From Darren Riseley: Who is in charge ?
I feel I need to say something .
AW was quoted in the English press about 4 years ago about the impending doom to the game at the amount of clubs being bought by billionaire owners and the effect it could have on clubs like Arsenal.
Arsenal this season are at a crossroads. We are constantly told (yet again) there is a healthy transfer fund to be used but yet again not a lot of it is being spent .
I’m not here to say who AW should buy or sell, but the point I’m making is: Who is in charge ?
Look at the other top clubs in the Premier League : Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool as well as Tottenham .
We all know who is in charge. The Wayne Rooney “club needs to match my ambition” situation, within a week- sorted .
Man City Adebayor doing his usual demi-god thing out – sorted.
Liverpool needed rebuilding and the manager backed – sorted.
Chelsea failed managers – sorted.
Tottenham , investment needed to challenge for Champions League – sorted.
Back to the Arsenal .
Nasri and Fabregas no matter where you stand (should they stay/go)is still rumbling on ,our apparent weakness in defence NOT sorted .Moving on players who are not up to it -Not sorted.
This is the real problem at Arsenal ,who exactly in the club says, “Enough is enough. Let’s get this mess sorted and be decisive to get the team focused to challenge at our optimum from the outset no matter who the squad is .
I say again: who ? Someone tell me please, as until this is sorted we will be gradually slipping down the league and most definitely still be the biggest “middle-range club” in the world, rather than one of “the biggest clubs ” in the world.
Who is in charge at Arsenal F.C? That is the question.
From Alexander Tovey : Childish tactics of a know-it-all
I’ve come to believe that this summer of discontent is actually deliberate, a manufactured situation set up by Wenger to make himself seem like a hero.
Instead of sorting his affaires out like a man, he is instead constructing a situation whereby the fans are kept disgruntled and calling for his head, the media are questioning his abilities and just when things couldn’t get worse he suddenly signs two defenders plus Mata, keeps Cesc, sees Nasri sign a contract extension and everyone hit the ground running come August 13th.
The purpose of this is to show people how clever he is and how, if left in charge and unchecked, he will deliver irrespective of what other people think.
Sadly, as the summer has progressed, the more likely outcome is that the team we have now will be the team starting next week, that both Cesc and Nasri will walk OR worst still in my opinion, Cesc leaves now and we get hot air for Nasri next summer. Either way the joke is on Arsenal and our great institution has become a shambolic operation with Wenger running amuck.
The idiot thing about the whole affair is that this is self-destruction.
The fans have taken to booing friendlies, the confidence of the team is going to teeter on collapse, everything and I mean EVERYTHING that the team does, especially the defenders, will be under scrutiny and this increases the negative pressure throughout the side.
On top of this, the vultures of the media are circling around the club waiting to pick over the cadaver, clubs with finances are doing the same, hence the Nasri situation, and any players who might be targeted are going to think twice about signing up to a club that might be about to go into decline.
All this so one man can show the world that he was right, and the rest of the world, including the millions of Arsenal fans for which Wenger holds so much in distain, were wrong and in fact know nothing whatsoever, so they should all be quiet.
Someone once said that “a bad plan is one that cannot be changed”.
By this rationale, a bad manager is one that cannot change the plan when needed.