So it begins...

He looks like he's lost all confidence in himself. That interview is the first time I've felt that he's going to retire. 

I have a feeling that if he retires it will be at the end of next season rather than this one, at the board's request, so that they can have a smooth transition.

The board is probably terrified that it'll go the way of Man United. 

4th in the League and these are supporters?

 

 

 

When a manger openly admit his team is mentally shattered (or broken), the end is near, either him or the 11 players on the field. I think he will move on, the board will go ring every agent in Europe to find a replacement. Thankfully we got Conte locked in.

Ozil is the type of player that will make a 1:0 into 3:0, but not the player you want when the match is up t grab when trailing , maybe he got this trait since he joined Arsenal. He will setup 2 goals against Palace or Sunderland, and the foolish fans will hail him world class again.

 

Ozil is done. 

Wenger is finished. 

Their fans, laughable.

An awful club, badly run and a shambles from top to bottom.

Ahahahahaa I'm drunk 

I like that backdrop in the Arsenal Fam TV videos. Makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside for *some* reason...

1 hour ago, offside said:

He looks like he's lost all confidence in himself. That interview is the first time I've felt that he's going to retire. 

I have a feeling that if he retires it will be at the end of next season rather than this one, at the board's request, so that they can have a smooth transition.

The board is probably terrified that it'll go the way of Man United. 

All of the United comparisons with regard to Wenger leaving are so pointless, Fergie left an ageing and fundamentally below par squad in his wake, after essentially going against his own values by splashing out on Van Persie to secure the perfect send off. He handed an impossible project - maintaining his success - to a manager not up to the task of big club management.

 

Wenger has not had anything remotely near the success Ferguson had in his last decade at of management, a new Arsenal manager would have the remit to shake things up in an effort to start winning, rather than trying to maintain the standards of his predecessor. If Arsenal are wanting to appoint a manager to keep pace with the Wenger perennial top four school of management then sure, it's a risk. But if they want to go big and appoint someone capable of actually overhauling the club and turning them into challengers, falling short would leave them more or less where they are at the moment.

 

At the end of the day it's all about ambition, you get the sense Kroenke is perfectly happy with the status quo. Doing more would require some serious investment and risk taking, for all the moaning of Arsenal fans Stan knows they're still going to show up every week regardless.

Edited February 16, 20179 yr by Charles Ryder

Actually it's important to remember when Fergie signed Van Persie at that point he hadn't decided to retire. It was months later when his sister in law died and he knew his wife would need him more than ever. 

With regards to comparisons it doesn't make sense. We're talking about a club who has had the same manager for a long time much like United did with Ferguson. Sure Arsenal haven't been as successful as United were but they do have an identity and I can see from the owners perspective why they don't want to get rid of Wenger. On the flip side though I get why the fans want him out cause they're tired of the same old sh*t.

Problem is everyone can predict Arsenal's season before it starts. When the pressure is off at the end of the season they will put on a run and get top 4 and everything's great again. Will be abit harder than usual this year though.

I am pretty sure a better manager would do more with this Arsenal squad. Wenger is tactically poor and his players are mentally rubbish, that all comes from the manager. He is also so stubborn it's unreal. I'm not Wellbecks biggest fan but I could see he should of started a while back. 

Wenger has a squad of players and goes into every game playing the same way. Over two legs in Europe against the best teams and over a course of a season when you have away days at Stoke etc you simply can't do that. You need to set your team up accordingly.

Is it weird feeling sorry for Wenger?

I like how he trusts his players endlessly.  Lives and dies by his own sword.  Commendable.

I would guess that even if Wenger did step down as manager, he'd move upstairs rather than leave the club altogether. I think he's far too important in the operation of the club for him to completely depart; I imagine there would be a far too significant void for Arsenal to allow that to happen.

Whether or not it would be a good idea probably comes down to, as @Charles Ryder says, in who they can get as a replacement, and how significantly they can upgrade the first team (if at all). Appointing someone like Bielsa or Sampaoli (assuming Barca don't get their hands on the latter) would be very interesting; if they were to hire someone like Howe or Löw (who would, in my opinion at least, be at best a sideways step) I don't think their immediate prospects would be anything other than a downwards trajectory.

I think that the English footballing community as a whole tend to forget something important about Wenger - not just his impact on Arsenal, but his impact on the entire league. His achievements in modernising the English game are arguably unparalleled. I hope that his legacy in that respect isn't tarnished by the mediocrity of Arsenal over the past decade or so.

 

If he moved into a higher up role, would be be willing/able to step back from all the transfer dealings and so-on? Because he's been buying some awful players and any manager who comes in would struggle knowing Wenger would be there overseeing what they are doing and potentially still convincing the board to buy certain players.

46 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

Is it weird feeling sorry for Wenger?

I like how he trusts his players endlessly.  Lives and dies by his own sword.  Commendable.

Yet foolish, in this day and age of results-based, instant success football that is demanded of managers. That's why a lot of people say he is a dinosaur and out of his depth.

Meh I fell nothing for Arsene.
 

Yeah he built a good Arsenal side for a few years that won the league a few times and such but he's been a joke for a over a decade now. He's been poor longer than he's been good now which is only harming his legacy each season he sticks around.

He's arrogant, unlikeable and stubborn...all traits that lead to what we are seeing again this season....meltdown.

If I were an Arsenal fan I wouldn't want him at the club in any capacity now, it would only be for sentiment and nothing that would actually progress the team going forward. A clean slate is what they need but like a scored lover they will cling onto him in some sort of way.
 

Pretty sad actually but hey ho it's Arsenal and it's glorious to bask in their continued failures.

17 minutes ago, Zeta said:

If he moved into a higher up role, would be be willing/able to step back from all the transfer dealings and so-on? Because he's been buying some awful players and any manager who comes in would struggle knowing Wenger would be there overseeing what they are doing and potentially still convincing the board to buy certain players.

Possibly, although I think interference in transfer dealings from people higher up the chain is true of the experience of basically every manager in football these days.

I certainly don't think he'd want to stop his work with the youth teams; I also don't know why Arsenal would want to stop him doing that.

Well he hasn't really nurtured much talent in the last decade. He's signed young players like Walcott, Oxlade, etc... had players like Ramsey and Wilshere, and they are all consistently underperformers. 

I don't feel sorry for Wenger, he is ultimately responsible for how his team and players are playing. But I feel for those Arsenal fans that, for all the "blud" and "fam" obnoxious talk and that, don't deserve a performance like yesterday's. I mean, in Bayern's first goal, Robben fantastic shot was unstoppable, but he had at least two players around him (one of them Ozil) literally looking at him and with no intention of trying to get the ball from him or block the shot. And this is not the first time I see Arsenal players just looking around and doing nothing (someone above uploaded a video of Oxlade-Chamberlain that sums up the attitude of most players in Arsenal, no one helps in defending). So yes, if you've travelled to support your team, the least they can do is try their best even if it is just running like a headless chicken.

He's won 3 titles in 20yrs and one champions league final so why's he being treated like some sort of legend? His record considering the time span is very mediocre. 

32 minutes ago, Ivanov87 said:

He's won 3 titles in 20yrs so why's he being treated like some sort of legend? 

Yeah I mean Jose won 3 in 5 years for us and you're always calling him a c**t. 

23 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Yeah I mean Jose won 3 in 5 years for us and you're always calling him a c**t. 

Boom. Headshot.

55 minutes ago, Ivanov87 said:

He's won 3 titles in 20yrs and one champions league final so why's he being treated like some sort of legend? His record considering the time span is very mediocre. 

That's more than 95% of managers in the premier league in that era won.

So, I guess that's why.  He's in the top 5 percentile 

Clattenburg has quit the Premier League to referee in Saudi Arabia. Doesn't like the scrutiny of his decisions apparently not to mention the added millions he will get in Saudi. 

7 minutes ago, charierre said:

Clattenburg has quit the Premier League to referee in Saudi Arabia. Doesn't like the scrutiny of his decisions apparently not to mention the added millions he will get in Saudi. 

Good news, he's so vain, he probably thinks this thread is about him.