Arsenal in limbo off the field and in a mess on it

Really good article.

The truth is that we should have asked Wenger to leave about 5 years ago. The 2 FA Cup wins merely prolonged what was a failing philosophy. Over the past 4 or 5 years us fans knew that our season would be over whenever it came to February in the league, or the knockout stages of Champions League.

The last argument in favour of Wenger was probably when we had Fabregas and a young Wilshere in the team and we were still playing very attractive attacking football. The argument then was that we were an exciting team worth watching every weekend.

I personally have argued that the only way for Arsenal to make proper change is not to finish in the top 4 and for Spurs to finally finish above us. Those two milestones have kept Wenger in a job for years.

The damaging thing now is that it appears that Wenger will hang on until there is a complete mess and we are almost guaranteed to lose the likes of Sanchez, Bellerin, Ozil, and Ramsey. Wenger wants his successor to inherit a mess so that it will be very difficult for the new manager to outperform Wenger.

Good summary. Although I love Wenger for what he has done for Arsenal, he hasn't really adapted to the modern money game. If he commits to spending about 250-300 million pounds on major transfers this coming transfer window and completely overhauls the team, I will support him staying on for another 1-2 years while a succession plan is put in place. Otherwise I don't see how we can continue to be competitive any more.. However, if we win the FA Cup this season it might be best for him to step down and end on a decent final trophy.

Regardless, we will be in for a rough ride once he's gone, likely much worse than what's happened to Man U since Sir Alex retired. Wenger has built up a massive supporting network of scouts, contacts, sponsors, partnerships, etc. so it's probably best to give him some continuing position at the club to help the newcomer

dcog, interesting to read your opinion as a fellow Gooner.

And I'm very interested to ask you, have you not had enough of the top 4 finishes with no feeling of ever really challenging for the title? And being in Champions League every season but getting knocked out after the group stages everytime?

I have been a fan since 1971 and I have a very large network of friends who support Arsenal. All of us have wanted Wenger to leave for at least 5 years or so. All of my good friends are or were season ticket holders and many of them dont even bother to go to games anymore.

So how long to we hold on to past glories and top 4 finishes before we take the gamble for a new direction? We took a big risk when we replaced Bruce Rioch with Wenger, so why feel apprehensive to move on again?

Tigers: Ah, I've only been a Gooner since 97', a bit after Wenger came in, so I've only really known Arsenal with him as manager, although I wasn't really old enough to start following teams until then..

I completely agree with you that it's beyond annoying and dismaying to watch the same season play itself out year after year and there is definitely something seriously wrong with the motivation and mentality at the club. The repetitive CL capitulations is such a farce I don't even bother to watch most matches anymore in recent years as it's just so poor to watch. TBH this season's Bayern thrashing wasn't even really that surprising.

I do agree that Wenger should be looking to end his time with Arsenal, but that is definitely not the solve-all solution for us. A lot of the current "first team" players have got to go. The mental weakness issue is contagious and it must be heavily ingrained in a lot of these players and will be present even with a change in management, so a complete overhaul of the squad is required. You look at the body-language of most of our team and it honestly looks as though they don't care whatsoever what happens in the game or to the team, and sometimes it even seems like they are hostile to the club. That needs to end and only so much of that can be blamed squarely on the manager.

It will be expensive, but ironically thanks to Wenger's good financial management, he may have put Arsenal in the best position to completely overhaul the team and management.

We have had one of the best squads in the premier league for years. A team including the likes of Sanchez, Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Ramsey, Ozil, and Giroud and that is 6th in the league and fails after the Champions League group stages, is failing because of how it is coached, not because of lack of talent. On paper Tottenham and Liverpool have not got the same level of quality as Arsenal's squad and yet their coaches are achieving more.