Written by Omomo14 on Thursday, 06 October 2011 09:09

Our 4th defeat of the season came at the hands of our lowly neighbours. Didn't watch the game because I had to attend to some pressing issues.  I'm not one to shy away from re-watching missed games win or lose but due to the severity of the loss I would make an exception.

We have played 7 games this season, lost 4 games, drawn 1 and won a poultry 2 games and both wins coming at home.

While the settings has been there to a lacklustre start to the season, its difficult to understand how we fell from 2nd in the log at some point last season to a lowly 15th position we are currently sitting on.

This isn't the time to start pointing accusing fingers at somebody but truth be told the blame should be put firmly on the board. Yes, Wenger should also have some of the blame but the bigger share should be placed on the board.

The writings ought to have been on the wall before the summer started. We all knew Cesc was going to leave at some point, while Nasri had a year left in his contract. I agree with the logic of trying to squeeze as much cash from Barcelona and City but it shouldn't be to our detriment instead it should have been the other way round.

We should have made a Cesc replacement ready way before we sanctioned his sale. Mata looked all but a done deal, reports suggests we had agreed a deal with Valencia and Cesc had even spoken to him telling him where and where to live. Valencia waited for us to table the agreed fee but we weren't forth coming because we were waiting on Barcelona and City to table the right offer for Cesc and Nasri.

Was that the right decision to have been made in that situation? That should be an emphatic NO!

I see a lot of clubs go for their targets long before sanctioning sales of their departing players which should be the path we ought to have followed.

Before 2010/2011 season concluded, Wenger authoritatively told us we were going to see new arrivals before the start of pre-season yet we only saw Gervinho who came after weeks of negotiations.

We have a board whose sole aim is making large profits, whilst this isn't a bad idea 'what needs to be done needs to be done'. There is no 2 ways about it.

We went into the new season with the departures of Cesc and Clichy, qualified relatively easily into the Champions league group stage, drew away to Newcastle, lost at home to Liverpool, soon after Nasri left then we lost scandalously to Man United at Old Trafford which set the path way to the said “crisis” we are in at the moment.

Before the transfer window was slammed shut we made gigantic offers for Hazard, Goetze, M'villa and Martin which were knocked back by their clubs reason being there wasn't sufficient time to purchase replacements.

We were very fortunate to strike deals for 5 new players, which I have no qualms with knowing they are a bunch of internationals with loads of experience under their belt.

Arteta and Mertesacker are the pick of the bunch and have added something which we lack but still we lack that little bit of creativity, a player who can pick holes in opposition defences and churn out key passes in tight matches like we experienced on Sunday against Spurs.

According to statistics we dominated possession against Spurs but lacked that extra bit of brilliance to kill the game off.

The pace of our passing is slow, the transition from defence to attack looks very laboured, RVP, Gervinho and Theo are often left isolated....... All these should have been corrected had we made that special signing, a signing that mattered the most.

Injuries hasn't helped our course either, Diaby has been out since last season, Jack hasn't played a single game this term, Vermaelen was ruled out for weeks after the Udinese game. These are players that would have beefed up our squad with leadership, drive and skill.

Another big problem is our defending, it hasn't been up to scratch. Individually our defenders can rank amongst the best in the league, its our collective defending that needs a lot of work which is proving very hard to correct.

How do we come out of this mess? That's the question doing the rounds around. Confidence in the camp is rock bottom, injuries to key players makes it a lot tougher to come out from this insane position.

Wenger has a lot on his plate and I've no doubt in my mind that he is capable of changing our luck after all he has been here for 15 years + he has won 3 league titles and kept us in the champions league for years.

I believe in Arsenal and I believe in our manager and the squad, time for them to stand up and be counted instead of wallow on what might have been.

C'mon you Reds!!!

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Comments (30)

• 06-Oct-2011 09:57 | | Ed  - At last
  

  Nice to hear the truth, with a hint of positivity. I to beleive Wenger is the man, but I think Usamov is the man to take us to the next level...............he cares about the club as a fan, gets on with Dein................its the perfect match!!!!

• 06-Oct-2011 09:58 | | Ali
  

  really like the article, so straight to the point and doesn't just critisize/ hate the team like some arsenal funs try more often to do..

• 06-Oct-2011 10:07 | | gooner4life
  

  As manager Wenger is 100% responsible. No ifs and buts.His refusal to buy the expreienced players is the main reason. To add to the problem,his penchant for attacking soccer is another one.His hdl is another of his tactical blunders.
  As noted Alumunia was an accident waiting to happen. If you watch the videos when the gunners lost to Barcelona,Chelsea and MU he was 70 % at fault.
  This season there have been clamours for Wenger to get a defence coach which he has rejected. He wants to be surrounded by Yes men, Bob Wilson a gk mentor fell out with him .It's obvious he is the one accountable for the current malaise affecting the team.
  If things don't improve,he could be in for a torrid time with odds shortening for his demise.

• 06-Oct-2011 10:48 | | Tom
  

  You can't have it both ways.
  
  When Arsenal were winning trophies, Wenger was showered with praise and the board barely got a mention.
  
  Now that things are going wrong, Wenger is airbrushed out and the board are taking all the flack.
  
  The board ARE to blame for our lack of commercial income, the rise in ticket prices and their sanctioning of high wages to underperforming players.
  
  But Wenger is 100% to blame for our lack of organisation, discipline, poor tactics and our awful results since February.
  
  The decision to play open, attacking football with a high defensive line is Wenger's, and Wenger's decision alone.
  
  He persists with this style of play despite not having the players to do so, and we continue to suffer as a result.

• 06-Oct-2011 10:52 | | kerwin  - Wenger
  

  Wenger's stereotype playing style is perfect for counter attacking teams eg MU,Chelsea,etc.The red faced was held 1-1 by Stoke and narrowly beat WBA 2-1.What these teams have shown is a bit of planning can stifle the rfc.
  You don't confront a bully head on. You just tread on his toes. These two teams have devised a defensive shield giving no room and time for the strikers to shoot.
  In the 8-2 massacre,the huge chunks of space plus time and an inexperienced line up was a heaven sent for the rfc.Tactically Wenger has lost it even if the number of seasoned players aint avavilable. Play anti soccer but Wenger is so used to attacking he doesn't countenance this strategy as below his dignity.
  That is why the gunner s will continue to lose even with the addition of top quality players unless he tweaks the system.He has to swaloow his ego if he wants to win

• 06-Oct-2011 11:13 | | FunGunner
  

  You have got some things wrong here and others you are guessing at. Among others, these points:
  
  On profits: the board's aim is to keep the AFC Holdings solvent. The net profit that the club and other businesses make, large or small, is spent on the football. The board do not see a penny of that because it belongs to the companies. The paper profits which the shareholders on the board make are from the increase in value of their shares, which they can only turn into cash by selling the shares. The money they get does not come out of the club's profits, it comes from whoever they sell their shares to. Their shares go up in value the better the company does, but the football benefits as well because the more money the company makes, the more money there is to spend on the football.
  
  "We all knew Cesc was going to leave at some point, while Nasri had a year left in his contract."
  Plan A was to keep both. Given the near-impossibility of replacing them, it surely was better to try to keep them if possible. AW must have thought he had some chance of persuading them to stay.
  
  "Valencia waited for us to table the agreed fee but we weren't forth coming because we were waiting on Barcelona and City to table the right offer for Cesc and Nasri."
  What is your source for this? I understood that when the Mata deal was close to completion, we were gazumped by Chelsea.
  
  "Before the transfer window was slammed shut we made gigantic offers for Hazard, Goetze, M'villa and Martin which were knocked back by their clubs reason being there wasn't sufficient time to purchase replacements."
  This is not correct. The clubs of our targets deemed them "intransferable" this summer, according to the French Arsenal scout Gilles Grimandi. They simply would not sell under any circumstances. We made late bids to avoid another Mata situation.
  
  "I believe in Arsenal and I believe in our manager and the squad, time for them to stand up and be counted instead of wallow on what might have been."
  Time for you to take your own advice.

• 06-Oct-2011 11:19 | | GoonerB  - A shared blame
  

  The poor defensive coaching is Wengers fault. He could call on Steve Bould or bring in Keown to work with the squad on defensive tactics but hasn't. Another similar repetitive oversight in another job would be considered negligence and would likely be the subject of verbal warnings.
  
  Mainly, however, I feel the board and the structure are wrong. I would far rather see Usmanov and Dein come in to work with Wenger than have the same board set up as now but with a different manager. The big problem now is the negative P.R around the club means we are unattractive to top players which is also negligent. Silent Stan is quietely overseeing this when the club is screaming out for the top man to come out and state the ambition of the club to invest in the right players to get back to the very top.
  
  I do however think we only need 3 (possibly 4) top players to be back to the very top. The one I am not sure about now is whether we need another DM like M'Villa. I was impressed with Coquelin and we have Song and Frimpong also. The 3 areas I feel we need are a proper goal scorer another top attacking/creative midfielder and another top defender.
  
  With RVP, Walcott, Gervinho, Arshavin, Chamakh, Chu-Young and possibly Benayoun making up our front 3 we lack regular goals to convert from our possesion and our attacks. We rely on RVP and the others don't look like they have a regular supply of goals in them. How is it we have one regular goal scorer and then the other 6 that will only occasionally contribute. Surely we can sacrifice 2-3 of these players just to get that one other proven goal scorer who will guarantee you 20-25 in the season alongside RVP.
  
  With the creative midfielder I would look at one from Hazard, Goetze, Gorcouff or Eriksson. I think the first 2 we will now not get as with the current club image I can see them go somewhere they see as more attractive. I actually think Eriksson is the one. He is dynamic and plays creative football at a quick pace. He passes well is quick and a great dribbler and has goals in him. The big attractiveness is that where I would say I feel Hazard is purely a more offensive midfielder in the final third and would therefore play in the attacking 3 and not the deeper 3, Eriksson, like Fabregas, looks equally adept and dangerous when influencing the game from deeper and in the last third so could play in either the deeper or higher 3. I would make a massive double swoop for him and Vertonghen and get that proper goal scorer and I think we will have a squad that can again challenge the best.

• 06-Oct-2011 11:20 | | Spectrum
  

  kerwin - Correct. Wenger only knows and WANTS to play one way. ATTACK. Balancing attack with defence is not a consideration for him. And this approach is taken into EVERY game, regardless of whether we play Shrewsbury or Barcelona.1-0 up with twenty minutes left ? Let's go for that second goal. We have to be SEEN to be the better team, after all. Defend deeper, and close them down ? "Park the bus" ? Bring on an extra defensive midfielder ? Unthinkable.Defending is for wimps. We're Arsenal. This is MY team, and I only play beautiful football.Why sacrifice style for substance ?
  
  The sad thing is, when Wenger was still lucid and thinking straight ( ' 98 to 2004 ) he behaved slightly differently. We played a quick and incisive counterattacking strategy that paid off for us. But that was before Wenger's ego, stubborness and obsession with building for an illusory future, got the better of him.
  How the mighty have fallen.
  " ******************"

• 06-Oct-2011 12:37 | | Joe  - Wenger to Blame
  

  i think success over the years for Wenger has made him so arrogant and feeling untouchable..........
  
  He's sold an idea to the board that he can bring success to Arsenal without spending any significant money..........well Mr wenger NEWS FLASH times av changed.
  
  What Wenger has failed to do over the yrs is buying one or two quality players to make the team more compititive and be ruthless in weeding players out not adding value to the team...like Bendtner, Denilson,..etc
  
  Cos of his lack of buying quality the gap btw MU, Chelsea, MC is getting bigger and whats even worse is the likes of Spurs catching or even surpassing us.
  
  We are so over reliant on RVP scoring goals.....there was a time Henry, Pires, Lumberg,Bergkamp were all scoring goals...but now who do we have to provide dis competition...cheap buys like Chamak,park who can't even get into the team....look at our goal diff right now......we used to be 3rd or 4th with a lot of goals....we are so average these days its unbelievable.
  
  Not enough competition 4 places, not enough quality.....people get injured en walk right back without fighting to get into the team.
  
  All this boils down to the Manager's Strategy of relying solely on youth.....which is good dont get me wrong but only keeping the exceptional ones in the first team... not a stock of light weights who eventually get shipped out after wasting so much space.
  
  So who do we blame The Mgr? Board?
  
  Well whatever high horse he's on........his goin to crash right down to earth....cos fellow gunners this is goin to be one long ride.

• 06-Oct-2011 13:10 | | GoonerX  - Who's to blame!
  

  I agree with most of the above posters, yes without any doubt the blame can only be laid at the doorstep of AW. Some of his decisions over he past 5 years or so have been completely baffling. AW's tactical approach is totally non-existent, it appears that we play the same way regardless of the opposition and how many of our players have voiced that there is no study or planning around forthcoming opponents. Most successful organizations learn from their mistakes, we seem to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again
  
  A part of AW philosophy is to work on 'strengths', but what about the weaknesses?

• 06-Oct-2011 13:58 | | pika
  

  has any of you who blasts wenger about the transfers/replacement of cesc have bothered to read this by mean lean? :
  
  Valencia waited for us to table the agreed fee but we weren't forth coming because we were waiting on Barcelona and City to table the right offer for Cesc and Nasri.
  
  
  is that wenger;s fault you cretins ? ..is it wenger who delayed saying yes to valencia or was it the board ?
  
  as for wenger;s tactics ...same tactcis applied by world cup winners and vieiras henrys etc sets new records ..same tactics with children and second rate players will take you a bit lobnger to get where you want.

• 06-Oct-2011 13:59 | | pika
  

  and if youre still wondering why we can only afford children and second rate players then obviously you are all blind and cant see that 450 million jewel of a stadium we built just 6-7 years ago.

• 06-Oct-2011 14:07 | | KOP BOY  - Same Old Story
  

  How will Arsenal get out of 15th place dats the kwesion

• 06-Oct-2011 14:08 | | pika
  

  by collecting points in their games

• 06-Oct-2011 14:34 | | GoonerX
  

  pika - I think you'll find the stadium cost are covered by gate receipts. Also when the stadium move was first mooted I can remember being informed that the move was necessary in order to complete with our then peers. Namely the Manure's and Chelski's of this world.

• 06-Oct-2011 14:52 | | MeanLean
  

  What might have been missed out is the compete once the stadium has been paid off

• 06-Oct-2011 15:35 | | Joe
  

  Pika- Before the start of the season the chairman & cheif Ex openly said there was money for AW to spend way b4 any bid 4 Cess let alone Nasri.
  
  Its the manager's responsiblity to ensure there is adequate replacement either b4 or immediately after the sale. Cess was one our best players or even the best player at arsenal.....he made de highest assist in de league for couple of seasons. Why on earth they d'nt try to replace him immidiately to show fans we want to still compete at the highest level.
  
  AW can also be quoted saying 'there will be transfer activity by the end of july....but as we all knw nothing happened. We were expecting quality additions not just replacements. Teams around euro who won there respective leagues or were within de top 3 or 4 endevoured to add quality players to there teams. e.g Ath madrid sold there best player to man city but bought another top striker from porto with all de proceeds.
  
  If RVP gets a long term injury......who's goin to fill de gap Chamack? Park?
  
  the defence is one area tha shud av been addresssed very early.......but HE d'nt...another last min buy......Pika i really want u to watch Per Mert.......He's very very slow..... another senderos....the league is too fast for him
  
  They (AW, MGT) only woke up when we got trouced by MU
  
  U can never get a quality player or u're first choice towards de end of the window..............How do expect the other club to get cover?
  
  It was irresponsible of the entire mgt.

• 06-Oct-2011 15:57 | | FunGunner
  

  The stadium is still being paid for - that is where the matchday income goes.

• 06-Oct-2011 15:58 | | Freshprince!  - please read this.... its long but its the truth an
  

  The truth is that when a club is in this kinda mess, nobody involved should be exonorated from blames. From the players to the board of directors. The players for not giving their best at all times, I dnt know how long it will take walcott to learn to use his pace as well as s'one like say bale, diaby to be consistent, djourou to know how to defend, arshavin to play with some fucking passion and it seems like Aaron Ramsey gets worse with evry game he plays, the list continues, The physios, ugh dnt just let me go there. The manager has his faults, such as; Please learn how to defend set pieces, why would you have one problem for 3-4yrs, when a player is underperforming send him straight to the bench and don't cost the team points by playin s'one like denilson for over 3yrs or almunia for 4 yrs. And yes we need to be desprate at times let's play long balls if that what it takes to get points put everyone in the back if u want to defend a lead. It almost worked against barca until fabregas and that cunt buccassa cost us the game.
  However, all the major blame goes to the board! S'one talked about how the profit goes to the club abd not the board. Cleary, that person hasn't heard about dividends yet. The board is selfish, Simle as that.
  They drove out Dien bcos he wanted to sell his shares to usmanov, whom I just read I the only person that can make us compete with man city in the transfer market with his £15billion worth. He wanted to help out in the market but they rejected it cos of two things. Firstly, the board fans would love him immediately his investments yield success, 2nd, because they didn't want him to be part of the board of directors because he has more money than kroenke, which would lead to him immediately able to have been able to convince board members such as fizsman and lady nina to sell their shares to him, which by now, arsenal would have been fully owned by one man. Thereby, throwing out all of the selfish bastards starting from PHW.
  Gooners should also understand that the board are so selfish that even when wenger and mr gazidis have arranged deals for certain players ( i.e M'villa, mata) the board refuse to release the money available to finalise this deals. Wenger didn't want benayoun on loan he wanted Kaka/lucho gonzales, he didn't want arteta he wanted hazard and mvilla and he didn't want mertersacker he wanted garry cahill
  But because of the selfishness of our board we find ourselves with a player who has been rejected in two fellow top six clubs (benayoun), a player who has never played international football and a korean who isn't good enuff to play in the prem. The truth is that if we have bought, hazard and maybe mvilla we would be in the top six now, but we find ourselves 15th, 15th 15th. I'm young, I've been supporting arsenal since 2002. And its enough for me to know that with the right players still under wengers guidance arsenal will succeed.
  Finally, if u don't agree with me and think wenger is the cause of our gradual fall from grace to grass for over 6 yrs. Then it still boils down to the board, why haven't they sacked him. If u are my boss and I keep failing not achieving what u expect me to achieve and I keep dissapointin u, wouldn't u sack me? Yes you would unless u know I'll give u big results ( ucl footy) under difficult working conditions.

• 06-Oct-2011 16:06 | | FunGunner
  

  We did half our shopping (five players including Gervinho and AOC) at or near the start of the window - don't forget that. We were forced to wait for some of the other players, just as City and Barca were forced to wait for the players they were trying to buy from us.
  
  There was and is money to spend and we did try to spend it but we were not able to get the super-quality players like Marin or Goetze. We will try again in January or next summer. We tried to guy Jovetic, his club confirmed.
  
  We didn't get all our targets - nobody gets all their targets. You have to realise that everybody else in the transfer market is understandably looking out for their own interests, not ours. Just because you are not happy it doesn't mean anyone has messed up.

• 06-Oct-2011 16:46 | | Joe
  

  Freshprince- well said.
  
  But i still think AW does not believe i spending big. Most of the players u mention may cost above 20m each. I remem him say spending big money is not the solution.
  
  FunGunner- yes we did half of our shopping early but apart of Gervinho the rest were for the future. The Barca's,city where making addi to an already good squad.......We had 2 yrs to plan for Cess's departure....remem they came knock'n the other season and we all knw it was a matter of time so i dnt thk anyone can convince me WHY we failed to get a replacement 4 Cess......prob i can ans dat.......AW wanted to rely on Wilshere.....but it all went wrong!!!!!!!!!!

• 06-Oct-2011 17:26 | | kabir  - sport will never truly be only a business
  

  Arsene is responsible for the Technical side of the business...hence he accountable for the league and cup performance.
  
  The board is responsible for the Financial side of the business...and I'm sure they are feeling happy about where we stand financially.
  
  But the problem is "sport" can never truly be considered in the same vein as a true corporation. It has heart, passion, and emotion that are so much richer. It is imperative that the board start taking more ownership of the footballing performance. Put some heart in!!! Be like those owners who behave like childhood fans, going through thick and thin to ensure we win every game and every trophy.
  
  My plea...dear board members...you've done a brilliant job creating a efficient business model. Now its time you show some old fashion passion. Go into the dressing room more often, speak to the press, start scouting the barca's and madrid's more aggressively. Show a little more accountability for the pitch results, not only the share results. Apart from that...good work so far. Appreciated.
  
  Cheers.

• 06-Oct-2011 20:03 | | MeanLean
  

  I meant that we will be able to compete more in the transfer market (inc wages) once the stadium debt has been fully repaid instead of competing against the higher spenders with the debt hanging over us.

• 07-Oct-2011 06:46 | | indian gooner forever...  - sp*rs fans are insane..........
  

  I pity sp*rs fans like spectrum..........they would go to insane lengths for their hatred against Arsenal which is the case with our lad spectrum here. I pity you mate. So much hatred and negativity is unhealthy.......come on go post something on sp*rs forums will ya..........
  
  And do mention - In Harry we rust.

• 07-Oct-2011 07:00 | | indian gooner forever...  - well written........
  

  Absolutely agree to all your points mate...........so what is going to happen now is that one or two of the players that you just mentioned are still going to be signed in January but the cause will be completely different.....to rescue a stumbling season. This when we should have had them in the bag to have a strong season right from the very begining.
  And yes all the Wenger haters conveniently forget about the fact if Wenger was not interested in bringing in quality - the names of Mata, Hazard, M'villa would never have made the rumor rounds. There is no smoke without fire as they proverbially say......the fact is that the board just in trying to bargain like petty misers have let the chance slip and we find ourselves in this mess'y' situation......And I just don't know when on earth will our luck with our injuries is ever going to change.

• 07-Oct-2011 08:53 | | Anonymous
  

  yes mate i know that ..but who told you that arsenal would compete with them giant immediately once they made the move..dont you understand that they need to go through a period of money making? this period could be anything from ten to 15 years minimum. and youre complaining for a mere 7?
  
  arsenal will compete..just not now ..they cant now ..theyre still repaying the stadium. they are still under restrictions
  
  mean can get it ..why cant you ?

• 07-Oct-2011 09:00 | | pika
  

  well take it this way ..this summer the ownership is responsible for delaying the decissions of the management.
  
  still though even they did make mistakes and lost time ..the first fixtures of epl were very tricky fixtures .. atrip to newcastle ended in a draw ..not completeley unexpected .. then we had three games with three rivals liverpool manchetser and sours and all three we lost which again are three perfectly expectable results against these opponents. the one that shouldnt happen was the blackburn result.
  
  now, considering the club put emphasis on the champions league jackpot games with udinese and sacrifised the early games of epl it shouldnt come as a shock to you. what is more important ? 30 million from udinese games? or lose the 30 million and focus on league where again those three results with manchester liverpool and ttotnhm can go either way? ... in the league we have 7 months to make it up ..in the champions league you only had two games in august to make it. its a non brainer. of course they prioritised.
  
  and to end this silly debate.. even if say the club together with management f*cked it up for a season ...i dont think you can complain when the previous 15 they have been outstanding. one bad season or a few mistakes in judgement are not enough to castigate the manager or request for his removal.
  
  and why are you al lwritting us off already.....maybe you have lost faith...thats cause you dont know your team and its abilities

• 07-Oct-2011 09:03 | | pika
  

  They drove out Dien bcos he wanted to sell his shares to usmanov,
  
  learn your facts mate ..dein was ousted because the board would not accpet kroenke. kroenke was the man dein first introduced to the board not usmanov.
  
  hillwood and the rest disagreed and dein left and sold to usmanov and then the board accepted kroenke in....
  
  if dein had waited a bit he would have got his first wish. he didnt ..he decided to sell for 75 million ( and you all cretins attack the current board for selling out) and thrugh his son he took away henry fabregas and others and has staged war on arsenal through media ever since trying to get back in with the uzbeki.

• 07-Oct-2011 09:10 | | pika
  

  why are you looking for anyon to blame mate ?
  
  have you realised and understood what arsenal is try9ing to achieve with their project? obviously not... or else youwouldnt be looking to point fingers?
  
  what have they done? have they stole your food? have they kicked you out your house? have they done any real damage to you? NOTHING.
  
  all they do is making sure the club stand on its own two feet ....and what do you do? complain about trophies.....like gloryseekers
  
  very few of you have accepted that the period after highbury move would BE A DIFFICULT, HEART BREAKING, NERVE WRECKING affair.
  
  it is the most important and biggest transition in the clubs history a plan that may take anything between 10-15 years to materialise.. so why the hell are you all complaining?
  
  these things were a given fact and wenger always warned us @time and patience@ ..you just refused to listen...then you got manipulated by press and then by rivals taunting and now your heads are screwed and you look around arsenal blaming everyone and demandiong change.
  
  sit the f*ck down wont you .... they know what theyre doing and they knew the difficulties ..wenger is might pi55ed off because theones who are supposed to support him, the fans, have turned against him because of a lack of trophies. a situation whcih was well known when we moved.
  
  whoever expected arsenal to be wining trophies off teams that spend 300 million per year on players was stupid ....

• 09-Oct-2011 08:52 | | luis zelaya
  

  wenger has not been sacked because he can be used as a scapegoat, and as long as he is in the club the blame will fall on his lap instead of the boards. he is also an overachiever with the little resources he spends, or are available to him. But this year it seems the sh*te has hit the fan.
  
  it was pretty clear to me before the season began that we were in much trouble, but this much i didn't. the thing is it could all go from bad to worse if van persie gets injured, because at the moment he is the one player we can rely on to score.
  
  Bendtner is better than chamakh, and more of a goalscorer, that was evident last year, something could have been done.
  
  Gervinho is simply not an intelligent footballer, to say it kindly. i hope he leaves our club very soon.
  
  benayoun will not play much, apart from carling cup and the odd league appearance, so not much to say about him.
  
  both miyaichi and chu young i haven't even seen, so they must not have the manager's trust.
  
  personally i'd fire the physios, we couldn't do any worse even if we had none.
  
  there are some encouraging signs though. not many though. oxlade certainly looks like the real deal to me, just like wilshere and schezny. these are three young men the club could be built around. for oxlade its a bit early to tell, but his quality pours out of him. i do believe this kid is a world beater. better than walcott, and can only improve. strong. still raw, but beastly. i'd like to see him in a couple of years.

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