My point was general, not about Arsenal specifically.
Even then Looking at Arsenal over the last 3-4 years I think the composition of the squad was relatively good but poor squad management and poor tactics is far more responsible for our failing than spending big.
If Wenger leaves and Arsenal bring in the right manager I’d prefer a long term plan over 5 years slowly building a side that rises in quality and cohesion over the seasons in preparation of building a side that can compete in the CL and League consistently rather than massive spending over the first 2 summer windows
Take Transfer control away from Wenger then it might happen, worse thing we ever did was given him full control over Transfers. As a few have mentioned, he thinks more like an accountant and I truly believe he thinks Arsenal’s money is his money, and he’s been a penny pincher so we’ll never see him pay over the price for a player. I also think that even if you gave Wenger the best 11 in the world, he still mess it up as his tactics are stale. It’s a double edged sword sadly.
Personally, I don’t believe Wenger is in it to win the title, sure he give it a go and to please some fans he sprout that rubbish in the press but getting top 4 back is his and the boards main aim, throw a cup in there too if he can.
I think you’re right.
We had a great squad, in fact possibly as good as most other teams in the PL, but we lacked the game changing players that every successful club has had, including us.
When we were at our most successful we had match winners like Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, etc, and it’s the lack of this quality that has seen us fall short every season at the Emirates.
I know there are other factors like injuries but the failure to bring in more than one or two of this type of player has cost us, not only trophies but the exodus of our only top quality ones.
Wenger had the perfect opportunity, a couple of seasons ago, to really make a statement and buy a couple of real top quality players, but for some stranger reason bought only a GK, and it’s that decision that has turned things against him.
He didn’t have to be like Man City Man U or Chelsea, all he had to do was show a bit of ambition and buy a world class striker and maybe a winger.
The lift it would have given the supporters and players would have been immense, and even if we hadn’t won the title, at least it would have given the club a buzz which we desperately needed rather than doing nothing and going stale.
It’s as if he wants to make it as difficult as possible, and to show the big clubs you don’t need to spend to be successful, and it clearly hasn’t worked.
Its always felt like Wengers priority has always been to build relationships with players themselves and fight for titles second.
It hurts him more when players he has brought up like Cesc leave him, than it does to miss out on the title. His priorities are all wrong. Any true winner (like Mourinho) would genuinely be hurt by not achieving their goal, but season after season our manager is not phased and continues to do the same thing on the cheap instead of building a top side.
In the end our golden age when we were contenders for the league, won it a couple times and did that remarkable Invincibles season is hurting us now more than if we hadn’t had achieved that success at the time. The reason this guy is still employed is entirely based upon that success and the luck he has had to cling 4th spot a couple times later on to keep us in CL.
By all means he would have been fired a dozen times at any other club with the same players at his disposal and the same dross dished out, where his inability to adapt to the opponent or read the game and act accordingly would have been his undoing. At Arsenal FC, however, he gets rewarded a new contract every two seasons.
Problem with Arsene is though if a player is bought which can improve the team but he didnt want i bet he would purposefully not play that player just to be a cunt ‘i didnt want you here i didnt ask for you so you are not in my plans’
The problem with that is with the modern day footballer, a manager’s reputation only is as good as what you did the year before. Some players have bought Wenger’s B.S for years, but some ain’t buying him anymore. That’s why I don’t buy most of these ex players who come out and say “He’s good for Arsenal” talk, most of them left cause they knew he wasn’t going to bring them PL titles or Cl trophies and others are just going on what he did during his glory years. I’m sure the likes of Cesc, Van Persie, Nasri etc… Respect him as a man but they knew damn well he wasn’t going to bring them glory. I think the OX leaving for less money and to a team who haven’t won the PL, must have stung Wenger, unlike the others who left for teams winning big titles. He left cause he wasn’t buying Wenger.
Yeah he absolutely has a point - the group stage especially is pretty predictable and dull at times. But the timing of his comment is obviously going to create ridicule.
