Arsenal
Arsene - too many broken promises? Groundhog Day?
Dad loses it?
By Celine Dion
August 14 2010
Do you remember the first time you realised your parents weren't perfect? I do, my mother got p*ssed on holiday sat down in a leaky rowing boat, which we had somehow acquired (we were on a rental barge in France), and announced to all and sundry (we were with the neighbours) that she hadn't ever wanted to be married to my father, and didn't care who knew it.
Likewise, I remember the first time that I realised, really, truly, that the world's governments were a bitter sham, and that democracy was just a cloak for business and self interest. It was when Blair invaded Iraq. I waited, day upon day, for something to change his path, for him to bow to public pressure, to common sense, and to the million people stood in Whitehall, but he never did. And there we went, over the top, and still he would tell us, years and a million deaths later, that he had done the right thing.
I remember the Nick Hornby passage in ‘Fever Pitch' about George Graham being just like the father he never had, about how George ‘Knew', as the red banner said stretched over the clock end executive boxes, on that glorious old night in 1991. But of course, like a shamed uncle, he departed the scene, his mystery shattered, with a pocket full of dirty money.
My sister and me, and even my father sometimes, still argue about my mother (and WITH her, come to that). My sister is sympathetic to her outspoken nature. Me, on the other hand, I can see her human faults, although I will always love her as my mother. It has riven the family, from time to time, and caused recrimination and angry phone calls
.
Likewise, people will never agree on Blair, we believe what we want to believe; even at the last election Labour had their supporters. People see things the way that suits them, and disregard the rest. The government put out spin, and impenetrable financial arguments, and in the end there was no accord, only disparate opinion, and selective judgement.
And that's where the Arsenal family is now as well. Our early years with Wenger were so full of glorious times, which we looked upon with childlike, unquestioning wonder. It would have to be some monumental fall from grace to have us looking at him in critical terms, as if he was some kind of ordinary human being.But now we are such a long way down the road, we have suffered at the hand of so many external forces, watched the team fall victim to so many missed possibilities, tried to pick the truth out of so many clouded scenarios. The ravages of age and predictability have taken their toll on our manager. Is Wenger still the genius he always was? Was he ever a genius? Has the club destroyed him, or has he destroyed the short term potential of the club?
Broken Promises?
Are his idiosyncrasies loveable and excusable, or hateful and myopic? Football is like life, and life is like football. The older you get, the more you realise it. To all but a few Arsenal family members now, the endless summers of childlike trust are gone; there have been too many broken promises, too much spin and nonsense, too many patent errors. Like my real family, like the British people, we are divided, and fatigued by it all.
Fatigue is my main emotion nowadays. A vague disinterest. Like when Rioch or Houston was in charge, and we knew that they were unlikely to succeed. Supporting Arsenal under Wenger is like Groundhog Day. The old parental promises no longer hold any weight. I can see Wenger's frailties but some of the rest of our family cannot, or they don't want to. Or maybe I expect too much.We all argue, and waste our time and energy scoring points off each other. The father figure now has an inevitability about him, the comical predictability of an old relative, set in their ways, ignorant of the ways of progress, suspicious of modern ways and the preaching against the rule of money. He might surprise us with one last great Christmas dinner, or he may fall asleep and forget to answer the door. Lost in his own world, poorly prepared, and bereft of inspiration. Unable to take his place at the head of the family.
The young cannot understand the problem. We need to only wait a while, things will come good, and they always do don't they? The older ones stand back and watch, they have seen this passage before, they understand the imperfections in all men, the corruptions of power, the injustices in a world ruled by invisible market forces and the power of the ego. The angry young men tear at each other's throats. Those loyal to the status quo are labelled ‘blind' and ‘complacent'. The would-be revolutionaries are branded ‘traitors' and ‘disloyal'.
There are new families in our street now, they have bigger and better cars and furniture. They can be heard laughing and crowing about their success. We dismiss them, they don't deserve their wealth, they are the ‘nouveau riche', their downfall is just around the corner, our turn will come again.Some of the older families feel the same way, but they too are burdened with their problems. Still we can hear these newcomers, night after night, their parties becoming louder and louder. Our family just needs that turn in fortune, that bit of luck, maybe this year, maybe next year.
And so it goes on, season upon season, until the inevitability of death.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:16:10:55:23 by Padre Pio.
I love Arsene and everything he has done for our club. He has been unique and achieved things that others could only dream of.
However, to not sign a goalkeeper for the last few years has been unforgivable. And now it's beyond a joke. The rest of the world can see what we need but his myopia is reaching new heights - or should that be lows?
Wenger now reminds me of a sentimental grandad who believes that his grandchildren will all go on to Cambridge and then to NASA or become leading world surgeons because they're so special, when in reality some of them are only good enough to work in call centres (not that there's anything wrong with working in a call centre!) or the local supermarket (ditto).
There's money there now. It has to be spent. We have to challenge now. And his ego has to allow us to. If he achieves these things then once again i'll fully believe in him like i have in the past. And i'd dearly like to.
Fact is though, wenger inherited a good team at a time when there really only was man u as opponents for the league. Then the 'nouveau riche' (as you put it) came about. All of a sudden no-one can compete.
Essentially abramovich got his timing right. He joined the fun at a time when we were about to have our hands tied. But that's not something wenger could've planned for. After all, abramovich was the first of the sugar daddies.
Now, had RA have bought Chelsea a couple of years earlier. Is it not possible, that AW may have planned for the arrival of the sugar daddies and allowed a bit more money to be allocated to players? It's a possibility.
Anyway, my point is. What if Wengers masterplan was put in place before the bigger picture changed? He's not the type to plan for not winning a trophy. C'mon, does anyone really think he's happy that he won so many trophies in his first years as Arsenal manager, and then not for the last 5 years?No f.ucking chance. By my reckoning, when the sugar daddies came, his targets had to change. Just keeping u in the CL every year is admirable when you consider how much harder the competition has become IMHO.
Who here has thought our team is more loyal to wenger than to the arsenal? I know I have. And for that reason alone I believe Wengers contract extension is a good thing. I'm sure it'll keep cesc happier. Maybe that's what can keep cesc here for more than 1 season? What if Barcas debt problems mean they can't afford him next season? Cesc would be @#$%& if his '2nd dad' left him I'd imagine.
Quote:However, to not sign a goalkeeper for the last few years has been unforgivable. And now it's beyond a joke.
The keeper problem is actually a new problem, since 2007 we've had a creativity problem when we lost Hleb so we got Arshavin, Nasri should have been seen as one for the future. a DM problem losing Diarra, Flamini and Gilberto at the same time but Song has stepped up, a striker problem getting rid of Adebayor but we're recently signed Chamakh and goalkeeping problem due to the players being@#$%&and now a CB problem losing more defenders.
What's unforgivable is having 1 established CB on the books.
Theodore roosevelt - In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:14:12:48:00 by Padre Pio.
Promises Tom, Wenger promised us a trophy last season. Wenger said we would win something, and the club put out an advertising campaign entitled 'THIS IS OUR YEAR' to make sure we all bought our season tickets etc.
We won f*ck all, becasue Wenger threw the two cups, then proceeded to the Nou Camp with Frank Silvestre in Central defence, rounding things off with some of the most incompetent defensive displays I have ever witnessed at Wigan Blackburn White Hart Lane, plus all round sh*te defending at Birmingham to throw away the league title.
He's had all summer to sort things out, and our first game of the season is tomorrow, and he's done pretty much f*ck all.
You know, as well as anyone, that Wenger is not going to say "Hey guys, you may as well not come watch us play because its all a bit pointless". Anyone who bought a ticket based on what Wenger says is a fool.
And for the record, Silvestre was one of our better players against Barcelona, we did not 'throw' the cups and we were actually very much in the title race for a long time, he has signed a top striker, a defender and is on the market for another defender and a goalkeeper.
Sorry its not gone exactly as everyone would want, but I don't think anyone else would do a much better job. What have the other manager done exactly?
and what would another manager have done exactly?
Paid the money for Chamakh at xmas so that we had something extra up front to compensate for the absent RVP.
Got rid of Silvestre and Fabianski, shored up our back line with some decent 10 mil defenders.
Theres lots of things could have been done to avoid the debacle, at xmas last season and again this summer. But we haven't done any of them.
You cant go around believing that the players in our squad are the best available and can't be improved upon. Because its b*llocks.
And for people saying we haven't got any money, which I dont believe, then sell some of the front players, we've got more than we need, whilst far less than we need at the back.
Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿♀️
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Wenger is like that guy driving down a long road who passes every gas station while the tank is running lower and lower...then passes the "last gas station" for 100 miles because they charge too much. Of course, about 75 miles later the car runs out of gas, leaving the driver and all his passengers who warned him this would happen stuck in the desert without fuel or water. How many times does he get to fail? He pleads for patience. Patients are for hospitals...because they are patiently waiting for a cure until they die.
Here we are again this year, on the eve of the season without the players we need to win. This fish is rotting from the head. Wenger has had 4 months and 30m euros to buy a GK and two CB's. In that time, he's added one CB and dithered about as if everything else were a luxury. If he'd have offered the 5m he knows Schwarzer is worth in May instead of that lowball 2m, he'd be here now instead of us being worried about it. If le shylock would just bid the 10m he knows Diakhate and Zapata are worth, they'd be here. But instead Wenger, l'egoiste would prefer to bottom feed and wait until the end of the month when of course "everyone will be too expensive and I won't pay over the odds" Over the odds is over the odds, not what a player is worth. Clubs don't have to accept your lowball offer just like you don't have to accept Barca's lowball offer for Cesc. Bottom line, Wenger would rather lose his way than win and that's why we've had the results we've had. His constantly framing this a question of us 'not being Chelsea' is intellectually dishonest. Buying two CB's when you need two CB's is not spending recklessly. Allowing Lass Diarra to leave without Flamini being signed to a long term deal was a gross dereliction in duty. Since David Dein left, there is no one at the emirates with the stones and gravitas to tell l'enfant terrible that he can't have his cake and eat it too. Which is why we have a gifted, but painfully soft and undersized team than can only win one way and melts under pressure from physical challenges like Ice Cream on a summer day. We've replaced the beauty of the invincibles but not the steel. Where are the Parlours, the Keowns, the Vieras? That, not spending recklessly is the biggest difference between us and our glory years. Wenger and the board are just living off the fat of the land and have no interest in winning. Their only concern is lining their pockets with the supporter's money and fielding a "competitive" team, not a championship team. Mark my words, if Wenger doesn't add a new GK and CB, we'll be hard pressed to finish 4th.
The Wigan fiasco? It was horrible. Get over it you soft @rse. That happens in football when you are out of the title race (yes, we were out of it, lets not pretend had we won the Wigan game we would have clawed seven points back).
I know everyone likes to be a sad old fart when it comes to football, and being negative seems to be in vogue at this time, but get a grip. Arsenal are an almost big club doing far too well for our size.
Quality read though Celine, you really should consider a new career in writing, whether that be in journalism, or making your own fever pitch, ill leave that to you..
The Wigan fiasco is just one of many. What about Flapiankski in the CL last year? Not a mistake an accomplished netminder makes. What about letting Diarra go without a ready replacement in CDM? What about not buying Chamakh last year for 6m? Wenger's decision making is getting worse not better and the fact that we are on the eve of what everyone acknowledges as a make or break season for his "youth project" and he still hasn't made the painfully obvious additions to the squad necessary to win. He needs to stop with the poker face routine. Everyone knows this club CANT' WIN with its current GK's and defense. Rather than address that problem, Wenger pi$$es and moans about the 25 man rule. Why, at least two players on our current squad (Diaby and Denilson) have been here for what seems like forever and can't string together back to back good games so they can and should be jettisoned in the name of consistency. Our top two goalkeepers (and I use that term very loosely with regards to Flapianski and Frankenstein) couldn't stop a shot if they were wearing bulletproof vests while hiding inside of an armored truck. So there's 4 stiffs who don't deserve to wear the uniform right there? But moving any of them would mean Wenger would have to admit he was wrong about them in the first place...and admitting he was wrong is the one thing Wenger would rather die than do. I'm tired of my favorite football club being held hostage to his ego. I dont' think his deal should have been extended until after the season is over and a trophy is being hoisted. But lucky for all of us, the board just enabled this ego junkie for another four years so we can keep on shining thin air in the meantime.
Quote:Sorry its not gone exactly as everyone would want, but I don't think anyone else would do a much better job. What have the other manager done exactly?
Tom, Your London counter part..the champs started with 6-0 the team you ware suggesting had a poor pre-season so might be relegated!! They bought few players as well you might have noticed, that include Ramires, Benayoun and a CB and done all without much of buzz..
I expect us to put 7 past WBA seeing as we are now so much better equipped according to Wenger. Of course we might concede 6 seeing as our defence is still as poor as ever.
sums it up
you do expect too much
4 teams have won the premier league
it's difficult as hell
how anyone can't wholeheartedly get behind a man who gave us thierry henry, and a season unbeaten, while he competes with teams who spend nearly infinite amounts of money is beyond me
make no mistake it's arsenal football club holding arsene wenger back not the other way around. he could have gone to real madrid and won everything if he wanted
he didn't because he loves the club
Quote:make no mistake it's arsenal football club holding arsene wenger back not the other way around. he could have gone to real madrid and won everything if he wanted
Jobless.. replaced by Morinho posting back the CV to prem club..probably at Villa by now..
And if we are expecting too much from a manager that has brought us 11 trophies in 14 years, but none in the last 5, then you are expecting too little.
YM is right, we expect far too much. As I said in the other post, we are a good to big club who has exceeded all expectations.
Mike, I could have started watching Arsenal at any timne in my life and still had the brains to work out that this is very much a high point in Arsenal's history.
Maybe we are on the downslope back to being a decent to good Premier League club, or Wenger could finish his project and establish us as a worldwide club.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:Wenger considers qualifying for CL as a trophy. in his world we have won trophies every year
Spot on Padre.. vindicated by board and offering him a contract of length which he prefers that is 3 years ending 2014 which means a French job lined up after that..
But looking at the possible swing of events in PL the 4 years is of anybody's guess..
Quote:Padre Pio
Wenger considers qualifying for CL as a trophy. in his world we have won trophies every year
Yes, bravo Arsenal Holdings PLC thanks to your employee, Arsene Wenger.
Now then, where is Arsenal FC?
