16 days to decide Wenger’s fate.

As we go into the second half of January, one thing is quite simple and clear, Arsene Wenger has to find an answer for the current problems dogging Arsenal or else he is doomed. Fans have been debating and arguing about whether Arsene Wenger is still the best man to lead the Gunners and a finish below the top 4 will lose Wenger the bulk of his supporters, me included. I have always professed my belief that the Arsenal Board have a bigger part to play in the failure of our team to challenge for titles, but you would be a fool to believe Wenger has no part to play in this spiralling regression of Arsenal football club.

Last summer, after selling Robin Van Persie to bitter rivals Manchester United, Arsenal fans demanded and hoped Arsenal would jump straight back into the transfer window and whisk out a striker and midfielder to buffer the loss of Van Persie and Song. What followed was a frustrating deadline day as Gooners watched as the Window close shut right before their eyes. The explanation from Wenger?, “We can’t let the emotions of modern society, like Twitter, Govern our reasoning when we are quite happy with the squad we have.”. Fast forward, halfway through the season, with 16 days to go before the January transfer window closes, Arsenal are desperately looking for, “Top, top, top quality players”. Arsenal are sixth in the league, over 20 points off the lead, 6 points behind Spurs, a team of gutless wimps (besides Wilshere) and a manager who is running out of excuses for his awful team.

Wenger moans about not being able to buy top players in January but why didn’t he do it last summer? We sold the player with the highest assists and the player with the most goals in one summer and never replaced them adequately. Now Wenger is sniffing around David Villa (33) in January to try to appease the situation. He is now trying to buy Diame now , when Arteta is going to be out for 3 weeks. Why does Wenger wait till the roof has fallen before he fixes it? He might get Diame or some other Defensive midfielder but we still lack competitiveness when it comes to goal-getters. Where is the world-class replacement for RVP?

It’s not only transfers, Wenger does not seem to have that “Fear Factor” of Ferguson with his players. They seem to feel that as long as they turn up on the pitch and play 90 minutes without busting a gut it’s ok. Only Wilshere seems to give more than his best on every occasion. Players like Sagna seem more keen to get over with this season and then move elsewhere. Those other clowns in that team JUST DON’T CARE! Wenger fails to fire them up, utilise them properly and rest them when needed. You have players like Ramsey playing on the wing, Wilshere playing EVERY game when he has just returned from injury, after a year out and promising talents like Eisfeld not getting a sniff of first XI football. Even I can see that Cazorla doesn’t perform well when he plays more than once a week, rotate him!

So many frustrations about Wenger at the moment as we are all aware, he DOES have the funds to improve the squad. Excuses of not being able to find good players at this time of the year are not good enough. He should have shopped ages ago. If he knew failure would result in his £9m/yr job loss, I can guarantee you he would have done something in the summer. Wenger is too comfortable in his position as Arsenal’s “God”, as Szczesney recently declared. I’m sorry Wenger, you have 16 days before I become Atheist.

Policy change NOW!! Or else…

WOW! This has been one heck of a week hasn’t it? The Sports sections in newspapers have been full of Arsenal once again and as usual, for all the wrong reasons. It’s hard to find where to start, from the rumours of a rift between Wenger and Bould, Player unrest, former players calling for Arsene’s head, Usmanov demanding that Henry gets involved in Arsenal matters and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith saying Kroenke is not passionate about Arsenal. We have had one of the most outrageous weeks in my young memory as the situation deteriorates more by the day. One thing is for sure, there is more than one problem at Arsenal, it has become a fast spreading virus that has infected everyone from Kroenke to the ordinary fan. The fact of the matter is, the current direction of the club IS NOT WORKING!

time to change things?

It isn’t, and that is why our team goes to a league 2 team and loses on penalties after fielding a strong team, that is why our team only starts creating chances late on in the second half, players playing out of position, players not looking motivated (besides Wilshere) and players leaving when they are currently the best in the team. If you read my blog, you will realise that I am, somewhat a Pro Wenger supporter and believe most of his problems have been caused by the boards decisions. For the first time EVER this week, Arsene confessed that the sale of his stars has hampered his teams progress. It is true, If we had kept our stars and bought “cheap” we would have won a trophy by now but… Arsene has been responsible for the mess that has happened this season! Any manager worth his salt, with the players that Wenger has at his disposal, would at least beat Bradford City. Some prefer to blame the players, but, who motivates them? who sets out the tactics? who picks the team? who knows each players motivation in such games? ARSENE WENGER! He is to blame. yes, he had stars sold and was left to recreate another team, but the players at his disposal are very good players and should be doing way better. Somehow, Arsene seems to have run out of ideas, he seems to have no idea how his team is going to breakdown the opposition, maybe, he needs to change the formation because quite a few players are playing out of position. We can look everywhere else but we can never be objective if we omit Wenger from this.

Should Wenger be sacked? I say not yet. Give the man some money in January and see what he can do with it and judge him after the season ends. What needs to change with immediate effect is the way the club is run. You would be an idiot if you can’t realise that the current hierarchy at Arsenal are all about money. One top executive, Tom Fox came out this week saying that running a football club is not all about winning things. You can tell their attitude is far from what the fans want to hear or expect. They see Emirates Stadium full, sponsorship money coming in and selling players at a profit and think, “this is good business!”. Nina Bracewell-Smith said yesterday, “You can not run a football club like a business, you must be passionate about football”, I’m afraid the men at the Emirates do not think so.

Arsenal need to stop selling their stars, for starters, especially players that have not reached their peak like Theo Walcott. Walcott should not be sold but be given a good deal because as it stands, he is our best forward. Some even say that had Theo played against Bradford, we could have won. Can you see Theo missing the sitters that Gervinho was missing? The more they sell their best players, the more they regress. Its better to pay high wages to your best players and then pay less in transfer fees. Unfortunately, Arsenal do not pay much and also buy cheap, double trouble.

If Theo Walcott is sold in January, do not expect much at the end of the season and the seasons that follow. If the board can not change their ideologies now, they will never do it. You can not keep building and destroying a team, it just doesn’t make sense.

Policy change or else we get more Chamakh’s in January

Arsenal were last night kicked out of the Capital One cup after fielding their strongest possible team on the day. Their first half display echoed a team that was not mentally prepared for the game and presumed that playing a League two team would be a breeze, boy were they wrong. Arsene Wenger and his men continued with their current trend of disappointing the Arsenal fans, you could feel sorry for the 4000 strong support that travelled to Bradford and were more vociferous than the home crowd ALL GAME LONG. Arsenal have passionate fans but do the people who run our beloved club feel half as passionate? Last night’s result should have made the people running the Club realise that their current policy has failed undoubtably and the January transfer window might be too little too late. As usual, Arsenal will panic buy and buy cheap, leaving us with another catalogue of frustrating “Stars”.

During the summer of 2011/12 Arsenal lost Fabregas and Nasri, were annihilated 8-2 at Old Trafford and went on a panic buy spree. They claimed that the players they bought were real targets that had been planned but we all now that it was far from that. Today, we have some of those players either on the fringes of the First Team or loaned out somewhere where they can hardly get a game. The thing is, the board has not learnt from their mistakes and have continued with their policy of selling the stars if the want a pay rise or if someone flashes the cash, and now have a team of average players that have no back bone or motivation. They have set Arsenal to fail by depending on Wenger’s ability to turn teens in to mega stars. Anyone with such a talent does not need to be over exploited and in that sense Wenger is down to bare bones. Players like Chamberlain, Ramsey and Gervinho have let him down this season and have failed to perform.

We can blame players and board but Wenger is also to blame. Wether it is his fault or not, the current lack of titles, consistency and his management style has failed to motivate his players. Yesterday I read an article that made me laugh, but now it makes sense to me. I read Patrice Evra’s quote where he said,

“I think Ferguson is going to sack everyone if we did that [again].

“No, I’m serious. It would not be funny, for the fans, for the players, for everyone.”

I laughed because it seemed impossible to sack a whole team in a Transfer Window but I missed the point. What Evra was saying was that Ferguson means business and does not take mediocre performances lightly when a player is wearing the Manchester United shirt. Fergie is famed for his “Hair dryer” treatment and his players know what is coming for them if they under perform. Wenger on the other hand plays Psychological games and tries to be a father figure to the players which I think worked at one time but has lost its effectiveness in recent seasons. Some of his players do not give 100% for the shirt and have kept featuring in his starting 11. This would not happen with Fergie, never!

Arsenal will need to spend wisely on tried and tested players this January, or they will lose a lot of money and players like Wilshere will not sign new contracts. Even though he loves Arsenal, he wants to work and give 100% for a team he knows is being ambitious. Liverpool have failed to live up to their previous heights but at least they try to spend money and show their intent, Arsenal expect their players to follow blindly..

Theo to be “injured” until he signs dat ting

Theo Walcott looks more and more likely to be leaving Arsenal this winter. He has procrastinated with signing his contract for over 2 years now and seems to be looking for greener pastures. Arsene Wenger on the other hand, is slowly realising that Theo is getting influenced by his agents and it is now dawning on him that Theo is better off sold in January. I am sure Theo is not injured and his “injury” is fabricated and it is a way of freezing him out of the team for being stubborn.

On his way out..

Theo is our top goal scorer as it stands and for some reason has improved immensely this season. The question a lot of people have is, will he be consistent like this when he gets a mega deal? We have known Theo all along as one of the most exciting yet frustrating players at the club and this season he has already scored more goals than he scored the whole of last season. It’s easy to forget two very important things, Theo is ONLY 23 years old and he was  NEVER a winger. At 23, he is far from his peak and judging by his rapid rise this season, Theo is going to be one heck of a player wherever he plays his football in the future. If he goes to a club that is willing to use him as a 2nd striker, he will easily be a 3o goal/season player, yes! he has that ability.

Why is Theo not signing? It could be one of several things but we would be kidding ourselves if we took money out of the equation. Arsenal do not pay big wages and they do not pay big transfer fees, double whammy for any ambitious club. The second reason? Ambition! im sure if we had a survey of Arsenal fans on ambition, most of them would say Arsenal are not ambitious enough. As things stand, Van Persie seems well on his way to winning a Premier League title after 8 years on barely anything at Arsenal. Other players look at that and our current plight, mid-table and barely putting two wins together in a row, and think that they might as well go elsewhere, get paid better and win trophies. Our Arsenal board has let us down immensely and I hope they give Arsene the funds to correct our current plight.

Unfortunately, by selling Theo this winter we are going to make a LOSS, considering we paid over £12m for him and will probably sell him for less. Contract negotiations continue for Sagna, Chamberlain, Wilshere and Gibbs but are they going to sign? only time will tell. One thing is for sure, Theo is definitely going to Sign Dat Ting, but unfortunately for another club.

Everton 1-1 Arsenal: Is Bould the reason why Arsenal are blunt?

Another away game, another draw in the Premier League. In the past, Arsenal would draw such games because they were simply wasteful in front of goal. Now, they draw because the other team was wasteful and they could barely create enough chances for themselves. With all due respect, Everton are a brilliant team with an amazing Manager in David Moyes and are no push-overs at Goodison Park, but Arsenal’s creativity problems have been haunting them for most of the season.

Struggling..

How is Bould responsible? he has come in with a commendable defensive discipline that has made Arsenal one of the most efficient team defensively but I fear it has compromised Arsenal’s attacking intent. Somehow, Wenger and his no.2 have not come to a middle ground where they can complement defence with attack. This has made most of the midfielders and wingers leave the striker, Giroud,  isolated up front. This has led to Giroud trying to come back deep to get the ball and end up on the “wing” positions rather than being in the box during an attack. It is also evidenced by the lack of forward runners into the so-called “danger zone”, just outside the 18 yard area on the middle of the park. Arsenal now tend to make irrelevant passes on the middle of the pitch without any notable penetration.

This confusion was evident against Everton and the sooner Arsene gets this sorted the better. Arsenal’s current inability to win games has less to do with quality but conviction. The players seem more keen to prevent conceding than to attack as previous Arsenal teams which is painful to watch. When an Arsenal player is in an advanced position, his options seem less and less because there is no one there to pass the ball to.

Everton v Arsenal Stats (@Orbinho on Twitter)

Orbinho FT Stats Everton v Arsenal Shots 14-11, On target 9-3, Fouls 14-9, Duels Won 46%-54%, Pass Accuracy 76%-81%, Possession 42%-58%

The stats say it all, Arsenal had 3 shots on Target compared to Everton’s 9, you can not expect to win games with only 3 shots on target ALL GAME. So after another draw in mid-England, Arsenal will face Swansea at home next, let’s hope we would have Exorcised our demons by then.

“We will help our friends Arsenal”

Long time no post, sorry! I will try my best to be more consistent with my Posts because I am fully aware that a lot of people like reading this blog. So after we beat Montpellier HSC at the Emirates by 2-0, their manager and good friend of Arsene Wenger has promised to do Arsenal a big favour by beating Schalke in matchday six.

One would expect Montpellier to be upset at Arsenal for stealing their prized asset and title winner, Olivier Giroud but it seems all is well between the clubs. In a post match interview, the Montpellier manager Rene Girard said,

“This game [Arsenal] was perhaps beyond our possibilities due to the injuries and the absence of important players.” 
 ”But I’m very proud of my players. We play Schalke next and if we can help our friends of Arsenal, we will.”

However, Arsenal will find it hard to win in Greece as the Greek supporters are very hostile unlike what we see in the Premier League. Arsenal have also failed to win at Olympiakos for quite a while now and the jittery performance of Wednesday will not be sufficient to beat them in their own back yard. The question is, “will Arsenal send a full squad being fully aware that they have already qualified?”. Last season we lost key players in that last game of the groups and I fear Wenger will send a second string to Greece instead. Whichever way, I hope we do a great job in Greece and with key players like Rosicky coming back, we will have strength in depth. Thank you Mr Girard! erm.. maybe not yet….

Walcott reveals why he hasn’t signed the Contract

“Make me a striker.. or else..”

 

Theo Walcott today gave a big hint as to why he has not yet signed a new contract. He refused that his motivations have never been money over football and that he loves the club and wants to stay. When he was quizzed further as to why he hasn’t signed if he wants to stay and his issues are not monetary, he replied, “ask the Boss!”, throwing the issue back to Wenger.

“You have to ask the manager [why I haven’t signed a new contract],” Walcott said. “It’s his decision.

“In the summer I had opportunities to leave but I didn’t want to go and I have never said I wanted to go.

“I’ve always wanted to be an Arsenal player and hopefully something can be sorted.

“It is going to take time, my last contract took over six months to happen and it is one of those things where you just have to be patient. It is going to take time.

“It has never been a money situation, I am not that sort of player. I have always made decisions about football. If it had been about money I would have gone in the summer.”

He then concluded by giving probably the biggest hint that he hopes that the issue is resolved quickly so that he can get back in the team and play UP FRONT!

“I love Arsenal and I love playing with my teammates and hopefully something can be sorted and I can get back in that team and get a chance to play up front.”

Theo has ALWAYS insisted that he wants to play as a striker all along and has often refused to be described as a Winger. He has said several times that he hopes that he can emulate his hero Thierry Henry, turning from a Winger to a Centre Forward. Could Theo be trying to force the matter by wanting it in black and white? He obviously has become impatient in his 6 years at Arsenal without getting a single sniff at the Striking position.

We all know Wenger HATES to be told how to use his players even if it’s from the players themselves. He probably doesn’t want to be forced into agreeing something that he is not yet comfortable with, therefore bringing the deadlock. Even Arshavin admitted last year that Wenger doesn’t take kindly to tactical advice from players, good luck Theo.

I personally think it wouldn’t hurt to let Theo play as a Striker, his finishing is miles better than our current strike force options. Is Wenger just being stubborn? Again? Looks like..

Theo is just trying to keep up with his expenses

The drama has been dragging on all summer, Arsenal and Theo Walcott are failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. Wenger wants to keep Walcott and Walcott (apparently) wants to stay, so what is the hold up? Of course, Theo wants more money than his current abilities deserve and, rightly, Arsenal are not having any of it.

Theo now wants to get a big pay-cheque like Van Persie but does he deserve it?

As far as I am concerned, from reading several reports in the newspapers, Theo has had a contract waiting for him from the 27th of August and it is NOT going to be improved anymore. A deal of £75 000/week for someone who rarely starts for club and country is not bad at all but Theo somehow thinks he deserves more. Are those Ferrari’s demanding more money for servicing Theo? Theo is known within the Arsenal ranks to be a chap who loves his cars, apparently, he has the best line of cars at the Emirates. It seems the wrong financial decisions are going to ruin Theo’s career. Once you start putting money before your progress then you end up thwarting the thing that earns you that money, your career. Theo must have received some financial advise at Arsenal, about how not to rush into buying material things like really expensive cars before you have saved up and invested it. Look at the sad case of Fabrice Muamba, he had a heart attack at the tender age of 23 and had to retire. The question for him is, did he save and invest his money earlier in his career so that he can, at least, maintain the same lifestyle he had. How many people know a retired 23-year-old? Unfortunately, in football, that is very possible. You can get injured on the pitch and never play football again, no money plus depression can be a nasty mixture.

Some would argue that, “maybe that is why Theo is bargaining for more money!”, fair enough, but what about if you move to Manchester City for a weekly wage of £180 000/week and fail to play 10 games a season. After your contract expires, who is going to take you? You would have wasted all that potential for just your pocket. A player like van Persie at the age of 29 can have an excuse for a big money move, he knows by the time his contract is over, he can retire, what about you Theo? Theo is trying to keep up with his expenses and not his talent and that is going to be one of his biggest regrets.

You can imagine that he saw Robin’s exit and thought, “WOW! I would be happy to earn half of that if I get a new contract or leave on a free transfer!”. Whoever is advising Theo must be equally as greedy as he is and are not seeing the bigger picture, that’s why I can see Theo going in January. If he wanted to sign that last offer from the club he would have done it already and maybe, that is why Wenger is not playing him much, to make him think about what is important.

Are Arsenal losing the plot?

 

It is as expected as the sun rising in the morning that every summer, Arsenal will sell some of its best players and fail to fully replace them. It is now just over 48 hours before the transfer window closes and we are left dreading the possibility of losing Theo Walcott and not being able to replace him with a similar or better player. How have we ended up AGAIN, in the same situation?

It brings us back to last summer when Samir Nasri was left with a years contract and we could not agree with the player on a new contract. Samir then left towards the end of the season and Arsenal experienced one of their worst starts to a Premier League campaign in years. This season, on similar grounds, van Persie left and Theo is about to do the same. The question is, why do we allow our top players to go into the last year of their contracts without renewing them or flogging them off? Someone can point out to Alex Song as a good example of Arsenal deciding to sell when the player still has over 3 years left on his contract, but is Song the best example? or is Song’s case another issue that needs to be addressed?

Alex Song said recently in a n interview that he wanted to stay at Arsenal for “many years”, but the club denied him several chances to negotiate a new deal. Fair enough he had 3 years left on his contract but considering he has been a consistent high performer in the team for the past two seasons, would’nt granting him an audience about a new contract be good? After all, who had the most assists last season? What is the current problem with the team this season? Answer? We are not making enough clear goalscoring chances!

‘I woke up and read those things in the  paper and was really surprised and disappointed. I love Arsenal, I never wanted  to leave.

‘I was ready to commit my future to the club.  All I wanted were talks about a new contract but each time we were due to sit  down, the club postponed it. I was fobbed off.

‘I wanted a new five-year contract at  Arsenal. In the end I got one – at Barcelona.’ – Alex Song

Rumours were rife about unprofessional-ism but is it something that you would sell a player for? We have worse cases like Carlos Tevez at City and I think whatever Song was doing would have been sorted by a chat with Arsene. Song’s case shows how Ivan Gazidis and Wenger are running the club, “Ask for more money, and you are out of the door!”, that does not give a good impression to the rest of the team and also that attitude shows why we have players that end up being sold below their market value because, Arsenal know they can not meet their demands. All Song wanted to do was to discuss a new deal and he was allowed out of the door, he was our second best player last season as voted for by our fans, he provided goals and now he is gone.

Yes, Theo can go! he probably isn’t worth the money he is asking for but will we have enough time to replace him? Sometimes I get the feeling that Gazidis and Wenger treat the club like ASDA, buy cheap, sell at a profit. They forget that a football club is more than just a business, there are far more stakeholders that are involved and the most important of them, THE FANS, are being sold short. We are not getting a fair deal, we pay out of our noses to sit in the Emirates and we deserve a well run club, no matter the finances. The next 48 hours will be dramatic again, but will it be for the right reasons?

 

Song to be sold by the end of the weekend

On his way out…

Arsene Wenger confirmed on his interview with Arsenal.com that there is a big possibility of Alex Song ‘s transfer to be completed by the end of this weekend. Alex Song has been one of Barcelona’s main targets this summer and Arsenal have decided to cash in on the Cameroonian midfielder.

Wenger asked about selling Song on Arsenal player:

“If he goes we will definitely buy someone in the defensive side of the team, that decision will be done this weekend”

I am personally disappointed by Arsenal’s willingness to sell a player who provided 11 assists from a Defensive Midfield position. There have been rumours of the players attitude being pompous and disinterested but if that was all, why not put him in his place  by not playing him or something. Alex Song was voted by us, the Arsenal fans as one of the Top 5 performers of last season, why sell him now? He currently has a contract that runs until 2015, so it is not like he is in the same bracket as Robin was. Some Song critics say that he forgot his duties as a Defensive Midfielder and left us open at the back, but does that mean we have to sell him? to me it would rather suggest him to play more of a central midfielder to make most of his obvious, potent attacking prowess.

I hope Alex Songs sale is not meant as a buffer to the money that has been spent by the club during this transfer window. We all know what they are like when it comes to spending, we have had season after season of this before. For the first time this summer Arsenal seemed to have spent a lot of money on big signings like Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla. Now, everything is turning pear-shaped again, we are on the brink of selling both of our top 5 players last season, Van Persie was sold for £24m and Song for a reported £17m. it is big money recouped and you cant help but have Deja vu of last season, get all the money and don’t invest it back properly.

Wenger on reinvestment after van Persie sale:

“First of all we have spent money, we have bought some players, we were not given for free, if we have to invest some more we will”

Let us hope we get some more world-class players coming..