steve Bould into the coaching team, he's aware of that limitation and trying to get things balanced.
Winning the league when the other top 3 sides are bolstered by a blank chequebook for transfers (and you're forced to watch the pennies) was always going to be an impossible task. You can talk about Everton and Liverpool's success this season, but neither of those teams have been in Europe this time round - and both teams are clearly flagging towards the end. Next year they'll have a much tougher time.
The away defeats were rotten, but to be honest pretty much every team in top-four contention has had at least one major embarrassment away (most have had more) - City's away form has been particularly shocking when you think about the money spent on the squad. And our squad has usually come back stronger after each knock - such as after going down 5-1 to Liverpool, we knock them out of the FA Cup the following week. More to the point, the recent away defeats happened with most or all of our top-drawer midfield players out to injury, and yet we still took points off Man City and hung on against West Ham to make the FA Cup final. As they came back from injury, our games have been much more solid, and in the same period of time we've seen Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton humbled by Palace.
If we can lift the FA Cup (amen), then that's the old "silverware" albatross banished - and if we can manage that it's looking likely to be made sweeter by Mou coming away completely empty-handed. A decent hand in the transfer window could see us looking very strong next year - no lynchpin players are itching to go, and we've got a 90%-there squad already.
So - while I'm not blindly trusting in Arsene, I do think that we should give him a year or two to finish the job he took on - which was a pretty thankless bloody task - and even if you disagree, who do you think would be both willing to replace him and capable of doing better?
Is there some sort of bat signal for AKBs that needs you to only show up when you feel they are being attacked?kiwomya wrote:It's unfortunate that people can't really have differing opinions on here.
If you want to criticise my article on dossiers at least have the courtesy to name me.turricaned wrote: How you can claim lack of tactics when shown the lovely interplay between Özil, Ramsey and Poldi against Hull and Newcastle recently I don't understand. And if preparing stats and dossiers on other teams was the be-all and end-all, then any team managed by Tony Pulis would be top of the PL. Not that I'm knocking the lovely job he's done this season, but we've beaten Guardiola's Barca, Klopp's Borussia Dortmund and Heynckes' Bayern Munich without dossiers after all...
Sorry, but that is absolute rubbish. The vast majority of posters on here can have a reasoned and intelligent debate. Only a minority (from both sides of the divide) resort to outlandish or abusive opinions. Differing opinions are always welcome on here. But you should expect to have your opinion challenged too. I think though the problem is with some of the AKB’s you cannot prove your case and then resort to “this place hates Wenger, everyone here is a hater” type comments. I say “some” because there are a few that will post intelligently and will address differing opinions respectfully too. I also accept that some of the anti-Wenger posters are guilty of similar stuff.LaughingGooner wrote:turricaned wrote:OK, this is going to be an interesting one. I'll admit I followed PhunckyTimes over from the Graun, not least because he's developed an unerring habit of getting the last word in before they close comments on an article.
First off, I'm not a slavish devotee of AW by any stretch of the imagination - what I do believe is that from where I see things, he's currently a lot better than any alternatives I can think of, and he's got a lot more stick than he really deserves.
So - bit of Devil's Advocate. We know that when the club settled on Ashburton Grove as the new location, it'd leave them with serious money issues, and the board agreed with Wenger that to try and minimise the hit, the squad would have to get new blood from younger players - wage bills aside, massive one-off transfer fees were not going to happen until the stadium costs were offset by something else. In short, they were asking Wenger to try to build a squad with one hand tied behind his back indefinitely - and most managers in the modern mould would likely have walked at that point. AW actually had the cojones to give it a go, when he could quite easily have gone back to the continent and taken his pick.
The sponsorship deal inked just before this season finally removed that restriction - the only problem being that the transfer market over the summer and in January was pretty feckin' dire in terms of the talent on offer. If you don't believe me, consider that the Spuds spent around £100M in that window and got bugger all out of it - they've been nowhere this season. Whatever AW tells the press, what actually seems to have stayed his hand striker-wise was that there was no-one remotely decent worth buying (at least no-one who would work within the squad).
Sure, Sanogo hasn't lived up to assurances - but on the other hand I saw our support giving AW hell for taking Poldi off against West Ham in the semi and keeping Sanogo on - but Poldi (still recently back from injury) was obviously not 100% even at the start of that match. Poldi then takes a central role in annihilating Hull the following week - a pretty good argument that taking him off against West Ham was the right call.
If AW's preferred methods end up limiting defence, then fair enough - but I'd argue that by bringing Steve Bould into the coaching team, he's aware of that limitation and trying to get things balanced.
Winning the league when the other top 3 sides are bolstered by a blank chequebook for transfers (and you're forced to watch the pennies) was always going to be an impossible task. You can talk about Everton and Liverpool's success this season, but neither of those teams have been in Europe this time round - and both teams are clearly flagging towards the end. Next year they'll have a much tougher time.
The away defeats were rotten, but to be honest pretty much every team in top-four contention has had at least one major embarrassment away (most have had more) - City's away form has been particularly shocking when you think about the money spent on the squad. And our squad has usually come back stronger after each knock - such as after going down 5-1 to Liverpool, we knock them out of the FA Cup the following week. More to the point, the recent away defeats happened with most or all of our top-drawer midfield players out to injury, and yet we still took points off Man City and hung on against West Ham to make the FA Cup final. As they came back from injury, our games have been much more solid, and in the same period of time we've seen Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton humbled by Palace.
If we can lift the FA Cup (amen), then that's the old "silverware" albatross banished - and if we can manage that it's looking likely to be made sweeter by Mou coming away completely empty-handed. A decent hand in the transfer window could see us looking very strong next year - no lynchpin players are itching to go, and we've got a 90%-there squad already.
So - while I'm not blindly trusting in Arsene, I do think that we should give him a year or two to finish the job he took on - which was a pretty thankless bloody task - and even if you disagree, who do you think would be both willing to replace him and capable of doing better?
Nice post, I agree with your sentiments.
But sadly, you'll just be mocked here.
The mantra here is the more personal and vindictive you can be in abusing Wenger, the more respect you will receive.
Is a game for who can abuse Wenger the most.
Let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.....
No, not at all, who would Ozil be rather passing his super silky though balls to, an equally languid craftsman whos only interested in getting goals or a "striker" yet to score for us. How can you honestly say that a one year deal for Berbatov would have been better than sticking with Sanogo or Bendtner as second striker for us?Are you having a Turkish?! A striker in the fag-end of his career who had half a decent season with Man U four years ago?
Did you watch the Semi final mate? We all make mistakes and have mad moments so it would be pedantic of me to highlight one minor mistake .... but you did it THREE times! It was Wigan we played not West Ham. That is Wigan Athletic from the 2nd division (or whatever its called these days!)turricaned wrote:
Sure, Sanogo hasn't lived up to assurances - but on the other hand I saw our support giving AW hell for taking Poldi off against West Ham in the semi and keeping Sanogo on - but Poldi (still recently back from injury) was obviously not 100% even at the start of that match. Poldi then takes a central role in annihilating Hull the following week - a pretty good argument that taking him off against West Ham was the right call.
More to the point, the recent away defeats happened with most or all of our top-drawer midfield players out to injury, and yet we still took points off Man City and hung on against West Ham to make the FA Cup final. As they came back from injury, our games have been much more solid, and in the same period of time we've seen Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton humbled by Palace.
Thanks for your reasoned response.DB10GOONER wrote:Sorry, but that is absolute rubbish. The vast majority of posters on here can have a reasoned and intelligent debate. Only a minority (from both sides of the divide) resort to outlandish or abusive opinions. Differing opinions are always welcome on here. But you should expect to have your opinion challenged too. I think though the problem is with some of the AKB’s you cannot prove your case and then resort to “this place hates Wenger, everyone here is a hater” type comments. I say “some” because there are a few that will post intelligently and will address differing opinions respectfully too. I also accept that some of the anti-Wenger posters are guilty of similar stuff.LaughingGooner wrote:turricaned wrote:OK, this is going to be an interesting one. I'll admit I followed PhunckyTimes over from the Graun, not least because he's developed an unerring habit of getting the last word in before they close comments on an article.
First off, I'm not a slavish devotee of AW by any stretch of the imagination - what I do believe is that from where I see things, he's currently a lot better than any alternatives I can think of, and he's got a lot more stick than he really deserves.
So - bit of Devil's Advocate. We know that when the club settled on Ashburton Grove as the new location, it'd leave them with serious money issues, and the board agreed with Wenger that to try and minimise the hit, the squad would have to get new blood from younger players - wage bills aside, massive one-off transfer fees were not going to happen until the stadium costs were offset by something else. In short, they were asking Wenger to try to build a squad with one hand tied behind his back indefinitely - and most managers in the modern mould would likely have walked at that point. AW actually had the cojones to give it a go, when he could quite easily have gone back to the continent and taken his pick.
The sponsorship deal inked just before this season finally removed that restriction - the only problem being that the transfer market over the summer and in January was pretty feckin' dire in terms of the talent on offer. If you don't believe me, consider that the Spuds spent around £100M in that window and got bugger all out of it - they've been nowhere this season. Whatever AW tells the press, what actually seems to have stayed his hand striker-wise was that there was no-one remotely decent worth buying (at least no-one who would work within the squad).
Sure, Sanogo hasn't lived up to assurances - but on the other hand I saw our support giving AW hell for taking Poldi off against West Ham in the semi and keeping Sanogo on - but Poldi (still recently back from injury) was obviously not 100% even at the start of that match. Poldi then takes a central role in annihilating Hull the following week - a pretty good argument that taking him off against West Ham was the right call.
If AW's preferred methods end up limiting defence, then fair enough - but I'd argue that by bringing Steve Bould into the coaching team, he's aware of that limitation and trying to get things balanced.
Winning the league when the other top 3 sides are bolstered by a blank chequebook for transfers (and you're forced to watch the pennies) was always going to be an impossible task. You can talk about Everton and Liverpool's success this season, but neither of those teams have been in Europe this time round - and both teams are clearly flagging towards the end. Next year they'll have a much tougher time.
The away defeats were rotten, but to be honest pretty much every team in top-four contention has had at least one major embarrassment away (most have had more) - City's away form has been particularly shocking when you think about the money spent on the squad. And our squad has usually come back stronger after each knock - such as after going down 5-1 to Liverpool, we knock them out of the FA Cup the following week. More to the point, the recent away defeats happened with most or all of our top-drawer midfield players out to injury, and yet we still took points off Man City and hung on against West Ham to make the FA Cup final. As they came back from injury, our games have been much more solid, and in the same period of time we've seen Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton humbled by Palace.
If we can lift the FA Cup (amen), then that's the old "silverware" albatross banished - and if we can manage that it's looking likely to be made sweeter by Mou coming away completely empty-handed. A decent hand in the transfer window could see us looking very strong next year - no lynchpin players are itching to go, and we've got a 90%-there squad already.
So - while I'm not blindly trusting in Arsene, I do think that we should give him a year or two to finish the job he took on - which was a pretty thankless bloody task - and even if you disagree, who do you think would be both willing to replace him and capable of doing better?
Nice post, I agree with your sentiments.
But sadly, you'll just be mocked here.
The mantra here is the more personal and vindictive you can be in abusing Wenger, the more respect you will receive.
Is a game for who can abuse Wenger the most.
Let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.....
Can I also ask everyone on here to please cut the name calling and personal abuse? This is something the forum owner has directed us mods to clamp down on. We certainly don’t want to be warning or banning people but you all can help us by not being personally abusive.
