THE WENGER THREAD

[kiwomya]

I don't post in here often, but do read it quite regularly. I am no means a Wengerite, but I don't understand how some of the people in here just can't give the man some credit.

I know that we have had quite a few barren seasons, but if you put into the equation that he had no choice, but to take a punt on youth because of finances, then suddenly it looks a lot better. Yes - I know that the wage bill is high, but I think that he had to do this to keep promising players from being poached from others. It was a gamble and it worked with some and not with others....

This past year, he became pragmatic and yes, he should have done this before, but maybe he didn't have the right people in his ear at that time. Give the man some credit who has had a big influence on how things are now - Steve Bould - who incidentally was appointed by Wenger.

However, i am enjoying where we are this year - we have become hard to beat and that is a testament to the whole organization which also Wenger is a part of. I think that it is time for some people to actually give the man some credit.

Wenker was unable to take training a few months back and instead of allowing the assistant manager to take training (as is the norm) he gets his fitness trainer to take the training instead and you want to paint a picture of a wonderful harmonious partnership ?? The defence has tightened up in spite of wenker and not because of him - we have key people (bouldie and BFG) who love the art of defending and they are able to organise and influence the players around them ande that, more than anything else, has led to the defensive solidity that we are enjoying this season

Re awarding the "promising young players" new contracts, I am not sure how you can even defend him there You say that it worked with some but who exactly did it work with ? I would suggest that the only player he rewarded a new contract to (based only on potential as opposed to performances) was ramsey whilst he also rewarded contracts to bedtner, denilson, song, flaps and eboue and that's only a few that spring to mind

I think you've just highlighted what Begeegs was saying! I'm not sure why you are going out of your way to discredit things that Wenger HAS got right. We are frequently reminded of transfer failures but Wenger signed Mertesacker and Koscielny don't forget.

[SteveO 35]

Fuck me, lots of people believing a 'Daily Star' headline??

Wenger ain't coming!!

Whether its the Daily Star or the NeverNeverLand Express, its all irrelevant.

There's Only One's new contract will be announced by the end of January

I would advise you against Rodders' policy of blatant denial because it only deepens the pain when that inevtiable day comes

There's Only One's new contract IS coming and so is a big plate of BBQ'd grub



ONE ARSENE WENGER.....THERE'S ONLY ONE ARSENE WENGER

[Nos89]

This on going striker issue, Theo's injury aside, why does it seem that wenger is sidelining all our forward options, over using Giroud, to force the board into buying the striker he wants them to buy?

He clearly doesn't want Bendtner as he keeps prolonging his twisted ankle injury. The guy walked off, not stretchered off, yet he declared he'll be out for 3 months?? 3 weeks tops in my experience.

Podolski is back and on the bench. All our other options have disappeared Ryo, Park, Akpom, Afobe.

The only other reason I can think is that he doesn't want any of them to leave and has no intention of bringing anyone else in, given that the January fixtures in the league are less challenging than in feb and march.

[kiwomya]

Podolski wasn't happy with not getting on by the looks of it!

[DB10GOONER]

Podolski wasn't happy with not getting on by the looks of it!

Saw that last night and thought "Fucking hell, there's an unhappy man..."

Of course we don't know what he''s shaking his head at. Perhaps Jenko has just asked him if he'd like to go dogging up Finsbury Park way when they get back to London, and he felt it just wasn't his thing.



Or perhaps he is pissed off at being on the bench when he is the best striker of a ball and best finisher at the club during a period where we have injuries and few striker options...

hmmm....

[begeegs]

Wenker was unable to take training a few months back and instead of allowing the assistant manager to take training (as is the norm) he gets his fitness trainer to take the training instead and you want to paint a picture of a wonderful harmonious partnership ?? The defence has tightened up in spite of wenker and not because of him - we have key people (bouldie and BFG) who love the art of defending and they are able to organise and influence the players around them ande that, more than anything else, has led to the defensive solidity that we are enjoying this season

Re awarding the "promising young players" new contracts, I am not sure how you can even defend him there You say that it worked with some but who exactly did it work with ? I would suggest that the only player he rewarded a new contract to (based only on potential as opposed to performances) was ramsey whilst he also rewarded contracts to bedtner, denilson, song, flaps and eboue and that's only a few that spring to mind

I never painted a picture of a harmonious friendship, so not sure where you are going with that one. I said that he appointed Bould. I am not really sure what goes on behind the scenes and I would be very reluctant to believe most of what people say regarding that. I do think that Bould is a rocket up the arse which Wenger needed - for instance, against Cardiff, about 10 minutes when we were drawing, Bould got up from the bench, went up to Wenger and said something (I sit a few rows up from their bench). Wenger nodded and we switched to 4-4-2. Not only did Wenger listen to Bould, he did exactly as Bould suggested. However, Wenger appointed Bould, so shouldn't he get some credit for it?

The defense has tightened up, but if Wenger hadn't bought Mertesaker or appointed Bould, then what? You are making it sounds like these things occurred in a vacuum.

You mean promising youngsters like Cesc? Song was effective when he played at Arsenal in the beginning until he bleached his hair and decided that he was Zidane. Denilson was promising as well. He bought Adebayor and he had a monster season (still his best) and also was a good buy (and sell) for us. We had quite a few players who played decent to well for us to go off and do nothing. Granted players are subjective really, so no point in continuing with that.

My point was that if we went under the premise of him being hamstrung financially, you'd have to say that he didn't have many options if transfer money would be cut, he wouldn't be able to afford top notch players along with the wages that they would command, so he had no choice but to give that amount in transfers to young players. Even if he were to buy the Sagna-type players, it probably made a bit more sense from a financial perspective (obviously not from a footballing perspective) to invest in youth. We still had to sell a top player almost every year, so buying a Sagna-like player may have really been detrimental to his resources.

Granted this is pure speculation here, but considering that the board said that we have money and Wenger has now said that we didn't, would suggest that he didn't have money. The board were never going to tell us that we didn't because who would pay through the nose to see Arsenal then?

The man isn't perfect by any means, but I think that people should start to say that this year, he has done well and to change the way that we play football and he deserves credit for it.

[rodders999]

If with only 10 minutes to go at home to Cardiff, Wenger has to be told to change the formation in order to try and win the game then we are even in deeper sh1t than I thought.

[BFG4]

Podolski wasn't happy with not getting on by the looks of it!

Saw that last night and thought "Fucking hell, there's an unhappy man..."

Of course we don't know what he''s shaking his head at. Perhaps Jenko has just asked him if he'd like to go dogging up Finsbury Park way when they get back to London, and he felt it just wasn't his thing.



Or perhaps he is pissed off at being on the bench when he is the best striker of a ball and best finisher at the club during a period where we have injuries and few striker options...

hmmm....

Its obvious Wenger dislikes Podolski, he has belittled him since he came to the club, by subbing him any chance he gets, and now he wont play him when others are playing poorly. He could of come on up front, as besides scoring, Giroud was terrible, and seemed to just give the ball away constantly. Also Cazorla was terrible, and contributed to Villas goal, and had zero work rate throughout.

[augie]

If with only 10 minutes to go at home to Cardiff, Wenger has to be told to change the formation in order to try and win the game then we are even in deeper sh1t than I thought.

[Dan_85]

Or perhaps he is pissed off at being on the bench when he is the best striker of a ball and best finisher at the club during a period where we have injuries and few striker options...

Every problem can be solved with midfielders! Bring on all the midfielders!

[I Hate Hleb]

Podolski wasn't happy with not getting on by the looks of it!

Saw that last night and thought "Fucking hell, there's an unhappy man..."

Of course we don't know what he''s shaking his head at. Perhaps Jenko has just asked him if he'd like to go dogging up Finsbury Park way when they get back to London, and he felt it just wasn't his thing.



Or perhaps he is pissed off at being on the bench when he is the best striker of a ball and best finisher at the club during a period where we have injuries and few striker options...

hmmm....

I think Poldi, having been informed of Wenger's continued half-time coat zipping problem was shaking his head and thinking to himself: 'See how easy it is to zip something up? Can't believe you still don't know how to do it!!'

[Blood_Gooner]

Wenger has a way of destroying players he dislikes. Podolski seems his latest victim.

Ffs, the deluded dictator's departure can't come soon enough.

[Henry Norris 1913]

he signed the fucking geezer ffs, it's his player he's destroying. he did it with arshavin and he's doing it again, meanwhile ox who was only passed fit recently gets five minutes. makes no sense

[Supagoon]

no offence guys but you need to get a grip.

Podolski isn't that good., he has got a finish on him but his overall play can be distinctly lacking. He shouldn't be playing up front although playing an off form santi wide vs a podolski is a close call. Thing with Carzola is that he doesn't stay wide either and when he comes inside he has a good effect, something we really can't get with Podolski.

If anybody disagrees, please bring it.

PS. Arshavin ate himself out of contention.

[clockender1]

no offence guys but you need to get a grip.

Podolski isn't that good., he has got a finish on him but his overall play can be distinctly lacking. He shouldn't be playing up front although playing an off form santi wide vs a podolski is a close call.
If anybody disagrees, please bring it. .

not that good, lol.

3rd highest scorer for one of Europe's strongest teams - 46 goals in 111 appeareances for Germany.

16 goals and 11 assists for us in 33 starts.

hmmm