Friday 17 February 2012

Misplaced fury? and Petit hits nail on head

Arsene has publicly vented his fury at the performance against Milan and he has also apparently stunned the squad with a furious training ground tirade.  It is good to know he still cares but as Arseblogger has said this morning, how effective is this likely to be when a lot of our problems cannot be remedied by the current playing staff.  Many of the problems we currently have are not down to a lack of effort, they are down to the weak squad we have and the tactics that we employ, both of these are in the manager's domain and the former is also down to the board.

All those who turned out against Milan were players the manager has signed or had faith in, all those sitting on the bench such as Park and Chamakh are the same.  Emmanuel Petit is no fool and some of his comments ring very true for me:

"Certain young players haven't done enough to justify the confidence that Arsene has in them. Walcott - somehow he's going to have to reach the next stage. It's been years that he's been at the same level.......Ramsey, against Milan, I got the impression it was his (twin) brother on the pitch. In the way they behave, in their body language, we see they're not there anymore"
"You have to send out a strong signal. You have to say to Arshavin, and to Rosicky: 'Gentlemen, thank you, but goodbye'. And soon.  What's needed is five or six players of real stature, great experience. Players who are 27 - 30 years old at most.  Players with technical qualities, obviously, but also strong character. A group of guys who refuse to accept defeat, who inspire confidence in the rest of the team." 

I could not agree more.  Walcott has not been developing and his performances have been too average of late, Ramsey has also not been at the required level but he deserves patience.  The likes of Arshavin and Rosicky should have been moved on a while back, for various reasons that only those within the boardroom know, many inadequate players have been paid too much money to provide very little quality on the pitch in recent years.  We have numerous players who need to be cleared out including these two and the likes of Squillaci, Almunia, Diaby, Vela, Bendtner, Denilson, Park and Chamakh.  Dennis Bergkamp's comments on the current squad or lack of it also look extremely wise, especially in retrospect of the Milan performance.  

We need a major shake up at the club, not only in terms of the playing staff but also in terms of our management team in my opinion, at the very least we need to think about involving some of our retired players who have that knowledge and winning mentality, the likes of Keown, Dixon and Bergkamp need to be considered as additions to the club's setup.  The board also need to sort their act out and back the manager properly both in terms of funds and in assisting him sort these problems out, it appears that the manager has taken a lot of heat that should have been directed at the board in the first place.  It is simply not good enough to accept mediocrity, we must rediscover the fight that made us great not so long ago, and we need the manager and board to pull in the same direction to get us out of this mess fast.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was anyone really shocked at the defeat.
Everyweek , everygame we are always a cheap goa away from a disaster.
The team have had no backbone or guts for years,
The capitulation at the end of last season was pinful but not as painful as th total mismanagement by board? manager? in the summer
and yet again three winter transfer windows has seen us since Campbell Lehman and Henry , it does not matter how well Henry has done, it is very sad that our team gets improved no end by a 34 year old from the MLS, its a pit our other signing Gazedis from the mls did not have the same effect.

My view is that for the Spurs game when the teams come out the fans should turn their backs on the team for the first 5 minutes and stay silent.

Anonymous said...

And what if the board has given good funding and the manager hasn't spent it? Then who is at fault?

The thing is the board doesn't pick the team, train them, motivate them and then tactically arrange them. That is all down to Wenger. They also don't decide who is worthy of a contract renewal and at what wages.

Sure, there are problems at the top, but most of the current problem stems from Wenger and his refusal to replace outgoing players with proper proven players, persevering with players who aren't ever fit or don't have enough quality.

Steve of Chiang Mai said...

And just where does Manu think we will get these "five or six players of real stature, great experience....27 - 30 years old at ..with technical qualities and strong character... who refuse to accept defeat, who inspire confidence in the rest of the team."
....And if we do, what stops them being like Adebeyor, Hleb, Nasri and the rest chasing the dollar in the future.

Harris1985 said...

Love Petit's comments Finally someone has spoke out about Theo!! It's obvious to everyone he is a Championship player. I blame the board in parts for the demise of the Club but in truth it is all about Wenger. He has sold world Class players and brought in avergae weak willed players that have never felt the satisfaction of winning!and never wanting to lose again. Tactically he is very poor, never had his teams have a plan B even.

Harris1985 said...

to Steve Comment... how can you put Adebayor Hleb and Nasri in the bracket Petit was talking about? Did they come to the club aged 27+ with experience? They came unkwown not a trophy in their cupboard! I agree you can't just go out know at get 5 of these players but Wenger should have been picking up 1 or 2 of these players through the seasons he's had 7 years

Steve of Chiang Mai said...

@Harris1985 Everyone loves Petit's comments cause they sound so wonderful it's just a little harder to accomplish.......just give me five names who fit the criterea have one EPL titles and would be willing to join Arsenal and who's team will let them go. And I wasnt speaking about Ade, Hleb and Nasri as fulfilling the criterea I was asking if by some miracle we found these superstars what stops them having their heads turned like those 3.....if you can't give me names nothing else you might say matters.....you are just a talking head like Petit.

Anonymous said...

The road back from where we are to where we should be will be longer than the road that got us here. The journey ahead will not be made easier or quicker or more enjoyable by negative gestures from we the fans. I will never turn my back on the team; I will never boo a player in an arsenal shirt; I am a Gooner and I will continue to support my club and my team. Wenger's rant might be the beginning of the journey back but it is only the first step.......

1979gooner said...

Steve

The signings of the likes of Per, Arteta and Santos has made a massive difference, positively, on us this season

We could have done with these kind of signings way way sooner

I agree that it is hard to go out and buy the very best

However it would have been easy to go out and improve on the likes of Denilson, Squillaci, Vela et al with the money we have had available

I don't know how much has been down to the board failing and how much has been the manager's failure to spend, and relying on players who have simply not been good enough

It is undeniable that players like Arteta and Per could have made a massive difference if brought in a few years earlier, it may have made some of those 2/3rd places title winning seasons instead

1979gooner

Harris1985 said...

@Steve...It would be impossible to get 5 experience players in 1 season, what i'm saying is Wenger should have been getting a least 1 top player a season since 2006. But If I was Wenger in May knowing Cesc and Nasri were on their way out I would have been approaching Klose Keita Mexes Parker Baines...Top 3 players that have won multipule league titles and then english players that love a game of football getting stuck in. All under the 40 Million Wenger spent

East Stand Lower said...

The board are at fault for letting Wenger carryon with his experiment.
Gazidis is to blame totally for that.
As for the idiot that says he will never boo a player and support the team. Well done it is the idiots like you that have helped the experiment.
The fans that boo players and moan at the manager are many of the fans that got rid of Terry Neill and that was for a winning manager in George Graham, and many of the fans that got rid of Rioch paved the way for wenger.
We need change and unless Wenger gets a responce tomorrow and against Spurs the only one cheering the team on will be you.

We all support the team , but who want to clap and cheer second rate players and a mismanaged club?

Uncle Mike said...

"Was anyone really shocked at the defeat." By the fact, no; by the scale, yes.

"The team have had no backbone or guts for years." Yesterday, a legend in American baseball died, Gary Carter, a man who was faced with the possibility that he would make the last out of the World Series (think missing a penalty in injury time of a Champions League Final), and told his teammates he was not going to let that happen, and got a hit to keep the dream alive. Who does Arsenal have now that simply refuses to accept defeat? At this point, I'd settle for going for challenging for a few headers, we concede too many aerials.

"My view is that for the Spurs game when the teams come out the fans should turn their backs on the team for the first 5 minutes and stay silent." Hell no. We get enough talk from the Scum fans about our atmosphere -- as if the morons have a clue as to what the inside of a library sounds like!

Harris1985 said...

@east stand... Couldn't have said it better. A real fan wouldn't stand for what is happening to the club...Dont forget Arsenal are the dearest tickets in Europe!!!

Ted said...

Before we all jump on board the Petit bandwagon, it is worth bearing in mind that the Arsenal double-winning team that Petit played in failed to get out of the group stage in 1998/99 and finished 3rd the next year. The next season wasn't much better either.

Whilst we are all very f*cked off with Arsene at the moment, a little trip down memory lane is worth it, not for any Arsene Knows Best reasons, but because he has always maintained a similar transfer policy. He did not spend the Anelka money the way people wanted (and Henry was a slow starter), he did not spend the Overmars money, or the Vieira money, or the Henry money etc etc

So I think having a go at Arsene's transfer policy is asking a leopard to change its spots. Chelski and Citeh have changed the perceptions of what a 'good player' costs or should be paid, but those clubs are in a fantasy sugar-daddy land where money is virtually irrelevant. Not to mention the massive nett spend pumped into Man United every single summer.

Where Wenger always used to be the best was taking a decent player and coaching him into something exceptional. And on that front, I entirely agree with Petiti agree that Wenger has failed to turn Walcott into a top-level player, failed to get Arshavin to look anything other than useless, same goes for Diaby etc.

A lot has been asked of Ramsey this season and I won't add him to the list just yet, but he was gog awful against Milan. That said, though, everyone was god awful against Milan.

1979 is correct though - the last 24 hours of last August was the biggest transfer blitz Arsene has ever undertaken and players like Arteta, Santos and Mertesacker are exactly the sort that fit the bill. All of those players have done pretty well since they have joined.

So I go back to my fundamental problem with Wenger's current style - absolutely no tactical preparation for a game. We simply play our way every game, home or away, come hell or high water. In contrast, virtually any other manager (maybe apart from Guardiola) would go away to the San Siro and play a pretty tight game and hope to escape with a draw, even losing 2-1 is acceptable. But not Arsene. He opens the Arsenal midfield up for Milan to walk straight through in some bizarre gamble that Arsenal could achieve an away win.

And the problem with gambling like that, is that you often lose your money. Its pretty amazing that this season will claim two records already - biggest League defeat and biggest Champions League defeat.

Thats quite a double.