A Hard Day’s Night
Apr 13th, 2016 by 'holic
It’s after ten. I have just watched West Ham and Barcelona get knocked out of competitions that we no longer have an interest in. I am enjoying their misery as they have enjoyed ours. It’s the way of the football supporter. We should have been celebrating a third FA Cup this season, but we self-destructed against Watford in the quarter-final. The Champions League remains a distant dream, despite our hardy annual qualification.
It is the biggest tribute to Arsene Wenger’s reign that we have been involved in eighteen consecutive Champions League seasons, and look likely to make that nineteen. It is the blot on his copybook that we have not won it, despite coming within twelve minutes of so doing ten years ago.
Two years earlier we surrendered our best chance of lifting big ears in a quarter-final against Chelsea. We had four world-beaters in Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, and Thierry Henry. We went an entire season unbeaten in the Premier League but lost the biggest prize to a team that allowed a poor Monaco side to beat them in the semi-final. In turn they lost to Mourinho’s Porto in the final. There are so many ‘ifs’ in life. This was one of the bigger ones.
It pains me to see people suggest that the Champions League isn’t so important these days. Yes, only a fraction of the teams in it are champions, but they are the best in Europe. In the days of the European Cup and UEFA Cup the latter would often be the harder to win because it included champions of the season in which it was played. The Champions League format provides a much stiffer test than it’s predecessor ever did.
So why is it important to us fossils? “And if, you know, your history” I have seen us lift every piece of silverware in my lifetime, bar one. The very first was the European Fairs Cup, forerunner to the UEFA Cup. The best European trip was Copenhagen 1994 to see us lift the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup. These nights were so special. There is one more to come that will mean so much more. Let it be sooner rather than later. Some of us have just heard the bell as we head into the final lap.
The Champions League remains the Times crossword that we cannot complete. We find moments of inspiration, but come up short against the very best. We have Petr Cech, we have Mesut Ozil, we have Alexis Sanchez. We are edging closer to having the requisite number of world class players, we have the money, and yet something is lacking. Is it desire, is it ambition?
The coming summer is huge. There is a European Championship to occupy the best players which will make this absurd imposed transfer window even more complicated. Once you could buy players in all but about three months of the year. Now you can only buy them for about three months of the year. Restrictive nonsense, but it is the same for everyone.
We all want Arsenal to make a statement, to cover the obvious deficiencies in the squad. We have again reached a point where significant pruning is required and investment is required to help us to compete. This season’s Premier League campaign has been as frustrating as the Champions League in 2004. For Porto and Monaco read Leicester City and the LWCs. Little clubs over-achieving while we self-destruct.
It’s over to you Stan, Ivan, and Arsene. Where do we want to be? The time has come. Show us. Please.
102 Responses to “A Hard Day’s Night”
As if by magic….
What’s lacking is … sod it the list is too long.
Still it could be worse.
Evening chums. Two of the best. π
I’ve just seen a photo of George Graham, going on tour with Palace in the 70s. He’s standing with a bloke who looks like Carlos the Jackal, another who looks like Ian Holloway with a Brian May perm, a sort of emaciated John Holmes lookalike but without the 14 inch cock (the trousers would give it away, it’s the 70s) and Ron Harris, doing an impression of Rigsby.
Graham looks like he just stepped off a refugee boat, the scruffy sod.
Gorgeous George? I’m not having that, Cynic. Evidence please. π
“The coming summer is huge”
Now, where have I heard that before??????
We will be faced with several problems this summer. The vast majority of these will be of our own making and the result of many summers of stagnation. For those who thought it wise not to invest several seasons or so ago, just wait for the prices we are quoted this year? I have said if for several seasons now. Our lack of investment in the long term is a false economy. To compete will now cost us even more.
Evening H. Large one on the bar for you and anyone else in.
There you go.
http://s18.postimg.org/xkc7f4n7t/palace.jpg
That is Ron Harris doing Rigsby isn’t it? Or am I having a funny turn?
Christ, that is scary Cynic. He’s a fraud twice over π
Evening Steve. Keep the faith maestro.
Nope that’s not Ron Harris. It’s Allan Harris (whoever he is)
Looks like the cast from the pilot of auf wiedersehen pet Cynic.
As always sir.
?
Grate post. We need the CL, no question about that. It would cement our top european club status for years, if not for decades. Now this is the trophy no amount of spending can guarantee…
As for the trio plea, one thing we can all agree on is that if someone makes it happen it won’t be Kroenke…
Finally Spurs and West Ham are moving into stadiums like ours and with the TV money exploding “little clubs” are a thing of the past. Out of 20 clubs in the league next season, 15 will be able to win any game and who knows if a promoted clubs will not surprise as well. Looking forward to it but then I like roller coasters π
Cheers ‘holic.
As another disappointing season slowly draws to an end, sadly it’s watching the demise of Barcalosers that brightens up the mood. Ironically the referee bottled giving Barca a last minute penalty for handball of an Iniesta shot who should have been sent off a little earlier when conceding the Aletico penalty. What goes round comes round.
As you rightly say guv’na, the coming summer will show us the ambition of the club. I’m not having too much confidence in this regard but come on Stan, Ivan & Arsene Please Please Me π
@ Matt from the last drink. I don’t get the whole anti-football thing in relation to Diego Simoene. They just beat Barca 2-0 playing anti football according to you. Meanwhile Barca playing pro-football couldn’t even score a goal. The guy is passionate and his team feels it. That use to be Wenger a decade ago. They are in the semi final and might make it to the final too. Can’t remember the last time we made it to even a quarter final. So if you ask me, I will take him anyday, anytime over what we got now. Just my opinion of course.
Holic,
Similarly the Cup with Big Ears is the only one I’ve not seen us win. My Dad was 85 in 2005 and I so wanted him to see us win it before he died. As the minutes ticked away in Paris I started to pray but Barca prevailed in controversial circumstances.
Despite my love for Arsene I never feel we do enough each summer. May this one be different…please
Nice one ‘h!
“Be the best we can be!” That’s all we’ve ever asked for! And if we had been for more than one of these 18 consecutive years; the CL trophy would’ve been ours long before now!
Gotta say, I did very much enjoy watching Simeone’s defensive Atletico machine dumping out Uefalona! Sweet as a feckin’ nut! No back-to-back CL victories for those smug cunts! Could it be being left open for the Arsenal to do first???
That a lovely perm and ‘tache in the middle Cynic @7! π
The permy one is Terry Boyle.
Scary thought – if this is being the best we can be… π
Cynic @ 10 Allan Harris is Chopper’s less talented brother…gawd!
Hehehe @Cynic! π
@SAG/15: It’s an age thing. For you anti-football is a new/rare occurrence. For those of us that have seen it dominate european football for over a decade it’s an atrocious blight.
When you look at it you see the heroic defensive effort against Barcelona. Back in the day it was the norm on the continent and systematic in Italy. When we look at it it reminds us that 0-0 was more likely than any other score. That one game may excite you. Now imagine every single game where both teams play defensively and try to score on the rare counters, who’s going to pay to watch that?
FIFA introduced 3 points to get rid of it but the damage was done for Italy who went from football superpower to has-been.
I hope they win nothing this season. As for his tactical genius, to me he is an Argentine Allardyce with money.
Same old errors repeated every year. When will the gunners start
challenging for the epl?
I say get anew guy preferably the AM boss who has just sent Barcelona’s fearsome attacking trio packing.Of course it aint easy but Arsenal definitely need anew who puts the emphasis on winning and nothing else.
If Arsenal start with Wenger and he is fired mid way through the season,it could get worst.AC Milan have just fired their manager.Is Wenger so sacrosanct?
Matt- I don’t think they play like that all the time though. I just feel that when you are playing against a superior team you just have to adjust your strategy and I don’t think any other team does it better than them. Some of our best European nights has been in those games where we don’t have a whole lot of the ball and end up winning the games.
Actually in the early days of the European Cup there was no seeding and far fewer teams so it was way, way easier to win. No English teams and if the one German team knocked out, say, the one Italian team, there was no one difficult to beat for the Spanish team. Most of the rest of Europe would have lost to an English Second Division team (as was).
If we couldn’t win the CL with Paddy, Bob, Dennis and TH14 who on earth would expect us to win with a couple of cast-offs from RM and Barca and Petr Cech?
And something to be wary of … If $iteh wins the CL (unlikely) and Poo wins the Europa (possible) 4th place will only get us into the latter. Happily, if either one of them loses (probable) we would be safe. Unless we really cock up and don’t get in the top 4.
AW will never be fired, Malaysian. Only he will decide when he goes. It’s half the problem.
You’re right about Ronaldo, Cynic, he’d be a brilliant buy regardless my negatives. The way he drove RM to win yesterday was wonderful to watch – especially in comparison with Messi’s effort today. I’ve always rated the latter more highly, but now I’m not so sure. Ronaldo is doing the great wine thing, getting better with age, and no reason to suppose he hasn’t got two or three more seasons left at the very top.
Always providing the motivation stays with him of course.
@SAG: 12-14 teams in La Liga are championship level, just cannon fodder for the big teams. If they posed any kind of threat like such teams do in the premiership Atletico would be the exact reincarnation of those dreadful italian teams.
Some people like it, back in the day I did like Graham’s Arsenal. By the mid 90s I could not stand it. To each his own.
England adopted the 3 points for a win way before anymore else which is one of the reasons it had this reputation for attractive attacking football. Most of the rest of Europe, including UEFA waited until the mid-90s, by then football games were a bore more often than not.
We’re definitively too offensive in some games but there is a middle ground that allows defensive solidity without defending with 2×4 lines stuck at the back. Think Heynke’s Bayern for example, imho the most balanced and powerful team to win the CL this decade.
We need a fresh, well credentialled, savvy manager with more tactical awareness and adaptability. We need our otherwise great full backs to be rigorously coached in the art of stopping crosses. We need a quality twin centre back pairing. Much as I like Per, Kos and Gabriel, they have been found out too often for too long. It is defensive frailty that has cost us over the years. AW has said “we were naive” too many times. We need players that will not be naive ! If we implement these changes we will be up there with the best of them. Incidentally, Barca could not score with Suarez, Messi and Neymar. They obviously need to go into the transfer market and buy a world class striker !!!
I think our current team could learn a real lesson from watching that Athletico performance last night. It wasn’t pretty, but the levels of desire, focus, individual and collective responsibility and – let’s face it – downright niggley bastardness were absolutely off the charts. What we currently lack, they have in spades: massive cojones.
Great article, with nice nostalgia for us “fossils” and a stern clear message to the powers that be. Bravo. I only hope the pruning (let’s call it a dozen players at least) doesn’t prove even more beyond Wenger than the Investing. If it does, he’ll have a readymade excuse even before blaming the feeding frenzy this summer. Sighs…..COYG.
Nice blog, maestro.
That victory by Atletico was immensely enjoyable. Barca epitomise everything that is technically good in football and everything that is bad about a self-regarding, self-entitled, manipulative, cheating culture that probably goes as far beyond the rules to win off the pitch as they do on it.
I think the non-award of the late penalty was the ultimate irony. It doesn’t compensate for that RvP second yellow card but it almost makes me believe that there are indeed football Gods.
At the fag end of another frustrating Arsenal season, Atletico’s result does lift the spirits with a healthy dose of schadenfreude.
BMBD
It’s lets pick our premier league time of the year and I thought this piece from Joe.co.uk was interesting. Not least for the fact that every single writer chose our own Hector Bellerin as the best right back in the league.
http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/joe-writers-pick-their-premier-league-teams-of-the-year/52504
@Countryman
Hahaha at Nooruddean Choudry’s team in that link!
I know. For a manc he’s very funny, fair and always good value. PS – he’s not happy with VdG!
We wont win the UCL under Wenger, never did we look like winning except the 06 final and even that with 10 men we were fighting the odds, ref and henrik larrson. Arsene does not have the bed rock of a solid defense which is a must to win the UCL except if you are barca and even they are not able to defend it.
This season hurts beyond measure. maybe the 08 season and that eduardo injury was the other season wherein we should have definitely won the league and did not. This season is very hollow, 59 points after 32 games is poor. Any other season this would have meant 4th or even 5th. Where is the progress actually? Which player has really done better than last season. Mesut yes but then who else; our full backs, yes and thats that. Giroud has stats but impact? Danny has had brief moments but as a team nothing can be termed as definitive improvement. That for me is a failure.
i dont know if taking out Wenger is the solution. The man is so much a part of the team and us that it hurts to not see him there. Yet Arsenal is far bigger than him and will always be and we need to see the club progress .
A bit of good news, from Italy of all places where there will be a trial of video assistance for refereeing:
“The technology will be used to help referees decide whether a goal has been scored, whether a penalty should be awarded, whether a player should be sent off, or in cases of mistaken identity.
Tests initially will be in private before moving to a live pilot phase with replay assistance by the 2017-18 season at the latest.”
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36047575
That would go a long way to improve refereeing and prevent most of the abysmal behavior of Barca players and the likes. About time…
All the excuses wiped out for every defeat? That’ll never do!
The game btw Dortmond and Liverpool is a major reason why I really will love to get Simone. How in the hell do you score three away goals and still get knocked out. All attack, no fuckkng defense, reminds me of my beloveth Arsenal.
“We need a fresh, well credentialled, savvy manager with more tactical awareness and adaptability [, that can attract the same kind of top talent like Wenger has done, and is available].”
Back on planet earth. That’s a challenge indeed. Assuming that is the right answer (which is just what that is, an assumption).
Although he is only four years younger than AW, Pellegrini wouldn’t be a bad successor. He might provide a classy firewall between the present regime and its long-term successor.
As for the long-term successor, any of these might be a good fit: Marcelo Gallardo (River Plate), Markus Weinzierl (Augsburg), and Vincenzo Montella (ex-Fiorentina). All young and all favouring attacking football.
Bath@32
Very well said!
I heard a brilliant talk by Sir Dave Brailsford today on management. The bloke is compelling and a genius. Every few months he goes away to a camp somewhere in the world with leading sports coaches-‘ a sporting Alcoholics Anonymous ‘ he called it! And guess who goes as well. Yes our esteemed leader AW. And Roy Hodgson. Perhaps it’s not such a good idea after all!
Liverpool deserve credit for fighting back against Dortmund. Spurs possibly regret giving up against them so cravenly
One step closer to the unthinkable, Poo winning Europey and $iteh the CL, leaving us in the Europey even if we finish 4th…
@Chris: These are the rules for 2016:
“No more than five clubs can enter the UEFA Champions League from one national association (this was an increase on the previous maximum of four).
Regarding the top three associations (i.e. Spain, Germany and England*): if two clubs from one of these countries win the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and neither finish their domestic league in a position that qualifies them for the UEFA Champions League, the following will happen:
β The club that won the UEFA Champions League will go straight into the group stage
β The UEFA Europa League winners will go into the UEFA Champions League play-offs
β The club that had qualified for a UEFA Champions League play-off spot via their domestic league competition (i.e. finished fourth) will transfer into the UEFA Europa League
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=2215121.html
No need for being gloomier than usual.
@Cynic/38: π
Referee still can allow preferential treatment for Barca outside the penalty area though.
Gotta like Nooruddean Choudry’s selection of Siaorse Ronan in his team of the year, Countryman (#33). I’ve given it some thought and here is my team. I’ve chosen a 4:3:3 formation because threesomes offer greater variety. Had it been rugby I would have course have gone for 6:9…
Emily Blunt
Juno Temple, Stefanie Martini, Lily James, Emelia Clarke
Jennifer Lawrence, Gemma Arterton, Talulah Riley
Imogen Poots, Felicity Jones, Adèle Exarchopoulos
Yes, Matt, I had read the qualy rules. If Poo and $iteh both win then the 4th place team in the EPL will play in the Europey, not the CL. Essential that we stay ahead of $iteh (currently just 2 points behind us), and anyone else currently below us, and a matter of pride that we also get ahead of the neighbours which would then leave them in jeopardy.
I’m concerned that Manure or the bubblers might upset the current top 4.
Another great bit of tactical work by a younger but experienced manager already getting performances from his inherited squad! Well done Klopp and the Kop! Anfield always seems like a 12th man for the ‘pool and Klopp plays them well! When the hell will we get that at the Grove? Only when we have a new and energetic younger man I expect!
CL football is by no means guaranteed now even if the league title is all but over mathematically. Better look over your shoulder Arsene!
Klopp got a lot of help from Tuchel going all defensive in the latter stages. Always fatal to introduce new players at a late stage and expect them to get up to speed straight away. And picking Reus as one to be subbed was bonkers.
Tom – I think an Oxford comma between, “…board and Wenger…” would make the second sentence more readable.
Oops! Silly me! That should have been, “…board” and, “and Wenger…”
@42 NBN, interesting thought, a short-term manager to provide a firewall between AW and the next long-term manager. Could well work, look at the problems any club have in replacing a manager who’s been in place for a long time. My dad was a clergyman and we used to move around every few years, when I got to an age I asked why and he explained that congregations would get used to a certain style of vicar and so when that vicar retired, we would prepare the church for a change in style and then a long-term appointment would follow us, seemed to work ok. (and I got to live in more places than most children!)
I like Klopp, and think we may well one day look back at him as a big miss.
But for anyone getting all excited about this “energetic younger man”, I feel compelled to point out that Liverpool were 8 points behind us the day he arrived, and are now 9 points behind us, despite Wenger having what is probably his worst season in the hot-seat.
@ Gooner Ref
During a recent trip to Red Cafe to revel in the misery of the Mancs, I noticed that they all seemed quite keen on the idea that where Utd had gone wrong was in directly replacing Ferguson with a young up and comer. The consensus seemed to be that what they should have done was to appoint an experienced old hand to bridge the gap between ol’ purple nose and some hotshot with one of those new-fangled “projects” we always hear so much about.
Per your suggestion, I wonder if when the time comes our board might look to go down this road – I have a feeling that we’ll be needing a new manager at around the time Mr Ancelotti parts ways with Bayern. Two years of Carlo and then on to a Tuchel or similar? Just a thought.
Just reading Wenger’s latest delusional comments about winning the league, but there was also something about how he hasn’t decided if Cech will play on Sunday.
If he doesn’t, the bloke’s an even bigger clown than I think he is.
N7. I think Klopp would have been ideal for us. Regardless of how it eventually turns out for Liverpool.
Cech has to play on Sunday and should have played last weekend.
Steve – inclined to agree, if only because he does such a good job of rallying the fans, and we could really use that at this stage.
Yeah
N7 Gooner,
Klopp can only start being judged on the Premier league next season when he has brought in most of his own players and shipped out Rodger’s.
His cup runs this season have been impressive as in one-off matches, he clearly knows how to get the best with what he’s got at hand right now. I foresee Liverpool doing better than us in the Premier league next year, along with several other clubs, if Arsene Wenger remains as he’s been for the past decade. Missing out on signing-up either Klopp or Guardiola before they went elsewhere, could turn out very quickly to be the biggest mistake Arsenal Football Club have made in the past decade.
@ Dan
Not sure I follow the logic there. He has the same pool of players for league and cup. Feels a bit like we’re being asked to clock his successes and ignore his failures.
I would also mention that – since we’re always told that the January transfer window is as good a time as any to sign players – Klopp has already had an opportunity to add to his squad. Any failure to do so is, of course, entirely down to him.
All kidding aside, I think he’s a very good manager who will do well at Liverpool. Whether he’ll do well enough to put them ahead of us next season… let’s wait and see. I bloody hope not.
COYG
Anne Boleyn also became headless?
@N7
If Wenger remains as pig headed about what needs to be done next season as he has in the past it won’t just be Klopp putting his team above us. Can see us falling behind West Ham and Spurs as well as the usual suspects.
The biggest Summer for some time for the club.
Am I alone in thinking that Klopp is all hype and fake emotion then?
The Germanic Pardew.
N7 Gooner @61,
I guess that we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next season with Klopp and his newer charges.
A good league run for any team is quite different from a good cup run; there are numerous examples of this both this season and in previous seasons in the EPL.
Let’s not forget that winning the Europa League for Klopp, which is now very much possible with a Semi-final against Villareal, gives him CL football next season which will then mean that he’ll be able to attract several players, especially those from his old club Borussia Dortmund, to join him in the Premier league next season after the Euros and in the summer transfer window. Big name and world class players do not tend to move between clubs in the January transfer window.
Liverpool are very much on the up, as are the LWCs and West Ham, so when you add the other regular players of Chel$ki, Cit$h, and Manure, we have a very tough, but interesting season coming up next term! Can Arsene Wenger in his final year of his current contract truly reinvent himself and stay ahead one last time of the old and new “pretenders on the block”, I personally don’t think so.
Excerpt from the Arsenal Gent who otherwise is going on with some nonsense about Andy Carroll being an old gypsy girlfriend of his:
“Mr. Pardewβs Palace may well provide some light relief on Sunday, but even a series of wins agin Palace (16th), West Bromwich (14th), Sunderland (18th) and Norwich (17th) are far from assured with this team of nincompoops, deserters and slipper-shod nambie pambies.”
π
“Liverpool are very much on the up”.
They’re 8th and in the semi final of a tournament we’ve no interest in being in. I also wouldn’t hand Klopp the trophy just yet – Sevilla are back to back winners of this competition and they’re over in the other semi looking for the hat trick.
Klopp is doing good work over there, no doubt, but you’ll excuse me if I don’t wet my pants with fright just yet.
We’ve had a massively underwhelming season, but I think there’s a risk of losing perspective if we’re seriously scared of West Ham now. Oh, and also worth noting that this season has resolutely demonstrated that our rivals can get worse as well as better.
Personally, I’m still crossing fingers that we can reel in the LWCs this season. The gap is only three points, despite their superstar packed side and our band of ragtag under-performing clowns.
COYG
NZ@ 68- We might as well start getting interested in that competition. It’s not like we have a shot at winning the CL anyways.
I really doubt Guardiola was ever going to happen, his managerial skills rely a lot on the pockets of the clubs he manages I doubt we ever were on his radar.
Now I’m a big fan of Klopp and I would have loved to have him take over Wenger at some point. It’s his first season in a very different league with a team that he inherited so it’s too early to pass any kind of definitive judgment either way.
Granted he’s not set the league on fire and Liverpool are going to finish worse than Rodgers ever did, in position and/or points. But I believe time is on his side and fans can hardly dream of anyone better to replace him anyway. If they win the Europa league (a big if mind you) he might improve them dangerously in my opinion.
The days of the top 4 are over. TV money is the great leveler with CL football now the bigger edge for transfers. Next season there could be 8+ teams in contention for the title, or at least a top 4 spot. Replacing Arteta, Flamini and Rosicki with Elneny, Iwobi and another midfielder looks like granted. I hope we’ll get a top striker this summer otherwise we might find ourselves in a delicate situation next season…
That’s the spirit, SAG!
N7 Gooner,
The “wetting of one’s pants” can happen for a number of reasons! π
Hahaha @ 72. Well played, sir.
We need two top quality centre backs before a striker, as none of the ones we have are any use.
Koscielny and Mertesacker – too slow for a top side and not physical enough.
Gabriel? Too many errors.
For all you doom and gloom merchants
Citeh won’t knock out Real Madrid in a month of Sunday’s especially with the home leg first
Liverpool won’t win the Europa League . In fairness to Klopp he has not had time to buy his own players but they are nowhere near as good as us. Our wobbles started when we conceded late to them at Anfield
We are much more likely to finish second than fifth.
If Zidane was to leave Real Madrid and Wenger left us Real would offer him the job but he’d probably pitch up at PSG.
Koscielny is one of the top three CBs in Europe
Get a life chaps
@Cynic: Koscielny is still one the best CBs in the league, possibly not for too long at 30 and he’s prone to injuries.
Mertesacker to me is ripe for a backup role.
Jury still out on Gabriel, he still has to learn that fouls in other leagues are not considered as such in England.
Chambers is still learning but improvement is noticeable.
Once CB definitively required, 2 a bonus.
Now a midfield 3 like we had at the start of the season, or 2 defensive oriented midfielder would make the biggest difference, new CB or not.
TTG @ 75, thank you!
Matt @ 76: I would say Kos is one of the best CBs in Europe, and in his sixth season running he has played 242 matches for us, of which only 6 are from the bench. So even though he does have a tendency to pick up chronic pains they never sideline him for significant periods of time. On average approximately 40 appearance a season for each of six seasons is quite remarkable consistency and robustness. Interestingly, he now also has the most number of goals for a defender under Arsene, both overall (20) and PL (15).
Let us wait until the season ends for all these damning verdicts about our fall vis-a-vis the magnificent rise of ‘Pool, Spurs, Hammers etc. We have been here before, with Swans and Everton and Villa and Southampton etc. Rodgers was supposed to usher in a golden era and then there were those times where the power in North London had already shifted.
Arsenal football team has some problems and gaps to consistently compete for the very best, but it also has a very good squad (that can be bettered, yes, but still a good squad) with experience and class well-balanced with youth and promise. It also has a management set-up that despite all the criticism (and many of them are well deserved) has moved the team forward in the last few years (yes, two consecutive FA cup victories count).
Let us wait until the season ends to see where we are.
Fourth.
π
Third, maybe second but not counting on it.
Dr Faustus: really good points on Koscielny.
TTG & Dr Faustus,
So what will you both do if Liverpool and Man City do win the Europa League and the Champions League respectively this season; and we finish 5th out of the CL behind both Manchester clubs? Oh and one more; if the LWCs do manage to overhaul Leicester and win the Premier league?
There is no way now that PSG or Real Madrid will take an ageing head coach that’s not won his last respective league competition or the CL at any point over the last decade. Arsene knows this very well too. It’s now Arsenal Football Club or bust for Arsene Wenger with his ever advancing years and his growing evidence of the infamous “out-of-touchness” syndrome.
Up the Arse!
DanC @ 80: I will do nothing. All my Arsenal supporting life — since the early 2000s — I have seen us finish above Spurs and playing in CL. Though it has become a habit, a pleasant one, I haven’t taken either of these for granted. So even though it will be deeply disappointing to fail to meet the bare minimum requirement out of a season (and I will probably be ill for a couple of days if the swamp dwellers do indeed pull of the unthinkable), it will not diminish my love for Arsenal, or football, or respect for Arsene Wenger. I grew up following and admiring Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan of the late 80s, and even though I never really loved them the way I do Arsenal I still have friends from that time who have remained Milan fans (though majority of us have drifted towards PL teams)…they are having some of the shittiest seasons in their memory but their lives go on.
Time waits for no one, and Arsene Wenger is no exception. However I think he will do just fine not being the manager of Arsenal or any other football club. The essentially insane drive that made him — or any other manager who last in this job for such a considerable period of time — will definitely no longer be satisfied, but given his polymath abilities and the amount of respect he enjoys in football and beyond one suspects he will find some avenues to keep himself busy and engaged.
I really don’t understand the degree of personal dislike and derision he seems to draw, especially from our very own fan base. Yes he is stubborn, maybe even to the point of now being out of touch as you said, but he is also manifestly talented, ethical, hard working, dedicated, intelligent, engaging and hugely influential. One can acknowledge the waning abilities and evidently a degree of staleness without having to have a go at him at every single opportunity. We will not see the likes of him anytime soon and after we have had enough of being glad to see his back we will definitely miss him. Let us give the man the respect he deserves, and let us give his relationship with this club the admiration it deserves.
“…pull off the unthinkable”, that is… π
I expect AW will see out his career at Arsenal, I don’t think he as any interest in starting afresh anywhere else. How this will work out for us is anyone’s guess, although I imagine, after years of failure, that he will spend big in the near future and go for broke in one final stab at immortality.
Fasten your seat belts, gunners.
@ Dan
What a weird hypothetical. The odds of all that happening must be extraordinarily long – why dwell in the world of absolute worst case scenarios? One might as well ask what you’ll do if we somehow win the league this season and the Champions League next.
For all this stuff about various teams “overtaking” us, the reality is very simple; as long as Arsene Wenger is our manager, we are unlikely to finish outside the top four. If there’s one thing you can say for the man it’s that he’s as close as you can get in the game to a cast iron guarantee of a top four finish – this season has been no different in that regard, despite the league being thrown into turmoil and all our traditional rivals struggling to make fourth or better.
While I would never advocate sacking Wenger, and I find the notion that the fans should “force” him out both laughable and contemptible, I’m fairly open to the idea that this summer would not be the worst moment for a voluntary changing of the guard. However, the more I hear about how strong the likes of Liverpool and West Ham are going to be, the more I start to question that view – if it’s going to be a seminal season where we might struggle to hang on to champions league football then the man I would want in situ is the current guy, because as sure as appointing a new manager might increase the chances of us actually winning the title, it will also increase the chances of us finishing outside the top four. Transition to a new man is clesarly going to be a roll of the dice, and only a shameless propagandist would suggest otherwise.
All of that said, I make Matt right that a top four finish is probably less important now than at any time in the last 15 years – the TV money has seen to that, and we’ve also seen other clubs drop out for a season and still attract good players (Utd signed Di Maria in their last summer out). That’s actually one of the reasons I’m more open to a change in manager right now.
Oh, and given Arsene’s friendliness with the owners, the tenuousness of Blanc’s position and their desire for legitimacy Wenger would absolutely walk into the PSG job right now. You can criticise him and want him out, but it’s daft to pretend that he’d be somehow unhirable if he were to leave – for all that he’s dropped clangers this season, he remains one of the most respected managers in the game. Just not amongst some sections of our support.
Anyway, none of the above really matters. What matters is our game tomorrow. Here’s to thumping the Eagles and then watching the Orcs take points off Spurs.
COYG
He’d only get hired by people who still believe the myth.
Or the Chinese.
A nice fat wedge to see him into the football sunset, with the excuse that he’s going for a challenge to a new league and to help develop the game there.
Whatever you say, Cynic.
Why would any serious top ranked club with ambition give a job to someone who hasn’t won a league title for twelve years?
If we were in the market for a manager in the summer and someone of his age, with his record in the last 12 years of management, was handed the job the fan base would be all WTF?
Well the Leicester fan base was and remains pretty happy about their hiring of a manager same age as Wenger who never won a top division title on his entire career.
And considering Ferguson’s teams dominated the league from Wenger’s age until his retirement 5 years later that argument is totally pointless really.
Also in case you still haven’t got the message Kroenke spelled it our crystal clear: http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/stan-kroenke-i-didnt-buy-arsenal-stake-to-win-trophies-a3202046.html
So you can dream or moan all day every day the odds of the next manager chosen by an owner with this mindset doing better than Wenger are slim to none.
N7 @84. – excellent stuff.
With respect to Leicester …. it’s LEICESTER.
By the way
http://i.imgur.com/5RwzKsm.jpg
Matt,
That’s the article that I’ve been referring to for about three weeks – or the same issues in a different paper – but a lot of supporters tell me I don’t understand – he’s a good guy – we could do worse, etc. etc.
Yes, we could have billionaire criminals in charge, or intefering wannabe managers, or corrupt politicians and, to that extent, they are right.
But to have the man in charge of your club saying he is not in it to win, sends a message through the organisation that invites decay and inertia.
His other main statement wasn’t too clever either.
And by “It’s LEICESTER”, I mean that they would have been expecting to finish fourth from bottom so they would have been over the moon with just about anyone. They’re not a supposedly top ranked team with ambition.
Anyway, the bloke’s here until he dies so discussion is pointless.
84 @N7
Excellent points!
π
N7 Gooner @84,
The odds might be high but I’ve put a nice little ton bet on that happening! Lovely bubbly!
Your remaining steadfast confidence in Arsene’s perennial “top 4 trophy” winning capacity, and his inevitable PSG managerial incumbency “no matter when that will be in his late 60’s and what he doesn’t achieve any longer in major honours”, is indeed very admirable. I’ll give you that.
Now to watch Cite$h move into 3rd Place with three points against the Chav$. Looking like Manure’ll now just be 3 points behind with a game in hand as it currently stands. The Manc kids are doing rather well!
Up the Arse!
Dapper Dan
You forgot the meteorite that will wipe out Ashburton Grove . In answer to your question I won’t do anything because those events won’t all happen
Didn’t United do incredibly well to beat Villa 1-0 at home? They are bound to race past us and as for Citeh they will annihilate Chelsea at the Bridge just like they did in the Cup…er sorry.
Blimey are we safe from relegation? Phew I’m glad we are because I can only see us losing 5-0 or worse in all our remaining games. I’d be happy to make top half.
No Arsenal fan I know ever bets to profit on misfortune for the club
It’s “support”, Jim, but not as we know it….
TTG & N7,
Hehehe! Don’t worry lads, the Grove’s always safe from meteorites whilst Arsene’s still around to catch them all a la Atlas the Titan! π
http://m.imgur.com/gallery/pKPtX
Bang! Europa League!!!
Dapper Dan
Aguero hat- trick! I can see that meteorite coming?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>