Alexis Sanchez (official).

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I would like to see someone ask him why his record against the teams we compete against for the title is so consistently poor.

Post match after Liverpool would have been an opportune moment to ask that, but it became a Sanchez side show.


This season against Spurs, Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool (so far)

Wins 1 Draws 2 Losses 4

Last season against Spurs, Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool

Wins 2 Draws 5 Losses 3

14/15 season against Spurs, Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool

Wins 2 Draws 5 Losses 3

5 wins from 27? Jesus

Spurs have 7 from 28

United have 11 from 27

Liverpool have 11 from 29

City have 8 from 26

Chelsea have 10 from 28

[Niall_Quinn]

It's a bit of circus. Merts laughed at the question. I don't know how they expect him to answer that sort of question right in front of Wenger. Same goes for the question about his relationship with Sanchez and the rest of the players. It should be obvious to the reporters that they're not going to get the 'dirt' they're looking for from a press conference so just ask sensible questions. To me it looked like Merts was embarrassed to be sat there. I can kinda of understand Wenger's flippant response when I see stuff like this.

They're more looking for what isn't said, so they can create some sensational headline based on pure speculation. The questions are bait for traps. They don't expect answers, they want slip-ups and quotes that can be taken out of context. They are absolute scum.

[IBK]

How do you fight it? You can see he’s being vocal and trying to rally the troops but there is only so much you can do as one player. I remember the Liverpool CL game where Theo set up Ade with that amazing goal but we conceded within seconds of scoring and went out of the competition. The coaching staff won’t correct the mistakes, the manager has no problem with the lax attitude when it comes to defending and won’t buy the right personnel to help solve the issues.

Add to the fact that our top players must sacrifice top wages to be at a club like Arsenal even though they’re wanted by bigger clubs. It’s too much to ask a player to sacrifice that much for club and coach that won’t sacrifice their own earnings and wages for the good of the team. Players have that ambition to win everything shouldn’t be held back by this club. I can understand why players like Cesc, RVP, Henry and Sanchez went looking for the exit. It’s not as if Cesc, RVP and Henry weren’t at this club for years either. We as fans have spotted the flaws and pattern after witnessing the same cycle for over a decade, but can you imagine the players seeing it week in week out? A humiliating defeat one week and you arrive for training on Monday and it’s as if nothing has happened. Same routine, same drills, same philosophy with the manager making excuses about the loss and blaming the ref or pitch for our recent loss. It has to drive them mental.

I don’t admire them wanting to leave, but can only relate to the frustration. Up close and personal, I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to keep your cool in that sort of environment. Certain players, I wouldn’t want them to retire with regrets when they’re talented. It’s a short career and loyalty works both ways.

Like I say, I understand totally his desire to leave an under-performing club, but I cannot admire it. I guess I am thinking at a macro level rather than a specific one with Alexis, but it is inevitable that if the best players will only commit to clubs where silverware is more or less assured, then those below that level will not win honours. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How does one player fight against a culture of mediocrity. Well, its difficult, but a start is to do just that. Stay and fight. Most successful clubs have one or 2 committed players who drag the others by the scruff of the neck. Ours tend to leave.

[Niall_Quinn]

Like I say, I understand totally his desire to leave an under-performing club, but I cannot admire it. I guess I am thinking at a macro level rather than a specific one with Alexis, but it is inevitable that if the best players will only commit to clubs where silverware is more or less assured, then those below that level will not win honours. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I don't think that's the case with either Alexis of Ozil. Silverware was far from assured when they signed, looking at our record. Surely the aim was to bring is the next level of quality and that's what would bring the silverware? But when you have a manager that effectively sabotages the possibility of moving up a level you lose all possibility of silverware, which is a different thing to wanting assurances. There has to be at least hope. But there's none for as long as Wenger remains.

[Özim]

In the end though I don't think he's assembled that great a group of players, Sanchex and Ozil needed more quality players around them, some leaders as well perhaps, players who won't accept coming 2nd best, I think we're very overrated, other than Sanchez who is there (I'd include Ozil as he is very talented in the right setup).

Not being funny but the rest are decent enough players, but really nothing that special, the keepers are dodgy now, the defence is a shambles and even our best defender Koscielny is very error prone (Gibbs, Monreal, Mertersacker, Gabriel are rubbish and Mustafi doesn't look all that eith4r), the midfield is full of average players with a few with more potential is used correctly (Ox is decent, Coquelin, Xhaka, Elneny are not up to much) and Cazorla who is great but is getting on, up front other than Sanchez we're dogshite to be honest (Giroud - pass, Walcott one of hte worst signings of Wengers reign and that's saying something, Wellbeck is ok but we should be aiming for a level above) .

If I was a new manager I'd dismantle this squad and bring some quality new players in and try to get them playing counter attacking football as a team, it'll take time but this bunch have been brought up on tippy tappy nonsense, the sooner we get rid of that the better and that will involve a squad overhaul IMO.

Overall this is one of the worst Arsenal teams I've seen, there is some talent there but absolutely no drive and desire, I just think we need a massive clearout and some new players brought in with the manager, bring in some fresh talent, with hunger who haven't been programmed to tap the ball 5 yards all their life and who aren't scared to shoot and can perhaps cross for a change, we do the basics so badly it's untrue.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think the worst squad we had under Wenger was probably 11/12

Fabregas and Nasri gone

Really even with Van Persie we overachieved coming from 7 points after 7 games to get to third, but of course it was Wenger's fault we got in that position.

All defenders can be error prone, the problem with the defence is more the system than the back line, and the fact that the backline gets almost no protection from the midfield.

Personnel wise our midfield is stronger than last season, no relying on players like Flamini anymore. But instead we have players like Xhaka played out of position, Elneny never played and Coquelin shown up for his averageness.


I would get rid of Mertesacker, Ramsey, Gibbs, Ospina, probably Cech now as well, Coquelin, Monreal and Walcott


But i think better managers would get more out of a squad with Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Gabriel, Holding, Xhaka, Elneny, Iwobi, Oxlade Chamberlain, Welbeck, Lucas and even Giroud with a couple of decent signings. No point mentioning Sanchez and Ozil they are both gone.

[Özim]

There's not much in it to be honest if you analyse our squad.

Our back line never has got any protection in the last 10 years and never will with Wenger, it takes a certain type of player to do that, a player we would never sign (we've needed this for as long as I can remember, likewise a goalscorer).

Other than Bellerin and maybe Koscielny though he always seems prone to make bad errors so I'm not totally convinced with him either we have nothing to work with the rest are plainly sub quality.

But who is actually much good in our midfield, Ox Chamberlain, Cazorla (but he's getting on now in football terms and injuries will probably affect him more), Xhaka hasn't impressed and it remains to be seen if he does, Wenger has come out and said the guy can't tackle (why buy him in the 1st place then???).

If you took Sanchez our of the equation which it looks like that's going to happen, we'd be nowhere this season, we just have a lack of quality and just no desire at all, year after year it's the same, there just isn't the hunger and passion in Wenger teams anymore, it's just the same mundane stuff every game, pass, pass, pass, pass.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

There's not much in it to be honest if you analyse our squad.

Our back line never has got any protection in the last 10 years and never will with Wenger, it takes a certain type of player to do that, a player we would never sign (we've needed this for as long as I can remember, likewise a goalscorer).

Other than Bellerin and maybe Koscielny though he always seems prone to make bad errors so I'm not totally convinced with him either we have nothing to work with the rest are plainly sub quality.

But who is actually much good in our midfield, Ox Chamberlain, Cazorla (but he's getting on now in football terms and injuries will probably affect him more), Xhaka hasn't impressed and it remains to be seen if he does, Wenger has come out and said the guy can't tackle (why buy him in the 1st place then???).

If you took Sanchez our of the equation which it looks like that's going to happen, we'd be nowhere this season, we just have a lack of quality and just no desire at all, year after year it's the same, there just isn't the hunger and passion in Wenger teams anymore, it's just the same mundane stuff every game, pass, pass, pass, pass.

Again i think the lack of hunger and passion comes from the manager, i see the Liverpool squad especially in defence and it's inferiors to ours

I think Liverpool are tactically deficient under Klopp at times, but i think he gives them the hunger and desire which Wenger doesn't

Whoever we have in the team they will fail as long as other attacking sides know all they need to do is press us on the ball to get a result.

[Power n Glory]

Like I say, I understand totally his desire to leave an under-performing club, but I cannot admire it. I guess I am thinking at a macro level rather than a specific one with Alexis, but it is inevitable that if the best players will only commit to clubs where silverware is more or less assured, then those below that level will not win honours. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How does one player fight against a culture of mediocrity. Well, its difficult, but a start is to do just that. Stay and fight. Most successful clubs have one or 2 committed players who drag the others by the scruff of the neck. Ours tend to leave.

I hear you to extent. It used to be a problem for us when we had just moved into the Emirates but it’s been a while since we’ve lost a key player. Since 2013 we’ve signed key player after key player and had time to build with no disruptions like how we’ve seen before. We’re still no closer to winning the title and the manager is no closer to finding an identity for this team or system despite having many transfer windows to address the balance. That’s just talking on an overall team selection/tactics level. I have no idea how we fix the culture of the squad despite the makeup of the whole line up being very different to the ones Henry, Gallas and Cesc captained.

Also, let’s not forget, Cesc was here for 8 seasons. Even if he had stayed along with RVP to see the day we’d be able to sign star players, I highly doubt we’d be any closer to winning the league. Sanchez and Ozil could stay another 4 years and we’d still see the same sort of results. Alexis looks to be the most likely candidate to shake things up in the dressing room with his temperament but look how he’s being reprimanded. He’s the odd man out and we have a history of this. Despite being a shit, Gallas was the sort of guy to not hold his tongue and demand more from his team but ended up isolated and ousted. Henry was similar. He always looked the odd man out on the pitch for the way he’d point and demand better from his players. Years back I thought that sort of behaviour was disruptive to the team but it wasn’t. We needed that but it takes more than just one player to change the culture otherwise you end up as the odd man out. The players are used to a comfy life at Arsenal.

You only have to think back to that story about when Pat Rice was saying Wenger wouldn’t allow him to shout at the Arsenal players during a training session or something like that because it wasn’t the ‘Arsenal way’. Steve Bould is from the old guard he looks to have been neutered. I at least thought his presence would have changed the culture but it hasn’t. He looks passive these days. You can even read a recent article on Andries Jonker’s recent departure. He wanted to stop us rewarding contracts to every and any 17 year old in our academy. Change things up so the young players have to earn a new contract and not expect it. It breeds complacency. That never happened and he was quickly rebuffed so he had to learn to swim with the tide. When he tried to appoint Henry as coach that was even refused by Wenger. It all points to a man that doesn’t want to change and won’t put things in place to see it come about.

In order for real change to happen we need Wenger to go and I don’t expect any player to sacrifice his career for us. I don’t admire it but I think only a fool or someone extremely well paid would do that (Walcott). We can’t really talk about other clubs because we know most other clubs that have that sort of rock and pillar player get rewarded with competitive contracts and incentives. We don’t offer contracts like that and older players aren’t even given a chance to become part of the coaching staff. We’ve heard the stories.

[mastermind84]

My issue with Alexis is that he acts like a prick on the pitch at times to his teammates. Why are you mad at them for not pressing up when that is clearly not the instruction from the manager? He is also only busy around the ball. I think in the Bayern match, he ran less than everyone on the pitch.

I don't want him to leave but we can find a replacement for him. Will cost a lot, but they are out there.