From Pål Dugstad :
Hello Myles,
Yes, this time I really think Wenger is likely to walk away from Arsenal at the end of the season.
There are two main reasons for that:
The first being that I do not think this Arsenal will finish higher then 6 place, and I also thought that before the beginning of this season, so no top 4 place then to attract the best players either.
The second being that the players do not really believe in Wenger any more, and they do not fight for him, and not for wearing the Arsenal shirt much either. And when you lost the dressing room it is time to walk for almost whatever reason.
I think Wenger is all to blame for the situation Arsenal are in.
Like you have said and many others:
Wenger has recruited almost only average to average plus players, and they have one thing in common in general: they are not leaders, not strong personalities that can talk back to “King Wenger,” and Wenger has long based his 4th place tactics on average + players and 2-3 quality players to make the difference.
In Sanchez, Wenger got a fighting man, but not in Ozil, and Wenger paid over the odds for the Swiss Granit Xhaka who cost more than N`Golo Kante Chelsea bought from Leicester.
Like you have said Myles, a new Arsenal manager will have to start almost from scratch to build up an all new Arsenal side, and to ditch the kindergarten culture Wenger has installed.
Sanchez is next to 100% sure to leave Arsenal in the summer,and who can blame him?
He wants to play in a decent team with fighting, quality players who hate to lose. But maybe, just maybe, if Arsenal could get a top new manager that manager could persuade Sanchez to stay, but not likely as Arsenal are most likely to finish outside top 4. Arsenal need likely almost half a new team for next season in order to have an OK chance for a top 4 place, and that is not likely at all at present.
This Arsenal team likely to finish below Everton next season when losing their 2-3 best players, and as Roy Keane said, Arsenal got only 2 decent players, and the rest of the players are average. That sounds a bit harsh, but how many Arsenal players would walk into any of the other best English teams?
Pity Wenger`s mind got so stale over the years and insisting on my way or no way when so clearly his mind had better ideas when first arriving at Arsenal.
Yes, Wenger now thinks of taking over another big club for 2-3 years maybe, and his style of play can keep up for a while if taking over a team that have already a good defence in place as we know Wenger not the guy to drill a defense at all. His idea of defense is mostly keep the ball in the team, but long time since Arsenal tended to dominate ball position much in the Premiere Leaugue.
The Wenger 20 years ago could have done OK at a number of big clubs, but the bigger clubs today likely to find out soon that Wenger is a spent force long ago.
So what managers will want to take over Arsenal?
We can only speculate so far, but Arsenal missed out on some top managers taking over other English clubs, as we know.
Myles says:
He was a dictator who was unable to delegate or share credit.
Sad…but it happens a lot.
He acquired so much power that he runs the whole club and the whole Arsenal show.
So the gutless board have to ask in a whisper: Do you want to sack yourself?