LAST night’s embarrassment at Bradford is enough, it is time for Arsene Wenger to step down as Arsenal manager.
Many of his supporters will point to the lack of money, no backing from the board and the debts involved in paying off the stadium.
But the truth of the matter is this, Arsenal are no longer very good. A Carling Cup final we could not lose against Birmingham was lost and we destroyed AC Milan 3-0 at the Emirates last season, just a shame we lost the away leg 4-0.
Which brings me to this season, for every excellent performance (victory at Liverpool and a draw with Man City) there are hopeless ones (drawing 3-3 with Fulham, and losing to Swansea and Norwich).
Football teams don’t succeed or fail based on the business model, look at how much money has been spent by Manchester City to be six points behind Manchester United and out of the Champions League.
It is the manager who inspires, motivates, tweaks his squad with signings and the like and truth be told Arsene Wenger has not done any of that for almost three years.
How can the players be expected to challenge for trophies when the manager one minute is dismissing the Capital One Cup at the shareholders AGM then putting out his strongest side against League Two Bradford?
Those same players have also heard Wenger say finishing fourth is the ‘fifth trophy in English football’ can anyone seriously imagine Sir Alex Ferguson or Roberto Mancini saying that.
It’s no wonder such lifeless performance occur every few weeks, the players are not being pushed and rollocked in the dressing room to deliver more.
Not of all this malaise is down to Wenger, far from it, a number of players are not good enough for Arsenal Football Club or have played far from their best all season.
But none will improve or get better under this manager, a man who seems totally confident he will never be sacked, a position no manager should ever find themselves if truth be told.
Remember just eight years ago, Arsenal Football Club wandered through the whole football season without losing a game. Can you honestly see this squad doing that? Can you see this squad challenging for big honours? I can’t.
What genuinely scares me as a Gooner for 24 of my 30 years on this Earth is the reaction of some fans when you criticise Wenger. I made some strong points after the Swansea game only to be told I was a ‘plastic fan’ and that ‘We don’t need your sort supporting the Arsenal’.
I was even told that we had to applaud Swansea for playing so well and how much they deserved the three points.
I’m sorry but the last time I checked we were winning league titles around the time Swansea nearly fell out of the league itself!
And so to last night, Arsenal Football Club was made to look very ordinary by a hard-working Bradford City side who were a credit to their fans and to their likeable manager Phil Parkinson.
The cheering and elation on Twitter when Thomas Vermaelen headed home with three minutes to go to equalise showed how bad Arsenal had played.
After going out on penalties, did Wenger attack his team, did you get the sense butts were kicked? No all he could say to Sky Sports and to the waiting press pack was: “I couldn’t fault the effort of my team.”
You can imagine the dressing room collectively sigh as they realised yet again they would not be attacked for tossing away the real chance of a trophy.
I don’t know the answers, I am simply sharing my opinion on the state of a club which I love dearly.
If my team come off the pitch having lost but given everything, then I will applaud them and look forward to getting back on the horse at the next game.
But under this leadership, it now seems that we should accept losing to Norwich, to Swansea and to Bradford and be thankful. That is not a position Arsenal Football Club should be in.
I don’t want him sacked in the dead of night and spirited out of the country, never to return. English football should pay respect to, despite the current malaise, the finest foreign manager the Premier League has ever seen.
An announcement he will depart at the end of the season, a standing ovation at his last ever home game and the gratitude of millions of Gooners around the world is richly deserved.
I will be among them because without Arsene Wenger there would not be a modern day Arsenal.
Many more nights like last night though and that wonderful legacy of which he can be so proud will be tarnished and he will remembered as the man who stayed too long.
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Gooner318 The thing is, none of us fans know what goes on in the board room. Even Usmanov doesn't as he's not on the board, so all this stuff about get rid of SK and bring in Usmanov (a la chelsea) is based on what we might want to see rather than what we know will happen. I have tried to find articles where Usmanov states his intentions for AFC if he were to take over. The open letter sent to AFC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18722962 is the closest I can find to a statement of intent but note that it carefully calls for the club to invest more in players but does NOT say that AU would provide this investment if he were to gain control of the club!
As I said at the end of my post, for me, the best option is to wait and see where we are at the end of the season but we also have the mini-milestone of the jan transfer window. Given that one of our current "goal machines" Gervinho will be away with Ivory Coast and we might lose another (Theo), I think we all might logically expect AW to splash some cash! Here's hoping anyway!!!
M, I understand your point about changing coach/manager to win trophies and believe me when I say that there are few people out there that want that for AFC than me. My point was that you say Pep G may be available next summer but you then say "maybe we can win a trophy this season". How is Pep being available NEXT year going to help us win this (football) year?
If we were to sack AW now, Pep is not available so we have to do a chelsea and get in an interim manager. With a squad low on confidence, being booed by the fans, is an interim manager (who knows they will go in favour of Pep in the summer) the best option??? I stand by my point that we should wait and see where we are at the end of the season!
If Pep is available next summer, how can we win a trophy this season? What's your source for Pep being available - please don't quote a newspaper or other journalistic source, they're about as reliable as a paper parachute!
BUT:
1. Give AW to the end of the season and see where we are. I think if we don't get CL football he will go anyway.
2. People who say our players are lazy and not trying, are you having a laugh! We had 28 attempts on goal last night, hit the woodwork twice in normal play and twice in the pens and had 63% possession. I lost count of the number of times we got behind the defence and cut the ball back. That is hardly "not trying". If you said our finishing was really bad then I'm with you 100%. The Swansea game would be a better example of us lacking effort I think!
3. Ok, so you want AW to go, great. Some posters have said "I'm sick of people saying who do we replace him with" BUT that is exactly the primary question, so what is your answer? Secondary question, why would AW be constantly linked with jobs like Real Madrid, if he has "lost the plot"?
It seems to me as a fellow "expert" and fan just like you, that our problem this season seems to be converting chances into goals (see point 2 above). Yes we need a proven striker but that was what AW thought he was getting with Giroud, Gervinho and Podolski. These aren't kids, they are seasoned internationals who have cost us a fair bit. I saw plenty of support on these forums for us buying these players and others such as Per M, who seems to go from hero to zero and back every week.
Some people say, get Usmanov in and Kroenke out as the board are just lining their pockets. Sorry, do you REALLY know what the financial situation at Arsenal is and what the likes of Usmanov would do if he took over the club - didn't think so!
At the end of the season if we have not won anything and/or not got CL footie then I will also be thinking that AW has had his time but I for one will be waiting to see what he does in January and where we finish come May.
result at Bradford last night,it could be a good thing,now you can consentrate on winning the Premiership,
"JUST JOKING ARSENE",you couldn't win an argument,your about as good as that
team you put out at Bradford,just one word "CRAPP". "WHY DON'T YOU,JUST WALK AWAY ARSENE,AND DO US ALL A FAVOUR".
@Andy - but will Klopp be any good when the board refuse to keep th top players so there is money in the bank for their bonuses and for Stan's company: Kroenke Sports Enterprises
The truth is Wenger has peaked at arsenal and time has overtaken his style of football. A dignified exit is the option before we fall out of the qualification for champions league
The set of players lack collective ambition, discipline and self respect. It is time for each player to each their soul and to determine if they are giving their best to the fans who at this economic crunch paying premium to watch them play.
Isn't it Wenger's responsibility to BUY, MOTIVATE, TRAIN players?
(I'm not even talking about strategy tactics and gameplan)
Dont blame Wenger,he is the best manager you will ever get...We had more desire to win in every part of the field...your players did not have the heart and fight in their belly to compete with us..our team cost less, than one of your overpaid STARS
Good luck, it will be a tricky few years.
(Oh and being Scottish I would argue that Ferguson is probably the most successful foreign manager the EPL has had!)
Wenger is NOT irreplaceable. He is quite far from being Alex Ferguson too.
Why the club like Barcelona have the guts appoint someone like Tito Villanova.
We need someone who can set high standards for himself and be responsible for achieving them.
Not just "fail, ok, I'll try again". There are quite a few managers who are eager to prove themselves! Younger and with fresher ideas too!
Its better he walks out before his Legacy goes to the Tatters....
Bradford were quite happy for Arsenal to get down the flanks and then to deal with whatever came into the box.
Arsenal dressing room at the moment must be very cosy, they are all spoilt and Arsenne
will not let them be upset! We would not be cutting off our noses, we would be investing in the future
It's not 'Wenger has not won anything in 7 years' it's 'Arsenal haven't won anything since Dein got booted out'. Get rid of PHW, Ivan, Stan & bring back Dein so Wenger can go back to being a full-time manager again rather than doing board room activities which are a conflict of interest.
No manager can salvage anything from this team. Wenger has royally ***ed this club up. His legacy will be a squad of *** players on ridiculously high wages that no one will be able to offload. Too many signings are required to fix things and too many *** players on high wages that we'll never be able to offload.
Can Wenger fix this? I doubt it. Can any manager? Probably not this mess for at least 3 years. Quick fix would be Usmanov but just like Wenger resigning; that won't happen either.