New manager

[Letters]

Firstly: No-one thinks the 3 away results against the top 3 are acceptable.
Secondly: This has not been a regular thing over the last few years. I looked back at our results going back quite a few years and the 8-2 was the only other real humping we've had. There have been other poor results, sure, but not real freak result spankings like we've had this year.

The last two years we've limped into 4th on the last day. This year we've been right up there in the title race till yesterday. I never saw the title as the benchmark for us this year and despite yesterday's debacle we're still 9 points better off than we were at this stage last year. Plus we're in the FA Cup Semi-final and with the other 3 sides left we really should win it.

There has been progress. Maybe not as much as some people would have liked but for every humping there have been plenty of good results this year, results we weren't getting over the last couple of years, which have shown some improvement.

There are too many internet warriors on here playing FIFA (or whatever) and thinking they have the first clue about how transfers work and how we could have got this player or that. Yes, we clearly needed a top striker and maybe we did put too many eggs in the Suarez basket but you can't just go to the supermarket and get top players to order. You can if you're Chelsea or City and can throw money around like it's going out of fashion but otherwise it's not that simple to get players in who would genuinely improve us. Spurs were lauded all summer for how well they'd done in the transfer market and I thought they'd done good business but what has been the result? They signed some good players but they didn't sign any great players, they sold one to fund their splurge. Once again they're left with no trophies and despite their comeback today they're still a point worse off than they were at this stage last year.

For years we've all been moaning, with some justification, about the direction the club is taking and the lack of trophies. This year we've signed Özil and tried to sign Suarez. It's the most ambition we've shown in the transfer market for a long time. It's not enough but it's a start. And we should get the monkey off our back by winning the FA Cup. If we don't then fine, Wenger out. If we can't beat the teams that are left when it matters then I'll agree Wenger should go. If we do though then it will surely give the squad a much needed shot in the arm and with the new commercial deals we are well equipped to compete in the transfer market. The club will finally be heading in the right direction, IMO that is not the time to be changing manager with all the disruption that could cause.

[fakeyank]

Given mourinho wouldn't even loan us ba, lukaku is off the list. Benteke is utter shit. Not sold on costa either.

In January, mirallas isn't a striker (though if like to see him replace podolski) and the other two are hardly better then what we have.

Higuain was a huge fuck up and we should have got him but the others you have listed are not exactly brilliant options.

Benteke is a beast. Let's agree to disagree on that.

Costa's record speaks for himself.

Loaning is different than paying 20 million quid for Lukaku. If we were ready to pay 40 mill for Suarez, a bid of 12 million for Lukaku would seriously have got Chelsea thinking. And remember this would have been before we signed Ozil. A time when Mou didnt think we were title hopefuls.

Looking at those three options above, I think we can safely say that they are better than what we have now.

As for Mirallas or any of the name mentioned for the winter window. Tell me with a straight face that those names are not better than the Kallstrom debacle. Frankly speaking, anybody who even called themselves a striker was a better option than Kallstrom- a player who cant even get on the pitch when we are 4-0 down and are just trying to damage control the spanking.

[Niall_Quinn]

The Kallstrom thing was certainly a joke, I don't think anyone can argue anything else on that one. Kallstrom was a silly response to a growing injury crisis, not a key signing. But the fact he was injured himself provided the punch line.

I also think Benteke would be a useful plan B option for when our lumbering layabout isn't delivering the goods and is leaving us a man short up top. Lukaku, no. That cunt wouldn't have sold, loaned or sanctioned any business with us. He hates Wenger because Wenger has respect in the wider game while he's a pleb used by the media to fill column inches.

But bringing in anything other than a guy is was guaranteed a start is a tough call. You can say yes, Suarez is going to get the start. But some second tier player, will he come here to be second string to Giroud? I'm happier to have the money in the bank so we can make another Suarez level attempt in the summer. I see no reason why we can't be competing with any club for a top striker come July. The money is there, the sponsors are signed up, there are no reasonable excuses not to improve things 150% up top.

[Özim]

Firstly: No-one thinks the 3 away results against the top 3 are acceptable.
Secondly: This has not been a regular thing over the last few years. I looked back at our results going back quite a few years and the 8-2 was the only other real humping we've had. There have been other poor results, sure, but not real freak result spankings like we've had this year.

The last two years we've limped into 4th on the last day. This year we've been right up there in the title race till yesterday. I never saw the title as the benchmark for us this year and despite yesterday's debacle we're still 9 points better off than we were at this stage last year. Plus we're in the FA Cup Semi-final and with the other 3 sides left we really should win it.

There has been progress. Maybe not as much as some people would have liked but for every humping there have been plenty of good results this year, results we weren't getting over the last couple of years, which have shown some improvement.

There are too many internet warriors on here playing FIFA (or whatever) and thinking they have the first clue about how transfers work and how we could have got this player or that. Yes, we clearly needed a top striker and maybe we did put too many eggs in the Suarez basket but you can't just go to the supermarket and get top players to order. You can if you're Chelsea or City and can throw money around like it's going out of fashion but otherwise it's not that simple to get players in who would genuinely improve us. Spurs were lauded all summer for how well they'd done in the transfer market and I thought they'd done good business but what has been the result? They signed some good players but they didn't sign any great players, they sold one to fund their splurge. Once again they're left with no trophies and despite their comeback today they're still a point worse off than they were at this stage last year.

For years we've all been moaning, with some justification, about the direction the club is taking and the lack of trophies. This year we've signed Özil and tried to sign Suarez. It's the most ambition we've shown in the transfer market for a long time. It's not enough but it's a start. And we should get the monkey off our back by winning the FA Cup. If we don't then fine, Wenger out. If we can't beat the teams that are left when it matters then I'll agree Wenger should go. If we do though then it will surely give the squad a much needed shot in the arm and with the new commercial deals we are well equipped to compete in the transfer market. The club will finally be heading in the right direction, IMO that is not the time to be changing manager with all the disruption that could cause.

There's been some bad results since 2008 to be honest, not as bad as yesterday but bad nonetheless, results that shouldn't come with so much regularity IMO:

5-1(A) Tottenham Hotspur - Arsenal, 22 January 2008 (Carling Cup)
4-0(A) Man Utd - Arsenal, 16 February 2008 (FA Cup)
4-1(H) Chelsea - Arsenal, 11 May 2009 (Premier League)
4-1(A) Barcelona - Arsenal, 6 April 2010 (UEFA Champions League)
8-2(A) Manchester United - Arsenal, 28 August 2011 (League)
4-0(A) AC Milan - Arsenal, 15 February 2012 (UEFA Champions League)
6-3(A) Man City - Arsenal, 14 December 2013 (Premier League)
5-1(A) Liverpool - Arsenal, 8 February 2014 (Premier League)
6-0(A) Chelsea - Arsenal, 22 March 2014 (Premier League)

I think the point is we're seeing way too many of the one sided games with us being involved in recent times, big scorelines we never use to see much.

As for progress, maybe there has been but looks like we're going to end up 4th again, not sure if it really matters how you get there and I know points wise we were in the title hunt, but don't these big spankings and poor results against the top sides show we weren't genuinely in the hunt?

If Wenger won the cup I was more than willing to let him have another season, however after yet another spanking I'm not sure I am anymore, these results are really embrarrassing for a club of our stature, to have them happen three times in one season is even more illustrative of the problems, how many managers of top clubs would survive thrashings of this nature three times in one season?

Anyway for me, this has convinced me he's not up to it anymore, if you lose then do it with some fight and pride, from what I've seen in our big defeats this season we've just given up once we've been 2-0 down, that reflects poorly on the manager, when I saw the run in February and the one in March I predicted we'd probably collapse, looks like it's happened again, I wanted to be proved wrong but haven't been which in my eyes shows little has really changed, when the going gets tough we collapse and show no fight.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Benteke is a beast. Let's agree to disagree on that.

Costa's record speaks for himself.

Loaning is different than paying 20 million quid for Lukaku. If we were ready to pay 40 mill for Suarez, a bid of 12 million for Lukaku would seriously have got Chelsea thinking. And remember this would have been before we signed Ozil. A time when Mou didnt think we were title hopefuls.

Looking at those three options above, I think we can safely say that they are better than what we have now.

As for Mirallas or any of the name mentioned for the winter window. Tell me with a straight face that those names are not better than the Kallstrom debacle. Frankly speaking, anybody who even called themselves a striker was a better option than Kallstrom- a player who cant even get on the pitch when we are 4-0 down and are just trying to damage control the spanking.

Mourinho hates Wenger, he wouldn't do a thing to help him. There is no way he sells us any player. End of story.

You say the options above are safely better then what we have. The only one i will say is better is Higuain. Im still not completely sold on Costa, from the few games I've seen on him, he hasn't impressed hugely. Lukaku and Bentekke between them this season have 22 goals. Giroud has 18 on his own. They are not better then Giroud. Bentekke went months without scoring this season.

I said i would like Mirallas, i think he would be a lot of better then Podolski for sure. You can't compare though those players to Kallstrom because they are completely different positions. While we needed a striker, Arsene said he wanted cover in midfield for injuries. So Kallstrom has nothing to do with the names you have mentioned. Berbatov is just lazy, you think he would have made a difference yesterday? I doubt it. We saw it at fulham, if you don't pass the ball into his feet he can't be bothered to go and get it. Perhaps Pato might have made a difference, but he's been pretty poor in Brazil this year.

Look, i think we should have signed a top class striker, Higuain was a complete fuck up and if we had him then who knows what might have happened, but all those you named in that post, are not better then what we have now and you just clutching at straws. There are top level strikers out there who we could get, but you didn't name any of them. None of those players would have taken us to the next level and would have been a waste of money.

[Niall_Quinn]

Even the Higuain deal wasn't necessarily a fuck up. They kept on upping the price didn't they? I think it should be remembered there are an awful lot of greedy scumbags on the scene when the transfer window opens. Everyone has to get a cut in these deals and sometime those furthest from the game with the least to offer want a ridiculously big slice.

[Kano]

Klopp is 20 points behind bayern though isn't he? Dortmund haven't been brilliant this season. I'm not saying he would be the wrong choice but just saying that after the hype last season, he's failed to repeat it. Sold a lot of key players too

no, he just massively overachieved with a team that have resources nowhere near bayern. Dortmund players do well? bayern just jump in and take them. see gotze and lewandowski. bayern haven't lost in 51 games. not lost in the league since 2012. they are threatening to raise the bar even higher than barcelona did. the same barcelona they shredded 7-0 over two legs last season. no manager could repeat what klopp achieved last season. previous to that remember, he won the league two seasons in a row. he is the most suitable choice there is for the job. there should be no doubt about his ability at all.

[LDG]

I don't think anyone thinks we shouldn't have signed a top striker.

It wouldn't have helped yeaterday, because it has been proven for some time now, and with different players, that we don't prepare for games, and we continue to set ourselves up for a piss take.

The top sides know exactly how Wenger will set his stall out. That's the problem!

[selassie]

Regardless of folks opinions about signing Player X or Y or spending or not spending I do feel that the priority in the summer was to sign a top class striker and top class midfielder. Despite the clubs best efforts, and I say this through gritted teeth, we failed, we as a club failed to purchase top class players in both of these positions.

I wouldn't be so harsh on Arsene/the club if this was a one-off, but he/the club have form for this. We routinely go into seasons with woefully unbalanced squads having either failed to complete deals in the window or sold key members of the squad/team. Enough is enough as far as I am concerned.

This isn't about spending like City or Chelsea, this isn't about prawn sandwich type fans demanding trophies, this is about fans wanting the club to do as much as it possibly can to compete for top honours. If it means the club needs to pay that extra 5million to secure the best possible player for a position then so be it, if it means paying an extra 20k per week for the said player then so be it, if it means hiring in specialist coaches and a director of football then so be it.

Change is needed, we simply cannot go on like this as a club and expect progress.

[IBK]

Wenger may not sign a new contract at the end of the season and that's a fact we have to deal with. He's never skipped a press conference before and I think this loss is going to hurt him badly and there may be a lot of soul searching after this heavy defeat.

I agree that something may be in the air. But I am 50% less concerned than I would have been in January.