13 Mar 2014 13:05:42
I am beginning to wonder if Arsene Wenger has done all he can for the Club.

His hesitant nature has not helped us.

Yes he brought Ozil, yes I am aware Ozil came mainly due to wenger. but besides that the tactical nous and the timely substitutions are not effective on the biggest stage.

I would like to see wenger go to barcelona, have the best players at his disposal, even buy mesut from Arsenal and win that trophy he so elusively wants.

for me he will not win that at arsenal, especially with his hesitance to spend.

Win the FA cup, try and win the league and call it a day.

I am aware we should be ware what we ask for especially looking at how Manchester United are without fergie.

But I think appointing the likes of Klopp, Martinez would enable us to change our mentality, our way of thinking.

Wilshere, Ramsey, Ox, Theo, gnabry, zelalem. these are the real treasures and superstars in the making we have. admittedly theo is one trick, but his pace is stellar against european opponents.

Mert and kos are due to be 30 and 29 by the start of next season, with a 2-3 year window before they start to decline. We have no apparent young CB in the pipeline, nor are we scouting one.

Vermalen may leave, Sagna may leave,

im happy with Jenks, monreal and Gibbs, but we still need a starting RB this summer.

Arteta and Flamini are great but again, they do not control the game, they just position themselves greatly to affect our teams play. we need a more dominant CDM

the Draxler to Arsenal is def dead IMHO, bayern are going to buy him.

Kroos and muller and whoever else wants out will go to barcelona, Pogba will join madrid along with one superstar striker.

The Strong European teams are only getting stronger.

I have no idea how much money we have in the bank, but this summer, if we have to pay over the odds, we must.

Cavani, Diego Costa, so on. but we are after alvaro morata, no disrespect to him, but he is not going to win us the league.

For me wenger has to improve a lot of things, including an answer to why our players are forever injured.

its not like barcelona has the strongest physical speicmen players in their team, but yet they play a large majority of their games, in rotation and are always available for the key months in the year.

now look at our squad, I can't even imagine how many key players are not in the lineup.

For me this was wengers last chance saloon.

i do not want to make excuses for my team and he should not be making excuses as a manager.

he should have paid 53 million for cavani, he should have raised the suarez bid, he should have added more depth.

leaving everything to luck is bad planning.

im unaware of the summer plans, but if he leaves it till the last day, once again its not a coop, its just luck.

its not all doom and gloom i'm aware, we are not struggling to make 4th, but the team has been exhausted with his selections.

sanogo barely came back and injured, ozil injured, ramsey, wilshere, and we have spurs then chelsea and so on.

Being a realist I know our title dreams are over, getting 3rd would be a blessing.

but the blame lies with the manager, he has taken this risk, he has made the choices and he should live with the consequence. the money was there.

Im grateful to all wenger has done, but I feel he just cannot take us further, It would be better if he took the best job on offer, with a star studded team, and he took on his obsession to win the champions league.

but for Arsenal, and his money miser ways, he will not take us to the pinnacle in that manner.

can we win the EPL over the next few years, YES

we can win the FA cup this year. i'm Ecstatic. but in the long term view and the dream we will all have in the coming years, wenger will not be able to deliver to us the European crown.

I hope you understand my perspective, its not a slight against the team, its just the way they are managed and rotated, and the effects it has on our european season year after year.

Cheers.

1.) 13 Mar 2014
Lakerville, I agree completely bud. I wrote a post a while ago that said pretty much the same thing. for the past 2 or 3 years there has been a huge opportunity to take us on to the next level but he has not done it. We are realistically going to finish 3rd or 4th this season again! its not good enough considering the potential we have in the team and the spare money we have in the bank. understandable if we were broke, but we are far from it.

i think we will win the FA Cup and finish 3rd. However I think we will sign a middle of the road striker and a young defender in the summer. We will go in for top players e.g Diego Costa, Griezman etc but they will move elsewhere because other clubs front a more generous financial package to buy them.

it baffles me because surely with the finances available being the best team possible should come before making more profit?

each season I start it with such a level of excitement and confidence in the team as it progresses it gradually fades into disappointment and acceptance that we will finish 4th, the same thing happens year on year.

I don't believe all the stuff about Wenger having sole control of player activity, obviously he has a big say. If the board wanted him to spend the money he would have to. at the end of the day it is their decision not his. They have the power to sack him so why would he go against their wishes?

In my opinion people should focus anger on the owners not him although his player management does seem slightly odd at the moment.

2.) 13 Mar 2014
I agree with this apart from wenger leaving just to win the champions league, I think his story will end as one of the greatest footballing minds never to win it, it's a great shame.

It's terribly annoying how our players pull a muscle and are out for 6-10 weeks and if this changes we can of course win the premier league.

I hope I regret these words but it could be last chance saloon for wenger as you say mate, I'm hoping wengerism comes and shows some of his famous (if not infamous) upbeat attitude.

As you say, there are a lot of positives, given our situation now, I would have snapped your hands off if I was offered it before the window, an FA semi and still in the title race (mathematically.)

But once again it feels like it's about to all fall apart and it never seems fair on us.

I thank wenger for all he has done. But if we don't add in the summer I'll be very doubtful over the ability of wenger to win us titles. Especially the one he craves the most and we may never see that massive beaming smile again.

A new manager with new ideas would be a massive welcome. Something that happened famously in 1996, and perhaps in 2040, when we have a new legend, even comparing him to the great Arsene Wenger, we could have our hands on the champions league.

3.) 13 Mar 2014
Great post Laker! One of the most realistically thought out posts iv seen on here in recent months. Certainly no rose tinted glasses.

4.) 13 Mar 2014
It might be noting to do with AW, do you really think and other manager could have done as much, it is more to do with the American who holds the purse strings .

5.) 13 Mar 2014
Best post ever. Respect Laker.

6.) 13 Mar 2014
Banbury I Agree, it may not be all there for him to spend, we don't know.

but if I was him, and I have now seen, wilshere, ramsey, ox, gnabry, can perform, add zelalem to the mix, try and bring Khedira or gundogan to give us some midfield depth.

and if money is needed, I would sell ozil to barcelona in a swap for Alexis Sanchez and money.

would that make barca stronger? yes ofcourse it would.

but having a frontline of Theo, Alexis (he is a strong player) on the wings would enable us to bring a better clinical striker.

look we need something drastic to happen this summer, if he is not going to buy a striker because he can't spend, sell the 42, 5 million player to buy the striker, because that's what we needed all along.

no slight at ozil he is world class, but i'd rather get some money on him and let him flourish in a league where he can use his technical ability, rather than being pushed around in the EPL, which he cannot handle physically.

We called it from the start, we needed a striker, and the clinical moments we needed a goal have passed us by.