Arsenal Can't Continue Leaving it All in Arsene's Hands

Even the most ardent pro Wenger Gooner can see there is something wrong with us. What both sides don't agree on is the root cause. The buck may stop with Wenger but the club must show the ambition to want more than Champions League participation. Showing that ambition may necessitate sacking our most successful manager. If they have not despite these barren years then one must admit the club is happy with the "little" he achieves season after season. 

That is the chief reason I can not blame only Wenger for all our present travails.

Let's forget what we are told season after season about the team/squad being good enough bla! bla! bla! What do we see? A squad that's good enough for a sprint but not the marathon. A squad that caves in as soon as the usual injuries from too many games start to set in by mid-season.

The difference between us and the likes of City and Chelsea is squad depth. What we have season after season is just enough to get us so far then we start to struggle. We always will struggle to keep up without that necessary depth. Practically everybody we have to call on falls short -especially in a lack of commitment to the cause, but again they just may also lack the talent to excel at the top in World Football. Sad but true. 

The kind of player with those two characteristics has proved to cost a fair bunch. Buying them and keeping them happy coming off the bench usually means the money is good. Those who have chosen to tow that path have consistently won trophies. Who will believe City was playing in the third tier of the Premier League as recently as 2008? AFC hasn't shown in any way that this is a route they want to pass. No matter what they tell us about money being available -that kind of money can't be hidden. 

The owner /club must show that ambition. The manager needs to be told that's the target, this is what you have available to go get me that trophy. No top club in World Football has given their manager the much power Arsene Wenger has at Arsenal. I have even heard the ignorant say Arsene is a shareholder in the club. Bollocks! Why give the manager such a free rein? Because you trust his abilities. Then why do we blame him for imposing his philosophies on the club? The club let's him.

Who has seen Stan at a game? He doesn't have the passion which leads me to think he doesn't have that ambition. He may like his club to win a trophy sometime but he can live without it. He is playing it safe. The manager he has is what he wants. A manager who truly thinks the kind of money being paid in football these days is vulgar and won't compromise on his principles. Stan's investment isn't in any danger. Who else can he bring to the club who shares that same philosophy and seems to always at least deliver the minimum target -the Champions League and it's lucre. This is not to say there isn't such a manager out there but Kroenke doesn't seem to want to find that out. At least not just yet. 

I don't think Arsene is all of our problem. He has proven to be a darned good manager. But there have to be others in the club's hierarchy who should be able to offer an opinion on transfer dealings and other important aspects of team management. 

The club can no longer afford to continue to leave it in the hands of one man.

Down Fulham! Down! And Don't Expect No Marquees, Gunners

Arsene Wenger's boys came through yesterday. Good show after last weekend's debacle in the season opener against Aston Villa. Played as we all know they can. We need to earn the respect of the other clubs so they dread the "versus Arsenal" fixture like they used to when they looked at their fixtures calenders. Only by showing some steel. Only be going through a more than ordinary run of wins. We must build on the victory at Fulham.

Nobody is afraid of Arsenal any more. Nobody ever won championships by not evoking fear amongst the mid to bottom table teams at the very least. Every rat believes they can earn all the the points in the Arsenal fixture these days. That needs to be reversed now! Consistency has to be the watchword from here on. It's the hard way -it's the only way.

 Hopefully, we will bring in at a minimum, that defensive midfielder we all know we need before the market shuts...only eight days left...
Don't see many teams that will let a top player leave now and go through searching for a suitable replacement before deadline day. Not the kind of quality that will appease Arsenal fans. I suspect strongly that we have been had once again. There isn't going to be any marquee signing as marquee signings go. The £70m that was bandied around so early in the transfer window  by Gazidis has proved to be another illusion.

For another season, we've been sold a phantom "war chest". One that never gets spent. One that doesn't get carried into the next season when it isn't spent because the "right quality" was not available for it to be spent on. If we carried every war chest we were told about that didn't get spent into the next season, bidding £50m for Suarez would have been a breeze, wouldn't it?

There will be no marquees; not the £40m plus variety. At worst we may just have to make do with Flamini on a free and at best some obscure youngster itching to get away from the French division one and recognises that Arsenal could be a good stepping stone to loftier dreams. A player whose club can really do with the £8m to £14m that AFC's valuation of players is usually limited to.

No there isn't likely to be a marquee. We'll get Flamini and be happy about it if I may add. We have to brace up for this scenario. The sooner we come to terms with that, the less pain we will have to endure as the clock runs down on transfer deadline night on September 2.

Nice one, boys. Let's finish off Fenerbahçe on Tuesday and no one can accuse you of not putting in your shift. Let's watch and see how Gazidis, Wenger and the club's hierarchy aid your cause...


Twitter @naijaendgooner

The True Gunners' Debate

I belong to a Blackberry group of Nigerian Arsenal  fans. Some reside in the States, some in the UK but most of us live in different parts of Nigeria.

The debates in the group are usually very heated with pro and anti-Wenger, pro and Anti-Usmanov sentiments usually determining which side members take in whatever topic is up for discussion. No matter which side of the table the members seat, one thing you can't fault is their passion for Arsenal FC. 

I decided to publish the most current debate which started yesterday evening

Fans Give Wenger Backing But Not So For Kroenke

The Arsenal Supporters Trust annual survey result has been released with Arsene Wenger having the massive support of 77% of AST members that participated in the polls.

The annual survey is an important tool used by AST to form important policy positions; this is subsequently forwarded to the management of Arsenal FC to reflect the views of its members.

Questionnaires were sent to 1067 AST members and 636 responses were received which represents 60% of the membership. The responses are believed to represent a diverse spread of Arsenal supporters including shareholders, red members, overseas supporters,

Is Arsenal a Club in Crisis?

Every thing was going so well. I mean, we had signed Podolski -a proven forward from the German league and only just announced the acquisition of Olivier Giroud -the French League's top scorer from last season.

For the first time in years, Arsenal fans watched happily as the club went early into the transfer market and signed other than delinquents who are still wet behind the ears. We were making all the right noises in the transfer market too; there was still talk of our pursuit of Yanni M'villa and the French goal keeper Lloris, both first class internationals whose abilities can not be faulted. Not exactly marquee signings but we were looking like a club with true intent to contend next season not one who at the end of the season looks like they "also ran".