THE WENGER THREAD

[Redarmy]

We need a GK 100%

Frankly if Woj wants to be a no2/no3 he can stay, but in my eyes he is not good enough to be a no1 let alone for a club that wants to challenge seriously for the league.

If by some crazy circumstance we can get Cech, get him!

Ospina is a steady eddy. He is not outstanding, but he is calm and that reflects in the defence. Moving away from the eccentric Sczezny, the nervous fabianksi and the incapable Almunia is a great relief. However, I think we need a GK that can gain us several pts a season. I know that's not easy but we have to try, it can make all the difference.

Absolutely spot on mate, agree with every word of that

[SPUDMASHER]

Say what you will about Maureen, he knows how to play the game. Signing Schneiderlin would get us closer to Chelsea and would make us a real threat. He doesn't want to sign him but simply by expressing an interest he pushes the price up out of our budget and its job done.

[Gunner Rob]

just been looking at our points for this season and last season.

Last year after 31 games we had 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6
This year after 31 games we have 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6

so....nothing really has changed. same results, just different order.

we might finish 2nd. ok but is that down to the genius of Wenger or the fact that Liverpool sold their cannibal and City have been execeptionally poor for the last few months?

this season we have got 1 point v Spurs and had our usual defeats v Chelsea and Man United.
3 big matches to come this season - v Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool probably in the cup final.
win all those and yeah maybe we have turned the corner. I am certainly not convinced at the moment though.

[Gunner Rob]

just been looking at our points for this season and last season.

Last year after 31 games we had 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6
This year after 31 games we have 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6

so....nothing really has changed. same results, just different order.

we might finish 2nd. ok but is that down to the genius of Wenger or the fact that Liverpool sold their cannibal and City have been execeptionally poor for the last few months?

this season we have got 1 point v Spurs and had our usual defeats v Chelsea and Man United.
3 big matches to come this season - v Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool probably in the cup final.
win all those and yeah maybe we have turned the corner. I am certainly not convinced at the moment though.

[augie]

just been looking at our points for this season and last season.

Last year after 31 games we had 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6
This year after 31 games we have 63 points won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6

so....nothing really has changed. same results, just different order.

we might finish 2nd. ok but is that down to the genius of Wenger or the fact that Liverpool sold their cannibal and City have been execeptionally poor for the last few months?

this season we have got 1 point v Spurs and had our usual defeats v Chelsea and Man United.
3 big matches to come this season - v Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool probably in the cup final.
win all those and yeah maybe we have turned the corner. I am certainly not convinced at the moment though.

An interesting stat for those who still believe/defend wenker Nothing changes with wenker and nothing ever will

[BFG4]

I find it laughable when people talk about potential signings, as it doesn't really matter who we sign, as we will always be short on at least one position under Wenger. We will probably spend 30 million on someone this summer, but will neglect buying in areas we actually need. Those that are praising Wenger for our massive improvement this season should be asking, what would have happened if we had signed the CB we needed in the summer, or if we hadn't panicked and bought Welbeck, and looked around for a decent striker.

[A11M11]

The Wenger conundrum :- You talk about the need for a centre back and a forward , yet , it's the emergence of Coquelin doing the defensive midfield job which has released the flair players to do their thing and balance the team that has put us in the position we are now in. I am not saying that he is the complete answer but he is doing the dirty job that we have lacked for far too long.

[herbert]

Paying high ticket prices is irrelevant. That's simply down to the law of supply and demand. If we didn't have big queues of people waiting for tickets the prices wouldn't be as high. If attendance at Grimsby was as over-subscribed as they are at the grove then their prices would be higher too.
No amount of whining from the discontent fanbase is going to make a shred of difference to the way the club is run. You may as well just sit back and enjoy supporting the team. All you end up doing is winding yourself up to the point whereby you are no longer enjoying going to the football. The point of supporting a club is to have an escape from the worries and pressures of the world and having a bit of downtime with your friends. If it's getting to the point where you are no longer enjoying it because of the internal politics of the club or that you feel that you're being taken for a ride then there is one simple thing to do isn't there? Just get off the ride and go do something different instead!
Each season there are three trophies up for grabs for 90% of the clubs. Nobody has a right to expect their team to win one of them. We all have a right to want them to. Sometimes we get lucky or hit a run of good form that results in winning something. It doesn't happen every year and to be honest it would be quite boring if it did.
Currently the club I support is 2nd out of 92 professional clubs in the country. They're in an FA Cup semi final with a good prospect of not only reaching that final but winning it. They're playing decent football which is on the whole enjoyable to watch. Occasionally they frustrate the crap out of me when they under perform and sometimes the manager makes bizarre decisions that I cannot see the sense in. It won't stop me supporting them because on the whole they're doing quite well. I enjoy being an Arsenal supporter. I'm proud of the achievements of the club, team and manager and I thank my lucky stars that I chose to support them rather than some of the other shite out there. Most importantly though, and this is what I fear that many people that support the same club have forgotten, is that I know what their role is in my life. Their role is to give me a short term distraction every week or so away from the rigours of work and daily life. When I forget that and start tensing myself up into a tight little knot of frustration and anger, I'll stop watching them because either they or I have forgotten what they're there for.

Great post mr Spudmasher

YOU ARE MY ARSENAL

[beck]

I'm no AKB (ask those on here that actually know me) but.........

lol

i should maybe point out that I'm not a WOB either. I'm just somebody that has been supporting Arsenal for many years and don't feel the need for a label. I Have my own opinions and think that neither of the two extremes of the argument are correct. No club should have the expectations put upon them that some of our spoiled supporters demand.
Those that feel that today's team isn't goo enough should take a trip to the 70's and 80's and watch some of the shit that was dished up then. Then they'd probably more appreciative of what they're seeing today.

Watched us right thru the 70s and 80, the difference was that you always had the belief the club were doing there best to be the best they could be
I agree that demanding trophys is futile in a competitive sport but demanding that you give yourself the best chance you can on fighting on four fronts is quite another
I demand nothing less of the arsenal

[beck]

I'm no AKB (ask those on here that actually know me) but.........

lol

i should maybe point out that I'm not a WOB either. I'm just somebody that has been supporting Arsenal for many years and don't feel the need for a label. I Have my own opinions and think that neither of the two extremes of the argument are correct. No club should have the expectations put upon them that some of our spoiled supporters demand.
Those that feel that today's team isn't goo enough should take a trip to the 70's and 80's and watch some of the shit that was dished up then. Then they'd probably more appreciative of what they're seeing today.

Watched us right thru the 70s and 80, the difference was that you always had the belief the club were doing there best to be the best they could be
I agree that demanding trophys is futile in a competitive sport but demanding that you give yourself the best chance you can on fighting on four fronts is quite another
I demand nothing less of the arsenal

[You are my sunshine]

I'm no AKB (ask those on here that actually know me) but.........

lol

i should maybe point out that I'm not a WOB either. I'm just somebody that has been supporting Arsenal for many years and don't feel the need for a label. I Have my own opinions and think that neither of the two extremes of the argument are correct. No club should have the expectations put upon them that some of our spoiled supporters demand.
Those that feel that today's team isn't goo enough should take a trip to the 70's and 80's and watch some of the shit that was dished up then. Then they'd probably more appreciative of what they're seeing today.

Watched us right thru the 70s and 80, the difference was that you always had the belief the club were doing there best to be the best they could be
I agree that demanding trophys is futile in a competitive sport but demanding that you give yourself the best chance you can on fighting on four fronts is quite another
I demand nothing less of the arsenal

and we sold Brady and Stapleton back in those days.......hardly giving yourself the best chance to win trophies

[beck]

Agree with augie there, it is not about demanding success or being spoiled by previous success , it is about our club being competitive. This season is a case in point. We are now the second best team (current form) in the Premier League and with seven games left we are no closer to winning the title than any times since 2004 , with the honourable exception of 2008.
I lived through the 70s and 80s and it was dire. The relegation battles of 1974-1976 , the predictable Cup exits of the 80s. The direst of football under Terry Neill at times. Losing at QPR on Easter Monday 1976 believing we were condemned to Division 2.
Having experienced all of that hasn't left me thinking how lucky I (we) are now.

I was at qpr on that Easter Monday in 76 mate
Got half a suntan on my face it was a bit of a scorcher
Morning kick off as well
Took the lead as well Kidd shot went right thru parkes
Didn't last long mclintock of all people equalised straight away
Right at the end Ritchie powling brought down bowles(I used to like watching Bowles but this was a bit of a dying swan)
They scored from the pen we trudged off home
But as for fear of relegation we were already safe having beat wolves at highbury the week before
To all intents and purposes we were pretty much safe the month before that when we went on a 6 game unbeaten run culminating in the 6-1 home win v west ham
Up until that point it was bit dodgy though
We were only 3 points clear of the drop zone with 12 games to go

[beck]

Watched us right thru the 70s and 80, the difference was that you always had the belief the club were doing there best to be the best they could be
I agree that demanding trophys is futile in a competitive sport but demanding that you give yourself the best chance you can on fighting on four fronts is quite another
I demand nothing less of the arsenal[/quote][/quote]

and we sold Brady and Stapleton back in those days.......hardly giving yourself the best chance to win trophies[/quote]
Well that is a stop dead in my tracks comment and I must agree there are parallels with some of the business that has so frustrated us in recent years but it did feel slightly different
It was gutting to lose Brady at the age of 24 but he went abroad which felt so much more exotic at the time
As for Stapleton he was questioning the clubs ambition(sounds familier) but man utd were not the force that they would become in the 90's and noughties
He left a team that had become a good cup side for similar
I would say making it pretty clear to Bertie mee 3 years after what would have been considered a reasonable achievement of league runners up fa cup semi finalists that we were taking another direction
Signing macdonald
Sacking terry neil after disappointing cup exits
Pressurising don Howe into playing better football (funny enough he had steadied the ship by the time he resigned) and getting in a vibrant young manager in george graham who even though he had been an ex player was a bit of a gamble on the back of success at millwall. Were all signs that rather then settling that the club were trying to be proactive in making things better
Winning the double in my 1st season going spoilt me
George raised the bar wenger took it higher
You can't put the genie back in the bottle
It was made pretty clear to me in those mid 70's that we were underachieving
As others have said there are different degrees of underachieving and this feels so much worse as I believe another coach would get a better tune out of existing players and have a greater desire to fix holes in the squad that have cost us so dearly in the last 7 years

[augie]

Those last few lines sum it up for me - a better manager would get better results out of these players regardless of what players he does or doesn't bring in. A lack of managerial flexibility and a total lack of respect towards the opposition (by refusing to prepare for what they are good at and what they are weak at), has cost us so many times over the past few seasons and all of this gets lost/ignored in the uproar about not using the financial resources at his disposal

[Bradywasking]

This league is mediocre at best, Chelsea will fall over the line and be Champions, the much derided Van Gaal's Man U will possibly finish second, we should get third and the seemingly disinterested Man C will get fourth.
If Man U get second place it only confirms how poor this league is this (and for the last few) seasons. Liverpool nearly won it last season with one player if further proof was needed. So in my humble opinion it is a failure for Arsenal that we are not at least going toe to toe with Chelsea for the title. I do not buy into the massive improvement argument. There have been improvements but not enough to get this squad playing to its full potential. As suggested above the improvement in the second half of this season is the defence trusting the goalkeeper.
We as supporters believe that we need to strengthen our squad and probably we do , but I believe our current squad is good enough to challenge for the title in this mediocre season(s) . That we haven't is down to the manager.