Match Reaction vs Sunderland (away)

[Letters]

So are his defenders, basically guy on Twitter argued that 4th place for 4th highest spending ability is about right and it is too much to expect anymore. Didn't seem to like that I inferred he was deferential and pliant to the wishes of the board and manager.

In the era when the billionaire's money was having the most effect I think we did OK to stay up there, but that excuse is gone now - we have the money to compete, we've been signing players who should be able to push us on and it just hasn't.
The FA Cups were nice, I'm glad for Wenger's sake we got them as much as anything, it will help his legacy especially if he goes soon. But this season has been a car crash.

[selassie]

So are his defenders, basically guy on Twitter argued that 4th place for 4th highest spending ability is about right and it is too much to expect anymore. Didn't seem to like that I inferred he was deferential and pliant to the wishes of the board and manager.

Yeah, that was a strong case around 5/6 years ago when we were deep in Project Youth but it doesn't really wash anymore, especially when you consider our wage bill is on par with Chelsea's. Yeah Chelsea are finishing 10th this season but they won PL last season.

It's all a load of hogwash anyway as it's clear Wenger is here until he decides to leave.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

In the era when the billionaire's money was having the most effect I think we did OK to stay up there, but that excuse is gone now - we have the money to compete, we've been signing players who should be able to push us on and it just hasn't.
The FA Cups were nice, I'm glad for Wenger's sake we got them as much as anything, it will help his legacy especially if he goes soon. But this season has been a car crash.

That plus we had a manager who prefered to use it as an excuse and lacked the imagination and vision to do more

We had a wage bill that was 3rd or 4th highest because we were giving ridiculously generous contracts to players who did nothing to prove they were worth it.

[Marc Overmars]

So are his defenders, basically guy on Twitter argued that 4th place for 4th highest spending ability is about right and it is too much to expect anymore. Didn't seem to like that I inferred he was deferential and pliant to the wishes of the board and manager.

Him being so risk averse is why we haven't improved at all and many fans shared and stupidly fuelled that aversion. The tide has turned now but you'll still find the odd muppet happy to sit in 3rd or 4th because, well, it's not like we're fighting relegation is it?

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Him being so risk averse is why we haven't improved at all and many fans shared and stupidly fuelled that aversion. The tide has turned now but you'll still find the odd muppet happy to sit in 3rd or 4th because, well, it's not like we're fighting relegation is it?

I think it's less being happy with 3rd or 4th and more being part of a cult of Wenger, a total refusal to see anything wrong with what the guy does. I mentioned the fact that Spurs and Leicester didn't have greater spending ability than us which was dismissed as an outlier, i said it proved that Wenger couldn't deliver even when spending is less of an issue.
He claimed that Leicester in only losing three times had shown remarkable consistency, i said the issue wasn't what Leicester had done but that we are now in a position where we can only get a maximum of 73 points and had lost seven games (which i don't believe any side has lost in a 38 game season and then gone on to win the league in the premier league era) and then predictably just said we are going round in circles there is no further point to the discussion.
His argument is that Wenger's media comments are there to manage expectations when certain fans have too much of a sense of entitlement.

[Power n Glory]

Well goals I ignored because if you are expecting Ozil to be scoring anywhere near the same amount of goals as Sanchez I think you are confused over what kind of player he is. Especially so considering you agreed with me some time ago that Sanchez was a good option to play up front.

Be interested to make the comparison between them over chances created

But fair enough if you want to want to make Ozil the focal point for criticism due to a lack of assists in the last nine games than up to you. I think his assist rate would be off the chart with a decent striker in front of him. I think criticism of him largely indicate attributes that are not part of his game, not every chance needs to be gilt edged if you have a striker mopping them up (although Giroud and Welbeck often miss gilt edged chances as well).
Our chances to goal ratio is probably one of the lowest in the league. I personally might have rested Ozil for a few games that we should be winning anyway (though of course Wenger has redefined should win games to should win but probably won't).

As for goals I am intensely relaxed by that side of his game, scored eight this season and if other players were doing their bit it wouldn't be an issue. But that goal tally is about par for Ozil, I don't think he got into double figures for Real Madrid just provided loads of goals for Ronaldo and Benzema.

Anyway we aren't going to agree on this, I just think by a country mile Ozil is the most gifted footballer in the team and therefore when someone says they wouldn't be that fussed if he went seems to confuse me greatly.

You said just Sanchez has been anonymous. Yes, he has had a bad patch but as you can see from the goals and assists, he’s been contributing when we’ve been at our worse.

When Sanchez was playing badly, I’d criticise him too and it was roundly accepted because he’s had a bad season for his standard. But he’s stepping it up now but you’ve still brought him up as a player that should be sold despite stepping his game up during a crucial part of the season. I’m not making Ozil a focal point, it just seems that way because you’re so defensive over him. He’s one of the many underperforming players. I don’t rely on the chance creation stat because it says nothing about the quality of the chance created. As said, you probably can’t remember the last time he’s created the sort of chance we’ve seen carved out by Iwobi or Welbeck.

Yes, our strikers haven’t been scoring consistently but Sanchez seems to have found his shooting boots again. So how comes Ozil hasn’t found him once since Sanchez has come to form again? So what’s really going on here? It’s a fair question. Welbeck, Iwobi and Sanchez seem to be the guys getting the assists lately. Giroud was dropped to the bench from early March and only got a start again last Thursday. So you can’t just blame Giroud. The players have to be accountable. Even if scoring isn’t Ozil’s thing, he’s failing in the very thing you say he’s good for. He has to step his game up in crucial parts of the season to be essential. If he were that good he’d find the players that were in form and work off them but he hasn’t.

[Marc Overmars]

I think it's less being happy with 3rd or 4th and more being part of a cult of Wenger, a total refusal to see anything wrong with what the guy does. I mentioned the fact that Spurs and Leicester didn't have greater spending ability than us which was dismissed as an outlier, i said it proved that Wenger couldn't deliver even when spending is less of an issue.
He claimed that Leicester in only losing three times had shown remarkable consistency, i said the issue wasn't what Leicester had done but that we are now in a position where we can only get a maximum of 73 points and had lost seven games (which i don't believe any side has lost in a 38 game season and then gone on to win the league in the premier league era) and then predictably just said we are going round in circles there is no further point to the discussion.
His argument is that Wenger's media comments are there to manage expectations when certain fans have too much of a sense of entitlement.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

na na na na na na na na na Batman! I mean Wenger!

He's ok but he's no box of Special K

[Özim]

It really is like that with some of the fans, it seems that Wenger is the club and they just think that we can't do better than him and that he does no wrong. It's kinda weird tbh because to anyone with any common sense his mistakes are there for all to see.

[Letters]

I'd suggest very few fans see Wenger like that these days.