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Thread: Match Reaction v Brighton (away).

  1. #81
    Member I am invisible's Avatar
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    I loved Wenger as much as anyone - still do - but he really has tucked us up with the sky high player wages and the communal wage structure that he pushed so hard for. IMO, it's far more problematic than the general decline in standards and culture (both of which can be fixed with new personnel), because it completely hamstrings our ability to change anything. It's saddled us with a collection of bang-average players, on astronomical CL wages, who are basically unsellable because no one else wants them or can afford them.

    And the worst thing is the players know it! If they hadn't already worked it out before, then the disastrous attempts to oust Özil and Mustafi last summer would have proven it beyond doubt - not only did both moves utterly fail, but within a few weeks we'd had to recall both players to the side because we had no other choice! What a shocking message that sent out.

    If this absolute shower of a season has proven anything it's that you can't really trust or work with players who know that they are untouchable, and unfortunately that's pretty much all of our senior players these days. Auba at least seemed to have enough professional pride left in him to at least play for his move away, but the rest of them are so obviously just milking their fat Arsenal contracts for everything they can it's painful. Not one of them, Auba included, is really committed to this club, IMO, and it shows every time we face any kind of adversity. No one ever steps up - far easier to just throw a strop and get yourself dropped while you continue to get paid.

    Seriously, this season is done. We're not getting anything else out of our senior players now - they've already mentally checked-out and are now in full self-preservation mode, looking for moves. Whatever little bit of unity and pride we'd managed to restore when Arteta first took over has been completely wiped out by Covid-19. When most of your players only care about their salary and their contracts, and those contracts are then threatened, then that's it! You've lost them. There's nothing else commanding their loyalty or their professionalism.

    The one good thing that might come out of this mess, if we can somehow limp through these last few games, is that it might accelerate a few departures. If club revenue all across Europe has nose-dived, then maybe the days of fat signing-on fees from free transfers are over (at least for the foreseeable), and that might make a few of our players question whether it's worth hanging around for another year, or whether they might be better off pushing for a move now, while they still have an extra year of youth to offer?

  2. #82
    Administrator Letters's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aubameyang's Wang View Post
    Why do you still keep bringing this up?

    I get your point, but it's over and done with and we are where we are.
    It's part of an ongoing conversation, the start of which was me being somewhat baffled about how we are contriving to be quite this terrible this season.

  3. #83
    ***** Niall_Quinn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
    It's part of an ongoing conversation, the start of which was me being somewhat baffled about how we are contriving to be quite this terrible this season.
    And then going into one when you were reminded all of this was easily predicted long ago.
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  4. #84
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    are things so bad, positionally yes but we lost 10 last year and we have lost 8 this year. only 3 teams have lost fewer than us. So its fine margins between drawing and winning. The Wenger v the next managers, obviously we cant prove had we stuck with Wenger where we would be, it was right for him to go as I doubt had he stayed we would be any better off than we are now. The atmosphere (pre Covid) would have been even more toxic.

    I do think a Benitez manager might have been better, not in quality of football but with organisation and structure. the players would know what sort of manager he was and understand that. With Arteta what sort of manager is he, its a huge job for your first managerial role. I do think you give him to the end of next season unless we are relegation candidates and take stock then.

    Maybe without European football might help, we wont be playing catch up by playing Thursday then Sunday.

  5. #85
    MOe Marc Overmars's Avatar
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    Mari is out for 3 months. What is it with our loan signings? They're always bloody useless in one way or another.

    Sounds like he will be made a permanent signing though.

  6. #86
    Resident Liverpool Fan Shaqiri Is Boss's Avatar
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    Martinelli has injured his knee and is out for months as well.

    If it's any consolation, it looks like Luiz is signing a new deal...

  7. #87
    MOe Marc Overmars's Avatar
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    Yep, Martinelli is fucked too.

    This season could not be more of a pile of steaming hot garbage if it tried.

  8. #88
    Administrator Letters's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn View Post
    And then going into one when you were reminded all of this was easily predicted long ago.
    You literally predicted the opposite and now are just pretending you didn't, even though I found the quotes where you did

  9. #89
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bumble View Post
    are things so bad, positionally yes but we lost 10 last year and we have lost 8 this year. only 3 teams have lost fewer than us. So its fine margins between drawing and winning.
    Yeah, the issue is all the draws. We lost a lot of games in Wenger's last season but we won a fair number too and it all added up to a bad season but not this bad. Personally, I don't think we'd be this bad under Wenger simply because we never were and while it's tempting to compare his last 2 seasons and draw a line which continues downwards it should be remembered that you could do that between 2004-6, that line didn't continue downwards, I don't think this one would have either, we will never know.
    But I think we can all agree he wasn't going to improve things and he stayed too long. If nothing else we now have a manager who doesn't have Wenger's legacy and therefore is easier to get rid off if things don't get better.
    Personally, I don't think this squad is as bad as the result suggest, we seem to be significantly less than the sum of our parts. I'm not convinced Arteta is the right person to fix that but I'd give him another season to find out.

    Maybe without European football might help, we wont be playing catch up by playing Thursday then Sunday.
    Agreed. I think we maybe need a season out of Europe, other big clubs have managed it.

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