Is Wenger stale or is it us?

[Power n Glory]

Teams are getting better and wiser. They know how to neutralise us but we still haven't quite worked out how to beat stubborn defensive teams.

There is little point in mentioning Chelsea and City because their success has very little to do our problems as a club. Wenger can't reproduce that championship winning form and it's there in the stats and you can see it as the season unfolds where we constantly buckle when top of the table.

To contend for the title and have a true chance of winning, you've got to be able to pick up between 80 - 90 points. Our last league title, we picked up 90 points. Title before that 87 points.

Here are our points break down over the past four seasons.

2011-12
70 points

2010 - 2011
68 points

2009 - 2010
75 points

2008 - 2009
72 points

We're not even close to reproducing Championship winning form. City won the league with 89 points last season, Man U 80 points, before that Chelsea with 86 points....we have dropped a level and there is no point in focussing on Chelsea and City. It's not as if they are getting an outrageous amount of points each season and teams have got to get 90 - 100 points to win the league like what's now happening in La Liga. Barca and Real are having to hit 100 points in the high 90s to win the league. 4/5 years ago, the numbers were similar to the Prem, 85 points could win you the league but that isn't the case any more. Barca and Real are two super teams and have pushed the threshold even higher and it's impossible for other teams to reach that. If that were happening over here with City, Chelsea and Man United, then I'd agree and say it's impossible for us to compete with that.

In Wenger's first season, he managed to win the league with 79 points, we can't even hit that number any more. The one season where we've hit over 80 points was the Eduardo leg break season and we had 83 points. We dropped some silly points and Man U won the league with 87 points. We need to focus on our own game because we're not even close to producing what we used to as a team. There is an argument to suggest that the lower teams are getting better, but I just think they've gotten better at playing against us because none of the other teams struggle as badly as we do and there hasn't been a single English team that has won the UEFA Europa Cup in recent history.

We're not producing great sides any more and it's combination of Wenger being stubborn, tactically weak, our youth and transfer policy and teams knowing what tactics to play against us. But the focus has to come away from teams like City and Chelsea. They're not the issue.

[AKBapologist]

That's a pretty dumb way of looking at it. Especially when you look at the start we had and the causes to it.

We were lucky to finish with 70pts tbh.

sent from a fone

[Joker]

You can't just discount the start of the season, especially as the causes were self inflicted (poor planning from Wenger/the board). And anyway, that is just last season, what about all the others where we've failed to reach the 80+ mark?

[Power n Glory]

That's a pretty dumb way of looking at it. Especially when you look at the start we had and the causes to it.

We were lucky to finish with 70pts tbh.

sent from a fone

Why in the world would you think I'm only talking one season? Also, the fact that we had a bad start to the season doesn't make a difference. The overall point is, we're failing to reproduce championship form and it has very little to do with Chelsea or City's spending policy.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Why in the world would you think I'm only talking one season? Also, the fact that we had a bad start to the season doesn't make a difference. The overall point is, we're failing to reproduce championship form and it has very little to do with Chelsea or City's spending policy.

I don't agree with that - certainly not in the case of City. Nearly half our fucking first team is there and our star striker seems to want to be there or somewjere like it as well.

[Power n Glory]

If it's not City or Chelsea, it would be the biggest Spanish clubs in Barca and Real. Rich clubs have always been a problem for us and we've never been able to compete with the wages other clubs offer. Players are leaving even quicker now because of our policies and that's partly due to the Emirates move.

[Ollie the Optimist]

no its not us that have stale nor the manger. in the old days you used to sign for a club to fight hard for success and work hard, nowadays there is a easy way to do that, you jsut rock up, earn millions and win a billion trophies without doing much. if players want an easy life then we are fucked and actually so is football

[Cripps_orig]

Football has changed

Wenger isnt able to and is being left behind and is taking Arsenal with him

So id say Wenger

[Xhaka Can’t]

If it's not City or Chelsea, it would be the biggest Spanish clubs in Barca and Real. Rich clubs have always been a problem for us and we've never been able to compete with the wages other clubs offer. Players are leaving even quicker now because of our policies and that's partly due to the Emirates move.

I disagree with the statement that we can't compete with those wages. We fricken well can. We could have a spine of 3-4 superstars on pretty monstrous wages if we weren't paying ridiculous amounts to the likes of Bendtner, Denilson, et al - and the are ridiculous and unearned amounts which is why no one else in the entire world will take them off our hands with the contracts they are on.

Our problem is not our wage bill, it is how the wages within it are distibuted amongst the team.

[Mr. Lahey]

^^ yes this is very true. whoever signed these players to those ridiculous contracts should be fired on the spot. millions of pounds have been wasted on garbage over the years and we arent talking about 1 or 2 contracts we can come up with a laundry list of shite that the club has spent soo much money on. there is only one man who choses to sign these players and he needs to be held accountable for this.