Wenger Takes A Hammering

[Rebellious]

Wenger has had some big injury problems this year aswell. Van Persie out alot and Eduardo would have come in handy against Liverpool. Also Eboue has lost it for some reason. Gilberto has been out as well as others.  Would Liverpool done as well with out an in form Torres and Kuyt ?

 

You're comparing Arsenal's 2nd and 3rd choice strikers with Liverpool's 1st and 2nd choice, so its not exactly a fair comparison. Kuyt and Crouch would be closer to the truth...

 

So your counting Emmanuel Adebayor as their best forward, maybe this season as he has been in form, but I would rate Persie and Eduardo as better if they were injury free. 

[Pilko]

I rang Arsene last night and asked him what he thought about this article.

He said he couldn't possibly comment, because he didn't see it.

 

I was going to make an additional gag about you possibly being Alan Oliver, then I realised he'd be calling you.

 

[The College Dropout]

That's the most biased article I've read.

 

 

FYP.

 

Wenger has made mistakes but that article is ridiculous. IN a way i think Arsene is holding them back by not spending the cash but the article was tosh.

 

Writer seemed like a L'Pool and didn't even know Rafa managed valencia not Seville.

[Wullie]

It's from Brian Reade in the Mirror btw.

[Rebellious]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

[Guest kingdawson]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

[Guest Stephen927]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

 

To be fair, Eduardo was on fire leading up to the Birmingham game. He has been a huge loss to them this season.

[Parky]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

 

To be fair, Eduardo was on fire leading up to the Birmingham game. He has been a huge loss to them this season.

 

Eddy would have figured yes.

[Beren]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

 

Might not have tired after 30 minutes with more squad players too &c.

[TRon]

I think Rafa's a bit of a con merchant to be honest. He has created a fairly defensive teams which is great in cup competitions but in the league you don't beat the poor teams regularly enough with that approach, which is why they fall away.

[Parky]

I think Rafa's a bit of a con merchant to be honest. He has created a fairly defensive teams which is great in cup competitions but in the league you don't beat the poor teams regularly enough with that approach, which is why they fall away.

 

Exactamundo. 

[Guest Knightrider]

For my money Arsene Wenger is the best all-round manager in the game in terms of developing players and building a club up around them and his philosophies, and he's also one of the most successful. His time will come where Europe is concerned and they will once again win the title some time soon, before Liverpool will anyway. Providing he sticks it out that is.

 

However, he and Arsenal have been let off quite lightly over the years given the constant unsportsmanlike behaviour of their players, the man himself and Arsenal as a club, and for a club like Arsenal, the lack of silverware, 4 years now is it?

 

Liverpool and Benitez get far more stick and even in their triumph many in the press were bemoaning Arsenal's loss rather than celebrating Liverpool's win. Rafa has been there 4 years now and won as many trophies in that time, he's taken Liverpool to 3 CL semi-finals. He's been nothing but brilliant for Liverpool and is rightly one of the best. He too will one day win the league for them, providing he gets more money on a scale to what Man Utd and Chelsea spend and the time of course, could be a few years but he'll crack it.

 

To put this and other 'critical' pieces into context though, I'd like to look at the press we get. Newcastle lose a mythical 12 point lead at the top (Man Utd had games in hand) and we go down in history as bottlers, Keegan as a tactical clown and so on and so on. Arsenal have blown bigger leads and choked more times, from very advantageous positions being that they are a big club that have historically been winning things every decade. Newcastle on the otherhand came from the trapdoors of 3rd division football to the summit of the top-flight in 4 years, having been a yo-yo club for decades before. Brought about by a rookie manager in his first job no less.

 

Aye the article is tosh, but lets put it all into perspective.

 

We lose a few games and the press paint a picture of crisis at SJP. Arsenal go 4 years without a trophy, choking leads at the top of the table, losing big games, or even bottling occasions, and they get nothing but sympathy in the main.

 

Imagine if that was us? Or even Liverpool. Rafa gets worse and he's won the CL and other trophies in the years Arsenal have won nowt.

 

Wenger and Arsenal live in a bed of roses comparatively, as do most Southern teams, and I include Man Utd in that as a good number of their symapthisers are Southern.

 

[Guest Franks Wild Years]

I think Rafa's a bit of a con merchant to be honest. He has created a fairly defensive teams which is great in cup competitions but in the league you don't beat the poor teams regularly enough with that approach, which is why they fall away.

 

Exactamundo. 

 

Such a con merchant that Valencia have regularly emulated the two Spanish titles they won under his leadership since he left....

[Taylor Swift]

I do think Arsenal now have to spend some big money in the summer. They've just got to because even though their first team fits quite well, the lack of depth in the squad (ever since Eduardo's injury) has been evidenced for all to see. They've still got an excellent and young squad but when van Persie went down, they suffered a bit, Rosicky's been injured all season, then Eduardo went down and they've really suffered from that.

 

Edit - tiredness has also been a factor recently.

[wacko]

"[benitez] is one of the modern game's great coaches, whose only failing in top-flight management has been an inability thus far to deliver the Premier League title to Anfield."

 

That's a pretty big failing all things considered.

 

Not really, the competition has been quite intense these last couple of seasons and only one of the so called big 4 can win it. It´s not so much his inability to win the Premiership in my opinion, it´s the fact he hasn´t even got close. As a matter of fact, they are turning into a perrenial 4th place place team, slipping away from the big 3 and getting caught up by the likes of Everton. Have to admit he is an excellent cup manager however, going by results of course..

 

I was taking issue with the fact that his main target, the Premiership title, is consistently out of his reach, yet it's almost an afterthought the way it's mentioned as a failing.  "One of the game's great coaches" should surely have won it by now with the resources available or at the very least he should be getting somewhere close to winning it whilst showing real signs of progression each year.  As you say, he isn't anywhere close though.  That's a pretty big failing.

He's playing catchup against rivals with many years' head start or a squad worth twice as much.

 

We've made massive progress under him. The squad is very solid, our reserves just won the Reserves North league, our youth side won the previous two FA Youth Cups (and they were all in a very bad shape when he arrived), so Rafa has built the foundations. We need a couple more baubles like Torres, a couple more match-winners, to mount a serious challenge. Of course, we've been needing them for quite a while, now.

 

Frankly, anyone who's not happy with two CL final appearances in including one win, plus an FA Cup and a couple of other odds and sods in three seasons, given where Rafa started, needs their head looking at.

[wacko]

I think Rafa's a bit of a con merchant to be honest. He has created a fairly defensive teams which is great in cup competitions but in the league you don't beat the poor teams regularly enough with that approach, which is why they fall away.

TBH, I think he's always over-complicated matters in the league. He always sets out to tactically neutralise the opposition, regardless of how shite they are. This season he finally admitted that tactics don't work in the Prem against teams who just want to battle and hoof it, so hopefully he'll make a signing or two with that in mind in the summer and set out his stall accordingly next season.

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

Wenger's first eleven are all knackered.

 

Thing is, Arsenal have 35 players in their squad. Thirty-five! How can none of them  be good enough?

[Lotus]

"[benitez] is one of the modern game's great coaches, whose only failing in top-flight management has been an inability thus far to deliver the Premier League title to Anfield."

 

That's a pretty big failing all things considered.

 

Not really, the competition has been quite intense these last couple of seasons and only one of the so called big 4 can win it. It´s not so much his inability to win the Premiership in my opinion, it´s the fact he hasn´t even got close. As a matter of fact, they are turning into a perrenial 4th place place team, slipping away from the big 3 and getting caught up by the likes of Everton. Have to admit he is an excellent cup manager however, going by results of course..

 

I was taking issue with the fact that his main target, the Premiership title, is consistently out of his reach, yet it's almost an afterthought the way it's mentioned as a failing.  "One of the game's great coaches" should surely have won it by now with the resources available or at the very least he should be getting somewhere close to winning it whilst showing real signs of progression each year.  As you say, he isn't anywhere close though.  That's a pretty big failing.

He's playing catchup against rivals with many years' head start or a squad worth twice as much.

 

We've made massive progress under him. The squad is very solid, our reserves just won the Reserves North league, our youth side won the previous two FA Youth Cups (and they were all in a very bad shape when he arrived), so Rafa has built the foundations. We need a couple more baubles like Torres, a couple more match-winners, to mount a serious challenge. Of course, we've been needing them for quite a while, now.

 

Frankly, anyone who's not happy with two CL final appearances in including one win, plus an FA Cup and a couple of other odds and sods in three seasons, given where Rafa started, needs their head looking at.

 

 

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=48415.msg1208074#msg1208074

 

Looks like you've out spent everyone except Chelsea so i'm not sure who these other teams (apart from Chelsea) whose squads are worth twice yours. Sounds like bollox tbh.

Rafa's done very very well in Yurope, yet to look remotely like title challengers though.

[Shak]

Benitez pisses me off but I think Liverpool would be daft to get rid of him.

 

Whatever you say about Liverpool, they have a way of getting things done in the big games, something any great team needs. In terms of winning the league... he's been there what? 4 years? And he's up against two of the best managers of the modern era in Wenger and Ferguson, who've been at thier clubs for well over a decade and had a massive headstart on Rafa when he took over. That and Chelsea, who have spent more in the last few years than any club in history over such a short period of time.

 

Is it really such a crime to not be competing for the league yet?

 

But the important thing is that the team is getting better and, crucially, younger as well. So you can only see them getting better in the future with young, quality players like Mascherano, Torres and Gerrard forming the spine of the team. Babel looks like he'll be a real force in a couple of years as well.

 

Even next year may be too soon for them, but that Liverpool team is getting deeper and deeper in terms of quality in every year that goes by under Rafa. Thy'd be mad to get rid, even if the football he does play is shit.

[Lotus]

I think Rafa's a bit of a con merchant to be honest. He has created a fairly defensive teams which is great in cup competitions but in the league you don't beat the poor teams regularly enough with that approach, which is why they fall away.

TBH, I think he's always over-complicated matters in the league. He always sets out to tactically neutralise the opposition, regardless of how s**** they are. This season he finally admitted that tactics don't work in the Prem against teams who just want to battle and hoof it, so hopefully he'll make a signing or two with that in mind in the summer and set out his stall accordingly next season.

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

Wenger's first eleven are all knackered.

 

Thing is, Arsenal have 35 players in their squad. Thirty-five! How can none of them  be good enough?

Why are none of your players good enough in the prem?

[Liam Liam Liam O]

I was looking up stats for the Arsenal forwards and it seems Fergie feels Arsenals problems are due to injuries as I do.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3413764,00.html

 

 

So you HONESTLY believe they lost the champions league game and the premiership because of injuries and nothing else?

 

Ok lets take a look at it,

 

Diaby = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Denilson = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Eduardo = Wouldnt have been in the first 11

Rosicky = First 11

Van Persie = First 11

 

So they lost an Attacking midfielder/lm and a 2nd choice striker from their usual starting 11.  Near enough every other premiership team can complain about the exact same thing tbh

 

Spoken like a true neutral

[Robster]

Barring a moment of madness from Toure (or bad decision from ref - take your pick) on Wednesday night, this thread wouldnt even exist.

I dont think anyone would have had any argument had Arsenal gone through against Liverpool so to criticise him is just madness.

[NE5]

Well, Arsenal are out of the title race. 3 years without a trophy. Terrible. He's still one of the best managers in the world for me anyway

 

 

[Dokko]

Time to start spending some big money.

 

Its there, they can compete for any player if they wanted too, he just refuses to spend big.

 

They need a world class ready made striker, and for me a replacement for Ashley Cole.

 

Glichy seems to get caught out quite a lot.

[Dave]

Time to start spending some big money.

 

Its there, they can compete for any player if they wanted too, he just refuses to spend big.

 

They need a world class ready made striker, and for me a replacement for Ashley Cole.

 

Glichy seems to get caught out quite a lot.

 

 

Clichy is the last of their worries IMO, very good player.

[Syrette]

They need some shall we say less 'fragile' players.