West Ham away (PL) Match Reaction Thread

[Niall_Quinn]

Ozil, Sanchez and Cech, to name 3 reasons why it's important. I guess throwing enough money around can land you top players without CL football but only if the end result is breaking back in to the top 4. If it's not important why are clubs in the top half of the table trying so hard to get in there? The money, yes, but also the prestige which can help you sign top players. I think if we'd finished outside the top 4 as a one off it wouldn't have harmed us but dropping out for 2 or more seasons in a row (as many predicted we would under Wenger) and it would have harmed us.

IMO he deserves some credit for keeping us up there when money was tight but now money isn't tight so he should be judged by different standards. He's had a few years to push us on and while the FA Cups have been nice and a good start we needed to push on for the bigger prizes and we haven't.

He deserves abuse for turning 4th place into an ambition. And he gets it.

As a football fan do you actually care if the club is run on a financially sound footing? That's a job for bean counters, not football managers and certainly not fans. Fuck that. We've all been conned to such a degree you'll actually hears Arsenal fans use our book balancing prowess for bragging rights. Hell, I may even have done it myself in the past. But when you finally realise the double entry bookkeeping is the end, rather a means to the end, a light snaps on and all you can thing is FUUUUUUCK! Wow, REALLY? Shit!

Fuck them and their QuickBooks Football.

So the next question. What's the point of Ozil and Alexis and Cech? Is there any real intention to keep going and build a squad to compete at the very top level? No. So these players, like so many before, are passing through. I love seeing them play, so that's a bonus. But they aren't part of a bigger picture, a greater ambition. So you know that what's good today will be gone tomorrow. You know they'll never be supplemented with players who can press the advantage an Ozil brings. Instead we have Giroud and Walcott. So really, what's the point? The players can't do it on their own, nor would you want them to do it alone as that defeats the very purpose of a team game. Oil, Alexis and Cech should have been a statement of intent. Instead the appear to be part crowd appeasement, part shoring up exercise. For the money spent on them Wenger has won a couple of cups and secured his precious 4th place. But no sign of a title challenge and the humiliation of Europe goes on uninterrupted.

What really harms us is Wenger. And the leeches above him who approve of his every business decision and couldn't give a fuck about the football. Nothing can change until this gang of paper shuffling profiteers piss off.

[Niall_Quinn]

Which kinda makes sense at the ground in the heat of the moment.
In the cold light of day on a messageboard that no-one of note reads, not so much.

On what do you base that judgement? Personal experience or guesswork?

A faulty WordPress plugin brought down the government of Iceland, so the story goes. The Internet is noise. Noise has a threshold, if it is loud enough then anyone can be reached. Only 60K people can pack into a stadium. But millions of people can say #WengerOut and if they keep saying it it becomes the common sentiment.

Corporate and government drones still don't get the power of the Internet, just as they overlooked the power of the printing press. Unworthy people have to keep the worthy majority silent if they want to carry on their abuse unhindered.

[Power n Glory]

Yes but wait. Are you impressed because he's not a total bloody shambles? You always have to ask yourself that question when it comes to Arsenal and Wenger. We love Coquelin. Why? Because he's halfway competent, a huge step up for us. Maybe it's the same with Elneny. Is he good enough to play in the middle for Barca, Bayern or Marketing? Probably not. So we have another second tier player. But at least a player that seems to have a clue what he's supposed to be doing on a pitch. And so comes the next question. Is that a hangover from his previous club? Will Wenger train this out of him and instil that tippy, happy goodness he has bathed the rest of the squad in?

Early days but I think he's doing a fantastic job there. Just as good or maybe even better than Cazorla. I'll keep watching but I rate his performances so far. He plays with intelligence. Picks the right passes and not just sideways passes either. Time will tell if Barca and Real come sniffing. They usually do. Song and Hleb went so can't be too quick to judge.

If it were a case of me rating anyone that isn't a complete shambles, I'd be full of praise for Ozil.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Ozil just brings into sharper leaf how we lack a decent striker

The chances the guy creates is unsurpassed, he's leading the assists table even with that carthorse Giroud playing in front of him.

[alexander]

As a football fan do you actually care if the club is run on a financially sound footing? That's a job for bean counters, not football managers

he really prides himself on the `moral high ground` thing. The other day he had a dig at West Ham moving to the new ground for what amounts to peanuts. His desire to do it the right way (on the pitch and finance) means nothing in the football, or sports world in general tbh. It is a corrupt game, as most sport is. There is cheating on the pitch and off of it be it drugs or money or whatever. As a fan all I want to do is see them win, not only games but cups. I dont think thats too much to ask from being an Arsenal fan. We are historically and financially one of the biggest teams in Europe. Teams like us, ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City should all be expecting to win something, not every year, granted, but more regularly than we do. We are a big club, in London, with plenty of cash, we need to use it to push on, because if we are not careful there will be another breakaway of clubs with money (its kind of happening now) and we will be left behind.
A business must keep investing each year to keep moving forward and not be left behind. This goes for the Sandwich shop on the street corner of a large football club. Nobody really cares (except for Stan and investors) how rich we are, that will soon be eroded away as we start to slide down the league without continued investment to keep the club moving forward.

[Letters]

He deserves abuse for turning 4th place into an ambition.

He hasn't, that's just the way football has gone. Top 4 has become a 'thing'. It shouldn't be, but it is because of the rise and rise of the CL.
And abuse? Really? If you think he's getting things wrong then criticism, sure, but abuse? At worst he's doing his best but not cutting it any more, abuse is a bit strong. The board arguably deserve abuse as they really don't give a crap about how things go on the field so long as the money keeps rolling in. Wenger at least cares, even if he is increasingly unable to challenge for the biggest prizes.

As a football fan do you actually care if the club is run on a financially sound footing?

Only in as much as money and success in football are highly correlated, so it's important from that point of view. I don't believe that the new level of spending at the trophies are a co-incidence.
We should be doing better and Wenger isn't making the best of his resources but at least he's making sure we have resources for the next bloke to work with, better that than someone like 'Arry who won the FA Cup with Portsmouth and left a financial train wreck behind.

What's the point of Ozil and Alexis and Cech? Is there any real intention to keep going and build a squad to compete at the very top level? No.

I disagree, yes of course there is that intention. Whether Wenger has the ability to is another matter but yes, of course that is his intention.

[Power n Glory]

Ozil just brings into sharper leaf how we lack a decent striker

The chances the guy creates is unsurpassed, he's leading the assists table even with that carthorse Giroud playing in front of him.

You think he'll be able to get more assists next season? That's if we get a new striker.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

You think he'll be able to get more assists next season? That's if we get a new striker.

The stats on the chances he's created suggest he would

[Özim]

He hasn't, that's just the way football has gone. Top 4 has become a 'thing'. It shouldn't be, but it is because of the rise and rise of the CL.
And abuse? Really? If you think he's getting things wrong then criticism, sure, but abuse? At worst he's doing his best but not cutting it any more, abuse is a bit strong. The board arguably deserve abuse as they really don't give a crap about how things go on the field so long as the money keeps rolling in. Wenger at least cares, even if he is increasingly unable to challenge for the biggest prizes.

I disagree, he has by hailing it as some sort of major prize, in addition his satisfaction at getting 4th and how relatively unaffected he is by not doing better adds to that sentiment.

As for the abuse, well players get the same day in day out (and I don't hear anyone complaining about that) and the way that he goes on as if he's above anyone else and that his job is pretty much there as long as he wants it as well as how he dares to point the finger at the fans, it's no real surprise people take a dislike to him.

I don't understand how you can't see how patronising he is and how arrogant he has become tbh, based on his public persona he's not particularly likeable and that's all of his own making, he could have easily been more diplomatic and less patronising.

What he does is nothing to be proud of, to gain respect you have to earn it, he really doesn't even try.

[Power n Glory]

The stats on the chances he's created suggest he would

We have to hope we get a better striker next season in that case. I think it's been an exceptional season for Ozil and I worry he won't be able to repeat it. But still wish he'd pop up with more goals. Just watching De Bruyne for City and that goal that put them through to the semis. Ozil is great at finding space and if he'd work on his shooting we wouldn't be so dependent on a striker.