Where has Wenger gone wrong?

[IBK]

Agree with all that. Where 'blame' has to be apportioned however is that because of his unprecedented position of power at our club, AW also has an unprecedented duty to take responsibility for what has now been obvious for some time. He has steadfastly resisted the opportunity to bring fresh personnel and ideas into the club - assistant managers with real power to help him, and has been opposed even to the changes in scouting and directorship that have happened lately. For someone with his intelligence and pedigree, it his his lack of understanding and oversight that has to a large degree led to this mess. For years he has been the only person who can in reality orchestrate some change - yes of course the owner and board have connived in this but if the manager had had any real sense of altruism for AFC he should have recognised what was happening and taken steps to address this. What is looks like is that our club's, and his own reputation have paid the price for the manager's megalomania, and that has led to the bitterness and resentment.

Just saw this article in a link over on ANR. Interesting angle that reflects what i am trying to say...

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/0...h-bureaucracy/

[HCZ]

Has someone got David Deins number

[selassie]

Agree with all that. Where 'blame' has to be apportioned however is that because of his unprecedented position of power at our club, AW also has an unprecedented duty to take responsibility for what has now been obvious for some time. He has steadfastly resisted the opportunity to bring fresh personnel and ideas into the club - assistant managers with real power to help him, and has been opposed even to the changes in scouting and directorship that have happened lately. For someone with his intelligence and pedigree, it his his lack of understanding and oversight that has to a large degree led to this mess. For years he has been the only person who can in reality orchestrate some change - yes of course the owner and board have connived in this but if the manager had had any real sense of altruism for AFC he should have recognised what was happening and taken steps to address this. What is looks like is that our club's, and his own reputation have paid the price for the manager's megalomania, and that has led to the bitterness and resentment.

Agree with all of this, every single word! Good to have you back too IBK.

[Marc Overmars]

A few times over the last decade I've thought he's "lost the dressing room", but every other time we've pulled it together and gone on one of our runs, latterly we've even managed to win some trophies, so it seemed he'd never completely lost them.
Now though, it really does seem that the players have lost faith in him and maybe each other. It's quite the mess. BUT, I do believe we have a good squad and I don't think a new manager would find it that hard to get this lot in the top 4 and challenging anyone (well, apart from this season's City who are doing pretty crazy, unprecedented things)

Wenger's teams always had an identity but not anymore. Which I think is a relatively new weakness that's only manifested itself over the past few seasons only, he doesn't really know how to implement the style of play he wants anymore. For a coach to lose his identity, I believe that's the death knell.

[IBK]

Agree with all of this, every single word! Good to have you back too IBK.

Thanks mate

[Niall_Quinn]

The other factors are the insane greed of the previous board. Nobody should forget the vicious knife fights that took place back then as the pigs jostled for their cut of Kroenke's wife's cash.

And Kronke himself. Has never put a penny in, spun his tales about lack of money during the stadium project, and then got caught taking money out for "consultancy" when the bloke can't even talk. What a scumbag.

Greed. Power. Nest feathering. That's the story of Arsenal Football Club and the Emirates.

[selassie]

Wenger's teams always had an identity but not anymore. Which I think is a relatively new weakness that's only manifested itself over the past few seasons only, he doesn't really know how to implement the style of play he wants anymore. For a coach to lose his identity, I believe that's the death knell.

Aye, HCZ brought this up the other week too regarding Wenger's current team having a lack of identity and I totally agree with the both of you.

These days it's just a collection of players and IMO Wenger is literally just hoping for the best. There is no defined style, no defined roles, just nothing but 10 outfield players and a keeper who has seen better days.

Wenger's recruitment has become increasingly sketchy too..I'm not against buying the likes of Auba and Mkhi per se, but we are going to get what a maximum of 3 high level seasons out of either of them if we are lucky as they are both what 29?

Why aren't we in the market for young/talented players? City were able to buy the likes of Sane, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus & De Bruyne for fairly reasonable prices...like 40-60million bracket, why aren't we in the market for players of this kind of profile?

[IBK]

Aye, HCZ brought this up the other week too regarding Wenger's current team having a lack of identity and I totally agree with the both of you.

These days it's just a collection of players and IMO Wenger is literally just hoping for the best. There is no defined style, no defined roles, just nothing but 10 outfield players and a keeper who has seen better days.

Wenger's recruitment has become increasingly sketchy too..I'm not against buying the likes of Auba and Mkhi per se, but we are going to get what a maximum of 3 high level seasons out of either of them if we are lucky as they are both what 29?

Why aren't we in the market for young/talented players? City were able to buy the likes of Sane, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus & De Bruyne for fairly reasonable prices...like 40-60million bracket, why aren't we in the market for players of this kind of profile?

Its consistent with the idea of AW no longer having any clear understanding of what his team needs. if we are honest, his apparent change of attitude over recent years when it comes to spending has the distinct feeling of desperation - a last roll of the dice - than any proper plan. He looks like a manager doing what a fan would try to do - bringing in players who look good as individuals without any thought being given to how they actually fit in to an effective team. Our latest acquisitions are a case in point. Any team needs first to have solidity - and the priority should have been to bring in top quality defensive/GK/defensive MF cover to stop the rot, not the kind of attacking players who seem more like vanity signings than ones that stabilise the team. Bif and even Walcott would IMO have done as much in a stabilised team than Mikataryan and Aubameyang...

[Goonermerree]

Its consistent with the idea of AW no longer having any clear understanding of what his team needs. if we are honest, his apparent change of attitude over recent years when it comes to spending has the distinct feeling of desperation - a last roll of the dice - than any proper plan. He looks like a manager doing what a fan would try to do - bringing in players who look good as individuals without any thought being given to how they actually fit in to an effective team. Our latest acquisitions are a case in point. Any team needs first to have solidity - and the priority should have been to bring in top quality defensive/GK/defensive MF cover to stop the rot, not the kind of attacking players who seem more like vanity signings than ones that stabilise the team. Bif and even Walcott would IMO have done as much in a stabilised team than Mikataryan and Aubameyang...

I agree with that. At lest they scored the odd goal. We have similar players to the two who were brought in. We have a glut of midfielders not of them are much good,as you say, that is one of the positions that needed to be addressed.

[Niall_Quinn]

I agree with that. At lest they scored the odd goal. We have similar players to the two who were brought in. We have a glut of midfielders not of them are much good,as you say, that is one of the positions that needed to be addressed.

They scored ALL our recent goals tbf, along with Alexis. Wenger sold off all our goals in the January window. His plan to replace them was to bring in an expensive striker and then isolate him at the top of a tippy tap, sideways, backwards, no pace, no energy ballet of triangles. Wenger has developed Total Non-Football.