I know that in football the buck stops at the manager, but I also think that Arsenal fans are too quick to blame everything on Arsene Wenger. Maybe it is the years of frustration when we failed to win a trophy and dropped behind the big spending Premier League clubs like Chelsea and Man City.
But I think we forget too easily just what a great job Le Prof has done to keep the club in the top echelon of the Premier League and managed to qualify for and progress from the group stages of the Champions League while having no money to spend, at the same time as our rivals were bankrolled by billionaires.
Of course we want success and silverware, but it’s not that easy you know! Look at Liverpool, who have not won the English title for so long that a large portion of their fans cannot remember them doing. So just have a second thought when you think of blaming Wenger for every bad thing that happens to Arsenal, from injuries to results and poor performances. Because the same fans do not give him the same credit when things go right, like the FA cup triumph in May.
Maybe the under performing players like Per Mertesacker, Aaron Ramsey, Arteta, Flamini, Chamberlain and all should be the real targets of our anger. They have all let the club down this season but it is Wenger who gets the stick. Is that really fair?
Wenger sent a message to the players that whoever he likes will start and play till death despite of form and performance.
Who’s fault it was?
I love the 3 points, but I hate our performance and the way Wenger managed today (and so many days).
SORRY BUT THIS IS A POOR ANALYSIS. Not to blame Wenger is a ridiculous attempt to dig your head in the sand when the facts are there for all to see.
1. Whose job is it to motivate players. How come Mourinho is able to do this
2. Who plays players in wrong positions e.g Ozil /Arshavin on the wing
3.Who fails to sign players where it is clear we have weaknesses. EVERY SEASON
4. Who rejected Fabregas or did not consider song for CDM position.
It is because of views like this Arsenal is currently underachieving. IF WENGER WAS IN REAL, BARCA, MAN U, BAYERN, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN OUT OF A JOB YEARS AGO.
well i blame him for the fact that we had ONNNEEE defensive option on the bench 1!!!! 1!!!
if youre not gonna use cambell or podolski, keep them out and bring Hayden and coquelin, or daiby(where the hell is he??) but instead gibbs is hurt now and BFG is getting beat up, and what are we gonna do???
honestly we’re running ouut of options
the only back 4 we can have next game is Bellerin BFG CHambers Nacho
unless the boss comes back, but why rush him????
I blame him for the fact he didnnt reinforce the defense during the summer or even replace what he let go, vermalin miquel jenko sanga
like what the hell is wrong with your head to have such a small amount of options in the D??
and this is gonna affect us and aready is
so yah the players arent playing well or with heart
but i blame wenger forrrr ALOTTTTTTTTTT
Hes #brainless m8!!
We still have some defenders to cover our regular defenders in any eventuality. Should Gibbs be out of the Burnley game, I can see Semi Ajayi on our bench again as a defensive cover. Honestly as a Nigerian Gooner, I am looking forward to see Ajayi staring for Arsenal against Burnley to see what he is made of. I hope he will prove to be a defender with timber and caliber when the boss does play him.
Finally, an article from an AKB. #smh
Thank you @ronniec. Players somtimes send a message to their manager through their body language on the pitch. Sometimes the manager’s nervousnes and cluelesness seeps into his players too. So the manager is always at the centre of any success or failure his team. Wenger is the one who decided to feild the players he fields. He is the one who decided that podolski and campbel will not get game time, no matter how terribly ozil and wilshere play. Ox was so tired yesterday that he was making lots of mistakes and failed to track back. Yet wenger left him on the pitch. How possible is it that a fresh campbel cannot do better than a tired and misfiring chamberlain? Carzola was rubbish yesterday. How come Rosicky wasnt brought in to replace him at the 65th minute. A tired player cannot give you much. Carzola was completely out of sorts yeserday but it was the manager’s decision to keep him on the pitch for that long. And somehow, wenger is not to blame? It makes no sense.
Well said Uche.
I don’t blame wenger for the poor performances. I agree that the players let him down (except Sanchez). But I blame him for not bringing in enough depth in our squad at the back on particular where we so clearly need it.
*in*
If it’s the players’ problem that they let Arsenal down, whose job is it to either motivate them to do better or let them go & bring in those that will no longer let him or the fans down? Arsène Wenger, right? I thought so…
Touché
High level athletes motivate themselves…not the manager. It’s ridiculous to suggest a manager is responsible. A doctor, lawyer, broker or anybody in a specialized profession motivates themselves, that’s why they’re in the positions they’re in.
An SAS member doesn’t require ‘motivation’. Nor does Messi or Usain Bolt. No trainer or ‘manager’ will create motivation, they can only guide the internal desire. Motivation is not a requirement of a modern day Manager or boss…in any profession that is highly specialized.
I agree.
i’ve blamed wenger plenty, but he cannot take *all* the blame.
the players are grown-ups (sort of) and by their professionality
need to show up for every game even if they can see their
manager is losing it.
Players don’t pick the team or deal with the transfers. He sold a defender and didn’t replace him that’s just stupid. We have needed a Good Dm since Gilberto Silva, still no replacement after all these years is that the players fault. We needed a WORLD CLASS striker he goes and gets Welbeck who’s good but not World Class. He plays players out of position which leads to poor performances and loss in confidence.. He strengthens direct rivals RVP/FAB which is stupid. Demba Ba isn’t a great player but he could of helped Arsenal Mourinho was no way letting that happen that’s what a Top manager does, I hate Mourinhos guts by the way. Let’s be honest with ourselves Wenger was a great Manager but he’s actually just crazy now.
This is the most ridiculous analysis ever.
Sure, it is the players fault that Wenger plays them out of position.
Sure, it is the players fault that Wenger refused to acquire a DM or even the most basic defensive cover.
Sure, it is the players fault that Wenger REFUSES to use players who can actually play the LW (Poldi, Campbell) Why are they even on the team?
Sure, it is all the players fault that they all decline in form under Wenger’s management.
Arshavin arrived scoring multiple goals per game and left completely useless. Gervinho plays great for any manager except Wenger. Even Chamack was scoring a goal every 2 games until Wenger coached him and it all went downhill.
Ozil arrived as one of the best players in Europe and now is barely mediocre. Cazorla arrived and fitted into the team perfectly and now he is declining rapidly. Almost never scores or assists any more. Wilshere and Ox were 2 of the brightest young British talents until Wenger managed them for a few years – now they are inconsistent at best.
Jenks and Song are doing great at W. Ham (away from Wenger). And when Poldi refused to decline in form was leading the league in assists and scoring goals like mad 2 seasons back, Wenger rewarded this bit of good fortune by benching him.
How long do you think it will now take Wenger to coach the quality out of Sanchez. It is only a matter of time.
The common factor in all of this has been Wenger’s management. Reality is a very stubborn thing.
Any counters to this argument………
Nope. Because Mohawk is spitting facts. Wenger remains in a 2004 dream that he refuses to wake up from.
So how was Arsenal not buying Cesc not his fault
True, the lackluster efforts from our squad members don’t help, but neither do the tactics and stubbornness of our 18 year experienced manager. There is fault in both parties but no one besides Sanchez seems to care. And if it remains this way, we are doomed I tell ya, DOOMED!
The most frustrating thing about this club is that it has what’s need to be successful but isnt. The team would benefit from learning how to defend properly and possibly adopt a counter attacking style to better utilize our quicker players. This possession football we play would be fine as a defensive tactic once we have a lead, but doesn’t seem to do much now.
Shackles need taken off, players need played in their preferred positions, favoritism of the British players need to stop, under performing players need dropped, better squad rotation needs utilized, substitutions need to be made sooner. The purpose of the game is to get the ball in to back of the net so let’s do it as quickly as possible by playing as vertically as possible. Then defend by keeping the ball with some tippy tappy and disciplined defensive shape
Wenger is tactically poor and inferior if you are to compare him to his peers in the managerial side of football,it’s not a coincidence that we can’t beat any of the top teams anymore and that atrocious record against Mourinho says it all Arsene Wenger is now past his best!
I think we can begin and end this argument by remembering what happened during our 2014 January transfer window. We all knew which areas on the pitch were weak, but AW bought the bare minimum to fix them. He was the one who let the squad down there.
True we all knew and the best Wenger could do for us was bring in an injured 31 year old Kim Kallstrom who’s not good enough when we’ve always needed a world class striker and DM!
Diego Simeone or Jurgen Klopp in the boot room after a loss…
“What the f*ck was that!!? (You) were lazy tracking back. (You) should have done this. (You) didn’t cross early enough. (You) didn’t defend off the ball.
Wenger in the boot room after a loss…
“Well…Look uhhh…I think we lacked a bit sharpness. I thought the referee was to blame for the goals. But everyone played well today we were just unlucky not to score. 80% possession was good but we still need to pass the ball around midfield more. But don’t feel bad. Let’s go out for ice cream, I’ll buy.”
Wenger needs to tell everybody except Sanchez to grow a pair and play like they actually care about our club. What other job in the world can you do pretty much whatever you want and never get told off for it? Only at Arsenal.
enough said……Wenger out
This article is way too AKB!
Players not performing? There is something called ROTATING PLAYERS, which le prof has probably forgotten how to. Why doesn’t he rotate the players?
Campbell, and to some extend, Poldoski clearly demonstrated they can deliver, and Rosicky is left rotting on the bench while Ox, Cazola and Ramsey playing week in week in out working their butts off to the point they can’t run and shoot anymore.
WHY keep playing these not-in-form and under-performing players and not rotating much more motivated players ???
WHO makes these decisions???
Sunderland’s game was clearly a game we should rotate players–because of current form of Blackcats and the mid-week CL game!
YET, he insisted using the same not-in-form and under-performing players up front!
This game was Alexis Sanchez 2: Sunderland 0
Wenger had it and I appreciate him doing that for the club…
But he has clearly lost it,
WENGER MUST GO!
Three of the underperforming players on your list (Arteta, Flamini and Mert) play positions of obvious need neglected by the Manager in the transfer window. The problem is that Wenger is content to start those players instead of bringing in better players. A better Manager wouldn’t do that.
You will all be eating your words when Mr AW turns it around. He is a genius. He will make Arsenal great again as he did before! !!!!!!!
i have waited 6 years for that to happen and
unfortunately he’s out of chances now.
esp since we’ve “paid off the stadium” and “have plenty of money to compete”.
I think you should not have used the word “top echelon” this is not a society that matter to be at the top but to have a highest place in the league and wenger is mediocre at the Job.jurgen Kloop has just lost another match he may be the next manager we need and by the substitutions made are something that wenger has restrained at ,he is pretty lousy at micro managing.
I think Wenger is happy to be the focal point for most of the criticism. I’ve got no doubt he deserves a lot of it but I agree the players need to stand up. It’s tiresome to hear them in interviews refer to Wenger as a father figure and then go out like they did on Wednesday and play like muppets.
Hmmmmm don’t blame Wenger. So who do we blame for having 2 centre backs, no defensive midfielders and no world class striker in the entire squad? The players? I believe it is Wenger we should blame, don’t be so naive.
As I agree with most of the comments written above, I can’t understand who is thumbing them down? I’ts common knowledge that AW needs to go, the only question is when is the best time for the club to do so. Maybe a little before January’s transfer window? And which managers would be available at that time? Personally, I think that we will have to keep AW till the end of the season and then he can resign…
there’ll always be one AKB on here: maybe its mr wenger himself 🙂
i think most people misundertood the post.
yes, wenger is to blame for not buying where he needed to buy etc,
but players play the game, and we re talking about players that sometimes have nothing to do witth the áreas we needed to strenghten.
Both to blame each at their own time
My opinion is that Wenger should go when he doesn’t make progress, and it’s likely this end of this season. At least he is good at keeping us at top 4. We still need to be in Champion League next season and replacing him now without having a really good replacement might make us even worse. We all see that Wenger is not doing well but we have to act rationally, that means we cannot fire him when he just have won something a few months ago. We have higher target this season and if Wenger cannot achive that, that’s the right time to tell him to leave. Now, all of you blaming manager and players, you are not supporting our club. The manager and the players still have a few months to prove what they promised us.
gazidis talking about W’s successor gives me hope
they’re looking now. they need to start to look
now so that we can have a decent mgr in place
next summer.
The Problem is Wenger is longer a Manager he is an Accountant, he has his finger in to many Pie’s. He has lost his way regarding the daily running of a football team. He is to busy balancing the book’s at Arsenal which really is not his job. Wenger’s Job is to build a winning team but the last few seasons he has not done this. So YES he is to BLAME.