Somak Goswami
George V, I didn't sit and count the exact words, but I would hazard a guess that you've spent 3/4th of your article espousing the merit of getting into a CL spot on the cheap. But, how does this make you different from the greatest spin doctor the world of sport has ever seen, a la Wenger? We've heard ALL of these points before from Wenger's mouth. Champions League this, Champions League that. I notice you carefully avoid talking about the title or any of the cups, much like Wenger does.
Let's start with the Champions League under Wenger. For 16 years of straight CL football, his record is pretty pathetic. The lost final was his only hurrah in the CL. It's been downhill since then and for the last 3 his strategy has been - pray for an easy group (which he usually does except this year), start off the first 2-3 games with aplomb, stumble to mighty Olympiakos or Braga or some such, finish a p*** easy group second, meet Bayern or Barca in the last 16 and get dumped out. Oh and along the way, sacrifice the domestic cups. Is this what you call an achievement? CL, CL CL… what has it got us besides money that we don't spend (until now)? The Barca's, Bayerns, ManYoo's , Chelski's etc. enter the competition to win. Wenger enters it to get money because he knows he will never win the CL. Even Di Matteo won the CL, so it shows that the CL is hardly as hard as finding alien life. Yet, somehow the £7.5M/year man simply can't crack it. When other managers paid less than him have. Please explain to me why this is so? And don't blame luck. 16 years was enough to have cracked the luck factor as well.
About the players you've mentioned - let me tell you that other than Jack and Cole, Wenger has not produced a single talent worthy of note. The jury's still out on Jack. I love his heart and he's a Gooner through and through but it remains to be seen if he can get over his injury issues and produce the goods consistently. Oh and should he do so, hopefully he won't get sold. Entirely for "footballing reasons", of course ! And even for Cole there are rumours that he was set to be sold to Crystal Palace till Sylvinho's dodge passport issue was discovered. Still, I'll give you Cole. You mention Frimpong. What's been his contribution other than Deeeeench, pray tell? Gibbs? We'll revisit him when he can string together 40 games in a season. Additionally, his defensive duties leave MUCH to be desired. We'll revisit Chezzer in a few years. There's a reason why a large section of Gooners are clamouring for some competition for him. Let him sort out his distribution and blood rushes to his head and then we'll talk.
As for Afobe, Gnabry and the others, we'll have to talk later as I had heard the exact same things about the might of Owusu-Abaye, Mark Randall, Giles Sunu, Seb Larsson, Franky Simek and a whole host of others who, at one time or another, had all been promoted as the next big super star. Mostly by that idiotic Young Guns blog. Need I remind you where these players are today? Talk about the present my friend. Any talk of CL qualification (without actually winning it) and a host of young players who will be the next alleged super stars just makes you sound like a Wenger clone and frankly, the original one is unbearable himself. We don't need his clones. No offence.
Richard Lancaster, Wenger is the one with his feet "most" firmly on the ground, is he? Now I get it why he went to Lille and came back with Gervinho, leaving Hazard for Chelski. Thanks for clearing that up. Wenger's "decision making" appeals only to AKB's. Any decision making which involves putting Denilson on circa 50k/week, Barry Bollocks on 52 and Diaby on 60k with a contract extension nonetheless should have been met with a P45 a long time ago. But, since the man has an unreal art of spin doctoring and God given gift of the gab that makes a large part of fans pay up their hard earned money to the board, I can see why the P45 was not given.
Yeah, we beat Bayern. Just like we beat Barca. How much did it mean? None. Those games were over in the first leg and with nothing to lose, the boys came away with victory. Clappity clap. Funny when something is on the table to lose, Wenger FC usually comes up short. Like against those European giants Bradford and Blackburn. Or how about Swansea and Norwich? Or hanging on 1-0 for dear life against RELEGATED QPR? The "negativity" has not been built up over night. It's the product of frustration of the last 5 years. His lies, spins, passing off Diaby as a "new signing" every season is just too much to bear for 5 years. Tell me one other club where Diaby would be sitting on his arse collecting 60k/week for 6 years? Yes, that's how long he's been here for.
How long did it take Ferguson to ship out Veron? For whatever reason, Hargreaves saw 4 years there but at least it wasn't 6 AND counting. The myth about Diaby only being what he is today is because of the tackle is just that - a myth. I won't deny that the tackle did a lot of damage but the fact is his then Auxurre manager Jacques Santini is on record stating he let Diaby go because he couldn't pick him in his side anymore due to repetitive injuries. "Abou was one of the players I used at the start of the season and then he had to stop because of repetitive injuries. Maybe he was attracted by England and the money there. This probably did not force him to make all the necessary efforts to come back to his best level with us." - That's Santini on Diaby's Wikipedia page. When is enough enough? I'll give credit to Wenger for shifting the deadwood this season, but I believe a few others behind the scenes pushed him into it. The reason people are cynical is because despite the Diaby experience, he's still signed another frequent crock (Sanogo) on big wages.
To sum up, Wenger has taken the joy away from some fans of winning. Because, every time he wins the arrogance is back. He's back to using "mental strength" and "great speereeet". We never hear those words after Bradford. Before the Ozil signing, large swathes of fans wanted one defeat after another because they realize that perhaps only the lack of CL football might see his departure. As long as he makes money for Stan, he'll be here. That's the reason for wanting defeats. That and his smug face in post game press conferences. And I'll end by saying that just because we've bought Ozil doesn't mean we are going to win anything this season. The lack of options at CB and upfront is going to cost us heavily during the season, mark my words. ONLY Wenger would dare to start a season with just one recognized striker. What's the reason for his daring and arrogance? I think you know the answer. Job security. The man's virtually unsackable.
