Wenger on contract renewals

It's so important that we sign our best players. Not only players like RVP but Walcott and Song etc. So glad that Vermaelen signed a new one.

To be honest given the increasing fitness levels in the game today, most players should be good enough to play into their early 30's, providing they take care of themselves. Always thought Wengers places too much emphasis on players who hit 29.

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As far as the old chestnut posted by other GWers of the board not wanting trophies, just a top 4 place - that is utter crap. While we do need to try and finish in the top four to get the extra revenue, if we do not win the occasional trophy, then that will also cost the club financially in the long run as the support drops away.

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The board that steered us from champions to also-rans has effectively gone, there is no long term for them. They've had their cash, sacks of it. The fact they are still hanging around like a stink doesn't mean their own agendas haven't been executed - and very successfully from their point of view.

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Originally Posted by Syntos Claus

1: I don't think 'money' is the reason we've missed out on trophies. I don't think cup trophies are a good indicator of how well a team is doing. I think that only really is determined by league position. But we have had plenty of opportunities to lift a cup/league and the players in the squad have been good enough ability-wise...but the mentality has been fragile and that's the reason we've missed out. We might've nabbed a couple of trophies with a bit more luck too but I don't think a lack of investment is the main reason.

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IMO Wenger's biggest achievement in the last 6 years is keeping us relatively competitive while all around us spend far more than we either can or want to. Despite that we've been in at least 2 title races and 2 cup finals. But Wenger's biggest failing in the last 6 years is building a squad technically good enough to win trophies but mentally so weak that they crumble when it matters and fail to finish the job. It's a maddening combination and the frustrating thing is it wouldn't have taken huge amounts of money to fix. I think the players we 'panic bought' at the end of the transfer window may have brought us a bit of much needed steel, there does seem to be a difference in the team right now and I'm encouraged that in several games in our good run we've had setbacks - either gone behind or been pegged back - and we've gone on to win those games. There seems to be more fight about the team. It may not yield a trophy but with City blundering their way into the equation trophies are harder to come by these days. IMO this lot will at least try their best and if we end up trophyless again it won't be for want of effort. That's good enough for me.

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Originally Posted by Syntos Claus

Subtle, Arsene.

He might not be at his ‘best’ at 29-33, he can still be fucking good. Particularly if that striker doesn’t really rely on pace and strength like a Drogba but more on intelligence and technique.

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in terms of letting players go at the right time, it's hard to find many mistakes

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

The board that steered us from champions to also-rans has effectively gone, there is no long term for them. They've had their cash, sacks of it. The fact they are still hanging around like a stink doesn't mean their own agendas haven't been executed - and very successfully from their point of view.

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Yes, but they'll still be looking for more - it's in their nature.

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Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz

in terms of letting players go at the right time, it's hard to find many mistakes

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Yeah - while money is not the only thing you need, you still need to maximise your return and sell while they have a value.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

To be fair we're doing just as well having had a mass clearout as we've done persuading players to hang on, we'll still probably finish 4th this year. And we'll still have the highest ticket prices in the world. There's a flaw in his philosophy IF it is his philosophy as opposed to his job description. Employees talk shit on behalf of their shy bosses all the time - in public at least. Few will say anything to upset those bosses. If Wenger is being paid £6mill a year to finish 4th, develop players and flog them for a profit then he's doing that job monotonously well. The question is, does he set his own job description? And if he does, we have to assume the board sees eye to eye with him. But in reality it's a lot more realistic to assume he's doing what he's told, just like any other employee.

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I agree with what Syn said, in that he is doing the boards will, and as such carrying out his part of the bargain.

I also believe that his "own" job description would have included winning shit. He wants to win trophies, he hates losing. Any fool can see that.

We'll never know, but I think, inside at least, he'll be wishing he had a few more quid to spend.

I get the need to sell these guys at the right time for financial reasons, but then there is an equal need to adequately replace them. I don't feel that happened and in some cases, attempts weren't even made to replace. I think Hleb was our only signing in the summer Vieira left. You can say Fabregas was already there to step in but we're talking about Patrick Vieira here, the spine and driving force behind the team for 8 years. We didn't buy a striker when Adebayor left, at that time he was the only reliable striker we had because RVP was inevitably dead most of the time.

The biggest problem was that the club didn't spend the money it generated, and when it did, they did the absolute bare minimum and that's where the frustration lies for me.

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Originally Posted by MOre Letters to Santa

I get the need to sell these guys at the right time for financial reasons, but then there is an equal need to adequately replace them.

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Exactly. While we need people coming up through the ranks, if they are not ready, we need to buy the occasional off-the-shelf and ready player. I think Wenger assumed the newbies where more advanced than they were - while their footballing skills might well have been there or there abouts, their resilience on the pitch was not so good. Now while you can deal with some of the players' heads going down and others in the team being around to pick them up, that's fine, but when there are practically no older wiser heads, then the team slides when things go wrong.

Anyway, I reckon we have known this for ages, Wenger has known this at least since August and I think the lesson has been learned. At least, I bloody well hope so.