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1. Nicky

   Apr 08, 2011, 17:04 #4824

   We shouldn't accept second best but we shouldn't expect to win every time and it seems some fans think that that is the case.

2. Robert Exley

   Apr 06, 2011, 23:34 #4669

   Marcus - yes we didn't need to win, all we needed to do was play it safe. Which begs the question as to why our captain decides to backheal on the edge of his area? Totally sloppy and lazy attitude to defending, bred by...who I wonder? The same guy who can't be bothered to sign a decent centre half or goalkeeper maybe? And rightly you state we could have lost 3-2 and still gone through - kind of begs the question why we were not being more direct instead of still passing it to death. Also when you get the chance, ****ing take it. But no, Bendtner decides to have one chance too many and fluffs it. An aversion to playing direct and shooting bred by...who I wonder? Sorry the buck stops with Wenger

3. marcus

   Apr 06, 2011, 19:17 #4635

   Regarding the discussion about the Barca game: the host makes the common mistake in assuming we had to win that 2nd leg at the Nou Camp. Arsene was absolutely correct when he said we would've gone thru if RVP had NOT been sent off. We were winning the tie before the sending off! We could've lost 3-2 and still have won the tie. We did not need to win that 2nd leg. We could've drawn or lost 3-2. 15 of Barca's 19 shots happened AFTER the sending off. Until then we were dealing with their pressure quite well, limiting them to only a handful of shots. How many teams do that to Barca? For anyone to say that the sending off did not influence that game is simply being myopic and blind. And yes Barca outpassed us and outclassed us. Gee, which team DON'T they do that to? It's amazing how people think that Barca do ONLY to Arsenal! Inter had only one shot against Barca last season-why isn't that held against them? Philippe Auclair's defense of Arsene's tactics in that game is spot-on.

4. Joe Fitzpatrick

   Apr 06, 2011, 16:17 #4603

   Whoa! Calm down Horsey! C'mon guys don't start giving the editor stick too! I'm not kissing ass as I've never even met the guy but I know for a fact that he works really hard on producing the Gooner (which you should all buy by the way, as without it this website would not exist) all he is doing is allowing all opinions and all attitudes to get a fair chance and if you think it's easy start your own bloody fanzine and see how far you get.

5. dan

   Apr 06, 2011, 13:23 #4554

   what's so stupid is those that say he should stay say he should stay as long as he changes his philosophies!!! then what's the point of him staying!!! might as well have someone new!!

6. Website Editor

   Apr 06, 2011, 11:10 #4525

   Er... Utkarsh (4935) - although i plead guilty to writing the exclusive plugging the podcast, i wasn't one of the panel on it. so you've lost me. still, i do seem to get blamed for everything that appears on this website or the printed issue that people don't like, even if all i do is provide a platform for the gamut of opinions on arsenal football club and its workings. the one thing i have learned in this gig is that there is no way you can please all of the people all of the time. now, where did i put that tin hat?

7. tippytappynevershooty

   Apr 06, 2011, 10:58 #4524

   Good podcast, and interesting to hear real AW loyalists acknowledge his complete tactical ineptitude and stubborn blidness around poor players. Clearly there is mass disatisfaction and whether you are a Wenger out or and Keep the Faith boils down to whether yo uthink he can or will change under pressure. Personally I think he cannot and is a flawed personality / busted flush - get Stevie Bould in charge.

8. Scribe

   Apr 06, 2011, 10:21 #4522

   I think whats missing from this podcast is ticket prices, an the wage bill of certain players in Project Wenger. People are angry that the ticket rises seem to be comming with wage rises and apparent stagnation. It's the frustrating elements of this season that's drawing the bile.

9. CD

   Apr 06, 2011, 10:13 #4521

   The comment that we are the biggest whingers in world football is so way off the mark, it defies belief that those words could have been spoken by anyone. Six years and only now a collective orchestrated campaign to say enough is enough!! Yes their have been murmurings over the last 2/3 years, but this is the first time that collectively practically everybody is saying the same thing, so how the hell can we be accused of being whingers when you also take into account the shear size of our club. In addition as others have already commented if you charge the highest prices in world football it's not unreasonable to expect the best, but despite this for six years we have been prepared to give Wenger the benifit of the doubt, but not anymore as he has used up all the goodwill which he had earned. In summary this is not a collective knee jerk reaction by fans demanding unreasonable instant success but ones whom have been incredibly patient and have now simply had enough, which in my book is not a definition of spoilt brat whingers.

10. Weevbeendone

    Apr 06, 2011, 10:05 #4520

    I think the problem is that Arsenal fans are being brainwashed by the media and football pundits, me included! There is such a negative spin put on anything Arsenal do, that it is having a detrimental affect on the supporters views of the team/Wenger. Let's face it, according to the 'pundits', we haven't had a decent goalkeeper since Seaman (well only because he was English, otherwise the press wouldn't have been so keen), our defence is the worst in the Premiership with our central defenders being too weak and easily dominated (apparently we need an English centre half), our midfielders are also too weak and 'tippy-tappy' and can't take their legs being continually broken (except Jack Wilshere who’s now the best player in the world), and our forwards are either always injured, also don’t like their legs being broken, are just simply too big headed and ****, or are too afraid to shoot or too greedy. How any manager in charge of a team like this has managed to get them to second place in the League is beyond me. All this added to the fact that the referees either have a deep ingrained bias against us or are just simply bent (If we had equal decisions to Manu this year we would now be at least 15 points clear at the top). Well you have got to say that Arsene Wenger is actually a genius. Still I’m sure that the press will eventually get what they want and Arsene will leave/get sacked and they can then blame it on the fans wanting him out. This would be a great shame for Arsenal but would probably do Wenger the world of good as he would be offered one of the top club jobs in world football and in a different country he would be more appreciated by the press and fans alike, without having to put up with the obvious bias of the English press and referees.

11. Gibblet

    Apr 06, 2011, 10:02 #4519

    This podcast is now a joke. It used to be by the fans and for the fans. Basti, Gooner Ed, Spy and Ollington speak for us. Where does Amy Lawrence and that French prat get off? Spoiled? What a load of old s*it. And how up its own prosterior is this podcast now? It used to be fun and a laugh. Now, like the actual publication itself, its taking itself too seriously. I'll go and listen to The Tuesday Club now. They may be people in the media but at least they dont insult me.

12. Joe Fitzpatrick

    Apr 06, 2011, 7:22 #4514

    Spoiled? Are We? Are Manchester uniteds fans spoiled? Are Liverpool's? Are Real Madrid's? Are Inter Milan's, Bayern Munich's and Barcelona's fans all spoiled too? we are the fans of the biggest team in London, one of Europes top cities so sorry if we dare to demand a Trophy every 7 years or so at a minimum!!!

13. Rastafarian

    Apr 06, 2011, 2:07 #4512

    Amy Lawrence poor soul hasn't a clue. 'Six years is nothing, if you look at the history books there have been worse periods' What a pathetic, sterile argument, classic of an AKB! That's like saying 'Oh so my husband only gave me a black eye, if you look at history there have been many girls with bruised ribs and broken arms!' Pffft, extreme comparison but valid none the less! It's THAT kind of loser mentality that disgusts me in so many apologetic Arsenal fans who continue to display a lack of balls, and a lack f spine. Answer me this. Did ANY Arsenal manager of the past have the sort of cash AW has at his disposal? NO. Did ANY Arsenal team of the past make £3 mil per home match? NO. Did ANY Arsenal team of the past have a 60,000 seater stadium? NO. Yes a lot of it is in part down to Wenger's PAST achievements. However. Why is it when Man United fans went 3 years without the title between 2004 and 2007 their fans were complaining loudly? Hmmm? Why do Man U fans when they fail to win not all turn round and say 'Oh remember we got relegated by a Denis Law goal in 1981, so show perspectiv'. That is because times have changed, their club has moved on, their expectations are heightened. THAT is what being a big club is about. I don't hear Barca fans saying 'Oh we finished in 6th when Rexach was about, so if we win sod all this season it is ok. Bollocks. The BIGGEST point Amy Lawrence and the apologetic comedian from the talking shop also known as the AST (beneficiaries of our board's disgusting strategy of not investing in the club)...the bIGGEST point they are missing, is that WHEN A CLUB IS CHARGING THE HIGHEST TICKET PRICES IN WORLD FOOTBALL, how bloody dare you then tell the fans that their complaining is 'spoilt'??? Have you even thought through your tepid argument dear! That would be like me walking into Harrods, buying a tin of fine belugar caviar, and in fact finding that my tin is stuffed with Tesco Value fish eggs. The Harrods shop steward could also argue 'Be grateful and stop being so spoilt, because in many parts of England no one even has the opportunity of tasting fish eggs'. Bollocks simile there. If I am paying Harrods prices, I expect it to deliver, that is why I pay Harrods prices. If it is a **** product that failts ot hit the mark, I will exercise my right as a consumer to call it out for the FRAUD that it is. Now you all say 'football is a business' right? Well, Arsenal charge me more than a Man U, Barca, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Chelsea, Bayern Munich or Inter fan to watch mediocre dross. And if after six years, a man being paid £7 mil per season, is incapable of coaching a defence, of treating the fans with enough respect to not mug them off and sign quality, if he is incapable of not detaching himself from his precious babies like Diaby and Denilson, if he is not up to getting a decent keepers and YES, if he CANNOT BEAT ****ING BIRMGINHAM IN A LEAGUE CUP FINAL, I have every right to call for his head, and speak out about what a catastrophic hash job he is doing. I don't even want to give Wenger another summer. What for? 'Arsene must spend this summer'. Give him £100 mil and he will sign Kevin Gameiro of Lorient, 25 French African kids on mega-bucks contracts, he will sign 700 Congolese kids and then try and make a profit on them all, or build 60 football teams out of them. I don't trust this man with anything to do with my club anymore, the trust left in the summer of 2009 when he spent the transfer window watching the reserves instead of significantly improving our squad. I don't want him to be given the opportunity to sign more Chamakhs and more Koscielnys. And no, I DO NOT WANT HIM MOVING UPSTAIRS, where he can influence which managers we appoint and what money is spent. Why do some fools keep saying 'he should move upstairs'? Could you IMAGINE what a disaster that would be! He'd dictate what we could and couldn't spend on transfers and would loom large over every manager we get! No thank you. Arsene - and I won't even say 'please' because you have eroded all your goodwill, JUST GO. Pep Guardiola is free as he quits Barca at the end of the 2011/12 season. Give Steve Bould the job as caretaker for a season and bring in Pep the season after. Or, Guus Hiddink quits Turkey job in summer, he has won the CL (AW never has, never will) and is a winner, get him in. Or, get Jose Mourinho, a brilliant tactician who would boot lazy workshy muppets like Diaby and Denilson and Rosicky and Eboue into touch! Or, get the Porto manager Villas Boas, young, hungry, attacking football. Yeah might only be Portuguese football but that never stopped Mourinho being great did it? There. To all the 'who would you replace him with' brigade, I have just named not one, not two, not three but FOUR potential replacements for the now past-it Arsene Wenger. And what do they all have in common? ALL of them have won more in the past 6 years than Wenger. So each appointment would be a step up, guaranteed. I don't care if they 'are unproven' in this league. 1. Wenger was unproven when he came to Arsenal. 2. Wenger has now PROVED he cannot succeed at Arsenal. None of the others have proved they can't, so would rather give them a chance. You're finished Arsene. It's just about how much longer we keep faffing about until you're forced out.

14. Utkarsh

    Apr 06, 2011, 1:35 #4511

    Kevin Whitcher you think Arsenal were schooled in the Nou Camp ? What game were you watching it was a great defensive perfomance in the first half how many clear shots did Barca have in the first half ? Just one its a fashion to criticise the manager but dont become blind in the I HATE wenger to go club

15. Robert Exley

    Apr 06, 2011, 1:21 #4508

    I've publically supported Wenger for the last three seasons through various articles in the Gooner. I've praised his lack of willingness to follow the others among the big 4 and throw silly money around to win titles. I've appreciated that he has needed time to bring this side through. Fact of the matter is though, this was the season of deliverance. Both United and Chelsea have had to scale back the spending last season for them to be financially viable and have both been exceedingly ordinary as a result. Arsenal lost no personel last year and had a £40 million war chest built up, meaning a couple of reasonably priced signings over the last two seasons were viable. Fact of the matter is, as average as United and Chelsea have been they look in all likelihood to finish above us. Arsenal have stalled through a weak squad. Either Wenger chooses of his own accord not to spend to strengthen or the board has told him he can't. If it's the latter, Wenger should play brinksmanship with the board and threaten to leave. Aside from spending, the tactics have been poor. Did anyone really think Arsenal were going to score against Blackburn? And it's not as if they parked the bus either. Look at the points squandered because he can't defend - as well as the League Cup. Arsenal are not where they are through bad luck, or playing to the peak of their abilities but losing to a superior side - they are underachieving. Sorry but this is the season of deliverance for Wenger, our patience with him is not inexaustable or unconditional. Also if you think being really good at your job throughout the late 90s and early 00s means a job for life, then how many of you voted for Gordon Brown last May? Nuff said!

16. Theopants Superstar

    Apr 06, 2011, 0:19 #4506

    So Arsenal fans that let it be known they are unhappy are 'Whingers' that have been 'spoilt'? Really? I can't think of another set of fans from the so called big clubs that would have put up with 6 trophy-less years with hardly a murmur of discontent. Yet we are supposedly the most 'fickle' fans around? Do me a favour!!! The irony of it all is that the so-called experts on the panel are identifying as the problem the exact same things that the 'malcontents' are complaining about!! So what's the solution? Do we carry on burying our collective heads in the sand, hoping that by ignoring it, the elephant in the room won't appear any more conspicuous than it already does?

17. Rob

    Apr 05, 2011, 23:23 #4503

    I love the podcasts and there were some decent points that came out of that. But I really don't want to be told by Amy Lawrence or some other incarnation of the Guardian's 'media stable' that I am "a spoilt brat" and I don't need a French football correspondent, who has plainly only latched onto the club since 1996 to tell me I'm a 'Johny Come Lately'. I can remember Ian Ure and Jim Furnell and I saw them play at Highbury. They didn't ! Many of the points they made about our current malaise were wholly correct but they deliberately shied away from the obvious conclusion, that Wenger has nothing more to offer. And my reading is that he does not. Great Manager in his time. But that time is now gone. In the current fevered atmosphere is the Gooner being 'leant on' by outside powers to tone down it's lack of appreciation of the Great Messiah ? I do hope not. It won't get the Gooner or the 'leaners' anywhere, even if that is so.

18. JimmyJim

    Apr 05, 2011, 22:22 #4502

    Interesting debate and whilst I miss the usual panel, it does make a change to get a more sensible and articulate perspective on Arsene. I remember when Amy wrote regularly for The Gooner - her pieces were always from the heart so criticism of her is unfair. She is still a fan first and foremost. Philippe is making the same points that many fans have on this very website - Wenger is stubborn and has never been a great tactician. I know people don't like the comments about Arsenal fans being spoilt whingers, but I have to say I think there's an element of truth in that. However, there is nothing wrong with wanting to strive to be better and when the flaws in the side are as obvious as they have been for the last three years, I defy anyone not to be frustrated with a failure to address them. That doesn't make us spoilt or whingers - that makes us fans.

19. dan

    Apr 05, 2011, 22:07 #4499

    the comparisons made to the inviciables are brought up by the fans in responses to wenger keep on going on about how this is the best squad we ever had, which anyone with half a brain knows is the giggerst load of rubbish evr spouted from anyone at anytime

20. gazza

    Apr 05, 2011, 21:34 #4498

    Amy sits behind me in the North Bank and also used to in the clock end Highbury no Freebies there

21. Tim Connery

    Apr 05, 2011, 21:32 #4497

    Great, the normally fun and irreverant Gooner podcast turns into a borefest. I can listen to journalists on sunday supplement podcast that Sky do. Bring back the Spy and the other two. Bring back the songs and the silly sketches too. cheers, Steve.

22. johnny

    Apr 05, 2011, 20:33 #4495

    arsenal TV has no edge. how does that help the club ? propaganda is not what we need. we need honest assessment by everyone over what has gone wrong because it has gone wrong not right.

23. Huge

    Apr 05, 2011, 19:56 #4493

    We are all p***ed off with the lack of guts our boys seem to show when the pressure is on. I am one of those spoilt fans with unrealistic expectations, who still holds a grudge against Jens for blowing the European Cup Final....and Dennis for missing that penalty......but the one thing that p***es me off more than our team's apparent lack of balls, is all this in-fighting amongst ourselves. I know we are just showing passion, but all this "I'm more Arsenal than you" bollox is just crap. "Those that know, know", as some of us say in another context, but for the record, Amy Lawrence is not some token woman journalist, and she has shelled out for a season ticket for well over 20 years. You might not agree with her, but she has paid her dues and done her time, so is allowed an opinion. Richard Keys = token fool

24. Ugandan goon

    Apr 05, 2011, 19:37 #4492

    Ha bloody Ha, kevin. i am glad that your comments page reads like a rollcall of the remedial class at tottenham anti arsenal chants academy. I really enjoyed your book and for a while your blog but there was a shift in editorial policy that let in the doomers and gloomers so that many intelligent fans were driven away, i hope you got the hits you prostituted your integrity for because, i for one respect both your guests and get what they are saying, but also glad that you are getting the exactly what you asked for with your odd change of stance- myopic, short-termist, baying imbeciles.

25. richardkeys

    Apr 05, 2011, 19:06 #4489

    Amy Lawrence token woman football journalist

26. dan

    Apr 05, 2011, 18:54 #4488

    unfortunately all these jurnos associated with club somehow or another are all scared to say what most people feel, same as in arsenal tv call in show, the pandering is ridiculous, would be refreshing for someone to actually say it as it is.

27. LeoGooner

    Apr 05, 2011, 18:48 #4487

    These people aren't listening to what the intelligent critics are saying and instead resort to cliches about expecting another Invincibles, being spoilt and whinging too much. I'm not one of the new fans Phillipe, I've been watching since the late 60s and had a season ticket a lot of that time. My expectations were set by the club, who told me that leaving Highbury would enable us to compete at the top and have the best players. Nobody said that the new stadium would mean we will have a youth project for six seasons. Some of this cast is somewhat insulting actually.

28. Adam ripp

    Apr 05, 2011, 17:05 #4480

    Seriously Amy Lawrence. May be she should pay the price for tickets we have too. Plus do you really think Phillppe auclair would do anything but back wenger. Telling the fans how lucky we are and how naughty and spoilt we have been. The truth is stevie wonder can see the problems with this team. It's like watching a slow car crash every year. 7 million for what exactly. The periods of winning nothing in the past were just as unexceptable for a club of arsenals size as they are now. Worst pod cast ever.

29. dan

    Apr 05, 2011, 16:49 #4478

    had to laugh listening to this, the spent most of the time saying how wenger doesn't do tactics, has stuck with the players too long, hasn't spent when needed, is too stubborn and then say fans are wrong for complaining that we win nothing and that nothing ever changes!!!!!

30. bunch

    Apr 05, 2011, 16:00 #4469

    Amy, you may think we're spoilt, but being a journo you might not know that we pay absolute top dollar for our tickets. Not the case in the early-mid eighties. And Philippe, we whinge because we won't accept second best, why should we when we pay more for our tickets than Mancs?