Arsene's Perspective - Is this the main problem?

[selassie]

the club wasnt wrong to hand out the contracts as such, as the talent was/is there to fulfill it. however the crucial element missing is the mental strength to go that extra mile, something that i'm sure all within the club would have been achieved. so from their perspective at the time, it made sense to hand the money out.

people flippantly call the squad garbage when obviously they are not, they fell down with an element that the manager wasn't able to stabilize into the team.

No it didn't make sense to hand the money out, it's a ludicrous & flawed policy.

We've been handing out contracts to players who have achieved nothing. The whole point of a "reward" is that when a said player reaches a level or starts playing above a level he is expected that's when you hand out the incentives and juicy contracts.

I really don't understand the flawed business model that we operate, we seem happy to take a gamble on paying out for potential but seemingly will not pay the required going rate for quality, I'm talking about wages & transfer fees here.

Arsene has been gambling with the squad for far too long and it's backfiring on him now.

[IBK]

the club wasnt wrong to hand out the contracts as such, as the talent was/is there to fulfill it. however the crucial element missing is the mental strength to go that extra mile, something that i'm sure all within the club would have been achieved. so from their perspective at the time, it made sense to hand the money out.

people flippantly call the squad garbage when obviously they are not, they fell down with an element that the manager wasn't able to stabilize into the team.

I think that is a fair point - and I agree 100% that these players aren't garbage. But beyond mental strength - which I think is a factor that can be laid at the door of the first team - particularly the likes of Nasri; Arshavin; Clichy; Almunia; Diaby (the latter is a footballing simpleton, IMO) - too many of our players have not shown the form or ability that their renumeration demands. It concerns me that a manager as celebrated and experienced, and supposedly astute as Wenger, can have this much of a blind spot. Like I say. One or two players, maybe - no manager is perfect. But such a large group of underperformers...?

[IBK]

wasn't meant as a paraphrase of your post; merely suggesting what the root cause of our predicament might be, albeit much glibly.

Gotcha

[Özim]

the club wasnt wrong to hand out the contracts as such, as the talent was/is there to fulfill it. however the crucial element missing is the mental strength to go that extra mile, something that i'm sure all within the club would have been achieved. so from their perspective at the time, it made sense to hand the money out.

people flippantly call the squad garbage when obviously they are not, they fell down with an element that the manager wasn't able to stabilize into the team.

I disagree, I categorically think they were wrong. Many of these players were kids, who not only hadn't achieved a thing but also didn't display a great deal of natural ability, it made absolutely no sense to give them big paydays, they didn't cost a lot so even if they did walk away we lost very little, players like Nasri on the other hand cost us what 15 million and thus should be tied down if only to recoup as much as possible if he left.

This all comes down to Wenger's beliefs that everyone should earn similar amounts to keep squad harmony, in fact there is no harmony in the squad despite him constantly referring to great spirit, attitude and togetherness.

He seems totally deluded to me.

[Joker]

I really don't understand the flawed business model that we operate, we seem happy to take a gamble on paying out for potential but seemingly will not pay the required going rate for quality, I'm talking about wages & transfer fees here.

Yes that is seriously bizarre and extremely damaging IMO. I think it's true that Wenger is so involved in the youth project that I don't think he accepts how poor some of the former youth players like Denilson and Bendtner are. Therefore, given his own personal investment in their development, he sees what he wants to see, i.e. young players who are well on their way to fulfilling their (in Wenger's opinion) outstanding potential. If he could detach himself from the project and look at reality, he'd realise that these players are a lost cause, and rewarding them with long contracts worth so much money is totally unjustified, and does a lot of harm to the club in the long run.

[Marc Overmars]

Well, it's his best squad ever apparently, so it's no wonder he is comfortable with rewarding them handsomely.

[IBK]

No it didn't make sense to hand the money out, it's a ludicrous & flawed policy.

We've been handing out contracts to players who have achieved nothing. The whole point of a "reward" is that when a said player reaches a level or starts playing above a level he is expected that's when you hand out the incentives and juicy contracts.

I really don't understand the flawed business model that we operate, we seem happy to take a gamble on paying out for potential but seemingly will not pay the required going rate for quality, I'm talking about wages & transfer fees here.

Arsene has been gambling with the squad for far too long and it's backfiring on him now.

Or put another way, surely you reward players with long, lucrative contracts to ensure that they stay with the club - yet in too many instances, this clearly wasn't necessary, because noone was going to be coming after them anyway - or at least not with an offer that the club couldn't match if necessary. Yet the players that we needed to keep weren't tied into contracts...This is an indictment of the manager's judgment, surely?

[Joker]

Well, it's his best squad ever apparently, so it's no wonder he is comfortable with rewarding them handsomely.

LOL he's said this three years in a row:

2008:
http://arsenal.footballblog.co.uk/my...am-wenger.html

2009:
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report...wenger_1327686

2010:
http://www.tribalfootball.com/articl...t-ever-1263251

“If you look at the players who are not in there [against Tottenham on Saturday], plus [injured duo] Diaby and Vermaelen, we have too big a squad.

Jesus wept.

[IBK]

LOL he's said this three years in a row:

2008:
http://arsenal.footballblog.co.uk/my...am-wenger.html

2009:
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report...wenger_1327686

2010:
http://www.tribalfootball.com/articl...t-ever-1263251


Jesus wept.

Pretty much makes my point about perspective, doesn't it. The problem is that while it would be easy to say that this is just 'PR' talk - i think that Wenger has spouted so much of this he himself believes the hype!

[Kano]

I disagree, I categorically think they were wrong. Many of these players were kids, who not only hadn't achieved a thing but also didn't display a great deal of natural ability, it made absolutely no sense to give them big paydays, they didn't cost a lot so even if they did walk away we lost very little, players like Nasri on the other hand cost us what 15 million and thus should be tied down if only to recoup as much as possible if he left.

This all comes down to Wenger's beliefs that everyone should earn similar amounts to keep squad harmony, in fact there is no harmony in the squad despite him constantly referring to great spirit, attitude and togetherness.

He seems totally deluded to me.

i think you skipped the part where i said 'from their perspective'