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.
GallasVoice wrote:TBH...
Hleb is just too inconsistent. On his day he is certainly as good as Pires.
In a recent book published by Arsenal, fans and ex-players voted Pires into their Arsenal all-time XI team (successfully; he was listed in the book). Could you honestly tell me that Hleb could be viewed in the same light?
As I mentioned the other day, when thinking back on Pires, you'd think of his goals against Aston Villa, Southamption, and the Cup Final. Could you think of any stand-out Hleb moment in his "career"?
Pires spent 6 years with us, Hleb has only been here a couple of years.
After a couple of years, nobody would have voted Pires anywhere near the greatest 11 !!
I can only judge players based on what they have shown me; not on what they could potentially do in the future.
At the end of the day, Pires now is still a better player than Hleb. So in my view, he should still be at Arsenal. But Wenger's stubborn 30+ policy meant that he couldn't stay.
Hleb has been at Arsenal for three seasons now (including this one). By this stage in Pires's Arsenal career, he had been voted Football Writers's Player of the Year. Is Hleb anywhere near that?
GallasVoice wrote:TBH...
Hleb is just too inconsistent. On his day he is certainly as good as Pires.
In a recent book published by Arsenal, fans and ex-players voted Pires into their Arsenal all-time XI team (successfully; he was listed in the book). Could you honestly tell me that Hleb could be viewed in the same light?
As I mentioned the other day, when thinking back on Pires, you'd think of his goals against Aston Villa, Southamption, and the Cup Final. Could you think of any stand-out Hleb moment in his "career"?
Pires spent 6 years with us, Hleb has only been here a couple of years.
After a couple of years, nobody would have voted Pires anywhere near the greatest 11 !!
He won FOTY in 2nd season. This is Hlb's 3rd ineffectual year. Time to get rid for me.
Pires spent 6 years with us, Hleb has only been here a couple of years.
After a couple of years, nobody would have voted Pires anywhere near the greatest 11 !!
Last edited by dvbrisgooner1 on Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Just to clarify, I haven't any suggestions as to whom should take over from Wenger. I'm not professing to be a genius.
But when Bruce Rioch was in charge, I can't think that anyone would've suggested that Arsene Wenger should take over, so there's clearly people out there that are worthy of the job.
Had anybody heard of Avram Grant before he guided Chelsea into second place this season?!
Just because I don't have any suggestions doesn't mean that there isn't somebody suitable.
Last edited by Bring Back Pires on Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bring Back Pires wrote:Just to clarify, I haven't any suggestions as to whom should take over from Wenger. I'm not professing to be a genius.
But when Bruce Rioch was in charge, I can't think that anyone would've suggested that Arsene Wenger should take over, so there's clearly people out there that are worthy of the job.
Had anybody heard of Avram Grant before he guided Chelsea into second place this season?!
Just because I don't have any suggestions doesn't mean that there isn't somebody suitable.
Is not over yet....Sky reckon Chelsea still in title hunt, therefore 1 point behind with a better goal difference (apparently worth 1 point) so are we. The fat lady is only warming up not singing.
I reckon that there should be a ban on supporters making comments on this forum so soon after a game!! There are 200,000 naffed off Gooners at the moment but to say Wenger should leave is a bit harsh to say the least! The problem is none of us expected (and that probably includes Wenger) the team would be 5 points ahead (oh why didn't Clichy just clear that fookin ball at Brum?!) a month ago and so he didn't strengthen last summer cos he wanted to give this group another year and it's always difficult to buy class in January and unfortunately the team's hit a wall for whatever reason and he can't change a lot.
I'm as fooked off as Professor Fook at the University of Fookness but let's wait until he's got some money to spend in August and see what happens.
KEEP THE FAITH BOYS!!
First off, fair play to Bring Back Pires for voicing a clearly very controversial opinion and standing his ground on it in a coherent manner.
Second of all, all of those people who are suggesting that various people should maybe be banned from here or those who are calling Bring Back Pires stupid or telling him to fuck off; you’re a complete disgrace. From the sounds of it, he pays his money like the rest of us to see his team, and thus, he is just as entitled to his opinion as you are. If you’re reading this and this sentence applies to you, you really need to grow up. You clearly don’t have the kind of disposition for internet forums.
Now, as for Wenger not knowing, and all that lark, I’ll say this; he is a great manager. There is no getting away from that. He has completely revolutionised how we think of football, and how footballers conduct themselves. If I’ve read Bring Back Pires correctly, he isn’t denying any of this. His point is that Wenger has taken this team as far as he can, and to be fair, there is evidence which would suggest that he has.
Now, I’m not saying that he should go, but there are two things that bug me about the defence of Wenger;
1) ‘Well who would you replace him with’? Well who would you have replaced Bruce Rioch with? Arsene Wenger? No, of course you wouldn’t. You’d never heard of him at the time. Just because you can’t think of anyone doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone. If we’ve managed to find someone of Wenger’s calibre before, we can do it again.
2) ‘Give him a chance to spend money in the summer’ – let’s get real for a second. He won’t be doing that.
Now, I don’t think Arsene should go. BUT, what I would say is that it does feel like we’re starting to stagnate a little bit. In the summer, AW will come out and say he has faith in the squad and that we’ve lacked ‘a little bit’ in certain areas, and that will be it. We might get one or two signings, but if we’re honest, that just won’t be good enough.
I know that no one thought we’d be in this position at the start of the season, but that was months ago. The fact is, is that we are/were in a strong position, and because of short sightedness/lack of ambition, we’ve blown our chance. I’m not saying this is all doom and gloom, but can someone answer me this? How bad would the situation at Arsenal have to become for Wenger to justifiably be criticised? If there’s one thing I’ve always grown up on, it’s that although authority should be respected, it is also healthy that it is questioned. Assuming we don’t win the Champions League this year, how many more seasons do we have to go with nothing to show for it before we think that what is going on clearly isn’t working, and that something different needs to be tried?
Now, I’m not saying that ‘something different’ needs to be a new manager. It could be a new philosophy that the manager adopts. It would be very admirable for Wenger to say ‘hands up; the youngsters thing didn’t work. I tired, but now it’s time to try something else’. No shame in admitting you were wrong. But here in lies the rub – I don’t think Wenger will ever do that. I worry that he is so fixated on this notion of winning the league with ‘kids’ that it will cloud his judgement, and thus, it will have a real adverse effect on us.
So, I guess to sum up, I’m not saying that the manager necessarily needs to change, but something does, and I see nothing that suggests it will, any time soon. It will be another summer of ‘our team are hungry this year and are ready to push for the title. Therefore, I won’t be making any signings.’ If that is the case, then I, for one, will be a very frustrated Gooner.
Oh, and if you disagree with me, and therefore, think I should fuck off, then you can go and suck a lemon!
