Should Wenger be sacked?

Should Arsenal sack Wenger


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Arsenal players doing the Ranieri defense. Nevermind the players looking at the ball, wth is Bellerin doing? Top defensive organization

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wasnt steve bould supposed to sort this?
 
As Lord Cruijff used to say, you have to look at the profile of tthe manager, the objectives of the club which comes from above and whether the results are being achieved. The board want stability, don't want to overspend and want to achieve top 4/European Football which Arsene has done every single year. He is the perfect accounts manager.

For the fans, it is a different story. To win you need a talent advantage or a tactical advantage, preferrably both. The talent gap between the teams in the top 4 within the premiership is not very large so the major problem for them is the tactical edge. Arsene Wenger even after all this time, does not have an attacking or defensive structure. The players have a very loose structure and seem to have free roles and that is why their football can look very organic and pleasing on the eye, but it means that they are very disorganised when they lose the ball and are very easy to counter attack. The very top coaches like Conte and Pep have very clear ideas. Also their continued weakness in set pieces has still not been addressed, which shines more light towards the way of one Arsene Wenger.

Now if you sack Arsene Wenger, as a growing number of fans want, you bring in another manager, the club is from top to bottom set up around Arsene Wengers modus operandi, which is a big problem as we saw what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson retired. There is no director of football to discuss transfers, there is noone to counter balance to him which is very important. Chelsea have fired several managers but have at their core remained successful because they have that seperation, Manchester City has this to some extent. This will have to be fixed going forward which means the club could go through a darker transition period that could be harsher than Manchester Uniteds. I think ultimately, the power and control that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United contributed to the difficult transition period as in his last few years, he signed short term targets rather than looking out for the long term interest for the club.

Another thing is Arsenal itself. If they get a new manager, will the players there be able to adapt to him? Will he be able to adapt to the existing players? Will he be able to identify the correct targets and then acquire them? The Premier League has so much money and it brazenly taunts the footballing world. Their new TV deal had continental sporting directors' mouths watering. Sporting directors from several countries have said they double the price or sometimes triple the price of a player when a premier league team is involved because they know they can get away with it. This means that getting the right targets will be difficult just from the price alone and then you have the fact that Chelsea, Manchester CIty and Manchester United can outspend Arsenal and hare more favourable destinations than Arsenal so they might not even be able to acquire the right players even if they are identified. People think to linearly of football management.

I think the situation is far more complicated than people want to admit, Chelsea and City are the only teams that currenlty have the structure that is akin to the continental super clubs such as Bayern Munchen, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which the top EPL clubs want to compete with. Manchester United are going through that transition period but have the finances to cover for it. Arsenal as a footballing instituton has a lot to ponder over the next coming years.
 
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He's gone, I'm not really sure how anyone can look at that post match interview and think otherwise.

Let him have the dignity of leaving at the end of the season, his own choice. That would salvage something from the mess.

As an aside, I'd ditch at least 8 of those players on the pitch today, stealing a living every one of them. Not even trying to look like they give a shite. Wenger's time is definitely up, but he is just the tip of the iceberg for the problems that club has.
 
I reckon he'll go. I just can't imagine him staying after all this unrest unless, unbeknownst to all, he's already signed his contract.

A word also on the players. I know the manager is ultimately responsible etc etc, but I'm irritated at how powerful players are nowadays. Regardless of what's going on with the manager, why can't they do their jobs?! They only need to put in sub-par performances, the board then sacks the manager, and on they go.

Aye. Bending to player power sets a trend. Even at Ferguson's lowest points at United, it was clear that players who crossed his path would be sent packing. More of that would be refreshing.
 
It would be even more selfishness by him to wait till the end of the season to announce he's leaving. Do it Monday morning would be the most logical choice.

Hope he stays personally, but finding it harder and harder to see that happening sadly.
 
I think Wenger needs to go. Not because of the fans (it's idiotic to base any substantial decision on the emotions of fickle fans), but I think it'll highlight the real problem here, which is the board's lack of investment.
He did spend £90m last summer and has a huge wage bill. Xhaka and Mustafi don't seem that good though and Perez doesn't get many chances
 
Will people stop saying "he's gone" like it's fact.

None of us know. It also depresses me thinking of Arsenal without Wenger - they might actually be good again.
 
It would be even more selfishness by him to wait till the end of the season to announce he's leaving. Do it Monday morning would be the most logical choice.

Hope he stays personally, but finding it harder and harder to see that happening sadly.
Old school managers do it like old school, because he will think he might loose control until the end of the season because they are still I. The cup and top 4 race.
 
He did spend £90m last summer and has a huge wage bill. Xhaka and Mustafi don't seem that good though and Perez doesn't get many chances

In comparison we spent how much on Pogba, Henrick, Zlatan... And fans still think we need more investment.

He could spend better, but every manager can. I maintain that for the money they spend, their position sounds about right. The problem isnt their position, it's the stagnation, according to the fans.
 
As Lord Cruijff used to say, you have to look at the profile of tthe manager, the objectives of the club which comes from above and whether the results are being achieved. The board want stability, don't want to overspend and want to achieve top 4/European Football which Arsene has done every single year. He is the perfect accounts manager.

For the fans, it is a different story. To win you need a talent advantage or a tactical advantage, preferrably both. The talent gap between the teams in the top 4 within the premiership is not very large so the major problem for them is the tactical edge. Arsene Wenger even after all this time, does not have an attacking or defensive structure. The players have a very loose structure and seem to have free roles and that is why their football can look very organic and pleasing on the eye, but it means that they are very disorganised when they lose the ball and are very easy to counter attack. The very top coaches like Conte and Pep have very clear ideas. Also their continued weakness in set pieces has still not been addressed, which shines more light towards the way of one Arsene Wenger.

Now if you sack Arsene Wenger, as a growing number of fans want, you bring in another manager, the club is from top to bottom set up around Arsene Wengers modus operandi, which is a big problem as we saw what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson retired. There is no director of football to discuss transfers, there is noone to counter balance to him which is very important. Chelsea have fired several managers but have at their core remained successful because they have that seperation, Manchester City has this to some extent. This will have to be fixed going forward which means the club could go through a darker transition period that could be harsher than Manchester Uniteds. I think ultimately, the power and control that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United contributed to the difficult transition period as in his last few years, he signed short term targets rather than looking out for the long term interest for the club.

Another thing is Arsenal itself. If they get a new manager, will the players there be able to adapt to him? Will he be able to adapt to the existing players? Will he be able to identify the correct targets and then acquire them? The Premier League has so much money and it brazenly taunts the footballing world. Their new TV deal had continental sporting directors' mouths watering. Sporting directors from several countries have said they double the price or sometimes triple the price of a player when a premier league team is involved because they know they can get away with it. This means that getting the right targets will be difficult just from the price alone and then you have the fact that Chelsea, Manchester CIty and Manchester United can outspend Arsenal and hare more favourable destinations than Arsenal so they might not even be able to acquire the right players even if they are identified. People think to linearly of football management.

I think the situation is far more complicated than people want to admit, Chelsea and City are the only teams that currenlty have the structure that is akin to the continental super clubs such as Bayern Munchen, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which the top EPL clubs want to compete with. Manchester United are going through that transition period but have the finances to cover for it. Arsenal as a footballing instituton has a lot to ponder over the next coming years.

I would like to reply to this post as a nod to the effort put into the post. Not fair if no one replies to this wall of text.
 
He did spend £90m last summer and has a huge wage bill. Xhaka and Mustafi don't seem that good though and Perez doesn't get many chances
They had fabregas van persie nasri sagna one point of time.
 
In comparison we spent how much on Pogba, Henrick, Zlatan... And fans still think we need more investment.

He could spend better, but every manager can. I maintain that for the money they spend, their position sounds about right. The problem isnt their position, it's the stagnation, according to the fans.
We are far richer than Arsenal though, you can't expect Arsenals board to match United's spending last summer
Revenue for United - £515m Arsenal - £351m
 
Aye. Bending to player power sets a trend. Even at Ferguson's lowest points at United, it was clear that players who crossed his path would be sent packing. More of that would be refreshing.
I think us fans are partly responsible. Whenever there's a problem the manager must go - that's correct in some situations - but it unfortunately gives the players too much power, who feel they can do as they please as the manager will always pay the ultimate price - not them. Maybe the players need to have the fans give them a hard time.

It's a big turn off.
 
As Lord Cruijff used to say, you have to look at the profile of tthe manager, the objectives of the club which comes from above and whether the results are being achieved. The board want stability, don't want to overspend and want to achieve top 4/European Football which Arsene has done every single year. He is the perfect accounts manager.

For the fans, it is a different story. To win you need a talent advantage or a tactical advantage, preferrably both. The talent gap between the teams in the top 4 within the premiership is not very large so the major problem for them is the tactical edge. Arsene Wenger even after all this time, does not have an attacking or defensive structure. The players have a very loose structure and seem to have free roles and that is why their football can look very organic and pleasing on the eye, but it means that they are very disorganised when they lose the ball and are very easy to counter attack. The very top coaches like Conte and Pep have very clear ideas. Also their continued weakness in set pieces has still not been addressed, which shines more light towards the way of one Arsene Wenger.

Now if you sack Arsene Wenger, as a growing number of fans want, you bring in another manager, the club is from top to bottom set up around Arsene Wengers modus operandi, which is a big problem as we saw what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson retired. There is no director of football to discuss transfers, there is noone to counter balance to him which is very important. Chelsea have fired several managers but have at their core remained successful because they have that seperation, Manchester City has this to some extent. This will have to be fixed going forward which means the club could go through a darker transition period that could be harsher than Manchester Uniteds. I think ultimately, the power and control that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United contributed to the difficult transition period as in his last few years, he signed short term targets rather than looking out for the long term interest for the club.

Another thing is Arsenal itself. If they get a new manager, will the players there be able to adapt to him? Will he be able to adapt to the existing players? Will he be able to identify the correct targets and then acquire them? The Premier League has so much money and it brazenly taunts the footballing world. Their new TV deal had continental sporting directors' mouths watering. Sporting directors from several countries have said they double the price or sometimes triple the price of a player when a premier league team is involved because they know they can get away with it. This means that getting the right targets will be difficult just from the price alone and then you have the fact that Chelsea, Manchester CIty and Manchester United can outspend Arsenal and hare more favourable destinations than Arsenal so they might not even be able to acquire the right players even if they are identified. People think to linearly of football management.

I think the situation is far more complicated than people want to admit, Chelsea and City are the only teams that currenlty have the structure that is akin to the continental super clubs such as Bayern Munchen, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which the top EPL clubs want to compete with. Manchester United are going through that transition period but have the finances to cover for it. Arsenal as a footballing instituton has a lot to ponder over the next coming years.

Good post.
One exception is your assessment of Fergie; He left a solid squad. Moyes was the main issue as he changed too many things needlessly and was himself hopelessly out of his depth.

I am not a fan necessarily of the continental model as it doesn't allow the manager to be a manager per se. It reducers the manager to Head Coach status which I think makes it easier for boards to hide behind systemic failures. Maybe this is the future so fair enough.

Wenger in footballing terms has to leave; How do you motivate players after you are showing them year in year out that as a manager they cannot trust you to help the team compete for the big trophies.
No-one is saying Wenger should be sacked because he hasn't won this or that necessarily; It's the glaring lack of ability to compete at the top level that is galling for such a big club with a regular top 4 finish. Wenger knows this, the board know this but they don't care as they cash their fat cheques.
If we were capital investors and we had a team with minimal outlay bringing in massive returns, why would we remove Wenger until it started to affect our income?
 
I missed most of the match; why are people saying that Arsene has lost the players? Just because of a poor performance or did something else occur?
 
As Lord Cruijff used to say, you have to look at the profile of tthe manager, the objectives of the club which comes from above and whether the results are being achieved. The board want stability, don't want to overspend and want to achieve top 4/European Football which Arsene has done every single year. He is the perfect accounts manager.

For the fans, it is a different story. To win you need a talent advantage or a tactical advantage, preferrably both. The talent gap between the teams in the top 4 within the premiership is not very large so the major problem for them is the tactical edge. Arsene Wenger even after all this time, does not have an attacking or defensive structure. The players have a very loose structure and seem to have free roles and that is why their football can look very organic and pleasing on the eye, but it means that they are very disorganised when they lose the ball and are very easy to counter attack. The very top coaches like Conte and Pep have very clear ideas. Also their continued weakness in set pieces has still not been addressed, which shines more light towards the way of one Arsene Wenger.

Now if you sack Arsene Wenger, as a growing number of fans want, you bring in another manager, the club is from top to bottom set up around Arsene Wengers modus operandi, which is a big problem as we saw what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson retired. There is no director of football to discuss transfers, there is noone to counter balance to him which is very important. Chelsea have fired several managers but have at their core remained successful because they have that seperation, Manchester City has this to some extent. This will have to be fixed going forward which means the club could go through a darker transition period that could be harsher than Manchester Uniteds. I think ultimately, the power and control that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United contributed to the difficult transition period as in his last few years, he signed short term targets rather than looking out for the long term interest for the club.

Another thing is Arsenal itself. If they get a new manager, will the players there be able to adapt to him? Will he be able to adapt to the existing players? Will he be able to identify the correct targets and then acquire them? The Premier League has so much money and it brazenly taunts the footballing world. Their new TV deal had continental sporting directors' mouths watering. Sporting directors from several countries have said they double the price or sometimes triple the price of a player when a premier league team is involved because they know they can get away with it. This means that getting the right targets will be difficult just from the price alone and then you have the fact that Chelsea, Manchester CIty and Manchester United can outspend Arsenal and hare more favourable destinations than Arsenal so they might not even be able to acquire the right players even if they are identified. People think to linearly of football management.

I think the situation is far more complicated than people want to admit, Chelsea and City are the only teams that currenlty have the structure that is akin to the continental super clubs such as Bayern Munchen, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which the top EPL clubs want to compete with. Manchester United are going through that transition period but have the finances to cover for it. Arsenal as a footballing instituton has a lot to ponder over the next coming years.
Last post for the day as I'm a newbie. I wanted to say if I knew how to like/could like then I'd give u one. Excellent post and I agree with whats been said. I think however that most Arsenal fans accept that it'll be unpredictable when Wenger leaves and we may see some bad times before things get better. Great post though nonetheless.
 
I'm no Wenger apologist but watching the likes of Soccer Saturday and MOTD, you'd think Arsenal were fighting relegation - words thrown around like "disgrace" and "shambolic". Even if you take away Wenger's historic achievements, they continually finish in the top 4, make the CL knockout stages every year and have recently won the FA Cup twice, all of this whilst spending far less than the likes of Chelsea, City and us.

As for the 'misery' of being an Arsenal fan, they are potentially 2 points from 4th, ahead of us and only 2 wins away from second place - they've played entertaining football over the years and fans are generally able to see some world class players on a weekly basis, albeit at high cost. I get that fans want to win the league every year and in honesty, Arsenal haven't really gone gone close in recent years but only 6 teams have ever won the PL in 25 years (and football didn't exist before then) - if you discount the Leicester anomaly then the top teams across Europe spend huge sums of money - it's not very romantic and a sad indication of modern corporate football but Wenger is a board's dream - somebody who generates big revenue whilst spending less than the competition.

Ultimately I think Arsenal fans have had it pretty fecking good under Wenger. If the board are willing to give a new manager £150m a season for the next 3 years, then fair enough, maybe a fresh approach could be good and Wenger should probably step down but if not, it's a huge risk, which could backfire massively.
 
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Now if you sack Arsene Wenger, as a growing number of fans want, you bring in another manager, the club is from top to bottom set up around Arsene Wengers modus operandi, which is a big problem as we saw what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson retired. There is no director of football to discuss transfers, there is noone to counter balance to him which is very important. Chelsea have fired several managers but have at their core remained successful because they have that seperation, Manchester City has this to some extent. This will have to be fixed going forward which means the club could go through a darker transition period that could be harsher than Manchester Uniteds. I think ultimately, the power and control that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United contributed to the difficult transition period as in his last few years, he signed short term targets rather than looking out for the long term interest for the club.

There is no way around this though so may as well start now before the slow rot continues and makes the job harder. Basically, since 2009 when Kroenke took over the board and Dein left, Wenger has accumulated so much power on the footballing side that he even hired his own boss, Gazidis. There is literally no way out except to deal with the transition. At this point things have grown stagnant and stale and the slow rot is settling in so its only going to get worse. Every year Wenger remains, the inevitable transition will only become more difficult. There are some things a new manager could change or start to change though that would have a big help:
A) Completely modernizing outdated socialist wage structure that Wenger has championed for decades
B) Audit and Review the medical and training staff that have literally kept Arsenal as 1st or 2nd most injured team in the last 15 years
C) Stop handing out charity contracts to players well past it (Diaby, Arteta last years, Per and Santi this year)
D) Stop molly coddling favorite players that have not improved in 5 years. More ruthless management is needed to not let the squad get complacent and lazy.
 
Thanks, mate.
 
I'm no Wenger apologist but watching the likes of Soccer Saturday and MOTD, you'd think Arsenal were fighting relegation - words thrown around like "disgrace" and "shambolic". Even if you take away Wenger's historic achievements, they continually finish in the top 4, make the CL knockout stages every year and have recently won the FA Cup twice, all of this whilst spending far less than the likes of Chelsea, City and us.

As for the 'misery' of being an Arsenal fan, they are potentially 2 points from 4th, ahead of us and only 2 wins away from second place - they've played entertaining football over the years and fans are generally able to see some world class players on a weekly basis, albeit at high cost. I get that fans want to win the league every year and in honesty, Arsenal haven't really gone gone close in recent years but only 6 teams have ever won the PL in 25 years (and football didn't exist before then) - if you discount the Leicester anomaly then the top teams across Europe spend huge sums of money - it's not very romantic and a sad indication of modern coproerate football but Wenger is a board's dream - somebody who generates big revenue whilst spending less than the competition.

Ultimately I think Arsenal fans have had it pretty fecking good under Wenger. If the board are willing to give a new manager £150m a season for the next 3 years, then fair enough, maybe a fresh approach could be good and Wenger should probably step down but if not, it's a huge risk, which could backfire massively.
I agree

They're acting like he's done a pathetic job when he hasn't done nearly as badly as people suggest. They finished 2nd last season and are only a few points off it this season. And they've finished above Man United 3 seasons in a row

I can understand letting him go to attempt to fight for the title again, but they've gone overboard. Imagine if they'd had Moyes!
 
His comments suggest he as decided to leave.

I've been noticing for ages that you never type the letter 'h' when you want to say 'has'. It usually comes out as 'as'. You always have perfect English for the rest though, and there is clearly no problem with the 'h' slot on your keyboard. I'm fascinated by this. Why does that happen?
 
Amy Lawrence who's quite close to Wenger think he will stay. The rumour doing the rounds is that it will be announced after the season and the delay is due to season tickets renewals. Sounds far fetched but I wouldn't put it past that money obsessed club.
 
Amy Lawrence who's quite close to Wenger think he will stay. The rumour doing the rounds is that it will be announced after the season and the delay is due to season tickets renewals. Sounds far fetched but I wouldn't put it past that money obsessed club.
:drool:
 
I'm no Wenger apologist but watching the likes of Soccer Saturday and MOTD, you'd think Arsenal were fighting relegation - words thrown around like "disgrace" and "shambolic". Even if you take away Wenger's historic achievements, they continually finish in the top 4, make the CL knockout stages every year and have recently won the FA Cup twice, all of this whilst spending far less than the likes of Chelsea, City and us.

As for the 'misery' of being an Arsenal fan, they are potentially 2 points from 4th, ahead of us and only 2 wins away from second place - they've played entertaining football over the years and fans are generally able to see some world class players on a weekly basis, albeit at high cost. I get that fans want to win the league every year and in honesty, Arsenal haven't really gone gone close in recent years but only 6 teams have ever won the PL in 25 years (and football didn't exist before then) - if you discount the Leicester anomaly then the top teams across Europe spend huge sums of money - it's not very romantic and a sad indication of modern corporate football but Wenger is a board's dream - somebody who generates big revenue whilst spending less than the competition.

Ultimately I think Arsenal fans have had it pretty fecking good under Wenger. If the board are willing to give a new manager £150m a season for the next 3 years, then fair enough, maybe a fresh approach could be good and Wenger should probably step down but if not, it's a huge risk, which could backfire massively.

Agree with most of that. Arsenal have been among the top 4 in England and among the maybe 15 best teams worldwide for the last decade or longer.
On the other hand they do not move anywhere to close the gap to the very best and challenge for the big titles.
So if this is the aim they need to adopt their course.
Might be a bit unfair but looking for a new manager is the obvious thing to do.
 
No chance. PSG is the biggest job he could get.
He's spent 20 years being the boss at arsenal. You think he'd accept going to a place where he has to work under a GM, DOF and President who are very much involved in running the first team? You think he'd go to a club where if he has a problem with a star player(say, verratti) he'd be told by his bosses to make sure he keeps the player happy?