I think a few people need to pause for a minute and think before venting their spleens. Arseblogger has magnificently captured many of our feelings at the moment with his blog this morning, the deeply ignorant bile and vitriol does not help. The outpourings of hostility have been there for all to see, especially as regards certain idiots fighting each other at the ground on Saturday, how very sad.
Firstly some perspective, we are still second in the league table, we need to get behind the team to push them on to staying as high as we can come the end of the season. Very few people gave us a chance of being where we are now, this season has not been a complete disaster by any means, although some of the same problems have emerged. Let's stop fighting each other, remember there is still a season to fight for and get behind the lads.
Arsene deserves some credit, some managers have been labelled geniuses for finishing lower down the table with far greater resources, the naive assumption that sacking him and bringing in any old numpty would automatically bring in the trophies is utterly foolish, likewise the assumption that clearing out tens of players in the summer is the answer, utter hogwash. This is not championship manager, this is reality, so many of those names trumpeted by those armchair experts have turned out to be rather mediocre. Also one cannot be second in the table with a squad full of dross, this also makes no sense at all.
I don't like to see certain players scapegoated. It seems that there are some rather easy targets that people like to pick, while certain household names are virtually immune from criticism, mentioning no names of course. While it is undoubted that certain players have run out of time, some players who are taking a lot of stick at the moment have had rather decent seasons. Let's take stock come the end of the season and try to judge players fairly without conveniently scapegoating certain individuals.
Maybe I'll turn out to be completely wrong but I suspect that Arsene is thinking about making some significant changes this summer, there have been certain hints at this with certain team selections and substitutions in recent weeks. As has been said elsewhere Arsene must be judged on his actions and not his banter. Obviously I am not happy that our season is disintegrating into dust before my very eyes, but I am even less happy with some of the idiotic bile that is spewing forth in certain quarters. The grass is not always greener I am afraid to say, we need to try to keep some sense of perspective through these tricky times, knee jerk reactionary decisions are invariably bad ones. We should behave like adults and not spoilt children. Come on you Gunners.
24 comments:
Sound like a child yourself. "Bring in any old numptie". Whose asking for that? Bringing in a top coach that can make us competitive would be a start.
we are still second in the league table
-----------------------------------
We won't be for much longer.
Blackpool (a)
Liverpool (h)
Bolton (a)
Spu*s (a)
Man Utd (h)
Stoke (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Fulham (a)
We'll probably finish fourth - just.
In AW we rust.
some managers have been labelled geniuses for finishing lower down the table with far greater resources,
That's the point that sticks in most peoples throats , Do we have resource or not ?. When the board say we do and the manager intimates that we don't , there is an impasse that supporters that want to win things cannot accept.
A top coach like who?
It's easy to suggest bringing in top coaches and players, but in reality very few are available and even of those available, many would not want to come.
'competitive'?
to suggest we are not competitive is ludicrous, where have you been all season?
related to the resources point, even if we splashed the cash liek City, success is far from guaranteeed,
'in arsene we rust'
this is precisely the idiotic drivel that is completely unhelpful
no one is saying we don't need to make a few changes and that AW has made mistakes, but for God's sake keep some perspective
it is ridiculous to pretend that AW is taking the club backwards and doing a terrible job, so many things he has done have been excellent, he is not far off and if he can make these changes, it would be foolish to not give him that chance
change of managers and massive changes to the playing staff come with their own risks attached, often the damage done here can be more than the benefits gained
6 years (and counting) to win anything can hardly be labeled 'reactionary' can it now??
New top class goalie, new top class CB of captain material, new top class striker who knows how to shoot on sight instead of pass when in a good position. There, thats my three wishes used up!
tondy
what?
read some of the stuff being trotted out and it is extremely reactionary, lacking any grip on reality
does six years without a trophy mean all abuse of the manager and players is reasoned and sensible?
what a lame argument
geez
i'd bring in a keeper with experience to go with szczesny
if vermaelen gets fit then we're ok CB wise, with Bartley coming back from Rangers, he looks handy
definitely big changes needed midfield wise, I'd bring in a wide man with real pace, we lack this at times, especially without theo
i'd clear out some of the mediocrity in midfield and bring in at least one experienced combative central midfielder
i'd be tempted to shuffle the pack of strikers by bringing in someone young and hungry with real pace to replace bendtner, say
Totally agree. Arseblogger got it spot on. Some of the comments I've read are just hysterical rantings from people who have let there frustrations get the better of them. I've never seen such spite and anger thrown at a team second in the league who could still win it. All this talk of players to get rid of and to bring in. Nothing can be done until the summer so theres no point talking about it. We all know what needs to be done. Saturdays performance was not good by any means but I thought it was confusing (if thats the right word)Most of our problems this season have been defensive, but I thought we defended very well on saturday (Apart from a couple of flaps from our 3rd choice keeper!) The forward play was very lethargic, We just couldn't create anything worthy of a goal and looked lacklustre and slow. I was pretty pissed off at the end but I never boo, A team fagile on confidence just doesn't need that and its couterproductive. I think people were most angry at the percieved lack of effort, which I can totally understand. Earning all that money and not trying is unforgivable. I just think people need to engage their brains before speaking and posting on blogs straight after the game. Other clubs fans must be laughing there arses off at some of the crap being written.
gunner73
couldn't agree more mate
well said
There is no doubt in mind that Arsene's project has failed miserably.
Equally there is no doubt in my mind that there isn't any coach who would be willing to come to The Arsenal who could do a better job. There are maybe a handful of managers who could possibly do a better job than Arsene but they are in such demand, they would not come to The Arsenal.
Also, I am not sure some of these hot and in demand managers would be able to be so successful unless they had the millions to waste away in the market and this is not The Arsenal way.
Like it or not, Arsene is the best coach we will have at Arsenal for now. We might as well support and hope he can make the right changes because frankly there is no better alternative.
there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that some of the bloggers have their own agenda as regards arsenal,(free t shirts and books and being a phone call away from a ticket to an attractive game etc )
so why would they want to rock the boat, they don't care about trophies like wenger, they only look out for themselves.
Some of the spleen may not be particularly well considered but I don't think it's very important. It clearly doesn't matter to Wenger either way anyway. Indeed he said of the booing at the match on Saturday that it was 'not our concern'.
Focusing on that distracts from the real issue at hand and could evn be considered as AKBs being disengenuous, as they know they can't defend current performance levels. We should keep the focus on reasons why the team fall apart every spring, though it's preferable that this is done in an intelligent way.
We're in second now, 1979. And even if we finish second, the issue isn't that second isn't good enough. It's that it wouldn't have taken much for us to win the league.
But Mr. Wenger has refused to make those hard, yet obvious, decisions that would have put us over the top.
You cannot look at the match against Blackburn in isolation. Nor this season. The frustration with Mr. Wenger from fans is cumulative from the past several seasons.
By all means, credit Mr. Wenger with the tremendous job he performed for Arsenal up until 2004 (or 2005, if you like). But equally, credit him with responsibility for our inability to continue that up until now.
I don't want to hear about not having money to spend. Improving this squad would not take a lot of money. But Mr. Wenger would refuse to spend it anyway.
He has had the opportunity to make the necessary changes for the past 4 seasons and has refused. He took a gamble and lost. Time to pay the piper....
You suspect he is hinting at making some significant changes this summer? I would say that the only reason he might do so is because of the pressure from dissatisfied fans. Otherwise, if disgruntled fans did not display their frustration, he would be permitted to muddle on with his failed experiment.
Good stuff 1979.
I have been wondering for a while too how with the shittiest manager in the world and not a single world class player, we've managed to keep this sort of positions so far.
Overachievement ;)
Love your thinking at 10.49 too for subtle squad changes.
Come on You Rip-Roaring (soon again ;)) Reds!
cheers Ollie
1979gooner
It doesn't take much thinking to say, "Wenger out." It takes considerably more thinking to answer the question, "In exchange for who?" (Or should that be "whom"?) Of all the managers in the world who are better than Wenger, How many of them are available?
Available or not, exactly NONE of them are English (ask a West Ham, Southampton or Portsmouth fan how good Harry Redknapp really is), and only one is British (and if Sir Gumchomper goes anywhere, it's into retirement).
I'm frustrated with Wenger, too. But there is no obvious replacement, regardless of nationality. This team doesn't need to blow it all up and start over, like Liverpool is doing with its back-to-the-future movement with Kenny Dalglish (who still isn't a better manager than Wenger). It needs a little tweaking. Another good centreback, another good defensive midfielder, and the injuries won't matter much. A new goalie isn't necessary, as the two Poles can carry us with Shea as emergency backup. That, and a little more motivation (i.e., "I got rid of Arshavin and Bendtner because they didn't care enough, and you don't want to be next") will make the difference.
it will be fine chaps just a bad run watch us battle through and win the title come on the arsenal.
I actually took the Blackburn result pretty well - it did not surprise me in the least, I actually did not expect this team to get out of its post-CC final funk. I just shook my head, bemused and went on to watch another game.
This team takes FOREVER to get over a huge disappointment/defeat. I didn't even have the interest to watch the entire game. I just moved on to watch other games over the weekend that interested me far more than a team that is incapable of fighting for a league title that is sitting there waiting to be grabbed from a dreadfully mediocre league leader.
These players are pathetic. Don't care about any of them in the least. I've even lost the ability to care if AW says or goes. The season is over, we'll probably finish 3rd or 4th and I have zero interest in watching any more of our remaining games.
Thankfully I do have interest in football in other leagues so I look forward to seeing how things pan out abroad. But for me the PL is over.
CORRECTION: "I've even lost the ability to care if AW stays or goes."
Every team in the league wants to win the Prem title. Arsenal are lucky to be in there every year--- and improving. Of course we are dissappointed not to win the Quad, or the Treb, or the Doub or even anything. So what do we do? Say it's the end of civilisation as we know it? What about spitting the dummy out- or moaning to the tune of idiots in the press, media etc- who unless they support ManU - never even had a hope of winning a Double? If I have any vitriol- it aint for AW. It is for the refs who continue to gift ManU what they need to win the title whilst making it virtually impossible for Arsenal. And no-one but me seems to realise the help half a dozen managers give to the same cause. Check on the number of weakened teams ManU have played. Arsenal NEVER get a weak opponent!! Do ManU have parked bus every week and rough house tactics. Nah!! Statistically- how does that stack up? It doesn't!. Are the press or media concerned? Not a bit! They are toothless and spineless-- prefering to wind up weak and stupid Arsenal fans- or are they Arsenal fans at all. Are they just plants moaning? Are they just part of the conspiracy to keep ManU on top!!!
IN ARSENE I TRUST ... all u negative cunts go and fuck off .. back ur team back our manager.. if aw goes u will fucking reget it .. arsene is a fucking legend who do u want instead of him ask urself that ?? WHO ??? RANT OVER .. STEVO DUBLIN GOONNER
one blogger said'at least we are not fighting relegation'
i dont think we would even if diaby denilson squilaci and almunia played every week.BUT 6 yaers of false hope in early season are just not good enough for this great historical team,with the best stadium in england.
our top 11 are able to beat any team in th world bar barca,however our first eleven are almost never available,partly due to burn out trying to fight 4 fronts..
However,if we had bought the fulham goaly for another 500 grand and if we had copped cahil or somelike instead of the 2 very average french stoppers....we probably would have nearly won 3 trophys,we will never get this opportunity again,this year chelski were too old,man u average,lpool rebuilding,mancity not bonded etc,this wont be the case next season,so even if we rectify our defensive weakness it still wont be good enuf next year.
How much is a trophy or two worth to the finances?surely it was worth gambling an extra 10 million in january for these prizes,by not spending we've ended up with nought,oh well i guess that means we dont have to pay any bonus's?
Great post 1979. Well said. I think I owe a couple of donations to charities on the back of this...
One of the hardest things for Arsenal fans to accept right now is that we have become a miserable bunch of cunts.
The over-exalted level of perfection that we demand from our team is perhaps not realistic. Similarly, the simpletons who chant "spend some fucking money" at AW need to get a grip. Spend money on who exactly?
'A keeper and a center back', the chorus responds. But its not at the back we are really suffering. The goals up front dried up some time ago. ManU leak goals left, right and centre, yet they are cantering to the title.
With goals we win matches, my friends.
Maybe its AW's fault. Maybe not. The riches at Citeh and Chelsea will still see them finish behind Arsenal.
AW is not perfect, far from it, but Arsenal fans get the results we deserve. Shit results for shit fans.
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