THE WENGER THREAD

[QuartzGooner]

Right, who started this site?

http://arseneknows.com/

It is registered to a Mr Alickovic who lives in The Netherlands.
I would put his phone number on here but he might get obscene calls at 3am from a man called Sid!

[Trevor Ross]

So with Mesut Özil joining Per Mertesacker and Lucas podolski... surely the obvious next move is either Jürgen Klopp or Joachim Löw as our next manager.

that's the hope, sooner the better

[augie]

wenker is still a

[OneBardGooner]

Signing Ozil was a master stroke and will mean the board will offer him a 2 - 3 year extension to his contract

I just want him gone at the end of the season with either Hiddink or Klopp or Laudrup to come in.

[Sam59]

As delighted as I am with the signing of Ozil, I agree that it's Wenger's Get Out of Jail card and will more than likely mean a new (improved!) contract. However, the good news (apart from Ozil himself) is clearly the Board did listen to the fans' discontent and pushed through the deal. So they aren't as deaf to us fans as we'd thought.
I also can't see the process being repeated i.e. more major signings of world class players, unless the Board hold back on a new contract until the end of the current one. Performance related reward.
Ozil couldn't have been signed earlier, but other players including a striker, certainly could. Plus when I've seen him play, Ozil plays best alongside a player like Khedira or Schweinsteiger for Germany. Not sure Wilshere fits that bill.
To give credit where it's due, it seems that Wenger's excellent sweet-talking German managed to pull this off for us though.

[augie]

As delighted as I am with the signing of Ozil, I agree that it's Wenger's Get Out of Jail card and will more than likely mean a new (improved!) contract. However, the good news (apart from Ozil himself) is clearly the Board did listen to the fans' discontent and pushed through the deal. So they aren't as deaf to us fans as we'd thought.
I also can't see the process being repeated i.e. more major signings of world class players, unless the Board hold back on a new contract until the end of the current one. Performance related reward.
Ozil couldn't have been signed earlier, but other players including a striker, certainly could. Plus when I've seen him play, Ozil plays best alongside a player like Khedira or Schweinsteiger for Germany. Not sure Wilshere fits that bill.
To give credit where it's due, it seems that Wenger's excellent sweet-talking German managed to pull this off for us though.

That more or less echoes what I said.......ozil was signed to placate the fans and not with any great consideration of team structure and/or ambition. I have always been well aware that we have a large percentage of fickle/blinded fanbase but even I am amazed at how so many fans are just fixated on the ozil signing and either refuse or are incapable of seeing the other gaping holes that still exist in our team and squad We have released 10 senior players (inc loans) and signed just 4 so tell me how that improves a thin squad What are these braindead sheep gonna say when things continue to go tits up as the season goes on ? What will they say when they realise that signing ozil wasnt the start of a shift in club policy but was merely a concession made to irate and frustrated fans ? I dont blame the club one bit for that - they assessed the sitaution with the fans and came to the conclusion that one elite signing would keep the fans on board and it is embarrassing to say that they are actually right

[DB10GOONER]

As delighted as I am with the signing of Ozil, I agree that it's Wenger's Get Out of Jail card and will more than likely mean a new (improved!) contract. However, the good news (apart from Ozil himself) is clearly the Board did listen to the fans' discontent and pushed through the deal. So they aren't as deaf to us fans as we'd thought.
I also can't see the process being repeated i.e. more major signings of world class players, unless the Board hold back on a new contract until the end of the current one. Performance related reward.
Ozil couldn't have been signed earlier, but other players including a striker, certainly could. Plus when I've seen him play, Ozil plays best alongside a player like Khedira or Schweinsteiger for Germany. Not sure Wilshere fits that bill.
To give credit where it's due, it seems that Wenger's excellent sweet-talking German managed to pull this off for us though.

That more or less echoes what I said.......ozil was signed to placate the fans and not with any great consideration of team structure and/or ambition. I have always been well aware that we have a large percentage of fickle/blinded fanbase but even I am amazed at how so many fans are just fixated on the ozil signing and either refuse or are incapable of seeing the other gaping holes that still exist in our team and squad We have released 10 senior players (inc loans) and signed just 4 so tell me how that improves a thin squad What are these braindead sheep gonna say when things continue to go tits up as the season goes on ? What will they say when they realise that signing ozil wasnt the start of a shift in club policy but was merely a concession made to irate and frustrated fans ? I dont blame the club one bit for that - they assessed the sitaution with the fans and came to the conclusion that one elite signing would keep the fans on board and it is embarrassing to say that they are actually right

Agreed 100%. Whilst I'm delighted we signed a top quality player like Ozil (only a fucking idiot wouldn't be!) I'm also dismayed that we have not addressed the real problem areas in our team; CH, goalkeeper, striker, DM. Don't get me wrong, I rate Arteta highly as a DM, but feel we are somewhat wasting his ability in that limited role.

There wasn't much real thought in the signing of Ozil beyond we need a big name to placate the sheep. So while I'm thrilled we signed him, I'm concerned that we didn't sign the type of players we actually desperately NEEDED.

At a push I'd also say we need a top LB; Gibbs is average at best and the worst crosser of a ball I've ever seen (and I include Jimmy Carter in that!!), he's also injury prone and gets caught wrong side of the oppo too often.

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

Take a Fukin day off boys.....

[DB10GOONER]

Take a Fukin day off boys.....

As someone wrote on here the other day; One swallow doesn't a girlfriend make...

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

Take a Fukin day off boys.....

As someone wrote on here the other day; One swallow doesn't a girlfriend make...

I'm just happy we bought another player with a name that I pronounce differently every time I say it

[OneBardGooner]

Take a Fukin day off boys.....

As someone wrote on here the other day; One swallow doesn't a girlfriend make...

Try telling her that when it's half way down her throat!


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Okay we've signed Ozil - A World Class Player - BUT will that be it or will Arsenal (Wenker & Co) venture further into the Transfer Market now that they (And WE) know they have the funds to be able to make such signings.

What would have happened had Ozil said No and gone to PSG instead?

Wenger played the equivalent of Russian Roulette, when a) He didn't necessarily have to (okay, so he had to make sure the monkey boy deal went through, and as is now known he did make initial enquiries to R.Madrid some 6 weeks ago) b) He was not only playing Russian Roulette with his own career but with the status and immediate future of Arsenal FC and by association it's fans - Some might argue that he has been doing so for a while in the way he has conducted his transfer dealings - His last minute trolley dash to buy Arteta & Co a clear example of 'the last throw of the dice'...He CANNOT keep doing that.

Like it or not we now live in an age where football (in the higher leagues of the world) is a Business first and a sport/game second, and whilst we may not like those who own/run our clubs - sporting institutions we have supported and loved from our youngest days - we have to choose between success now being bought or sticking to ur moral compass and going trophyless for heaven knows how long..

So if Arsenal are going to embrace this new evil then we need to do so fully and allow Usmanov onto the board and let him do as he promised and make £300 million available for signings, so then Wenger could go and buy the likes of Higuain, Suarez and Shrek - Whether HIS Principles (sic) would allow him to do so is another matter, but with someone on the board making that kind of transfer kitty available - Arsenal would soon be nut deep in the clunge of trophies...not simply by buying the best players - outbidding the likes of $hitty & chavscum, but because We Do Play The Best Football in the Prem.

I just hope this is a New Dawn in what we are willing to spend and who we are willing to sign, and not a flash in the pan...because IF Ozil is the start of something new (and Looooong awaited by us Gooners) then other World Class Players WILL be willing to sign for us...and so it becomes very much a Positive Cycle.

Even so, Wenger needs to get in someone who can conduct all the transfer dealings properly - why not sign Dein as the Transfer Manager or whatever...pay him £200k a window or whatever the going rate is and get shot of the like of Dick Law. He also needs to get active "Now" not wait till the last minute (okay so we now know there were reasons why? the Ozil deal was last minute), But that has to be a 'one off' from now on as it serves the club/team/players better when a player comes in early in the window allowing them to bed in etc etc etc.


I guess January's Transfer Window could be HUGE for us in more ways than one.

[Sam59]

I might be alone on here in thinking this, but I am totally opposed to Usmanov taking over. Read up about the guy, if you haven't already. Plus we are pretty powerless as fans now, just wait until our club is some ruthless plutocrat's plaything.
What's that Chinese saying - be careful what you wish for?

[DB10GOONER]

I might be alone on here in thinking this, but I am totally opposed to Usmanov taking over. Read up about the guy, if you haven't already. Plus we are pretty powerless as fans now, just wait until our club is some ruthless plutocrat's plaything.
What's that Chinese saying - be careful what you wish for?

Put your tin hat on, mate....

[franksav63]

I might be alone on here in thinking this, but I am totally opposed to Usmanov taking over. Read up about the guy, if you haven't already. Plus we are pretty powerless as fans now, just wait until our club is some ruthless plutocrat's plaything.
What's that Chinese saying - be careful what you wish for?

John Cross... is that you... ??

[augie]

I might be alone on here in thinking this, but I am totally opposed to Usmanov taking over. Read up about the guy, if you haven't already. Plus we are pretty powerless as fans now, just wait until our club is some ruthless plutocrat's plaything.
What's that Chinese saying - be careful what you wish for?

John Cross... is that you... ??

Right up there would "who else could we get"

Tell me again, how exactly could usmanov's regime be any worse than kroenke's ? We are not "pretty powerless" now....we are totally powerless when it comes to kroenke's control and management. His control and structure of our club isnt a one off......look at how he manages his other sports "franchises" in america. Ambition and persuit of on field success are not words in his sports vocab and I'd say he is delighted the way our club is currently performing - the only slight improvement that he might want to introduce is if he could change the wage structure to something along the lines of what he pays those sweat shop workers that walmart uses (fact not disputed by walmart in case any of ye mods start getting your knickers in a knot over this)