Quote Originally Posted by Douglas Reynholm View Post
And I don't think there really is much of a 'Wenger Brigade' these days.

I certainly don't know anyone who still thinks he's the right man.
Letters does.
Letters


(thought I'd save someone else the bother, there).

What I don't understand is why everything has to be so extreme on here. Is that a GW thing or an internet thing?

Is it not perfectly valid to think that:

Wenger, overall, did pretty well to keep us in the top 4 in the early days of the stadium move with the billionaires running amok.
But he should have won a couple of trophies in that era and probably should have been sacked.
The new money did start a new policy in the transfer window (someone on here said, although I haven't checked, that our net spend over the last 3 seasons is the 3rd highest in the league. It certainly has been quite high and compare and contrast with the 3 years before that when we actually made a net profit) and we started signing players of a level who should push us on.
The Cup win was a welcome relief and got the 'no trophies' monkey off our back. We seemed well placed to push on and Sanchez was another top signing.
Last year was a disappointment, Wenger probably should have been sacked for the failure to compete for the title but the Cup retention mitigated somewhat and arguably bought him one last try.
Last summer's transfer dealings were disappointing, Cech was a great signing but we needed more up front and it was a risk relying on Walcott or goals from midfield (although, in theory, there should be plenty from midfield)
This season I was happy to support Wenger while we were in the title race, I've said all along that if we don't properly challenge then he should be sacked. The recent run has probably put us too far behind and, worse, at the expense of Leicester and Spurs. So yeah, he should be sacked. But that doesn't mean he's "clueless" or "incompetent" or "a c***" or all the other things people throw at him.

The flaws he has are the ones he has always had. Not for the last 10 years, for the last 20. He had them when we were successful but the team was so good they didn't matter. But he has his strengths too, those strengths were why that team was so good although some of those strengths - the training and fitness methods, the knowledge of the European game - have been nullified by a combination of other clubs catching up, arguably overtaking us, and some clubs now being able to throw as much money around as they like till they achieve success.
We need someone who can push us on and it's increasingly clear that isn't Wenger. But tt seems it's not enough on here to want Wenger out. You have to believe he has no redeeming features, is a complete incompetent, you need to insult him. You have to believe that everything he says is stupid and wrong - even if you agree with it.
The slightest defence or thought that maybe he's not been so bad despite his flaws and you're "sucking his cock" and think he's flawless.

It's pathetic really.