The sweetest Arsenal memories I have are for a large part related to the four fabulous attackers of Dennis, Thierry, Freddie and Robert. What a combination of speed, power, intelligence, character and technical ability they had between them. I am sure not to be the only one who would love something similar to return at the club, and I think we are getting very close to it.
These are the four players who I believe can become nearย those four IF they find the magic between them and fulfil their potential.
Alexis = Pires
I reckon Alexis will keep giving his all but with the arrival of Lacazette the pressure is off to have to score in almost each and every game. It may enable him to relax a bit more and become more efficient. It will also make him less dependent on the class and skills of Ozil: three is a crowd, as they say, which for once is a good thing. Pires was such a good player when it came to taking a critical chance and Alexis has the same ability. I actually reckon that Alexis is the slightly better player, although it is hard to compare them given the different areas they play/played in.
Lacazette = Henry
OF course, filling Thierry’s boots is a big big job and I don’t want to put such pressure on Alex. But in terms of type, there are similarities. Both are fast, athletic players and Alex will find that bit of extra body strength needed in the PL. Alex also has the much-needed but oh so rare box-awareness that Henry used to have, and they also share that deadly pounce when the opportunity arises. It is a long way to go but I have not been more excited about a new CF at Arsenal since the departure of Thierry.
Ozil = Bergkamp
My all time favourite Arsenal player has never been replaced and may never be replaced. The combination of directing our attacking play with deadly finishes and mouth-watering assists is very hard to find. There is not a single player who comes near him in the entire PL, although De Bruine at MC has the potential (and so does Iwobi but he has a much longer way to go). Ozil plays in a different era of PL football: there are less gaps and defences have become a lot stronger and cleverer. But Mesut has that ability to find and create space where others see walls and I predict he will score more goals this season.
Ramsey = Ljunberg
We need a grafter on the right who can also score important, quality goals as well as the simple, ugly ones, and I reckon that was Freddie Ljunberg. Who can replace that sort of player? The one that comes to mind is Aaron. I like him through the middle next to Xhaka but maybe he would be even better permanently on the right. I can see him doing a Freddie.
Now to play these four attack-minded players would mean that we would need to firm up in midfield. Elneny and Xhaka would be my combination, or maybe Xhaka and Le Coq or Kolasinac would be the steel and passing quality combo that will protect and set these attackers free….
What do you think, fellow BKers?
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
TA, It’s a good thing that you have a great friendly group here, because even though you went out of your way to qualify each comparison, i think a less tolerant bunch would be screaming blasphemy and throwing virtual internet stones lol
You know that I joined the gooners after the days of legend.. I’ve never been a front runner, or glory hunter. But I know how people revere these men.
Btw, T, In the past year i met both Thierry and Vieira (separate occasions). I didn’t fawn over them because I’m a latecomer, but I did feel the presence of greatness from the legends. I had to let my bosses know who Patrick is, so they would go out of their way to take good care of his issues. Imagine trying to explain his greatness to new york baseball/basketball fans, ugh.
So, in the tiniest way, i did something good for PV as a small thanks.
Sorry T A as much as I like these guys (especially Rambo). I just don’t see much of a comparison. Alexis maybe, but Ozil and Rambo no comparison in my view. Lacazette still has a chance . But Thierry Henry is the greatest Arsenal player I have ever seen, so he has his work cut out.
In fairness those four guys were my absolute heroes and I may be a little biased.
jync you met Vieira and the great one? Hope you got pictures? Can’t even get close to equalling that honour
Cheers guys and fair enough. It was just a bit of fantasising ๐ถ๐ณ
You ate a lucky man to have seen those giants in the flesh, BAJ. Wow.
The huge difference lies (1) in the individual efficiencies (2) in the group chemistry. In favour of, yes you are right, Bk and co.
Well Jnyc, Patrick Vieira pulled his car alongside my taxi in approx 1998 down the Fulham Road and asked me to direct him towards the M1.
I just said ‘Patrick’, he looked a bit nonplused and I pointed in the general direction of Hyde Park Corner. Beat that… ๐
Total, a good try with the post but you’re on a sticky wicket.
Hi there TA. I don’t think you are so far off the truth here as people may be inclined to suggest. What’s different is what sits behind these front four. Put a rock solid defence and Patrick and Manu in the midfield and this attack will start to look pretty darn invincible. It’s a team game and we need to have the balance across the full team not just in one part. Xhaka and Kola might be a proper wall in time. Who knows. But that’s where we are still found wanting at present I feel. I think there’s plenty of quality up front that could compare with past greats given the right platform.
Nice comparison, TA.
I’ve been thinking myself the same thing about Mesut-Aaron connection but we haven’t seen too many goals in their co-operation since 2013-14. That’s what drove our team to 13 victories on a spin and eventually the double in 2001-02 – Bergkamp-Ljungberg connection was unstoppable.
The main problem remains our central midfield as our back four don’t get enough protection from our midfielders. We didn’t want to pay Kante’s agent what he asked for and that’s why he went to Chelsea instead of Arsenal.
Mind you, Arsenal had Vieira between 1996 and 2005. We had some awful campaigns in terms of defence (1999-2000 and 2000-01 spring to mind with heavy defeats to United and Liverpool) where we couldn’t defend a backyard despite having most of The Back Five available (Winterburn and Bould had left) and Vieira was patrolling the midfield. The strongest campaign we had included Vieira playing next to a defensive midfielder (Petit, Gilberto Silva). Petit was on his way down in 1999-2000 so he was sold to Barca in the summer 2000 alongside Overmars.
AB and Admir, two complementary comments demonstrating the importance of team defending and providing the right platform for our attackers to shine. Thanks. Clearly the current generation is some way off the might of TDRF, but as type of players and potential qualities they possess, there is real hope. Let’s get the balance right in the team and some gumption and we may see some fine footie again.
Hey TA… Just catching up after a few days (and a few missed posts)… And yes, I did get the e-mail you sent me…to which I’ll be responding…
On this post, I have to say I’m not qualified to comment too much as I only fell into the Arsenal life after two of the four players you mention were already gone (Pires and Bergkamp) while the remaining time for the other two was marred by injury. Henry’s quality was all there when he returned (and well illustrated after his move to Barca…) but Freddie’s pace was gone and he quickly drifted in the opposite direction (West Ham and then Seattle Sounders and maybe a couple of other spots before retirement, where I don’t believe he made much impact).
My only knowledge of the 4 legends playing together comes from highlight reel stuff, mostly that tape about the invincible season that was actually called something else (I think the name “invincibles” was already copyrighted or something). My take was that a LOT of the goals came on the break with strong running from Freddie, Pires and Henry and some outstanding passing from Dennis. Obviously, the comfort the team felt in defending must have been a huge factor… The confidence in the finishing (and on the assists) is also remarkable. In the end, it’s just a highlight film, so, for me, it’s hard to say what made their play so special. Greater than the sum of the parts due to trust in each other i.e., teamwork, mostly likely was at the heart of the matter…
My worry about the (current) attackers you mention is that there’s not enough space on the pitch for the full expression of both Ramsey and Alexis. Moving Ramsey to the right actually solves this–assuming Alexis is going to give his all for the cause and move aggressively w/o the ball. Wenger, however, seems to want to give Rambo a free role, which, combined with Alexis’ desire to get off the sinking ship (our club… ๐ฆ …) means that the onus is then on Ozil to drop deep to make space for Ramsey’s runs and (somehow…) try to get Alexis into the game. That’s A LOT to put onto one player’s shoulders, esp. when (as he’s recently noted…) he takes ENDLESS criticism for not being a good enough tackler, showing poor body language, being lazy or otherwise being at the root of many of Arsenal’s ills… The longer it takes to get him signed to a new deal, the more I’ll be forced to believe that he’s following Alexis (and perhaps AW if results continue to go south…) out the door and that the club will be headed for some really tough times with the need to have a new manager trying to rebuild around younger (and less talented) players. Watching Lemar vs Luxembourg the other day, I saw him (Lemar) as more of a replacement for Ozil than Alexis… And, like sometimes with Mesut, absolutely NOTHING was coming off for the Monaco player on the day. Notably, ALL his (left-footed) set piece deliveries failed to clear the first defender and almost all of his open play through passes were cut out. Like Ozil, however, he never gave up trying… My point? I like that you’re working hard to appreciate what we’ve got…
Lacazette is the wild-card of the bunch and, so far, I’m impressed by his game. He seems to have good decisiveness about when to go for goal and when to work with teammates while doing all of it in tight spaces. His goal vs Leicester notwithstanding, he’s obviously less of a target than Giroud, but I think he can work similar spaces while presenting more ball-at-the-feet threat… We shall see.
Anyhow, good post, and I also liked the one about “gumption.” To me, our team decisiveness and togetherness (which I think is what gumption might be all about) will be improved with the Ox gone–IF Alexis is on board with the plan. (I also think it would help if the entire fanbase were too, but I’ve said that already a time or ten…) The post about Europa Line-ups was interesting too, but I’ll take a wait and see approach there, trusting the manager about how he’ll be working in the players who aren’t playing regularly in the league matches. I think there’s most likely a need to use more first teamers to try and get some early wins so that more wholesale changes (and leaving some stars back in London) can happen as the group stage moves forward…
OK, enough said, as always, pardon the long response…
Alexis, focused at least as much on his troubles with the Chilean team, seems to be taking a note out of Ozil’s book… https://www.instagram.com/p/BYrnNEtl93x/?taken-by=alexis_officia1
I guess the only way to avoid (relentless) criticism is to (always) win… Our two best players (both unwilling to sign new contracts…) seem to be saying they’d appreciate some, er, support… Or at least a bit more appreciation for just how hard it is to always keep working to deliver successes in a game that has offers so few of them…
Sorry if I seem to be hijacking the thread here… But here’s an article that should be a must read for anybody who doesn’t understand that management serves at the “pleasure” of ownership… The conclusion about Arsenal and relegation is likely a step too far, but you never know…
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/sep/04/arsenal-problems-stan-kroenke-premier-league-los-angeles-rams
Of course, Wenger surely played a role in allowing Kroenke to take over the club a decade ago. At that time, relative to the debt other American owners (the Glazers at ManU) were putting on their new clubs, Kroenke must have seemed like a better bet… At least he has yet to try and re-locate the club…
17ht, I saw that article and did comment on how lopsided and unfair it came across as. For me, it was a very cleverly done (complete with twisting of contexts) article, timed to coincide with the impression of doom already built around the club by the media and gullible fans. The quote :โ ..But it is fair to say that every sports organization Kroenke has touched โ the Rapids possibly aside โ has turned into an outright failure, and his fingerprints are all over Arsenal now, too.โ admits Kroenke has had success with the Rapids (Phew!) but goes on to suggest Arsenal are a failure too?
I feel referring to the current FA cup and โCharity shieldโ champions (a club that has won both cups 6 times in 4 years!!) as Outright failures is in poor taste, mischievous and is all in the bid to cause more angst among the fan base in the hope that fans will agitate some more to get the manager (and maybe, Kroenke) out, while also milking the situation with “hits” to their sites. When last in our history have we been that successful in consecutive years, yet thatโs referred to as a “fingerprint of failure”? Now, how fair is that comment?
It should be noted that Arsenal’s absolute transfer spending has never been as high as they got right after Kroenke took over thus smashing the impression he has somehow, introduced frugality at the club when, in truth, it is the club’s philosophy to be self sustaining (at least, for now, as I think demands may soon be made on the owner since FIFA/UEFA seem to have lost all control). I saw a stat which showed that transfer spend growth in Kroenke’s first 4 years outstripped Arsenal’s transfer spend over the prior 10 years, or something to that effect.
People forget the soccer landscape changed seriously, right after we last won the league. It is also easy to forget that we did make a fist of fighting for the league, with very young teams, two times in those years only to fall short after the leg-breaker tackles to our players, which some of the boys couldn’t recover from in the run-in. With some togetherness (club management, players and fans), we can still defy odds to shock a few; but with distractions as this, I fear for this season.
17HT that’s a really interesting piece and seems to me to be further evidence that .kroenke doesn’t give a toss about a team that’s so important to so many people throughout the world.. we all have favourite teams in different sports but how many are we actually passionate about. I always liked the Bears, but if they shifted to Montana would I really care, not really.
I think. I can safely say if Kroenke tried to move Arsenal, there are enough crazy people out their, someone would send him to meet his maker.
Having said that I don’t think spend , spend, spend is the answer, but I do believe getting transfer business done early makes a huge difference
‘Eris, I think you and I are much more in agreement than disagreement. Indeed, the article is a hit generator for haters of the current regime and might make the Wenger Out folks all the more rabid.
I see it exactly the opposite. Wenger is really the only thing holding it all together and the only benefit of a new manager will be that he’s given more slack (for poor results).
I do think the article highlights why AW was given the new contract, however–because of Kroenke’s love of the bottom line, the thing that strokes his vanity, rather than the “winning things” element. I say it over and over, but management serves at the pleasure of ownership and AW does right by Kroenke. Holding signs that say “Kroenke Out” (or Wenger or Gazidis for that matter…) at a game is almost laughable. If you’re gonna keep buying the tickets, which are not ever going to be less expensive, why should an owner even think about leaving? Until the stadium cannot be filled with renewals, the bottom line will never decrease…
…Unless we spend more than we make, of course… Transfer spending is going up, up, up, but it’s being driven by 1) The money-down-a-hole clubs who are flouting the (meaningless) FFP rules and television revenues. IMO, it’s better to (follow AW’s vision) and continue to offer high salaries instead. That so many “supporters” believe that this leads to complacency among the players is a form of self-hate, IMO… It’s also interesting that some players get mileage out of moves “for less money” (but more years, perhaps, so more overall money…)
Retsub, in the end we actually DID do our business early (Laca/Kola) and most of the biggest clubs joined us in backing down from the hyper-inflated late moves. (Barca did spend half their Neymar money on 20 year-old Dembele from Dortmund, but only half of it… Their choice to not spend closer to 3/4 of it on 25 year-old Coutinho will likely look like good business in the end…)
The latest rumor is Alexis to City for 20 million cash in January. We’ll see. If we can get him to sign an “intermediate” contract, say 2 years at maybe 200-250K week–with the promise that we will let him go next summer–we could make better money when that time comes and he’s protected in case of major injury. Hopefully he can help keep things afloat for at least the half-season if not the whole campaign…
Like I said, on limited viewing, Lemar seems more a replacement for Ozil…which frightens me. In my view this team will be headed (much) lower in the table if Ozil doesn’t re-sign and an exodus of our best players follows, though I know that retsub (and many others) have no such worries and probably believe that losing the Ox already puts the writing on the wall…
Anyhow, that’s just my take on these matters, and, like I said, a decade ago when there were things like the G-14 (led by the “legendary” David Dein…) and FFP was actually a believable idea, bringing Kroenke into the mix seemed a pretty decent idea…
Sorry for all the repetition (the “like I saids…”) and the length of my comments, but I mean to be clear…
Well said there, 17ht…..and nothing wrong with a bit of clarity either. ๐
I am not sure about being headed much lower in the league, if Ozil leaves though, except for the psychological side of having a real superstar depart. We are stocked to replicate (not replace, kind) his qualities by promoting some youth or buying a similar player. Ox won’t be missed, but he will certainly be an improvement to the Liverpool squad, is my worry.
For me, Kroenke has brought visible improvements to the way Arsenal is run as a club, especially in its bid to tap into commercial benefits of its global status (and every club desires this), just as U tied have done so well. He has bought companies like STATDNA and has made their services available to the club, while medical facilities has seen a significant upgrade. These are softer issues that don’t get picked up by the media amidst all of the negative narratives. Let’s hope we can turn things around.
Aww! Spell checker trouble.
…not replace, mind *
…just as United have done so well..*
17HT yes you are correct we did most of our business early, but still managed to get caught up in the hyper inflated bidding for Lemar. Yes I was sorry to see the Ox go as he was just beginning to flourish. Personally I think he will struggle to break into a Liverpool side already overloaded in midfield.
If I had any input into our transfer activity I would spend the lot on two defensive midfielders (ala Vieira, Petit ). To put a defensive shield in front of our leaky defence.
Cheers fellas… And good point there ‘Eris about the “soft” items during Kroenke’s time, even if I, like AW maybe, bristle at the idea that stats are such a big improvement. I don’t know if you saw it, but the new 17HT–@sbourgenforcer–does a good job with some of the stats stuff while maintaining a proper perspective on their limitations on his Twitter feed… I think Ozil also, does pretty well when the stats compare him to a lot of #10s in the game…
Retsub, I would tend to agree with your take on the Ox. Klopp must’ve said all the right things…in addition to the idea of a 6 year contract (given all his injury troubles)… Paid millions all the way to 30 yrs old is not so bad… Personally, I think–if he really believed in himself–he would have done better staying in London, but maybe he’s not completely sure he can outplay the likes of Bellerin or Victor Moses from a wing-back spot, let alone Ramsey in a more attacking free role… Ah well…
It’s quite simple, actually.
Arsenal haven’t been able to predict the future. It’s something that is difficult to hold against them as nobody had a crystal ball to know which way the financial world would go.
We are now in the position to spend money every second year – we spent big in the summer of 2014 and then signed just one ฤech (yes, a lame pun) in the summer 2015. Then we spent our asses off on players our manager either didn’t want or wasn’t happy with in the summer 2016 only to get a positive net spending in the summer 2017.
Anyway…
Right now, Arsenal don’t look like a club that is heading to the right direction.
1) We have an old manager who hasn’t been able to respond quickly enough to the requests of the modern football. For instance, he didn’t fix our midfield problems last summer, again thanks to our manager’s idea that we are strong enough in that area. He realized what everyone in the world had known since the last season only after Liverpool had given us a proper spanking.
2) We are no longer attractive option for some of the best talents in the world for more than one reason. I’d start with the fact other big clubs of a similar stature and financial power – Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid – have much better scouting teams who do a much better job in identifying future stars. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been our biggest sale in the history of the club and he was sold for “just” 40.000.000 pounds. Borussia got half of the Neymar money from Barcelona for Ousmane Dembele, a youngster with one CL season in his legs. Atletico Madrid can get at least 80-90 millions for Griezmann, a player who had been followed closely by Arsenal but according to reports, the shittiest investment Arsenal have made since Squillaci (StatDNA that is) suggested Griezmann is not good enough for Arsenal. Also, young players know they can neither win the league with Arsenal nor reach the glory on the personal level (i.e. come close to winning Golden Ball or at least Golden Boot) with Wenger. The most worrying part is, young talents from Arsenal are now opting for a departure even for less money elsewhere (Ox, C.Willock, possibly even Malen but his agent is a cnut so…).
3) Arsenal don’t adapt to this new environment. Sometimes we have to accept demands of the football agents even if they are greedy bastards. We missed out on Kante because our club didn’t want to pay what Kante’s agent was asking for.
4) There is too much divisions in today’s Arsenal which makes our motto “Victoria concordia crescit” the most ironic thing ever since Paul Merson’s suggestion for Arsenal new signing was: “Drinkwater!”
The manager has locked horns with the board, the board doesn’t want either of big shareholders to invest their own money in the club, Gazidis and the manager don’t find the common language too often, the players themselves are not in the harmony (Mustafi, Wilshere, Alexis etc) and the fans – with all those stupid flying banners during the matchday – are about to prove that an average IQ among the Arsenal fans is not as high as we thought a few years ago.
5) Right now, we have a difficult situation as a lot of our players are either in their final year of the contract or approaching it. With two superstar players on their way out of the club next summer (or January), we will have a massive task to replace them on the already inflated market. Of course, there is always a possibility that free agent Lionel Messi will reject all Barcelona offers to join Arsenal (I mean, if he needs a new challenge, I can hardly come up with the more exciting one!) but I won’t hold my breath over that one.
With possible exodus next summer – Mertesacker, the only leader in the whole team, is about to retire; Cazorla, the only player who knows how to make a vertical transition of the ball without losing it five times in our own third, is unlikely to feature before January (or ever again, if you ask me) and his contract is up in June; Wilshere, once touted as Mr Arsenal II, hasn’t played a minute for Arsenal for over a year and is also closer to the exit than ever; ฤech will be 36; Bellerin and Mustafi want to leave; Monreal and Koscielny will both be 32 in 2018 as well as Giroud – we are very close to the Aston Villa/Nottingham Forrest/Leeds United decline. It won’t be too long before Lacazette gets an idea that he was brought under false pretenses and ask for a transfer far, far away from Arsenal (I wouldn’t exclude an offer from Atletico Madrid next summer once they sell Griezmann to Man United). Wenger’s contract will be up in the summer 2019 which means – if he survives the shambles this season threatens to be – we are going to face the very same problem regarding his future we had last season.
Kroenke might want to sell then but it’s very unlikely anyone will be interested to buy a fallen giant.
Whoa…Admir, that was almost as long as some of mine… (Or maybe even longer…) and sadly I can’t argue with too much you’re saying. I esp. like you’re praise of Santi Cazorla. Jnyc said he saw a stat that said our winning percentage with him starting is 80%, and without him, it drops to 45%.
Indeed THAT’S the guy we should have bought… ๐
If I were to quibble, I would question your math on the Ox’s contract but I can’t be arsed to find out how many years we offered him or what his final total contract at Pool might be… My hunch is that we (and Chelsea) offered less (total) money i.e., over the length of the contract. Small details like that can be glossed over with–like you say–the “average” Arsenal supporter if it fits his/her narrative… Also, it’s “interesting” that Drinkie ended up at Chavs while Barkley reportedly got cold feet during his medical… Are these guys better than our options? They’re likely better than our home-grown ones, I fear…
Finally, I think your conclusion is a bit too dire… As long as we’re able to keep Wenger as manager. Bring in a new guy and (sadly…) I think you might be right… ๐
Now that the team is set we’ll have to see if the manager can smooth out the divisions in the dressing room and get his crew able to rally the “support” with a run of results (50+ unbeaten would probably do the trick…more winkies…), even if that’s the ultimate inversion of the word. “Support,” at least when I put it into my search engine, comes up with this definition…”a thing that bears the weight of something or keeps it upright.”
Hmmmm…
17, you and I have been talking about trying to get Alexis signed to a new deal and allowing him to leave next summer in some way. We wanted to avoid all of the nonsense we went through last week, and to have a relatively hapoy player in the squad for one more year.
Obviously, Alexis really wanted out much sooner, like 3 months ago.
By why in the world didn’t the club approach him in june with a deal that pays very well, with what I keep calling a “fair” buyout clause. One that any big team would happily pay next summer. Instead of just saying publically that he’s not going to be allowed to leave, thus making him more unhappy.
In the clubs defense, maybe we did, and his agent turned it down, trying to force the move right away? Maybe we have right now a tiny window where he might try to protect his future from major injury by having a long term deal.
I think now that deal would have to include a big chunk of cash, not a loyalty bonus, but something we can recoup from his sale in the buyout clause, and still end up in profit, and with a more motivated player for a season.
My fear is that we aren’t really making these moves that well behind the scenes. How the business has been handled lately gives me no confidence that we are acting with such foresight.
Yeah, J… It’s hard to say… And I appreciate that you’re examining it from multiple angles… Personally, I would have sold Alexis early as well–and to the highest bidder, domestic or otherwise– but it would have been a PR disaster to have sold early to ManCity (a so-called rival). At the end of the day, I just don’t rate him (Alexis) as highly as many folks do.
The problem is that Arsene-L are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. All the Would-Be-Wengers know better than the manager (and aren’t constrained by any fiscal limitations from above–and that prices quoted by the press are what they would be when the actual deal went down, etc., etc). Moreover, they have 100% belief that all their (would-be) actions would have panned out. Like I said above, I agree (completely…) that we should have bought someone to fill Santi’s shoes, i.e. the player who would change our win rate from 45% to 80%. A while back, you gave me some names and maybe those guys would have done just that… Or maybe not. The fact of the matter is that we’ll never know…
Believing in the actions of the one guy (Wenger) whom the owner seems to trust is a personal choice. Clearly, some of the decisions (who to buy, who to promote from the youth ranks, how much salary to give them, etc., etc., not to mention the match to match decisions) haven’t all worked out. That said, he’s our manager and, for me, a very appealing character. He cannot go on forever, so I’ll have to see how I feel about the next guy. Nonetheless, I believe we’d be MUCH better positioned to play above our (financial) level if AW had the support of the fan-base.
Succession is a (looming) issue and there needs to be a plan for the future that could (at least) spread the work around a bit more…And maybe the contract/business end of things is one area where a real specialist could help. Other areas too. Wenger can (still) do a lot recruiting French/Francophone players (In my guesstimation…) but maybe a Spanish/Latin American specialist would also help. I like it that Jens and Per are taking on roles at the club (and maybe Steve Bould actually does something besides filling a seat)… Dennis Bergkamp as some sort of domestic first team coach, might also be a thought. Who knows? Change will come, but will it be for the better or the worse?…
Only time will tell… First referendum comes Saturday at 15:00 GMT…
Hi 17, I appreciate your realistic views, balance you bring. I’d like to mention that though I’ve been more pessimistic in the past year, I’ve always been an Arsene lover. Even when we were just holding onto top four on the final day of the season.
His personality along with our style of play drew me to Arsenal. Considering we were underdogs, and not trying to buy trophies appealed to me too.
In a way, though I never saw it coming, to me le professor became a victim of his own successes. I liked the nucleus of the team we were building, and when we promised we’d add quality, we spent big on Ozil, later a good deal on Alexis, and i thought with those pearls added, we should challenge for the league. 2 seasons ago, though, i wouldnt complain, i felt really disappointed when leicester won it. That was the year that should have been ours. Regardless of FA cups, that stopped our forward momentum. It really felt that we were underachieving, especially as the big clubs were not at their peaks.
I really think some of the players may have felt the same, because at the beginning of last year was when some players stopped commiting longer term. Soon after, the players performances were the least inspired I’ve seen from them in years.
I won’t even go over the clubs mistakes from that point forward, because I’ve beat it to death here. I pride myself on the fact that though I have strong opinions,but.., I enjoy when someones arguments, or events can cause me to reconsider. I still don’t like Wenger haters, or disrespectful wenger outers. But I can honestly say that it doesnt look like we’re on a good track right now, — see ADMIR good post— and I agree with all in the last part of your post. I even wanted Wenger to hang on, because I believed he put us on a winning track, and I wanted him to get one last league trophy and leave on top like a perfect script. Now I see we may need to do the forward planning you mentioned, and prepare for the sad eventuality of “after Arsene”.
Life’s not like a hollywood film, i guess. But let’s just see if maybe there is one miracle turnaround starting this weekend. The players do owe the effort to him, and Stranger things have happened.
Excellent comments overnight. Joy to read.
TA,
Sent a mail to your box.
Thanks PE. I have forwarded your email to master Seventeenho as I am really busy/tired at the moment. I may have some time tomorrow lunchtime if he cannot do it either.
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