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.
Also it's a bit rich everyone bemoaning our injury problems like it's nothing to do with the manager, every time we had injuries (whether little knocks or long lay offs) then it was wengers fault for his training methods
I'll say what I said to Sid a few months back - if anyone knows of a manager out there who can reverse a decade of failure, spend 40-50m and run City close to the PL title and compete for the CL, then step forward and name them. This manager inherited zero world class players and an inflated wage bill owing to a decade of mismanagement from the previous goon. We blew the chance to cash in on 60m for Sanchez, lost 13m on Perez, spent 35m on Mustafi, 16m on Chambers.......we could go on forever.
Time will tell of course, but I seriously think that offloading Dick now would set us back even further.....and we're already miles behind the best
that Manager would be Klopp - we should of binned the ex-manager four years ago and taken him. or Simeone. we never had a chance at Pep - he would always go for the biggest war chest -Barca, Bayern, City etc.
Klopp will be at Liverpool until they win the league again and the CL, then he'll either take the Germany job - which in Germany is the highest achievement or go to RM/Barca.
the spuds are hamstring by the stadium, united are 3-4 years away from challenging and the chavs are up for sale, the law of averages says that the victims will win a title or two in the next 3-4 years so we better get used to it.
at least we are a year ahead of united and the chavs.
success next year for me is a 4th place, another EL win, and a better away form - which as shite as it was, was still better than under the ex-manager.
we are not good enough for the CL full stop. it would be out in January again to Donetsk or someone.
That manager may well have been Klopp - I wouldn't disagree, but we all know that Wiggy and chums stuck with Le Fraud instead and the rest is history.....so that ship sailed a long time ago. So....knowing that little dream will never come to bear, the question remains - which manager could we realistically get right now who could make us compete for the title again with the current conditions at the club?
I am counting NINE players in that squad photo that had won a league with our club before the French cock arrived. Added to that 9 there was also world class talents like Bergkamp and wrighty, and david plat who had a massive amount of experience both at international and club level. That fact shows up the total bullshit theory that wenger took over a shit squad - yes he brought them back up a level or 2 in his first few years as manager, but he inherited a team with a real quality core in it.
Now try comparing that squad to the absolute shitfest that the c.unt left dick to work with
I am counting NINE players in that squad photo that had won a league with our club before the French cock arrived. Added to that 9 there was also world class talents like Bergkamp and wrighty, and david plat who had a massive amount of experience both at international and club level. That fact shows up the total bullshit theory that wenger took over a shit squad - yes he brought them back up a level or 2 in his first few years as manager, but he inherited a team with a real quality core in it.
Now try comparing that squad to the absolute shitfest that the c.unt left dick to work with
Absolutely right Augie! And those league winners you mention had won the title as recently as 5 years before he arrived. Plus there was a domestic cup double only 3 years before and a European trophy just 2 years before!
To put that in perspective, its like Wenger leaving in 2018 having been champions as recently as 2013, FA Cup and League Cup winners in 2015 and CWC winners in 2016. Somewhat beats his 3 FA Cups and more than a decade without a serious title challenge.
And its not just the quality of the players either. Their mentality, desire and intelligence was on a different level. No brain dead morons like Xhaka and Mustafi throwing games away. No utter shite like Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Monreal, Kolasinac etc.
Unlike Emery, Wenger actually had some real quality to work with and a real solid foundation to build from - which he did to be fair. But imagine Wenger inheriting the dross he left behind ... !
I really do wish in some perverse way that Wenger had stayed and seen his contract out..... the roof would have caved in on his head this season with the squad he bought, created, chose and he overpaid. But of course he slipped away under cover of nightfall, on full pay of course, and now offers his expert opinion in media giants such as BEin Sports. I heard him castigating Van Dijk for the Suarez goal....Wenger discussing defensive techniques I reckon we would have finished mid table had he been allowed to see his contract out.
The downside for us would have been that Ramsey, Mustafi, Welbeck and even others, even if they were out on loan, would have been offered gigantic, eye watering new contracts. He hated losing his little pets in case they became successful elsewhere. He liked to hang onto them until their careers were completely trashed.
I heard him castigating Van Dijk for the Suarez goal....Wenger discussing defensive techniques
i read that - absolutely laughable. but then we have the likes of Robbie savage and Chris Sutton commenting on our games
you know that if the ex-manager had bought Van Dijk for seventy five mill ( which would never happen while there are still French Africans playing football..) he would of played him at right back.
if i had to rate Dick out of ten i'd give him 6.5/10. okay but could of been better.
i think his main problem was that he promised all the players that he would give them a fair go, and he promised the board in his presentation that they were underperforming and he could improve them.
I think he's man of his word, and he got hamstrung by that.
now we'll see if he is ruthless enough to cauterize the open wounds in the squad .
i'm really excited for this transfer window to see what him and Edu will do. Edu was a fine player, very much underrated and as a CM he knows what to look for. I welcome him back.
Arsenal will adopt these amazing weight loss shakes and release Stephan Lichtsteiner this summer having decided not to take up the option of extending his contract for another 12 months.
Who else can we get rid of? haha
Last edited by Cianci on Fri Oct 06, 2023 2:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.