Penalty Shoot-Out Alert

FFS…

Some fantastic rubbish being spouted here. Limited funds my arse. All the Arsenal players are on huge wages and the problem of why world class players like Van Persie and Fabregas were replaced by duds like Gervinho and Chamakh rests with one man.

Wenger has spent almost £100 million in the season and a half, almost the same as Man Utd.

His initial success was built on the rock of the famous back 4 and Seaman. He has never replaced those players and his team now is too flakey to ever win anything again.

Arsenal fans spend the most in the league on season books, so it is ridiculous to expect these fans to pay through the nose every year to essentially fund this man’s vanity project.

why are you getting so worked up about this?

This sort of ill informed bullshit really grinds my gears.

The 2003-2004 Invincibles goalkeeper and back 4.

Lehmann - Lauren - Campbell - Touré - Cole.

Now, STFU.

tell us again about the time nutsy won ye the league only for it to be taken away a few weeks later and olly byrne spent all the club’s money on coke…

:lol: :lol:

:lol:

It just staggers me that Wenger can get away without winning anything for so long. I doubt it would happen at any other major European club.

Scurrilous rumours about Mr Byrne have no place in this thread.

[quote=“Sandymount Red, post: 608433”]
:lol:

It just staggers me that Wenger can get away without winning anything for so long. I doubt it would happen at any other major European club.
[/quote]

are they a major european club?

their trophy haul suggests not

In terms of money and fan base they undoubtedly are.

They are broke, mate. Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds would have fan bases not far off theirs. You are clutching at straws.

Pep Guardiola has told Arsenal that they are top of his Premier League wishlist, Goal.com can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Representatives of the former Barcelona manager have let it be known to the north London club that he would be very keen to be considered for the manager’s job if it was to become available next year.

Guardiola, who is on a year’s sabbatical in New York, is in the frame for leading posts in England, as well as Continental giants like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

Sources have told Goal.com that Guardiola’s Premier League preference is to take the reins at Arsenal, ahead of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.

The Spaniard, who guided Barcelona to 14 trophies including two Champions League crowns and three La Liga titles during a dazzlingly successful four-year tenure, is expected to begin sifting through offers early in 2013.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is under more pressure than at any point since taking over in October 1996.

The club are within two points of fourth place in the Premier League but have not won a trophy for seven years and one of their best chances of ending that run ended with the catastrophic Capital One Cup defeat to League Two minnows Bradford City on Tuesday night.

“Guardiola’s preference in England is Arsenal,” a source told Goal.com. “The club are aware he would be interested in the job in 2013.

“Guardiola doesn’t want to go to Chelsea. He is worried about the lack of stability. He also has a good relationship with Wenger dating back to when he started doing his coaching badges at Arsenal.”

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has sounded out the 41-year-old on a number of occasions but Guardiola has strong reservations about taking a job where the manager’s position is so insecure.

Ex-Barcelona chiefs Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain are on the board at Manchester City, where Roberto Mancini’s position is in doubt in the medium and long-term, while Sir Alex Ferguson turns 71 on December 31 and has already begun considering his legacy at Manchester United.

Of the English elite who could be searching for a new manager, Arsenal have the history, prestige and stability that only United can beat and there is a strong possibility that Wenger’s reign could come to an end next summer.

Goal.com revealed last week that the Frenchman has put contract talks on the backburner until the end of the season.

The manager’s current deal runs until June 2014 and Wenger has been informally approached by the board to arrange a time to open discussions over a new deal.

But it is understood that Wenger has no intention of discussing an extension during the season and that he will assess his future at the end of the current campaign. “There will be no talks before then,” the source added.

It is expected that the tipping point in the decision of the most successful manager in Arsenal’s history will be whether he records a 17th consecutive top-four finish.

This fits in with the Frenchman’s own public comments in the wake of the recent 2-0 defeat against Swansea, which prompted the Frenchman to turn his anger on his own players.

Wenger stuck to his oft-stated line of honouring his contracts, while at the same time reiterating his confidence about his ability to drive the club forward.

“If you ask me always about my future, I can only give you one answer,” he said. “I always respected my contracts, and that is it.”

The Arsenal board, led by majority owner Stan Kroenke and chief executive Ivan Gazidis, retain complete faith in Wenger and put far greater store in his record of top-four finishes and success in navigating the group stages of the Champions League than current form.

If Arsenal fail to attain a Champions League place this season, there is a strong possibility that Wenger will conclude he has failed to achieve his primary objective and agree an amicable exit strategy with the club.

Such is Wenger’s elevated status at Emirates Stadium that he has a far greater say in his destiny than any English-based boss, bar perhaps Ferguson.

Wenger is also expected to have a considerable say in who his successor will be.

The two men the Frenchman is most likely to recommend are believed to be Guardiola and Dragan Stojkovic.

The former Yugoslavia captain played for Wenger when he was in charge at Nagoya Grampus Eight in the mid-1990s and has followed in his mentor’s shoes by managing the Japanese club since 2008.

In an interview last year, Wenger said: “I would love Stojkovic to be my successor, there are a hundred reasons for that.

"Our ideas are the same and we both strive for perfect football. I knew he was going to have teams playing attacking football with many passes.”

[b]THE VIEW FROM SPAIN

‘PEP RESPECTS ARSENAL’S STYLE’[/b]

Pep Guardiola will probably end up in the Premier League in the summer.
Would Arsenal be a good choice? It seems so. The north London side his displayed immense patience with Wenger despite not having won a league title since 2004, while the club value flair at the same level than silverware, and Pep definitely respects that.

Guardiola would never go behind Wenger’s back to land the job, so any approach from either side must be done with the Frenchman fully aware of the circumstances.

Martin Langer | Goal.com Spain

That’s easily the most ridiculous post ever posted here…Particulatly the tripe about the back four. Wenger is a visionary who changed the game forever. He of course has spent money- but with a wage cap and financial limitiations that others dont have he has had to eek out value for talent, and in many players the talent exceeded the value. Fergie has the luxury of blowing 30/40m + wages on one player, Mancini and Abrom too… Wenger, the master craftsman that he is, resisted piling on massive debt on the club and instilled his philosophy and belief in youth players. He could have pressured the board, spunked millions on players, won a few trophies and then fucked off when the club was broke to Real or Juve etc. But for better or worse he has stuck to his guns for the good of the club (UTD are 300m in debt under Fergie) and Arsenal could easily be where Liverpool are now if it wasn’t for Wenger.

No surprise that a lad who left his last job due to the pressure of it would seek to move to a club that pays its manager top dollar and puts zero pressure on him to actually win anything.

[quote=“Sandymount Red, post: 608428”]
. All the Arsenal players are on huge wages and the problem of why world class players like Van Persie and Fabregas were replaced by duds like Gervinho and Chamakh rests with one man.[/quote]

RVP was sold in the summer while Chamakh is in his third season at Arsenal and has only apperaed in the League cup and a dead rubber Champions League game this season.

i actually think that Marouanne Chamakh is a very decent player and have no idea why he is been underutilised.
Gervinho is muck however

Wenger is the model upon which UEFA want clubs to be run, i.e within their financial limits… Yet he is lambasted here by the likes of Sandymount who has grown up watching fergie throwing countless amounts of dosh at the team… Not everyone can run a club like that, mate. Take off your Man Yoo pyjamas for a minute and think about it…but I suppose you aint a man yoo fan, but merely a lover of the game.

I notice that you have conveniently forgotten to respond to this post Sandymount Red.

I’m not a Man Utd fan at all. Couldn’t give two fucks about Arsenal either.

But 8 years, or whatever, without winning anything is a disgrace considering how much Arsenal have spent on wages and transfer fees.

Wenger has lost his mojo and really should have been replaced a couple of seasons back.

:lol:

I thought a couple of the old guard were on that team, but Keown was the only one. So MBB got me there.