Match Reaction - Arsenal 1-2 Watford - Wenger Out

[Kano]

I'd say it's a theory more than a fallacy. He's never been sacked, he's always kept us in the top 4. I think if we'd dropped into mid-table (as many predicted we would) he'd have gone, but given that we never have it's impossible to know for sure.

I don't think he would at all. The board would back him for at least a season or two more - he has a job for as long as he wants it. He will decide when he leaves, no-one else. Partly because the time spent here as manager allows that and partly because they have no-one else around with a football brain. And when the board's goal is money, the stadium would still be full, merchandise rolling, TV money, what is their motivation for sacking the manager? There isn't any, if the general belief is they are only here on the rob. And Kroenke's comments on the weekend only seem to clarify that. He'll go upstairs after anyway, so his dealings with the club won't end at management stage.

[Letters]

We're both speculating but if we fell out of the top 4 for more than a season we'd not be in the CL, we'd not be able to attract players like Ozil and Sanchez and it's hard to get back up there. Witness how much Utd have spent to try and buy there way back in and they still might fall short. Money and top 4 are correlated so for that reason alone I think he'd have gone had we dropped into mid-table as many thought we would under Wenger.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Do you take this impotency to all other aspects of your life. Do you for instance just vote the same party in everytime because it doent matter anyway. Or do you stop and think what is best for your kids and their kids?.

Wenger relies on people like you to perpetuate his averageness. 10 years and you still havent seen your way clear
Leave the other fans out of it. You tell me what you think YOU should do to change the cycle at Arsenal. watching tripe football by badly coached players is not my cup of tea. Not for life anyway
As they say, Be the change that you want to see.

That and the thousands of fans who go to the Emirates week in, week out. Those absolute collaborating traitors deserve to be shot when the revolution comes.

The voting comparison is facile, there is no option to vote for change, if Wenger was subject to a referendum of the fans I'd have been more inclined to vote yes (to him going) than no most times from 2011 onwards but no such option exists binding or not.

[Kano]

We're both speculating but if we fell out of the top 4 for more than a season we'd not be in the CL, we'd not be able to attract players like Ozil and Sanchez and it's hard to get back up there. Witness how much Utd have spent to try and buy there way back in and they still might fall short. Money and top 4 are correlated so for that reason alone I think he'd have gone had we dropped into mid-table as many thought we would under Wenger.

With the new TV money coming, there will not be a shortage of that all. Every club owner has hit the big time with this bonanza coming and it won't stop there with cashflow. Leicester and Spurs have shown that you don't need to buy superstars to win really compete and a club like Arsenal with its reputation and history will always have a shout at landing big names - as long as we are willing to spend the dough that is.

[Letters]

OK, but that is a new deal. Back in the day the CL money was very important. I think he'd have gone had we dropped out of the top 4 for any length of time.
We'll never know of course because Wenger has kept us in the top 4.
Wenger

[Power n Glory]

Like I say yesterday the only people that have altercations in public are the people who will do so with almost any justification no matter how scant.

People can tell me I'm responsible for Wenger staying if they want, the burden of proof is all on them.

I believe by definition that wanting the team to lose defies the definition of supporter.

I don’t think many want us to lose or take joy in watching us lose. It’s a steady decline. Once your past the point of going mental about losses, feeling indifferent about them or even finding them comical, it gets to a point where you just hope the manager walks or gets fired. We used to debate on GW all the time about player performances but once you’ve booed a player off the pitch and realise it’s not really that’s player’s fault, the focus ends up on the man that picks him constantly. It’s been a slow decline to get to this point. I don’t think anyone would choose this.

[Letters]

I don't think many do either, just one...

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I don’t think many want us to lose or take joy in watching us lose. It’s a steady decline. Once your past the point of going mental about losses, feeling indifferent about them or even finding them comical, it gets to a point where you just hope the manager walks or gets fired. We used to debate on GW all the time about player performances but once you’ve booed a player off the pitch and realise it’s not really that’s player’s fault, the focus ends up on the man that picks him constantly. It’s been a slow decline to get to this point. I don’t think anyone would choose this.

The game against Watford didn't make me angry at all, there was something almost comically predictable about it.

But again I reiterate I wanted us to win that game, can Zim say the same?

I was gutted by losing to Chelsea (well not gutted absolutely frothing at the mouth angry) and id agree the more frequently you lose the more you become desensitised to it but the overall feeling of failing to win a title is still gutting regardless of whether you could see it coming or not.

[selassie]

You make that assertion because of frustration at Wengers decision making which is astonishingly counter intuitive

Questioning his ability is one thing, it's abundantly clear that he doesn't have what it takes....but there is no evidence to suppose that someone who has won three league titles has no desire to win anything else.

Do you look at Wenger as someone fixated with money, because If he was it stands to reason he could have left Arsenal in 2004 for Real Madrid and added an extra decimal to his wages.

Maybe frustration plays a part but his actions or lack of them give me the opinion I have formed on the situation. Of course ability comes into question, I do question whether he was it takes to win the major prizes given the current circumstances. But for me he simply does not do enough or take the required action for someone who has the desire to win. Take for example Fergie at United, to win his last championship he went out and bought RVP off us, that was all, he identified the major weakness in the United team and sort to rectify it. Wenger for example would never do that, not because he doesn't have the ability, but simply because he doesn't have the desire to do what is necessary to push this team on. Not addressing glaring weaknesses in the team has nothing to do with his ability IMO.

I don't think he's fixated with money, but I think he is someone comfortable with his objectives set at Arsenal, he's in a unique position.

Wenger wouldn't last a season at somewhere like Real Madrid or PSG, not if carried on working in this manner. They would have sacked him a long time ago.

[Power n Glory]

You make that assertion because of frustration at Wengers decision making which is astonishingly counter intuitive

Questioning his ability is one thing, it's abundantly clear that he doesn't have what it takes....but there is no evidence to suppose that someone who has won three league titles has no desire to win anything else.

Do you look at Wenger as someone fixated with money, because If he was it stands to reason he could have left Arsenal in 2004 for Real Madrid and added an extra decimal to his wages.

It seems crazy to question his desire to win more trophies but I often ask that question season after season. Why hasn’t the years of losses, the jabs by his nemesis Mourinho and detractors sent him into a blind rage? Why hasn’t that spurned him on? How can he stand to see his peers surpass him to CL glory and not try to do more? Why hasn’t any of this set him on a path to getting his team right and using all the funds possible to create a beast of a team? As Wright said some weeks back, it doesn’t look like the losses hurt him enough. It doesn’t sound right considering what I’ve heard him say and that quote from Dein but I really don’t know what else to conclude.

If he’d gone all out this season and spent everything on the team, a striker, a DM and whoever else we needed to get the job done, I’d agree that the hunger is there but not the ability. But I fear it’s a case of lacking in both hunger and ability. When were those quotes taken from Dein? Is he referring to the old Wenger during the Highbury years when he refuse to drink with other managers after a game? We all know he’s soften his approach and would drink with Fergie of all people. I really don’t know where he’s at mentally.

Think of it this way. Our players have been right in the mix for their first league title under Wenger but we often get games where it looks like they have nothing to play for. It’s baffling at times but we’ll still accuse some of not really caring and comfortable picking up a cheque. So why isn’t it different for Wenger? You get it sometimes that some people can’t battle through tough times and give up right in the middle of a tough task. That might be the case for some of the players and Wenger. The hunger dies out. As for Wenger at Madrid! He’s safer here at Arsenal and wouldn’t take a genius to work out he’d earn more here over several seasons compared to one or two years with Madrid. He’d have been sacked by now.