Where Arsenal is going wrong

[IBK]

This is not another gripe about AW or our players. I feel as disillusioned as the next Gooner - but TBH the constant gloom and doom around our club is getting wearing - and the net effect is to kill my enthusiasm a bit.

And its this that is making me think about why things have got to this 'perfect storm' of negativity. We seem to slag many of our players off constantly, yet as a team they still finished 4th in the league last season, were narrowly beaten in the CL by the supposed best team in the world (the EPL winners - the mighty Manure - were thrashed by them in the final), and did better for most of the season than they had been expected to.

We bitch about 6 years without a trophy, yet realistically - for four of those years we could be said to have over-achieved rather than under-achieved - while the club achieved a stadium project that the likes of Liverpool; Spurs and Everton are still dreaming about.

Last season we might have imploded at the end but our most bitter rivals ended up out of the CL - having spent years and tens of millions in player purchases trying to get there. Yet Spurs fans are nowhere near as despondent and angry as we are.

Yes, some of our players have underperformed - but this is the case at every club. We are frail defensively - but still one of the best in the league going forwards. We lack leadership - but have a more British flavour in our team now than we have had for a decade.

On a rataional basis, none of the above should be sufficient to casue the angst that results in the team being booed in friendlies at the beginning of the season!

So why the bitterness? Well IMO it is mostly to do with the disconnect that has arisen between fans and the board, and the club is handling the situation badly.

After the horror show of last season, fans want reassurance that decisive steps are being taken to address the situation. Yet our transfer season has been anything but decisive. We have had statements from AW and Gazidis that there will be serious activity in the transfer market, but what activity there has been seems at best tentative. I now that Arsenal is traditionally very secretive, and that AW is ultra conservative and principled in terms of offers - but I think that for once the penny counting should be put aside, and a bold move made for the likes of Mata or Jagielka. The fans and the players need a shot in the arm and a confidence boost - and this perceived dithering is achieving the opposite.

The Cesc and Nasri situations are being allowed to drag the club down. I have sympathy for the club here - because much of this is outside its control, but the perception is that the players and Barca are being allowed to disrupt our pre season, and I think that more decisiveness needs to be shown. For example, I think that we should have moved for Mata in any event, which would mitigate the effect of these ongoing sagas.

And fans' intelligence is being insulted, to a degree. The club needs to realise that although Gooners might be lucky in some ways, we don't feel lucky, because we have had precious little that feels like upside for many years - yet we are paying the highest ticket prices in the league. The club has gone too far down the spin/smoke and mirrors route - and should recognise that while sound business principles are important in one sense - keeping fans happy is an important part of this. Because discontent off the pitch is too easily translated into nervous and lacklustre performances on it. I think that the club - both by its actions, and by the noises coming out of the manager and the board is neglecting this factor.

Thoughts?

[KSE Comedy Club]

I dont mean to sound negative on your thread mate, but there are numerous other threads that are discussing the same topic over and over again.

I really dont think we need another thread, going over the same stuff thats already being said.

[LDG]

Always said Wenger did wonders when we were moving to a new stadium. To keep us top four in the current environment was pretty amazing.

I've also said that it's not about 6 years for me. It's about the last three. I've always understiid the need for patience whilst we sorted out the massive project of moving to a new ground, and all the financial implications of that, not least the downturn in the economy when we'd banked on those Highbury flats flying out of the door.

The last three years, though, have gone down a similar route. Playing well, but then failing to capitalise on our early season form, and collapsing in a heap.

And those collapses are not down to the talent of the current players. More down to the attitude of those players, and the same mistake being made over and over again. All fans have asked for, is that we strengthen when it is clear we need strengthening. That we put an end to the defensive deficiancies by organising and coaching the team, and by supplimenting the defence with strength in depth rather than Sylvester and Squilaci.

Nobody has asked for the club to spend spend spend spend. They have just asked that we rectify the same problems that have blighted the last few campaigns. Problems obvious to all and sundry, from child to adult, from mongo to genius. And they haven't been...and that is why people are pissed off.

At the end of the day, relative to the vast sums Chelsea, City, Spurs, Liverpool and Utd have spent in recent years, we're not asking for much. We've been patient. We've put our trust in Wenger that what he was doing was right, depsite our doubts....so why now should we not voice our concerns and displeasure??

You're right that we have it better than a lot of clubs. But we're in the top bracket of clubs in Europe, and as such, we should be more professional from board, to PR, to manager, to player....and actually respect the fans, and that they actually might know something about the game.

I've been a follower of Arsenal since before Jack Wilshere was born, so to say that I should be patient and I don't know anything is rather disrespectful...especially given the amount of my money has gone into their pockets....and all I've asked is that we sort out the mistakes.

[Injury Time]

I miss CKs summaries of long winded posts

We (well I) want heroes, players committed to give it all to the club, I'd settle for two or three that give it all on the pitch not the of twitter or other media outlets, that pulled the shirt on with pride, didn't bitch about wages , chants that aren't shit (yes I'm looking at yours RvP), a manager that just STFU rather same old spin about character and spirit when they have shown neither, I want Mr T to rip on to the pitch with his tank and tell the players to get some Nuts!

What do we get, tippy tappy bollix and

[IBK]

Always said Wenger did wonders when we were moving to a new stadium. To keep us top four in the current environment was pretty amazing.

I've also said that it's not about 6 years for me. It's about the last three. I've always understiid the need for patience whilst we sorted out the massive project of moving to a new ground, and all the financial implications of that, not least the downturn in the economy when we'd banked on those Highbury flats flying out of the door.

The last three years, though, have gone down a similar route. Playing well, but then failing to capitalise on our early season form, and collapsing in a heap.

And those collapses are not down to the talent of the current players. More down to the attitude of those players, and the same mistake being made over and over again. All fans have asked for, is that we strengthen when it is clear we need strengthening. That we put an end to the defensive deficiancies by organising and coaching the team, and by supplimenting the defence with strength in depth rather than Sylvester and Squilaci.

Nobody has asked for the club to spend spend spend spend. They have just asked that we rectify the same problems that have blighted the last few campaigns. Problems obvious to all and sundry, from child to adult, from mongo to genius. And they haven't been...and that is why people are pissed off.

At the end of the day, relative to the vast sums Chelsea, City, Spurs, Liverpool and Utd have spent in recent years, we're not asking for much. We've been patient. We've put our trust in Wenger that what he was doing was right, depsite our doubts....so why now should we not voice our concerns and displeasure??

You're right that we have it better than a lot of clubs. But we're in the top bracket of clubs in Europe, and as such, we should be more professional from board, to PR, to manager, to player....and actually respect the fans, and that they actually might know something about the game.

I've been a follower of Arsenal since before Jack Wilshere was born, so to say that I should be patient and I don't know anything is rather disrespectful...especially given the amount of my money has gone into their pockets....and all I've asked is that we sort out the mistakes.

Genuine question, mate. All clubs fans think that their manager makes mistakes in one way or another. Yes ours seem more repetetive - but do you think that you would feel happeier about AFC ATM if we heard far less bullshit/PR speak, and had a board that acknowledged that the club needs a lift and that they are doing everything they can to achieve this?

I know i would.

[IBK]

I dont mean to sound negative on your thread mate, but there are numerous other threads that are discussing the same topic over and over again.

I really dont think we need another thread, going over the same stuff thats already being said.

Apologies if you think I am going over old ground. I was trying to give a different take on the situation. I agree that there are a number of threads slagging the club off - I was trying to look at where the club is going wrong from a fans' management/PR point of view...

[LDG]

Genuine question, mate. All clubs fans think that their manager makes mistakes in one way or another. Yes ours seem more repetetive - but do you think that you would feel happeier about AFC ATM if we heard far less bullshit/PR speak, and had a board that acknowledged that the club needs a lift and that they are doing everything they can to achieve this?

I know i would.

I don't believe a word they say anymore tbh. AW in particular sounds more like a politician every time he speaks. I understand we've always been private about business, but you can't talk on one hand about "healthy finances" and then say "we don't speak about this that or the other".

PR is all wrong, and it doesn't serve to quell the disatisfaction amongst our fanbase.

Actions speak louder than words, and so I choose not to listen too much to what our manager has to say, or what Gadzidasnjje has to say either.

But given that our actions are precisely cock all at the moment, and coming off the back of the most horrific collapse thus far, it doesn't really sit well when P-Diddy to the HW comes our with "be bloody patient".

The only way the club will make us believe again, is by making the necessary changes to to the team, and the way we play. It's a football team after all, and that is why we follow them. More words will not placate me in the slightest.

[IBK]

I don't believe a word they say anymore tbh. AW in particular sounds more like a politician every time he speaks. I understand we've always been private about business, but you can't talk on one hand about "healthy finances" and then say "we don't speak about this that or the other".

PR is all wrong, and it doesn't serve to quell the disatisfaction amongst our fanbase.

Actions speak louder than words, and so I choose not to listen too much to what our manager has to say, or what Gadzidasnjje has to say either.

But given that our actions are precisely cock all at the moment, and coming off the back of the most horrific collapse thus far, it doesn't really sit well when P-Diddy to the HW comes our with "be bloody patient".

The only way the club will make us believe again, is by making the necessary changes to to the team, and the way we play. It's a football team after all, and that is why we follow them. More words will not placate me in the slightest.

Understood, but I wonder whether the level of unrest ATM is because the manager and board give the impression either of being delusional, or of knowing what is wrong but refusing to address it for commercial reasons.

I may be naive, but I am suprised that genuine Arsenal fans (rather than plastics) would be this upset simply because of the team's limited failings. We haven't fallen out of the CL places or been relegated, have we - yet the angst around AFC is worse than it was around Liverpool last season.

Surely its the club's/manager's attitude, rather than the problems on the pitch that is to blame for the degree of disenchantment? I mean we all know that we are unlikely to win the league with our relative resources - don't we?

[LDG]

Well, we should have won the league last year IMO, but that's another discussion.

I get what you're saying, and if it hadn't been for 3 years of the same, then I'd agree with you. In fact, last season I was fairly happy, as I had assumed we'd finally take the plunge and do what was necessary. I was convinced we wouldn't fall away again....but we did, and in the most horric way yet.

We've been there or thereabouts with Chelsea spending tonnes. I know they've been better than us, and their titles show that, but we weren't that far off. And we're still a top force IMO. I think we have the talent to challenge for the title.

BUT. It does require a bit of strengthening, and it requires some tactical change, and some marshalling (both captain and manager).

So, for a limited amount of cash, and some changes in our coaching set up, we'd be comfortable. I think we'd still be biting at the leaders heels in May.

We haven't done the necessary, and I don't believe it's a question of financial disparity. It's all down to a managers refusal to accept his mistakes, a board who are happy because we're in the CL, and numerous other overlooked problems which saddle us with problems (see Nick Benders wage demands and why we can't sell the cunt).

It doesn't need loads of money throwing at it. It just needs some balls. Because all in all, that's what we lack. Bollocks. From Board to Manager, to Players.

[IBK]

Well, we should have won the league last year IMO, but that's another discussion.

I get what you're saying, and if it hadn't been for 3 years of the same, then I'd agree with you. In fact, last season I was fairly happy, as I had assumed we'd finally take the plunge and do what was necessary. I was convinced we wouldn't fall away again....but we did, and in the most horric way yet.

We've been there or thereabouts with Chelsea spending tonnes. I know they've been better than us, and their titles show that, but we weren't that far off. And we're still a top force IMO. I think we have the talent to challenge for the title.

BUT. It does require a bit of strengthening, and it requires some tactical change, and some marshalling (both captain and manager).

So, for a limited amount of cash, and some changes in our coaching set up, we'd be comfortable. I think we'd still be biting at the leaders heels in May.

We haven't done the necessary, and I don't believe it's a question of financial disparity. It's all down to a managers refusal to accept his mistakes, a board who are happy because we're in the CL, and numerous other overlooked problems which saddle us with problems (see Nick Benders wage demands and why we can't sell the cunt).

It doesn't need loads of money throwing at it. It just needs some balls. Because all in all, that's what we lack. Bollocks. From Board to Manager, to Players.

I agree entirely - and FWIW the main issue for me is AW's stranglehold on the team that seems to leech out individuality (remember when RVP was a shit hot free kick taker?), and prevents him from getting in a Martin Keown as a defensive coach.

But do the grievances you set out justify the level of bitterness we are seeing?