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Thread: What was the straw that broke the camels back for you?

  1. #11
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    I think Arsenal fans are getting a bad press and undeservedly so.

    We're being seen to be spoilt, rich brats who can afford to fork out shedloads to follow the team home and away. When there is the most subtle protest merely asking for Wenger to leave (a banner, shock horror, well, I never), our fans are castigated. In the days in which we actually needed the media to stick up for Wenger, he was the one being ridiculed (unfounded stories about his private life, Gary Lineker making a public mockery of him).

    We're doing the right things in the stands and we're going the right way about seeing a change. We have to appreciate that the silent majority at the games, in the crowd, perhaps do want Wenger to stay. We have to respect that, it's their opinion and it's what makes us the fantastic fan base that we are. We're not going to boycott the club and booing the team isn't going to become the norm. The banner is where it starts. I have no idea where it ends, but I hope it's rather more amicable than the scenes we've seen at Newcastle and Liverpool in recent seasons.

    Sorry, I've digressed. In answer to the OP, my gut reaction was the League Cup Final in 2011 and/or the 8-2 debacle (I'm still one of the few Gooners yet to have seen a single goal from that game! Conveniently at a barbecue at the time). The time I really thought Wenger had it was the 4-4 against Spurs. When he was outdone by the second hand car salesman. Horrible.
    Formerly TMOKJ

  2. #12
    Member Power n Glory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fakeyank View Post
    Which game or season or a time of you following Arsenal in the last decade did you give up on Wenger?

    To me, it was a game against Stoke away in the 08/09 season (Yes, I have wanted him gone for 8 years now!). This was our line-up from that game:

    Almunia, Sagna (Walcott 57), Toure, Silvestre, Clichy, Denilson (Van Persie 65), Fabregas, Song Billong, Diaby, Adebayor (Vela 72), Bendtner.
    Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Nasri, Ramsey, Djourou.

    We played a 4-4-2 with our midfield 4 being Song, Denilson, Diaby and Cesc. You dont need to be a genius or need billion dollars to look at that and think "Where the fuck am I going to add width or pace to the play from?!"
    Mind you, we had Nasri, Ramsey, Vela, Walcott and RVP on the bench. This to me was and is AW in a nutshell since our move to the Emirates.. What man in their right mind would select a team like that?! There is no balance or creativity in that starting XI. Like I said before and what is being currently shown by Leicester and Spurs is that you dont need billions of dollars to have basic common sense and brain cells. You can cry 'billionaire foul' every single time but you cannot defend brain farts like this on a regular basis.

    This was just the beginning of the piss take this season. This season was also possibly the worst football I can remember Arsenal playing since probably the PL era. We did not lose in the PL from the end of November till the 2nd week of May in this season but we drew 12 games that season- five of which came in a row:


    31 January 200924 Arsenal 0 – 0 West Ham United London

    8 February 200925 Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 0 Arsenal London

    21 February 200926 Arsenal 0 – 0 Sunderland London

    28 February 200927 Arsenal 0 – 0 Fulham London


    Here is a link to the match report from that game: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...em/7684755.stm

    If you scroll down, you will see a comment on 606: "Until we acquire a world-class goalkeeper, two world-class defenders and a world-class midfielder, we're not going anywhere "

    What has changed from then? We still need most of those players, but what we need more is a world-class manager, not a clueless old dinosaur.
    I can't pinpoint when I thought we needed a new manager but glad you found this game with that dubious midfield line up. I remember that game and I'm not even sure if it was the first or last time he tried something so ridiculous. I'm not sure if it was that particular game, but I remember Cesc once had a game where he was played on the right!

    I remember the Blackburn cup game where Senderos came on to play right back and got ripped which led to us losing. We all remember the days he played Eboue on the wings, when he used to play Diaby on the wing.....I totally lost faith in him from then on. Why in the heck was he playing Diaby on the wing and what aspect of his game was he going to improve there? I could never understand it. He didn't know how to get the best out of a good team and it was frustrating to watch. Not once did he try Rosicky and Fabregas in the middle in the same way we're seeing Santi and Ozil. He'd persist with Denilson holding down that role even though we had better options. Seeing how he couldn't get the best out of the players we had or make the best of the funds available to buy better players, I eventually realised we were on a road to nowhere with Wenger. The players eventually figured that out which is why they all left.

  3. #13
    Goat Balls fakeyank's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory View Post
    Seeing how he couldn't get the best out of the players we had or make the best of the funds available to buy better players, I eventually realised we were on a road to nowhere with Wenger. The players eventually figured that out which is why they all left.
    This is precisely the reason I dislike him. I felt we almost never put our best foot forward going into games or even starting a season. Just remembering the Kallstrom situation boils my blood.. we were leading the entire season and were crying out for a striker, literally any striker. We instead signed a player who was not only a player who played in a position we didnt need, but this person was freaking crocked before he even signed for us. What Wenger was smoking or who he was consulting should be investigated. It was just criminal... and its things like these, which when I recall, make me loathe him!
    Arsene Wenger, the only football manager that got paid 8 million quid to do nothing but sit on his arse..

  4. #14
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    Loathe?! Sheesh.

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    I've wanted him gone for a good while now, maybe 4 or even 5 seasons, even back in the latter days of Project Youth I questioned Wenger's policy when he had us going into the season with a squad of 3 CM's (Gilberto, Fabregas & Flamini) with no cover or squad backup whatsoever, back then the "financial" excuse was put out there which gave him breathing space. He's still making the same mistakes now with his mismanagement of the squad amongst other things.

    Objectively he has to go, if we dissect this season and look at the teams above us it's a damning indictment of Wenger's policy. Mauricio Pochettino has built a team from youth largely made of homegrown players in 2 full seasons that is now challenging for the title, Wenger tried and failed for years to build a team like that.

    Ranieri has built a team full of rejects and cheap gems and they look odds on to win the league, it's a major slap in the face for Wenger. It has proven that his way can work but only if you coach and drill the team/squad to perfection. Wenger is incapable of this and thus will never win a title again with his approach.

    He has absolutely failed this season and should do the honourable thing and hand over the reigns to someone else.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by fakeyank View Post
    This is precisely the reason I dislike him. I felt we almost never put our best foot forward going into games or even starting a season. Just remembering the Kallstrom situation boils my blood.. we were leading the entire season and were crying out for a striker, literally any striker. We instead signed a player who was not only a player who played in a position we didnt need, but this person was freaking crocked before he even signed for us. What Wenger was smoking or who he was consulting should be investigated. It was just criminal... and its things like these, which when I recall, make me loathe him!
    That season where we signed Kallstrom was probably the final straw where I stopped caring. After all the press about our new spending powers that season, it felt like the time had finally arrived for us. I had hope that we’d finally see something different and the timing was perfect because our rivals were in transition, unstable and weaker than they had been before. But we really squandered the opportunity. I hoped we’d sign a striker in the January window and felt that was all we needed for the final push to the title. When we only signed Kallstrom, it just confirmed for me there was no hope for Wenger. There was no excuse for that sort of blunder. Some tried to find one for him such as the money not really being there or we were never in with a shout to win the title anyway…..fair enough. Everyone has their opinion but for me that was the opportunity.

    I never would have thought a more obvious opportunity would present itself and it’s really left Wenger with no excuses. Even if we manage to win the league this year, people will still question his ability because we’ve really struggled this year when we shouldn’t have. It’s obvious the money is there now and I was glad Gazidis was so vocal about our spending power a few years back. He laid it bare and let everyone know the sort of players we could afford and along with the salary we can pay. Pushed the ball firmly in Wenger’s court. Now the only problem I have the Board is if they offer Wenger a new contract. They really should fire him this season. They won’t and I can understand that but I don’t think he should be allowed to piss more money up the wall in season we know we have zero chance of winning the title. He’s a fuck up. Trusting him with more money is a bad idea. I could understand why he didn’t want to spend silly money on Cavani or Benzema because I’m not even sure we’d have won the title with those guys. We should but you never know with Wenger.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by selassie View Post
    He has absolutely failed this season and should do the honourable thing and hand over the reigns to someone else.
    He won't and everyone on the Board would be encouraging him to stay on because they have no idea who will come in next. Rumour had it that they'd bring in a coach to work alongside Wenger for his last season. Help ease the transition. I hope that doesn't happen because we'll probably pick a novice like Henry or Bergkamp and although I'd like those guys to have a shot at managing, I wouldn't want their first jobs to be here at Arsenal after years of failure under Wenger.

  8. #18
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    What are the key themes coming out of the club right now?

    The manager is staying. Count on it. The owners are stating it loud and clear and the manager himself is almost gloating over this fact. He's staying and by the sound of it will be offered a new contract.

    The fans have let the club down. This appears to be the underlying reason for the failure this season. Apparently the fans have badly overreacted to just a couple of poor results. Otherwise there are no problems, everything is on track.

    The players have been rolled out to prop up the manager. The idea he should go or even explain himself is viewed as craziness and the deepest ingratitude.

    The only exceptions are Ozil and Alexis. Ozil reckons we lack focus and need to buy better players, yet still thinks (has been told to say) we can win the title. Alexis has told us FA Cups mean nothing if they are not followed up by the bigger prizes.

    We won't be spending big in the summer. The "warchest" used to attract season ticket sales has been set at £70mill. Considering we're losing maybe 4 players and some of that money will have to be used to stand still, considering the warchest will shrink as usual once the season tickets are sold, considering top strikers cost £50mill and millions more in wages, we'll likely see a number of underwhelming signings used to keep the squad numbers up.

    Apart from a couple of players, it seems to me the club doesn't think there's anything to be fixed. They seem defiantly pleased with their performance.
    Für eure Sicherheit

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory View Post
    He won't and everyone on the Board would be encouraging him to stay on because they have no idea who will come in next. Rumour had it that they'd bring in a coach to work alongside Wenger for his last season. Help ease the transition. I hope that doesn't happen because we'll probably pick a novice like Henry or Bergkamp and although I'd like those guys to have a shot at managing, I wouldn't want their first jobs to be here at Arsenal after years of failure under Wenger.
    I heard rumours over the weekend that he will be offered a new 3 year contract.

    I agree re: having a coach working alongside him, a recipe for disaster IMO. When he goes the slate should be wiped clean.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by selassie View Post
    I heard rumours over the weekend that he will be offered a new 3 year contract.

    I agree re: having a coach working alongside him, a recipe for disaster IMO. When he goes the slate should be wiped clean.
    This is where I judge the Board. We really don't know what's going on behind the scenes but if he's rewarded with another contract nothing more needs to be said. I think that's when it's time to change the channel. No more football for me.

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