Cesc

[Letters]

best manager in the league tbh

No. 2nd best.

[cricketsi]

Really? ManYoo, City, Chelsea, Barca and Real all have far bigger resources. That's just off the top of my head. We're always up there in the 'rich list' of clubs but that's misleading. City aren't up there at all on that list but you know as well as I that we can't compete with them in the transfer market. None of the above have new stadia to pay off and some of the above are bankrolled in ways we're not and I hope we never are.

We're 3rd. The only teams ahead of us are Utd who we pretty much all acknowledge (through gritted teeth) have the best manager around and City who have spent their way there. We've above all the other sides plenty of whom have spent a lot more than us in an attempt to dislodge us and failed repeatedly. If Wenger is incompetent then what does that say about their managers? Do you actually think it's easy to finish top 4 every single season for as long as Wenger has? Fergie is the only other manager who has done it in England. That tells you something.

I'm happy with being top 3 in England in the sense that it's a lot better than we've been for most of Arsenal's history. I was looking back, from the 50's to the 80's we won 7 trophies. 7. In 40 years. And some of those were a long way apart, we won nothing at all in the 60s, for example. Some people on here have the idea that Arsenal have always been a successful club and won lots of trophies, historically that isn't so. Where I'm less happy is that given that we are at that level we should be winning trophies and that is where we have failed. Wenger has failed. I've explained at length elsewhere why I'm a bit more optimistic about this current lot so we'll see. Let's face it Wenger is going nowhere so you might as well get behind him and he deserves respect for exactly the same reason you say Cesc does - he's giving his best for the club (even if you think that best isn't good enough) and if he is being too restrained in the transfer market I genuinely believe that is at least in part because he's looking longer term. Maybe in part it's because of his principles and doing things the 'right way' which I in some ways admire but also think he needs to be a little more pragmatic. I don't for one minute think he's doing it just to line his own pockets though.

It's easy to lose perspective when we feel we could be doing better, but to call Arsene Wenger incompetent is clearly nonsensical.

[Coney]

Incompetent would mean he is not doing what he has been tasked to do. If his brief from the board was to keep the Arsenal in the CL every year, not break the bank while we get the new stadium out of the way, then he has been extremely competent, even if we fans have been frustrated with the resultant year-after-year of almosts and not-quites.

Is he the best manager in the league? Hard to say. If his brief was to only to target winning trophies, then clearly he is merely 2nd as Letters says.

If Ferguson had the brief to keep manu in the CL every year AND finance a new stadium from scratch while taking care not to go bust or blow the cash flow, could he have done it? We'll never know.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Yes, he is incompetent. I said that in the reply above your post. I look at being 3rd with the resources he has at hand, as a failure. I look at Arsenal as having everything to be the top 3 clubs in world football.. u r happy with top 3 in England and scrapping for CL places. From your perspective, he is very competent.. for me, he is a failure. Depends on perspective.
I hope I never change my perspective and be satiated with being 2nd, 3rd or 4th best. I know it entails me a lot more heartache compared to being content seeing my team lose almost a 3rd of the games in the season and thinking we did something alright, just because the other teams around my team were failures.

Thats the most retarded thing ever posted on GW since you were one of the people who thought we not even finish in the top 4 with the resources we had. way to move the goal posts to suit your argument eh.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Really? ManYoo, City, Chelsea, Barca and Real all have far bigger resources. That's just off the top of my head. We're always up there in the 'rich list' of clubs but that's misleading. City aren't up there at all on that list but you know as well as I that we can't compete with them in the transfer market. None of the above have new stadia to pay off and some of the above are bankrolled in ways we're not and I hope we never are.

We're 3rd. The only teams ahead of us are Utd who we pretty much all acknowledge (through gritted teeth) have the best manager around and City who have spent their way there. We've above all the other sides plenty of whom have spent a lot more than us in an attempt to dislodge us and failed repeatedly. If Wenger is incompetent then what does that say about their managers? Do you actually think it's easy to finish top 4 every single season for as long as Wenger has? Fergie is the only other manager who has done it in England. That tells you something.

I'm happy with being top 3 in England in the sense that it's a lot better than we've been for most of Arsenal's history. I was looking back, from the 50's to the 80's we won 7 trophies. 7. In 40 years. And some of those were a long way apart, we won nothing at all in the 60s, for example. Some people on here have the idea that Arsenal have always been a successful club and won lots of trophies, historically that isn't so. Where I'm less happy is that given that we are at that level we should be winning trophies and that is where we have failed. Wenger has failed. I've explained at length elsewhere why I'm a bit more optimistic about this current lot so we'll see. Let's face it Wenger is going nowhere so you might as well get behind him and he deserves respect for exactly the same reason you say Cesc does - he's giving his best for the club (even if you think that best isn't good enough) and if he is being too restrained in the transfer market I genuinely believe that is at least in part because he's looking longer term. Maybe in part it's because of his principles and doing things the 'right way' which I in some ways admire but also think he needs to be a little more pragmatic. I don't for one minute think he's doing it just to line his own pockets though.

Brilliant postt letters from ya as per usual.

[latewinner]

Really? ManYoo, City, Chelsea, Barca and Real all have far bigger resources. That's just off the top of my head. We're always up there in the 'rich list' of clubs but that's misleading. City aren't up there at all on that list but you know as well as I that we can't compete with them in the transfer market. None of the above have new stadia to pay off and some of the above are bankrolled in ways we're not and I hope we never are.

We're 3rd. The only teams ahead of us are Utd who we pretty much all acknowledge (through gritted teeth) have the best manager around and City who have spent their way there. We've above all the other sides plenty of whom have spent a lot more than us in an attempt to dislodge us and failed repeatedly. If Wenger is incompetent then what does that say about their managers? Do you actually think it's easy to finish top 4 every single season for as long as Wenger has? Fergie is the only other manager who has done it in England. That tells you something.

I'm happy with being top 3 in England in the sense that it's a lot better than we've been for most of Arsenal's history. I was looking back, from the 50's to the 80's we won 7 trophies. 7. In 40 years. And some of those were a long way apart, we won nothing at all in the 60s, for example. Some people on here have the idea that Arsenal have always been a successful club and won lots of trophies, historically that isn't so. Where I'm less happy is that given that we are at that level we should be winning trophies and that is where we have failed. Wenger has failed. I've explained at length elsewhere why I'm a bit more optimistic about this current lot so we'll see. Let's face it Wenger is going nowhere so you might as well get behind him and he deserves respect for exactly the same reason you say Cesc does - he's giving his best for the club (even if you think that best isn't good enough) and if he is being too restrained in the transfer market I genuinely believe that is at least in part because he's looking longer term. Maybe in part it's because of his principles and doing things the 'right way' which I in some ways admire but also think he needs to be a little more pragmatic. I don't for one minute think he's doing it just to line his own pockets though.

So Man United fans should use this excuse when they stop winning trophies - Before Fergie came we hadn't won the league in 26 years we should remember that. Forget the success we enjoyed for 20 years and that we're the wealthiest and most popular club in the world and remember we used to be shit in the 70s and 80's we can't complain we don't win trophies now. Despite clearly underutilizing our resources as well as the manager making a lot of basic management mistakes for years and years . If he tells us settling for 4th and no trophy every year is good enough because you didn't have it so good before I came we have to like it and lump it.

[latewinner]

Thats the most retarded thing ever posted on GW since you were one of the people who thought we not even finish in the top 4 with the resources we had. way to move the goal posts to suit your argument eh.

Are u sure he didn't say with the squad we have

[Olivier's xmas twist]

So Man United fans should use this excuse when they stop winning trophies - Before Fergie came we hadn't won the league in 26 years we should remember that. Forget the success we enjoyed for 20 years and that we're the wealthiest and most popular club in the world and remember we used to be shit in the 70s and 80's we can't complain we don't win trophies now. Despite clearly underutilizing our resources as well as the manager making a lot of basic management mistakes for years and years . If he tells us settling for 4th and no trophy every year is good enough because you didn't have it so good before I came we have to like it and lump it.

So your a manc fan now?

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Are u sure he didn't say with the squad we have

He says a lot of things. but i sure he'll say the sqaud to help his argument.

[latewinner]

So your a manc fan now?

No but the we used to be bad excuse has no relation to where we are now