Arsene's views on doping

[katiearsenal101]

Why do you think that Wenger is making such a big song and dance about doping in Football? http://realsport101.com/arsene-wenger-better-drug-testing-needed/

I do agree its bad, but he seems to be on some personal crusade?!

[tpyo]

One of the Zagreb players has been banned for four years after it was revealed he was packing in the game where they beat us. So its pretty self-explanatory IMO.

[Letters]

I imagine he was asked and he said what he thought. He was probably asked because of that previous result.

[fari]

shame that the previous result stood though...ijs

[selassie]

shame that the previous result stood though...ijs

It's just a convenient excuse for Wenger to hide behind, the rules are the rules, 2 players and a team is disqualified from CL.

What is a shame is that Wenger went into that first few games with our reserve goalie and a bunch of backups!

[Letters]

Excuse or not, it doesn't mean he's wrong. Why do some people always look for ANY angle to attack Wenger? Regardless of whether they actually agree with him or not.

[selassie]

Excuse or not, it doesn't mean he's wrong. Why do some people always look for ANY angle to attack Wenger? Regardless of whether they actually agree with him or not.

It's his opinion and it differs from the current rules set out by UEFA. Also...he wouldn't be saying any of this if he would have prepared the team properly by at least selecting his best players which would have given us a better chance of winning.

Do you honestly think he'd be bringing this up if we won that game?

I'm not looking at angles to attack Wenger, far from it, I'll call out stuff like this though because whilst Wenger is entitled to his opinion on this subject, the real problem was him throwing away the first few games by unneccessarily messing with the team!

[IBK]

Excuse or not, it doesn't mean he's wrong. Why do some people always look for ANY angle to attack Wenger? Regardless of whether they actually agree with him or not.

Because its difficult to sympathise with a manager pontificating on issues that he is indirectly saying put his team at a disadvantage, when at the same time he ignores some of the obvious issues within his own control that hamper us even more. I would far prefer he concentrated on addressing our lamentable and debilitating injury situation than getting side tracked on a doping debate that he cannot do anything about - which by the way Wenger himself chose to introduce in the first place.

[Letters]

Because its difficult to sympathise with a manager pontificating on issues that he is indirectly saying put his team at a disadvantage, when at the same time he ignores some of the obvious issues within his own control that hamper us even more.
Those two things are completely unrelated.
He was asked for an opinion, he gave it. It's a perfectly reasonable opinion whether it affected our results or not.

[Letters]

Do you honestly think he'd be bringing this up if we won that game?

I don't know who brought it up, I'm thinking more likely the press.
But that doesn't mean that's WHY he has that opinion or that he's wrong.

[selassie]

I don't know who brought it up, I'm thinking more likely the press.
But that doesn't mean that's WHY he has that opinion or that he's wrong.

He brought it up, he's been banging on about it for the past few weeks, the FA have got involved too as they want him to clarify his comments.

I'm not saying he's wrong, it's his opinion albeit one that differs from the rules. So do you think he would have brought it up if we had beaten Dinamo Zagreb?

IBK nailed it, Wenger has much bigger issues to deal with internally IMO.

[selassie]

Because its difficult to sympathise with a manager pontificating on issues that he is indirectly saying put his team at a disadvantage, when at the same time he ignores some of the obvious issues within his own control that hamper us even more. I would far prefer he concentrated on addressing our lamentable and debilitating injury situation than getting side tracked on a doping debate that he cannot do anything about - which by the way Wenger himself chose to introduce in the first place.

:gp:

[Özim]

Wenger's got an opinion on everything but generally it's thinly veiled dig as something which affected his team in some way, it's a shame he doesn't spend his focussing more on the important things like sorting out the problems with his team/squad, if he did we might have a team with more trophies under it's belt.

[Letters]

So do you think he would have brought it up if we had beaten Dinamo Zagreb?
Maybe not but so what? What he's said is right and it's just ludicrous to think that him banging on about this (if he is) in any way affects his management of the club.

[Bumble]

He is right that if one person is found doping then the club should be punished but they aren't the rules at the moment. However, I do find it odd that no one else is coming out and saying anything. Surely other managers have their suspicions. It cant just be Wenger.

[selassie]

Maybe not but so what? What he's said is right and it's just ludicrous to think that him banging on about this (if he is) in any way affects his management of the club.

Well considering I've been directly linking his doping grievance to the defeat against Zagreb which I think is clearly linked to his stance on doping and the timing of his comments...pre-Zagreb return match.

Wenger knows what he is doing here, he's just being clever about it!

He has a point, I'm not saying he's being irritational but it is just his opinion, he has a right to say what he wants but I raised my annoyance with it mainly due to the circumstances which attributed to our defeat to Dinamo Zagreb...get the house in order first before looking for problems elsewhere.

[Özim]

Because its difficult to sympathise with a manager pontificating on issues that he is indirectly saying put his team at a disadvantage, when at the same time he ignores some of the obvious issues within his own control that hamper us even more. I would far prefer he concentrated on addressing our lamentable and debilitating injury situation than getting side tracked on a doping debate that he cannot do anything about - which by the way Wenger himself chose to introduce in the first place.

Spot on, drugs in sport is wrong but at the end of the day we have far superior player and far superior resources and financial power than Zagreb so should have beaten them at a canter. This one player having been found out hasn't changed the result, what caused it was complacency and lack of preparation.

This isn't athletics where it's one man against the other, it's a team game.

[Özim]

Maybe not but so what? What he's said is right and it's just ludicrous to think that him banging on about this (if he is) in any way affects his management of the club.

The man is full of excuses, whether he's up front about it or he sugar coats them, the problem is rather than address the issues in front of him he uses his weird logic to rationalise in his head why it's not the lack of depth, preparation or signings which lead to poor performances and defeats.

Time and time again we see the same issues cropping up and time and time again he does nothing about them and come a poor run he has his ready made excuses, like bad luck, players taking drugs, clubs spending too much, poor refereeing etc, it's just boring and tiresome, if he used his resources better we'd more often than not, not be in those situations.

[Letters]

Cheer up, we might lose the next one :good:

[selassie]

The man is full of excuses, whether he's up front about it or he sugar coats them, the problem is rather than address the issues in front of him he uses his weird logic to rationalise in his head why it's not the lack of depth, preparation or signings which lead to poor performances and defeats.

Time and time again we see the same issues cropping up and time and time again he does nothing about them and come a poor run he has his ready made excuses, like bad luck, players taking drugs, clubs spending too much, poor refereeing etc, it's just boring and tiresome, if he used his resources better we'd more often than not, not be in those situations.

Yep :gp:

[Özim]

Cheer up, we might lose the next one :good:

Is that your best line?

[Letters]

It's just funny how annoyed you always seem when we're doing well or get a good result :)

[Kano]

I don’t see the problem myself. In fact, at least someone speaks up about what must definitely be going on in football. He mentioned it in the L’Equipe interview last month during the international break and of course the media have asked him more subsequently. I don’t see how answering a few questions distracts him from his job as a football manager in the slightest. It’s not as if he is waging a full-on campaign to change drug testing in football. He answers a few questions and returns to work.

UEFA is a fraudulent, corrupt organisation, no doubt terrified of the consequences of finding out there may be a wider problem of doping in the game so at least someone is calling them out about it. I don’t think it matters whether we won or lost the game against Dinamo in terms of Wenger speaking up or not, one thing we all know is that he is a purest and equally, he is right to complain that a team fielding a player convicted of taking performance enhancing drugs should have the result handed to their opponents. Rules maybe rules but that doesn't stop people contesting whether they are right or not. There should be absolute zero tolerance, despite whatever pointless rule is currently in place under UEFA guidance.

[Özim]

It's strange cos you claim I don't post when we win and yet you think it's funny that I'm annoyed when we win.

I'm not annoyed by the way, but after years of the same thing I'm able to spot the obvious i.e repetitive patterns and a manager in total denial.

My views on Wenger don't change, simply because he never changes even when logic dictates he should.

[selassie]

It's just funny how annoyed you always seem when we're doing well or get a good result :)

Have you read the match reaction thread? ;)

I am happy FWIW. :)

[Letters]

Have you read the match reaction thread? ;)
Not you :lol:

[Letters]

It's strange cos you claim I don't post when we win and yet you think it's funny that I'm annoyed when we win.

I'm not annoyed by the way, but after years of the same thing I'm able to spot the obvious i.e repetitive patterns and a manager in total denial.

My views on Wenger don't change, simply because he never changes even when logic dictates he should.

Yep, nothing has changed.

Just ignore the 2 Cups, the signing of Ozil, Sanchez and Cech - 3 world class players that look to finally making us properly competitive - and results in games like Utd away in the Cup last year and at home in the league this. Would we have got those results a few years back? Not a chance. Doubts will clearly remain until we do properly compete but right now we're in touch and for now that's all you can ask. The next few games and particularly the City one will tell us something about our credentials but we haven't got off the bad start you and others were predicting early season.

[selassie]

Not you :lol:

:d

Edited to add: Have we scared off KatieArsenal101 the thread starter?!

[Letters]

:d

Edited to add: Have we scared off KatieArsenal101 the thread starter?!

Probably :ninja:

[GP]

Why do you think that Wenger is making such a big song and dance about doping in Football? http://realsport101.com/arsene-wenger-better-drug-testing-needed/

I do agree its bad, but he seems to be on some personal crusade?!

wft is realsport101.com?

[Xhaka Can’t]

It's his opinion and it differs from the current rules set out by UEFA. Also...he wouldn't be saying any of this if he would have prepared the team properly by at least selecting his best players which would have given us a better chance of winning.

Do you honestly think he'd be bringing this up if we won that game?

I'm not looking at angles to attack Wenger, far from it, I'll call out stuff like this though because whilst Wenger is entitled to his opinion on this subject, the real problem was him throwing away the first few games by unneccessarily messing with the team!

I honestly think he was answering a question honestly.

[tpyo]

Wenger's got an opinion on everything but generally it's thinly veiled dig as something which affected his team in some way,

I'd argue that every single one of us has views that are based on stuff like this. Our conscious often tries to play it off as something logical but its always something close to home that spurs us into this way of thinking. I think its unfair to single this out as a flaw with Wenger when all humans suffer it.

[Ollie the Optimist]

He brought it up, he's been banging on about it for the past few weeks, the FA have got involved too as they want him to clarify his comments.

I'm not saying he's wrong, it's his opinion albeit one that differs from the rules. So do you think he would have brought it up if we had beaten Dinamo Zagreb?

IBK nailed it, Wenger has much bigger issues to deal with internally IMO.


thats because there has been a huge doping scandal in recent weeks involving Russia, so naturally he was asked by the press. He is right though, and he has brought it up before when we were winning. If a team has a player who dopes and takes performance enhancing drugs, then the club should be disqualified for that match. They have gained an unfair advantage because of their players has cheated.

[LDG]

Football is clean man.

Nothing wrong with it.

Billions invested in it, why would there by doping, fraud or any kind of criminal activity.

Wenger may be a twat when it comes to match day sometimes, but at least you knownhe's not corrupt. He genuinely cares about sport. I do wonder sometimes the reason we get comparitively so many muscular injuries compared to other clubs at the top level. Probs down to the way we train, but if you're banging steriods then you probably have less chance of an Arteta strain than we do.

[IBK]

Those two things are completely unrelated.
He was asked for an opinion, he gave it. It's a perfectly reasonable opinion whether it affected our results or not.

Work out what you are saying. You pointed out that just because Wenger's doping comments might seem like an excuse this didn't mean he was wrong, and suggested that people were just looking at this for an angle to attack Wenger.

I made the point that some people are jumping on this - because reasonable or not they want him to concentrate on the more serious issues that are disadvantaging our team rather than going off on a tangent. I am debating neither whether he was asked to comment, nor whether his comment is reasonable, and I frankly couldn't care less.

[IBK]

I don’t see the problem myself. In fact, at least someone speaks up about what must definitely be going on in football. He mentioned it in the L’Equipe interview last month during the international break and of course the media have asked him more subsequently. I don’t see how answering a few questions distracts him from his job as a football manager in the slightest. It’s not as if he is waging a full-on campaign to change drug testing in football. He answers a few questions and returns to work.

UEFA is a fraudulent, corrupt organisation, no doubt terrified of the consequences of finding out there may be a wider problem of doping in the game so at least someone is calling them out about it. I don’t think it matters whether we won or lost the game against Dinamo in terms of Wenger speaking up or not, one thing we all know is that he is a purest and equally, he is right to complain that a team fielding a player convicted of taking performance enhancing drugs should have the result handed to their opponents. Rules maybe rules but that doesn't stop people contesting whether they are right or not. There should be absolute zero tolerance, despite whatever pointless rule is currently in place under UEFA guidance.

I don't think it is a problem, really - just that most fans would rather the manager looked at more serious issues with his team closer to home. Bottom line is that noone else is much interested in Wenger's purist commitments - they are far more interested in winning. FWIW there is clearly doping in football. Just as clearly there is no appetite whatsoever within the game to do anything about it. Sad - but there's a hell of a lot else about the game that is deeply wrong, yet it is still, and will remain, the most lucrative money spinner there is.

[selassie]

I honestly think he was answering a question honestly.

I'm pretty sure Wenger made the statement, I don't think he was asked any question, he came out and said doping is present in Football.

[selassie]

thats because there has been a huge doping scandal in recent weeks involving Russia, so naturally he was asked by the press. He is right though, and he has brought it up before when we were winning. If a team has a player who dopes and takes performance enhancing drugs, then the club should be disqualified for that match. They have gained an unfair advantage because of their players has cheated.

Sure. It's not a matter of whether he is right or wrong because the rules clearly state that if 2 players are found guilty then a team is disqualified. They are the rules. Until many more managers join Wenger in voicing their concerns then the rules will stay as is. He's just voicing his opinion.

[Kano]

I don't think it is a problem, really - just that most fans would rather the manager looked at more serious issues with his team closer to home. Bottom line is that noone else is much interested in Wenger's purist commitments - they are far more interested in winning. FWIW there is clearly doping in football. Just as clearly there is no appetite whatsoever within the game to do anything about it. Sad - but there's a hell of a lot else about the game that is deeply wrong, yet it is still, and will remain, the most lucrative money spinner there is.

I honestly don't believe that he isn't looking at the issues in the team - whether or not he is good enough or open minded enough to change them is the larger questions I think. I don't think his answering of questions on a subject is a distraction from that in the slightest as they occur during a scheduled press conference, not in the middle of this daily work routine. I for one am glad that at least one manager speaks up about it occassionally.

[Letters]

Work out what you are saying. You pointed out that just because Wenger's doping comments might seem like an excuse this didn't mean he was wrong, and suggested that people were just looking at this for an angle to attack Wenger.

I made the point that some people are jumping on this - because reasonable or not they want him to concentrate on the more serious issues that are disadvantaging our team rather than going off on a tangent. I am debating neither whether he was asked to comment, nor whether his comment is reasonable, and I frankly couldn't care less.
Are you suggesting that making these comments shows a serious lack of focus?
I'm sure he goes out all the time and talks to friends about things other than how to address our injury concerns, we're surely not suggesting that he should STFU and get back to sorting out our problems.
If he was tirelessly campaigning on this issue to the detriment of managing Arsenal then I'd see the point, but offering this opinion (whether sought or not) in no way impacts his management of the club.

[IBK]

Are you suggesting that making these comments shows a serious lack of focus?
I'm sure he goes out all the time and talks to friends about things other than how to address our injury concerns, we're surely not suggesting that he should STFU and get back to sorting out our problems.
If he was tirelessly campaigning on this issue to the detriment of managing Arsenal then I'd see the point, but offering this opinion (whether sought or not) in no way impacts his management of the club.

No. I am making a simple point. Fans have no engagement with this issue because there are more serious impediments to our success ATM.

[Letters]

OK. I think it's fair to say you're not that bothered about this.
But the whole "I'd rather he focus on fixing our problems" thing...implies people think that he's tirelessly campaigning about this and it's distracting him from his day job, I really don't think that's so.
In happier times no-one would have even thought to comment on this.

[fakeyank]

This thread ==> :rose:

[Xhaka Can’t]

I'm pretty sure Wenger made the statement, I don't think he was asked any question, he came out and said doping is present in Football.

It's possible - but I do agree completely with it. And lets face it, he is well qualified to make it.

[Xhaka Can’t]

This thread ==> :rose:

Your face ==> :rose:

[GP]

This thread is fucking bizarre.


Like my face.

[IBK]

OK. I think it's fair to say you're not that bothered about this.
But the whole "I'd rather he focus on fixing our problems" thing...implies people think that he's tirelessly campaigning about this and it's distracting him from his day job, I really don't think that's so.
In happier times no-one would have even thought to comment on this.

Actually - I don't think Wenger is that distracted by the doping thing. It might just be a personal preference, but I would like to see him held to account for the more obvious failings with his team than for him to pontificate about issues that are tangential, really.