In fairness he was talking about the press, but the arrogance of what he said was reminiscent of a dictator just before they are toppled.
What he does have to do however is justify his actions to the fans, but he doesn’t do that either. When asked what cost Arsenal the game, he said a tactical error, I thought at last, he is admitting he screwed up by taking Oxo off, unfortunately what he meant by a tactical error was in fact Arshavin’s inability to defend.
He blamed Arshavin! I like Arshavin, but this season he has been arguably our worst player, so why put him on? That was like the time he subbed the sub, Eboue and Eboue got booed instead, very cynical Arsene, very, very cynical.
He can’t even admit when he screws up, the fans sure let him know though didn’t they? Apart from the poor sods in row D that were ejected for trying to unfurl an anti Wenger banner, a bit like they do in Syria eh?
This was Wenger’s explanation…
…I can understand that the fans are upset about the substitution, especially when it doesn’t work, but he (Oxlade-Chamberlain) had started to fatigue
He was sick in the week and Arshavin is captain of the Russia national team. You have an 18-year-old kid making his first Premier League start and a player who’s captain of his country and they are querying the substitution? Let’s be serious.
I’ve been a manager for 30 years and have made 50,000 substitutions. I do not have to justify every decision I make to you (the press). I stand up for it. People pay for their tickets and express their emotions. We have to deal with that, it doesn’t mean they are always right.
First of all the Southampton captain said he spoke to Oxo after the game, he tweeted he wasn’t ill and didn’t have fatigue.
Secondly yes, you may well have made 50,000 substitutions but how many of those were made between 67 and 74 minutes eh? Most of them I suspect. Obsessive compulsive, or co-incidence we needed them just at that time? I could write a list of strange calls this season, like taking Oxo off and leaving Chamakh on when we pinned Man City to the wall and ended up losing, or in years gone by like taking Bergkamp off for Senderos when we were beating the Mancs and ended up losing, the list goes on.
The time has come Arsene, greatness doesn’t last forever, Britain used to be the richest country in the world, we aren’t now, you used to be the best manager in football, not any more you aren’t, Brian Clough ruled the world once but if history teaches us anything, nothing is ever forever.
This season started with selling our two best players and the best one had three years left on his contract and you sold him cheaply, this was followed by an 8-2 thrashing and the worst panic buying in the history of the EPL, now we need players and your head is buried in the sand.
It’s Ok people like Ian Wright saying we should get behind the team, but we have been behind the team our whole lives, but this manager has lost it, he has had 7 years of failure and in that time had £40mil+ in salary and that my friends is a joke, if a banker got that, the whole country would be going nuts.
I dare say we could still win trophies, but had we signed what we really needed this past 7 years we could have won a shed load by now, as Graham Souness said on Sunday, we are now a feeder club, but not because we have no money, but because the money we have is being spunked up the wall on mediocrity. On kids that never make it and management.
That’s how I feel, if you don’t like it then best not comment today, try and defend anything I have criticised here today by all means, I would be amazed if you could, what I witnessed on Sunday was beyond belief, ask Robin, and that was followed by a pack of lies.
And someone needs to explain the purchase of Park to me in detail, why did we buy a player that is going in 18 months, not play him for six, then realise he’s no good?
Have a great day grovers and see you in the comments.
Josip..
Maureen is one of those that wherever he goes will grate on authority and those outside his current club!
But as a CV; His stacks up well with the best of them. The last time I looked.. a few months back, he had a far superior win ratio as a manager overall than AW, something like a 10% difference. That’s huge. And that includes his early clubs too likev Porto.
He wouldn’t be my first choice but I would not say no also! Hiddink would be my instintive call but if was not interested and Maureen stepped forward, we could do a lot worse!
An excellent piece by Richard Williams, comparing Maureen’s current turmoil in Madrid with Wenger’s current turmoil:
Apparently, Sergio Ramos told Maureen after the Barca game: “You’ve never been player, so you don’t know”. Ouch!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jan/23/jose-mourinho-arsene-wenger-madrid-arsenal
DDm what happened to the magnificent fone of urs…
Josip..
But with our conservative board I can never see it happening..
PHW: “What! That horrible little man.. Neva.. I say Neva..”
Gambon
“A football club doesnt exist to make money, it exists to succeed.”
I’m pretty sure Stan Kreonke has this philiosphy tattood across his chest… right next to the “I heart AFC 4 EVA” tattoo…
DDM, that comparison make sick in my mouth, bit it’s true.
Lurch LeRouge – Heh, can’t we use occams razor again and just call him a dick ?!
superb post. It needs to be read by every arsenal fan. There is still a large resistance to the wenger-out campaign but with every losing match the support to remove this bungling fool grows. With that taken as a positive step, i am hoping we lose as many as possible and ideally get a new manager in before RVP leaves.
The worst scenario is that wenger manages to patch the team up and gets a few spectacular victories. That would make the lunatic even harder to dislodge and would mean more seasons of unbelievably depressing football probably culminating in mid-table obscurity with no chance of a trophy.
Van Persie has claimed there is no rift with wenger, i can only assume he is on his way and has nothing to feel aggreived about.
WENGER OUT ASAP.
I’m not desperate enough to want Mourinho at Arsenal. There are other options out there…reputation and culture are important elements of brand value and I am sure the Board are well aware of that. On this point I’d agree with them. However, as a short term fix a case can be made but…nah we don’t do short term.
No way Jose!
Thomas
I agree with your points regarding success. It matters in sports! So for the sake of AFC, if Maureen were to come here, that’d be fine by me. Let’s bear in mind that the bloke is not a stayer. In terms of personality, I find him rude and nasty. Well, that’s my opinion…
Thomas
Who knows. PHW said the same about… Kroenke!
Fooking hell,
I never realized Jose was getting this level of back talk recently.
They are 5 points clear.
zeus – You’re not supposed to, someone leaked the conversation to the press.
what did the banner the chaps in row d were trying unveil say?
PEDRO / GEOFF –
I found these quotes!!
“We have punched above our weight [until now]. This stadium will allow us to compete at the highest level… with the strongest clubs in the world,” said director Danny Fiszman.
As the then Managing Director Keith Edelman explained before the move, the financial benefits of the Club’s historic move will allow Arsenal to sustain their competitiveness at the highest level. “Our aim is to be a leading European club and, once we get into the new stadium, we will be in that position. It is very income-generous to us,”
Except for a poor wifi S2 scores over Sensation in every other aspect..
WBoy – Sorry mate….
Excellent excerpt……..
One common feature is that of emperors who hang on too long. Matt Busby and Brian Clough outstayed their time at Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, with damaging results, although the depth of the gratitude felt by their supporters meant that criticism was largely muted. But these are different times. The fans in the seats are paying more than £1,000 a year for their entertainment – at Arsenal, anyway – and the opening up of the media, from phone-ins to Twitter, has given them a taste for expressing their opinions without restraint.
Like Busby and Clough, Wenger has acquired enormous personal prestige and power within his club, particularly since the departure of David Dein, the club’s former chief executive. When the time comes for him to go, whether it is next summer or in 10 years’ time, there may be no one with sufficient authority or experience to give him the message.
Great achievement if he beats barca, arguably the best team in history, to the title but boy hasn’t he spent a zillion in doing it. At Arsenal he wouldn’t get a tenth of that to spend so as much as we speculate I’m not sure he’d like to come here.
He rolls with the big boys
RIP Danny Fiszman
who ever replaces wenger , the board would not sancition paying some one else nearly as mmuch as this failure we have,… so it will be a 2 million manager!
Magnificent phone???? Bag o’ shite more like!!!!
Josip.
I just did a quick refresh of my statistics on these 4, Wenger, Hiddink, Van Gaal, Mourhinho.
Win ratios as Managers: Full career
Wenger – 53.38%
Hiddink – 56.52%
Van Gaal – 61%
Mourhinho – 69%
Granted, it’s very basic and I just picked those 4. What you could say about Maureen is that Madrid distorts it because of the quality of the opposition. He is on 76.92% win ratio there. But he managed 3 clubs in Portugal and his lowest was 54.45%. Pretty impressive! Like I say, not my first choice! But.. if he carried on with that kind of win record with us I would say he would win over a lot of hearts and minds and we’d defend him against all-comers! Well most of us anyway
After being over wengered for the past 7 years i can only imagine how i’d feel if it was the Arsenal that played to that beautiful Mourhinio formation in the 2010 CL semi finals with 10men behind the ball. Never had i seen such craftmanship in all my days of football watching. Call it desperate on the day, call it negative, but the sheer boldness of it, and the entertainment that ensued left me in awe of the magician that is Jose Mourhinio.
I believe that Jose has nothing left to prove, but @ 49 years of age he still has much more to give so i will welcome him with open arms if he chooses the grove as his next home. Stars will come flocking back to Arsenal. Jose will bring a brand of football that is hard and fluid. Who knows, he may even be able to do this with a moderate budget.
from guardian..
Well…if you just take the information in marca is easy to think that Ramos is the guilty.
–The beggining of this was 1st may 2011, a day before the second match with barcelona in champions semifinals (madrid lost at home 0-2). In a long speech in the dressing room mourinho tried to convince the players that the game was lost. he tried to convinced them to play defensive, like that they wouldn´t lost 4 o 5-0 and he could blame the referee(pepe got red card in madrid´s game). Many players couldn´t even believe those words.Let´s say that here the things started to change.
–In the league games last year against barcelona and later in the spanish supercup in summer the order of mourinho to the players was “play hard, blame the referee”. At the end of the second match in barcelona there was a fight among spanish national team players about the aggresive tackles . In a private meeting Casillas apologize to Xavi and the things started to be better in national team but mourinho didn´t like that meeting since he considered it a betrayal.
A couple of days later in the dressing room Mourinho started to blame to casillas about everything,about the apologize, Casillas answered shouting, saying that was the first and last time that he dare to shout him and blame him in front of the team, he also says that as a captain he would never support more aggresive football tactics, referee excuses or give a game like lost, since Real madrid was more than that.
—This last discussion…more or less is related to the “favorable treatment” that mourinho has with portuguese players and specially if they are represented by Jorge Mendes, his agent (di maria, cristiano, pepe, carvalho, coentrao ..and mourinho.). If you realize Carvalho played the other day after 3 months, He hadn´t played even a minute, he wasn´t fit and some players thought that was a way to help jorge mendes.
—when the players listened the team that was going to play with barcelona, with ozil, kaka,marcelo in the bench and pepe and lass in the midfield some players whispered ” let´s pray…” mourinho listened and the shouts started again…
-Coentrao instead silva, the youth team without even a chance(players like mata, casillas or raul came from the youth team) , the defence of portugueses in front of media is also part of the problem.
-about the bernabeu fans…They are not stupid, they know how many goals madrid scored this year and how they improved with mourinho, but they also see that he is a coward against barcelona, the negativity around him. Maybe we would lose , yes. but they prefer to lose with kaka and ozil in the field and playing attack.
What do people think about Capello? I’m not sure he’s perfect – but the two most perfect candidates (Pep and AVB) might be too hard to come by.
This is what happens when you constantly play players out of position!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy coaching + team tactics from someone so intelligent, AW is gradually becoming an embarassment! For me the most important signing in the summer will be his new No2 when Pat Rice leaves ……..we shall see???
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2091097/Andrey-Arshavin-ruined-Arsenal.html
All I want as an arsenal fan is some money spent on some top class players. I dont mean spend 200 million on players but come on I am sure arsenal fc can spend 25m on 1 player and a 20m on another with out it hurting the bank balance 2 much. we need some new blood sick of hearing same names out injured season in season out .how many years have we heard there is money to spend well spend it then. only money geting spent at arsenal is by us lot. if wenger would spend now and again and got t.adams in as a no 2 I thinnk he could win us back round.
My S2 overheats…….BADLY!, it freezes up, requiring me to take the fecking battery out!!, and it switches itself off and back on again………for no fooking reason……….panchod piece of shit…..
Give me proof Park is selling any shirts. FS do you thick bastards really think, a players that dosnt play for 6 months, and played like 2 0 mins for or so is really selling shirts? Really come on now. Because his asian you think we have geniuses at board level that think he will sell shirst? Are you all fucking mad, he dosnt sell any shirts fullstop. he may sell a few and thats it. there was no major asian plan by wenger oranyone. Wenger bought him on the chepa and nothing more. Wenger is shite its as simple as that.
Interesting stats, Thomas.
Cheers.
Kushagra India, you have the opinion of a woofter.
DDM r u dealing with fake ones r what….bad luck matey ….
Still say we should go in for Sahin.
If Wilshere is gonna move in the AM position, we need a passer from deep.
Can you imagine having a manager that is technically sound for the next 10 years. Someone that knows he shouldn’t play djourou as rb, knows arshavin should be given a chance to prove himself in the hole, can speak to the board when the team needs a boost, can play chess on the field with resources available to him. That’s where i believe Jose is now. I don’t think that teams like citey can entice him anymore, what does he have to prove? But a club like Arsenal, with a history as plush as ours. He can go down in history as having coached some of the oldest and best clubs in the world.
“i can only imagine how i’d feel if it was the Arsenal that played to that beautiful Mourhinio formation in the 2010 CL semi finals with 10men behind the ball. Never had i seen such craftmanship in all my days of football watching. Call it desperate on the day, call it negative, but the sheer boldness of it, and the entertainment that ensued left me in awe of the magician that is Jose Mourhinio.”
Top iffy posting.
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/best-phone-of-2011-50006317/
You could put Arteta there.
Is Sahin quick ? Or physically imposing ?!
Grassy Knoll
You lost me to be honest, I hope you are not accusing me of being an AKB?
Fake ones??? Fack off, it’s a Vodafone one, facking cheek the only fucker around here who buys cheap fakes is Wenger….
Fucking minge phone….
Having said that, it is bastard quick, and it’s screen quality is very very good….
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DNA
Kush, that list is all kinds of wrongly.
Anyway whoever replaces Wenger must be a proven name in the business. We’d have to ride on that fellow’s good name to bring players of star quality back to the Emirates because CL or no CL football, we just cant seem to attract star players to our club anymore.
Keyser
I just don’t think Arteta has that defense splitting pass that he once had. After all, he is playing deep now, and he’s hardly been incisive.
Mourinho can’t do a classic Wenger quote can he? An okay effort…
Difficult? Why?” the coach asked. “I lost a game on Wednesday, I prepared one on Friday. Today we won. Tomorrow is Monday. Why is that hard? It is the first time that I have been whistled but it’s not a problem. There is a first time for almost everything. If I had been whistled at Chelsea where they don’t even whistle the opposition manager, it would be a problem. Here they whistled Zidane and Ronaldo and now Cristiano Ronaldo. This stadium whistles the best in the world – why shouldn’t it whistle me?”
This year i shall mostly be purchasing the iPad 3
“Our aim is to be a leading European club and, once we get into the new stadium, we will be in that position. It is very income-generous to us,”
We’re on course for that and what he said is true. The things that stopping us are the manager, the owner and most of the members of the Board. Oh, and the Chairman.
Get rid all of them then we can elevate the club further. Change for the better. Though I don’t know how we can get rid all of those old crooks.
No doubt Wenger will want one either on loan or for £15……
Just look at the passing interplay at from 4:12 between Messi and Iniesta. Crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62BdSuPnQsY
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!
Keyser,
of course you could do that, I’m just hoisting an alternative way of looking at the Mourinho situation.
Thomas, it would be interesting to see what Ebeneezer’s stats would reduce to if you only looked at the last 2-3 seasons.
Nice post Geoff, i spoke to quite a few Gooners on the train after Sunday, not one sticking up for Wenger
zeus – The press aren’t lapping him up neither are the fans, Pelligrini had Madrid on 96 points scoring 102 goals, Mourinho was basically brought in to beat Barcelona over two games he failed last year and this year he doesn’t seem to be fairing much better.
He’s gone from his usual focus your attention on me, leave my players alone to giving quotes like that biding his time until either Madrid win the league by beating every other team bar Barcelona or he takes his last chance against them this year.
Then you’ll get the usual Mourinho back, maybe a few digs at players and he’ll leave on a high, imagined or manufactured.
Agree with everything said but do feel that Arshavin has come out of all this a bit unfairly as the main scapegoat. Walcott should have come off for Ox then I don’t think we would have had all the fuss. Would Walcott have prevented the goal had it been on his side of the pitch ? Also the rest of the defence just opened up like a can of sardines. Arshavin has had a dreadful season but I do feel that AW has not got the best out of him by not playing him in his best position. He’s not a left winger and has now totally lost confidence. He is ( or was ) a class player, which is something Theo unfortunately will never be.
Portsmouth have been issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over unpaid tax.
Josip.
Final one for me on that. Just to put those stats in some kind of perspective. Sir Alex Chapman Red Nose Ferguson’s win ratio in all his years at Utd is 59.37%
I’m off. Clock out!
Lurch LeRouge at 15:14
———–
I’m all for it. Jose would surely be perfect for Arsenal.
Alan Smith was on Talk Sport today discussing this
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9034044/Alan-Smith-the-five-reasons-why-Arsene-Wenger-is-starting-to-lose-his-grip-at-Arsenal.html
Lurch LeRouge – We could do a load worse, but there’s plenty of ways to look at what and who he is, if you focused the same critical eye people have saved for Wenger you’d probably see far more than that.
On Real Madrid alone do you really feel he’s got them playing attacking football ?!
Keyser,
its not tippy tappy but its not london routemaster either.
I get plenty of entertainment watching Oezil, Khedira, Di Maria, Marcello & the forwards move the ball around.
Iffy,
Perfect fit I disagree, I’m just saying we could do a load worse.
So this is Mourinho that has never finished outside of the top 2, and has won more league titles than Wenger despite being 20 years younger, and has managed to win the CL twice, something Wenger will never do.
Did I mention he also doesnt have a disturbing obsession with kids?
he is a fan of french speaking African formula 1 drivers though.
Nice one thomas,
So Wenger the Wanker has the worst win ration…..what a spastic.
After being over wengered for the past 7 years i can only imagine how i’d feel if it was the Arsenal that played to that beautiful Mourhinio formation in the 2010 CL semi finals with 10men behind the ball. Never had i seen such craftmanship in all my days of football watching. Call it desperate on the day, call it negative, but the sheer boldness of it, and the entertainment that ensued left me in awe of the magician that is Jose Mourhinio.
==
Brilliant
Lurch LeRouge – That’s what they should be doing though, it’s who they are, Mourinho hasn’t got them to do anything they weren’t already doing under Pellegrini, what he’s struggling to do and is supposed to be his forte, is get them to play at a level defensively good enough to beat Barcelona.
He seems to have tried it all, put Pepe in midfield, Coentrao, Diarra, stick Altintop on Inesta (that actually kind of worked), ask Ronaldo to track back, he’s doing it reluctantly, get Di Maria to do it, he seems to have no problem, except he doesn’t seem to be able to do it by actually using some of the most exciting attacking talent in the World, and ask them to attack.
What was it Robin said this morning? – “Let’s all stick together and fight”
It would not surprise me that come the end of this season and we finish 7th(three spots off our intended target) wenger will just blame This season’s short-commings on our out-going assistant manager 70′s legend Pat Rice.
until Wenger leaves the last 7,8/9… years will be known/rememberd as the LIMBO YEARS under wenger.
The club just hasn’t moved forward under him since 2005.
I don’t always have time to read every comment, but when I come across stuff like this, I’m glad I try:
“gambon says:
January 24, 2012 at 12:58
Lol as if Madrid would take Wenger. They would laugh in his face.
- Wenger goes to Madrid
- Wenger refuses to sign any stars and only brings Abou Diaby in.
- First game in charge against Barca they go 1-0 down, Ronaldo is rampant and scored the equaliser, Wenger takes him off and replaces him with Diaby, who makes a mistake and Barca win.
After the match “Ronaldo had an injury, i dont have to explain myself to you, ive made 90000 subs in my life,””
Hahahaha!
cracking post, so true its scary! fuck fuckety fuck fuck, im depressed!
we play Barcelona twice a year at best, what’s your point Keyser?
Arsenal fans have a weird fascination with ‘attacking’ football like its a zenith – hi tempo tikitaki works fine in Spain where the whole country is populated by 5’2″ midgets with a low centre of gravity and a propensity to roll on the floor screaming mummy.
I’m yet to be convinced it would vanquish all over here.
can an1 tell me how to put a picture in the square box, aint got a clue, thanx!!
Lurch, we actually used to play a pretty awesome passing game. It’s not so much that Barcelona is playing against midgets. It’s more that they’re approaching the TF / Pep vision of all midfielders. The team is full of fast, decisive, and smart-off-of-the-ball players. We don’t have anybody that fits that bill really at the moment. And, we don’t need to exactly imitate them, but the fact is, possession and movement work. (Oh, and also closing down. What it all boils down to is playing as a unit.)
Great post again Geoff. Glad you noticed Wengers deft sidestep when admitting the tactical mistake so he could blame Arshavin. Classic Wenger
.
Let’s be clear we have become a feeder club because we love money above all else and have abandoned our principles and values in pursuit of it.
When lies are being told you will always get conflicting stories coming out and in this case about AOC being injured. Bollocks and RVP is just trying to be diplomatic – Where is Cantona when you need him
I don’t understand why we bought Jenkinson and wasted our time and money on that when we have Yenarris who looks good enough to understudy Sagna? Maybe more back handers went Wengers way on that transfer.
I love it when he starts reeling out who is the captain of what.
Park – Korean captain
Ramsay – Wales captain
Chamakh – Morrocan captain
Rosicky – Czech captain
Benayoun – Israel captain
TV5 – Belgian captain
Per – Dortmund former captain
It’s ironic that we have so many supposed captains when we look leaderless, clueless and disorganised most of the time. He forgets to mention they are captains of shit countries and if countries give out the captaincy like he does it isn’t worth jack shit. If Arshavin isn’t performing him being the captain of Russia means fuck all. Best man for the job should play regardless of who he is.
Lurch LeRouge – Not too sure what your post was about there ?!
It’s the idea that Mourinho has no limitations and what he’s done at Real Madrid, Inter, Chelsea or even Porto bodes well for us, you mentioned attacking football, thing is what else were you going to play with an array of talent such as he has at Madrid.
They were already in the mid-90′s for points, they had already breached the century mark for goals, unless we invest heavily into recruiting players what’s he going to bring to Arsenal that most other managers wouldn’t anyway.
Defensive solidity ? Means little if he can’t get us to score at the other end either.
Happy Birthday DNA
almost forgot!
Alan Smith
“Park Chu-Young is different in that he was fortunate to win a contract in the first place.
One lad I know, who played with the South Korean at Monaco, could not quite believe that Wenger actually rated the striker, so average had he been in France.”
Good article DS. Smith hits the nail on the head, a good summary of Arsenes key fuck ups.
The key to us succeeding over the next few years if Wenger leaves, is how well the managers uses whatever money there is to spend.
Smithy again,
Tactical naivety.
“Wenger has never been a tactician. His gifts always lay elsewhere, like earmarking talent and giving it the platform to shine in an open, attacking style.
Nevertheless, there are times when the need for caution should not be ignored and never was that more true than when Arsenal travelled to Old Trafford in August with a very weak team.
Several injuries and Gervinho’s suspension forced Wenger into fielding a vulnerable-looking side. Under the circumstances, then, you could have forgiven the manager for trying to keep things tight by sitting back and being hard to break down.
But no. The visitors tried to play their normal expansive game and got thrashed 8-2. It is difficult to forget humiliations like that, especially when it could have been avoided with a different game-plan.”
By the way, this is random, but, if Wenger’s such a fucking economist, shouldn’t he realize that player values get horribly inflated on the back of major tournament performances? Like at, for example, I dunno, Euros? One would think that January is the astute time to buy this year.
AMAZING post!
Thanks so much for having the balls to post it!
WENGER OUT!
Dan sorry that bears no relevance to the critique of JM – its an entirely different conversation, i’m 37 and followed Arsenal a while now, thanks for the heads up on the way we’ve played though.
If I understand Keyser properly he’s using JM’s capitulation to Barca as a stick to beat him with, ergo JM doesn’t instil a brand of football which is good enough for us, which doesn’t wash with our situation.
Thats the conversation, as I understand it.
I don’t believe that Wenger is unsackable. How many games in a row do we have to lose?
4 points out of 15 so far. I can see it being 6 out of 24.
No other manager would survive that form. Even Fergie would resign if he had not won anything in 7 years.
Gunner2301 – I read your response from yesterday to this question and I agree with most of what you say. However, there has to be a breaking point. You can’t tell me that if Wenger lost the rest of the games in the season that we would still have him next year. This is obviously unlikely but somewhere between 5 and 10 losses in a row might do it.
Brilliant post geoff! It’s a joke the highest paid manager is so tactically inept and is still refusing to buy players because he is delusional in his faith in our current crop of shite. Beyond a joke.
Keyser, it’s not just about how they spend money, it’s about how they change, how they utilise the talent we have, how they use technology… tactics.
There are so many flaws in the way Arsenal go about there football these days.
My list of replacements for Wenger:
1. Van Basten + Bergkamp
2. Louis van Gaal
3. Guus Hiddink
4. Carlo Ancelotti
5. Martin O’Neill
What Smith says about Park is true. We have so many of that type of player – not good enough but strangely enough rated by Wenger and given continuous contracts without justification. They are taking up the position of a real player who will inevitably miss out.
“One lad I know, who played with the South Korean at Monaco, could not quite believe that Wenger actually rated the striker, so average had he been in France.”
- Alan smith on the signing of park.
Pedro – No more than most of the teams around us, it’s the nature of football today, more about excess than striving to be as efficient as possible.
Keyser,
Agreed, give Mourinho £100M first season and £50M the next do you really think thats going to ruin us? or is it likely to get us back on top where silverware or the ability to at least compete generates its weight in gold with sponsorship revenues.
Give the money to AW sure, but its well established he won’t spend it so whats the point.
Sorry 86-06!
Didn’t check to see if that had already been posted.
The hole for wenger to crawl into is getting deeper by the hour.
Dan – Just because Wenger is an Economist, doesn’t make him a good economist. Economists a basically theorists. They try and apply theory to real life. Unfortunately life does not always work out that way. It is like the 67 minute substitution – According to Wenger, this is statistically the best time to make a sub. Hence the sub of Ox – decided before the game started. He did not take into account what was going on during the game.
Oh and I did an Economics degree too and then realized that it was basically useless for getting a job in the real world… So then I did another degree.
And I shall add that Maureen doesn’t think 4th is a trophy, and managed to win league titles in 3 different leagues, and to retain league titles also…..
@ Dan Ahern (@topical_storm)
—————————————————
On the contrary Arsene Wenger was a top choice (before even Jose Mourhinio) for Real madrid when they tried to replace pellegrinni and apparently they’d still like to have him. Madrid pride themselves with attacking football. Jose plays attacking football against every team in the La liga except Barcelona. Madrid would rather go down 5-0 while playing good attacking football against Barca. Jose won’t have any of it.
For us Jose Mourhinio will be perfect because we have missed so much is a tactical genuis that can adapt to the game when situation demands. A coach that won’t just bow to the mighty millions of city, that will tell the board what the team needs and won’t flog dead players because he is result oriented. What madrid needs is a coach that will go all out and still win games. Remember that Wenger is a good coach when he has good players around him. He’ll never be in charge of player purchase and sales in a club like madrid (which is a good thing), a major factor for success in his early days at Arsenal.
Hopefully something of a swap deal can be done @ the end of the season but i’m sure that our board will disagree which is why we as fans we must let them know that we can no longer co-exist with Arsene Wenger. If all goes well i won’t be surprised if both coaches end up spending @ least 5 years @ their respective new clubs, or if both teams end up winning the champions league at least once
dan-
or realize that spending money brings money? for instance, when you put a team worthy of winning trophies on the pitch people will actually spend more, which means more revenue for the club…
Lurch LeRouge – More so, what brand does he instill exactly ? He didn’t instill an attacking philosophy at Real Madrid and he’d have had to monumentally fucked up to not get them playing the way they are.
If you take Gus Hiddink for example, I know they’re National teams but he got far more out of South Korea and Australia than you’d expect ?!
It goes towards our discussion on the german league, maybe it’s more susceptible to managers with an idea or a vision, but Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund seems to have made far more of his resources than the average manager.
How about give it to a manager like that ?!
Is there anyone on here who can explain why booing during a game is a good idea whatever your opinion on the current situation?
I’m hardly over the moon at the state of things and haven’t been for quite a number of seasons now, but how does it make any sense to create a hostile atmosphere for the home team whether directed at them, a player, the manager or anyone else?
And Geoff – this isn’t Syria, but personally I’d say freedom of speech should take a back seat in favor of supporting the team on the pitch during games. All other business should be left for the pub, AST meetings or some poorly organized protest where everyone gets to wear black – all a bit 1939 if we’re getting into governmental comparisons by the way.
Peace…?
As nice as it sounds to have bergkamp back in some sort of assistant managerial role you guys must Not forget that the mans afraid to fly!
How the hell would he get to games in Europe?
if i read one more person placing martin o’neill as a viable replacement for ogl i might start capping fools.
have a read on this man’s abilities:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1301712/Buy-buy-Martin-How-ONeill-spent-120million-years-Aston-Villa.html
Lurch
Winning trophies generates direct money too
winning all the games in the group stages, then going from there to win it will earn you more than 30 millions, direct payment from UEFA, not to mention all the surroundings (TV, sponsor, etc…) …
*CL cometition
Rutger on January 24, 2012 at 18:09 said:
=========
It might be easier if you go into the archives & read some of pedro’s past posts to get the answer to the question you ask.
It’s been discussed on here so many times it’s unreal.
Lurch LeRouge at 18:01
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I dont think he’d even need that much money. We have a good core in our squad. If Van persie knows that Jose is coming, he’s definately going to want to stick around. Give him £50m. Let him trade off some dead wood players. Jose watches videos so he doesn’t have to wait through pre-season to know who he needs and doesn’t need.
Completely agree as usual.
He does remind me of a dictator about to fall (hopefully), and saying that he does not need to justify his decisions is such a cop-out.
We just cant to on like this our manager is utterly useless nowadays.
David Dein where are you?
My interview on talkSPORT.
I know I’ve posted a few times but it’s still fitting..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi-J98t31So&feature=g-upl&context=G2927803AUAAAAAAAAAA
Keyser,
i wouldn’t argue against any of that although the example of SK and Australia is flawed, really flawed. They aren’t footballing cultures so the world took note because Gus brought them up to a standard of international significance.
That doesn’t mean he can take an already successful team and institute the same level of development and push them significantly further.
Its like pushing particles towards the speed of light, the closer they already are to the speed the extra energy required is exponential to the amount already required to get them to the point they currently are.
That said, I like Hiddink, as I do Klopp and Loewe. LVG less so.
None of this makes JM a poor choice imho.
@ Lurch – Sorry, misunderstood then, no offense meant. I was commenting because you said you weren’t convinced Barca’s style was the end-all be-all and we wouldn’t necessarily dominate the Prem using it. My point’s regarding those remarks. But yeah, different conversation. I’m saying that style could work extremely well in England.
But in regards to Mourinho, I’m with you, you can’t knock him because he can’t beat Barca. Still a top, top manager. He’d actually be a huge improvement because he’d sooner die than let us get away with getting out of shape and not pressing.
He was at the bottom of my list frenchie
anyone would be better than Wenger at the moment!!!
Bade,
of course it does, but I’m framing my argument with the worst case scenario that we don’t win but at least become competitive again, hence sponsorship revenues as a benchmark.
I know it’s not Friday but………..
I was sitting on the sofa with my laptop last night when my wife walked into the room.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
I said, “Do you fancy going away?”
“Yeah okay” she smiled, “Where?”
I said, “I don’t know, maybe the kitchen? I’m trying to have a wank here.”
Lurch LeRouge says:
January 24, 2012 at 17:28
———————————————
Well it was certainly good enuf for the WC and EC…..and I didn’t hear mummy in the EC when the opposition tried matching them…
….David Silva, Cesc, Xabi Alonso,Torres before injury ,CR, they all have been the fulcrum of the best English clubs over the years barring Chelsea who have now Mata…
I have been an AFC supporter for the better part of 11 years (since games started to be broadcast overseas). I have generally been of the AKB mindset, but since the OX sub v the mancs, I am fearing for the worst. I do not think money buys you success (i guess we will see by the end of the season), but what money does do is remind the players not up to scruff they can be replaced. Arsene has lost this ability, he is unable to put the fear in players and that is a major problem. I hope Arsene can see the error of his ways, but lets be honest, he probobly wont any time soon.
Lets all be honest with ourselves here though, who will replace him? Is a world-class, top top manager available to us now? Not to my knowledge. As much as we would like to think our voices matter, we are all essentially shouting at a wall. (unless your a shareholder, as i am not) The only thing we can do that will make a difference is sing as loud as we possiblly can and get behind the team, nothing more nothing less. We need to show these boys that we are all behind them, not that we are waiting for them to muck up and get screamed at. I hope we see a new face (or two) in the dressing room before January is up, but i think we all know this is wishful thinking. Lets get behind the team as much as we can and show the support this GREAT CLUB DESERVES!
AFC FOR LIFE.
samir-
no cap for yo ass, den.
your list fails to mention the two most logical replacements: 1) jurgen klopp and 2) dragan stoijkavic.
klopp has done more with less at bvb and seems to know how to put a team together. the transition would be limited, if neglegible.
dragan, aside from an intimidating name, has already been touted by arsene and the board will listen to ogl even if he is thrown out. dragan also has been noted for complaining about the lack of attacking options currently at arsenal. might know something?
Ricky says:
January 24, 2012 at 18:02
====================================================
The more this is posted the better.
Coming from Smithy this is pretty damning, he is usually a mild sort of fella and not really controversial, that is why I feel that what he has said is fairly significant.
And that famous quote “Imagine the worst situation — we lose Fabregas and Nasri. You cannot convince people you are ambitious after that.” is coming back to haunt him big style.
Dead man walking……
Van basten- Manager
Bergkamp- Assistant
Tony Adams and Steve bould – Much needed defensive coaches, who would also add some loyalty and pride.
Oh yeah and…..
Usmanov – Owner
David Dein – Chief Executive
none taken Dan,
We never really reached Barcas level, a couple of games in 08 but never a sustained run with differing players, our style was expansive and deadly but still relied on a degree of pragmatism that Barca don’t need because they don’t face really powerfull defenders in La Liga.
Its not the same imprint of attacking football imo.
Van basten- Manager
Bergkamp- Assistant
Tony Adams and Steve bould – Much needed defensive coaches, who would also add some loyalty and pride.
Oh yeah and…..
Usmanov – Owner
David Dein – Chief Executive
Gazidis, wenger and phw- cleaners
Lurch LeRouge – A poor choice ? No, dunno what sort of choice it is, just that there’s little to suggest he’s got an idea or vision or that he’s made much more of the resources he’s been given than he should have.
So either we find a manager that does, or we make up for it with massive investment, nothing we haven’t discussed before.
Also I wouldn’t say Mourinho’s mellowed, I’d say humbled, what else can he say or do to keep up the pretence that the failing is anyone elses’s but his own.
Kush thats a ridiculous argument.
comparing world tournaments to the rigours of the premier league is simply a non starter and doesn’t validate the use of a particular style over here for me.
You can follow the Harry Redknapp trial live on Twitcher
jurgen Klopp is a good shout. He achieved what Wenger couldn’t which was winning the league with a young team whilst playing attractive attacking football and has done very well with the resources he has. I’d say someone like him who is at the opposite spectrum to Maureen would be more pallatable for the board.
If Wenger has any influence in matters it will be Dragan Stojkovic from Grampus 8. I can’t see Stojkovic coping with the PL and Europe so unless he’s brought in in the Summer as No2 to Wenger when Rice goes maybe he would be too inexperienced. But he’s a Wenger clone.
I’d consider Van Gaal but the board would be terrified of him and he wouldn’t take any shit from them. Also Rijkaard, Van Basten, Guardiola, Hiddink, there are plenty of options. I’d rather not have Bould I believe he would be too pressured to be a Yes man as he doesnt have the managerial pedigree and will just be greatful to be in management.
Oh ye Frenchie – Klopp would be absolutely brilliant! Would be top of the list with Van Basten
Can you lot imagine the excitement of a new manager? I’d be stuck to the computer for days!
Yeh Lurch
The competitive character is even more significant now, bearing in mind that our current shite (than was thought as brilliant) shirts deal will expire in two years time
If we want to tie up another multiple years shirts deal, we’d rather show more intent of competing, as the difference of a couple of millions a year would mean having or losing at least 1 Cesc calibre player …..
Keyser,
the choice of manager really comes down to timeframe as I see it.
The majority of our commercial deals are up for renewal in 2 years right?
not sure another ‘developmental’ manager is fiscally responsible really.
I think we need results tomorrow if i’m honest.
Lurch LeRouge at 18:01
——————-
This was way back in 2009 before Mourhinio was even appointed. It contains Wenger’s own words. They’ve been on his tail for quite some time now.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2009-05-18-1232672458_x.htm
sorry last post was for @ Dan Ahern (@topical_storm) not Lurch
You know what the sad thing about this whole situation is? We were saying more or less the same things after the 8-2 kicking at Old Trafford. Fail to learn we’re learning to fail… 30 years coaching experience and this is the end product is it Arsene? Are you sure you couldn’t be better used at the IMF? Go and leave my club alone.
From a business perspective I’m not sure the earnings to be gained if we won trophies will be so significant as to warrant us changing from the strategic position we are at the moment.
Someone mentioned something about potential markets abroad to exploit few days ago. Like I said then, and applies here, converting potential to hard cash is often not as easy as people imagine – one has to make some leeway for learning how to make this conversion – and spending big only increases the probability of winning these trophies, especially with shitty, manure and the chavs. Jose only has to contend with barca and with the millions spent only has a Copa del rey to show for it.
I am sure the marketing department have done some CBA (Cost Benefit Analysis), or I’ll like to think they have, and might have advised we continue as we are. So the cliché, ‘speculate to accumulate’ may be considered redundant in Arsenal’s case I guess.
This is why the strategic view adopted by the Board is very important. Right now they appear to treat it as a business concern in the conventional sense with the aim of increasing its value. Suppose they treated it as a vanity pursuit like Roman or Sheik Mansour then it’ll all be different. Mourinho would sound like a great idea just like the call for Hazard wouldn’t sound so childish!
I think it’s the right time to discuss our next manager.
Wenger ‘s days already ended. I don’t think someone as arrogance as him will accept his team in completely failure. I really hope he is doing the right thing instead of the club throwing out another 7 million a year.
Then the whole board need to go and Kroneke as well, he is now waiting for the best buyers, anyone serious in running the club doesn;t look like this.
dial-
you can also obtain updates on facetick.
Lurch LeRouge – It’d depend on our final position this year, but I don’t really see how bringing in Mourinho would guarantee results anyway. Bar maybe a domestic cup or two and we’re left in the same position.
Maybe just to tide us over in a Champions League place until we can negotiate the new deals to give us another cash injection, pretty precarious either way.
Boom Boom
What does anyone know about dragan stoijkavic other than the fact he was recommended by Wenger. Imho i wouldnt want him anywhere near the grove for that fact alone.
That said, if we’re going to keep our star(s) and entice new ones we’ll need a popular coach to help ease our damaged reputation. Don’t know if you realise it but it’s almost becoming a fad for top players to state publicly that they will never play for Arsenal
Radio
generating merchandising and Internet revenue in Asia isn’t rocket science, but for it you need in order of efficiency -Silverware (or at least the ability to compete), speculator individual players then an entertaining playing style.
Simply wearing red shirts isn’t enough.
http://straightalkingooners.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-24-at-14.29.09.png 2012/2013 ?
*spectacular
iffy-
if you actually believe the board will not listen to ogl as to whom will be appointed as his replacement, then, sure, who the fuck is dragan stoijkavic…ogl has already set him up.
fad? which is really hyperbolic given the only player i have heard of to say such a thing is eric abidal, and, frankly, fuck him and his barca dna. you do not need a star manager to keep stars, you need ambition to keep stars. martin o’neill is “popular coach” and he does fuck all to keep star names.
i would have prefered the last 2 years of ogl’s contract for the replacement to be sat next to arsene during the season, not pat rice (god bless his service to club).
Lurch,
I think people sometimes exaggerate the potential markets in Asia. I understand the German league is aired for free in China (or it was a few years ago, sorry can’t check this info out atm). So there is a lot of competition. If we were to increase our marketing activities in those parts we’d be late comers and would have lost out on the benefits of starting early.
These economies might be growing but how long will they continue to grow at the rate they are? China, for example, has several structural problems, like a growing ageing population, that are likely to curtail its growth in the future. Japan was the China of the 70s until its economy stagnated in the 90s continuing until now.
“Imagine the worst situation — we lose Fabregas and Nasri. You cannot convince people you are ambitious after that.”
Arsene Knows
Not too sure of Klopp. We handled Dortmund fairly easily in the CL.
@ iffy – not sure what you’re referring to, please clarify?
I was listening a football podcast earlier today and the question was raised as to how long will Europe continue to be the centre of top level football? This is in light of the recent developments that has seen players like Anelka move to China for big money and some in Brazil choosing to remain or return there with the relatively high salaries now on offer.
If this trend continues will European clubs continue to be the dominant ‘brands’ they are today? Less so, maybe. In that scenario, the super league will be inevitable. You could say we are preparing for that in an ‘organic’ way rather than through doping.
radio-
most non-european leagues bring in players not at the zenith of their career, but at the sunset…i truly doubt any player who wishes to be the best, or considered amoung the best will choose to play in europe. consider the brazilians and argentinians who kill to play in europe.
frenchie
Etoo to Anzhi, Anelka can still do a job for a top team and I’ll have him over Henry. We were linked to Jadson (28) who has now moved to Sao Paolo.
Nonetheless, your point holds but only generally. As the examples I’ve given show this may be changing. Players move for different reasons but money is a big reason why they do. As these emerging economies get richer, creating more billionaires, some may decide to invest in their country like the chap at Anzhi. Some players will follow the money that is not in doubt.
Radio,
your familiar with China’s human rights?
don’t think they’ll struggle when it comes to finding a ‘humane’ solution for their aged
, they’ll wrk till they drop anyhow.
If you look at our modernisation, we enjoyed a healthy 35 odd years before the bubble burst and I think China’s growth coming off the back of our mistakes will be more sustainable, but yeah they might get thirsty in a few years if the dams don’t work. It depends how they deal with de regulation I guess.
I can’t talk for exaggeration, I don’t know the figures bandied about. Getting £3 every 3 months from of 1m people doesn’t sound that unreasonable does it?