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The 2015-2016 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
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A question to all the Arsenal supporters calling for Wenger to be sacked.. Who do you think is an upgrade on him?
Would you like to see someone like Pellegrini or Mourinho take charge?
Or go for some young and upcoming manager who might take a couple of years of CL away from the Emirates stadium?
Would you like to see someone like Pellegrini or Mourinho take charge?
Or go for some young and upcoming manager who might take a couple of years of CL away from the Emirates stadium?
Umm. They are great managers out there. Wenger is 70 and I would imagine he won't coach forever. Are you telling me there are not great managers out there ? Let's see. The guy at Athletico, PSG, Munich ( before city snatched him), Ajax. What happens when he retires, won't they need another manager.
They need a replacement when he's gone, sure. Besides, no one is really is irreplaceable - my point is at this moment, if they let Arsene go, they'd be crazy not to have a suitable successor lined up. Otherwise, they will end up just like Man Utd - spending ton of money and yet somehow finding themselves trying to get the 4th place trophy which seems like a given for Arsenal at this time.
EDIT:
Also, looks like the Everton faithful have turned against Martinez. They hailed him as the messiah after years of Moyes. Would be hilarious if they get him back in charge.
Martinez' lack of defensive organization is what will be his failing - he's not good enough to be a manager at top clubs and the bottom one wouldn't take him as he can't guarantee that they'll stay up.
It's far from over. I don't think either Man U or Chelsea will roll over, despite what Hazard said in the post match interview, and if Lukaku turns up, then Everton certainly have a goal or two in them
They don't have to roll over. LCFC is a better team than all three and will thrash Chelsea and Everton.
So who do I want for the FA Cup? Well, I - what was that? My choices are Man Utd or Alan Pardew? Ah...
Come on, Leicester! Keep it up.
Come on, Leicester! Keep it up.
Excellent post and a very well made point.
To those calling for Mr Wenger's head, I would remind them that it can sometimes take sometimes the best part of a decade to find a replacement who is equally good, reliable and offers the reassurance of comforting stability. In Arsenal's case, that comforting stability is the almost clockwork certainty that the team will finish in the top four.
Manchester United have never fully reclaimed their sense of themselves since the departure of Sir Alex, and this very same unsettled restlessness was evident for several years - not just one or two - after Sir Matt Busby retired in an earlier era.
Likewise, While Liverpool managed the succession from Bill Shankly to Kenny Dagliesh pretty well, it took a while for them to find their shape consistently since then.
Arsenal are used to Mr Wenger, and he to them. Now, while it is unlikely that they will win the Premiership in the near future, they are almost certainly guaranteed a top four finish each season, affording an outcome and a degree of consistency that most clubs would kill for.
Granted, Spurs overtaking them will hurt, and real questions may well be asked if they fail to finish in the top four.
But, - even allowing time to invoke the memory of the legendary Herbert Chapman, - Arsène Wenger is the best manager Arsenal have ever had.
The club would be foolish in the extreme to terminate his contract without having a successor lined up who will be sympathetic to the club's culture and will not unsettle them too much.
Firing is easy, - and a sop to the instant wild outrage of the Twitter generation - but rebuilding stability is a lot harder.
Personally, I would not consider removing Mr Wenger until some kind of serious thought has been given to the succession. Stop-gaps won't cut it.
Are you claiming that there has not been any managers better than Wenger out there in the past decade? Since that champions league final where Arsenal lost to Barcelona, barca have won 22 trophies while Arsenal have won 2.
Are you saying that all the time Pep was at Barca, he was secretly hoping he'd be offered the Arsenal job?
No, I am fairly certain that this was not what I said, or claimed.
Rather, I am saying that Mr Wenger has been an excellent manager for Arsenal, and that rather than precipitately changing a formula with which they are familiar and which delivers a consistent degree of success - semi-permanent finishes in the top four - they would want to have given serious thought to who they might consider replacing him with, and ensure that such a person - irrespective of how successful they may have been elsewhere, may be able to work well with Arsenal.
Not all managers gel equally well with all clubs.
Arsenal, you may recall, waited for his arrival - without a manager , even an interim or acting one - for the best part of half a season while Mr Wenger served out his notice in Japan.
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He has been an excellent manager, in his first 10 years. Recently years he has lost touch with reality. The game has changed and he refuses to adapt. What's the excuse for keeping Girroud as you main striker? Every fan and pundit knows he is not good enough to lead the line of you want the title. It took him 10 years to finally sign a world class goal keeper.
It's not just a matter of who is a good fit for Arsenal, they also have to be available, and want to go to Arsenal
If you identify a target, you go for it. That's what city did with Guardiolla. Suarez was available, but he bid 40 mil and one pound. He is a joke. A serious manager would have bid 50 mil and gotten Suarez.
Arsenal can do better than the 2016 version of Wenger - they just need to do their homework when looking for his replacement, and accept that it means a shift in culture and the risk of a rocky transition period. Arsenal have been spoiled by a consistency that has nevertheless never quite matched their ambitions.
In sports parlance that's called a 'winning streak'.
In sports parlance that's called a 'winning streak'.
Managing the succession, - always soothing of a challenge - and managing at the transition will be Arsenal's main challenges, if they are to continue asa reasonably successful team.
As they have done when appointing Mr Wenger, a wiser course of action would be to plan in advance - give themselves around a year, at least, - to ascertain what it is they desire in a successor, and then seek to recruit someone who would blend well with the club, and be likely to welcome their advices.
That depends on how 'failure' is defined. Regular top four finishes are not 'failure'; they are just not the most successful the club could possibly aim for.
It does look like it's all over for the Spurs now. LCFC just need three draws from their final three games to win the EPL!
I am not for lynching etc., but what are your (all of you) thoughts on Dante and Wolfsburg. The last years he was at Bayern, I already had the feeling, that he was not the safest bet and when he came to Wolfsburg I was already thinking "oh no, please don't weaken Wolfsburg" and didn't decide Wolfsburg's decision. Then I thought, well maybe he can show off when he is used differently in the whole context of the team. Since the last two or three Wolfsburg matches I think that he plays some part in there losses. It feels like, that he just doesn't bother, if someone is running towards him and then running next to him, he stays there and lets him run. And then in the very last minute there is one action where he saves the team from a bigger defeat (which is in his favour, but I am not sure, if a mediocre player that is awake all the time isn't better). (Well, ok it was EL, but I have seen Dante missing something in the league against a team like Augsburg as well.).
Wolfsburg way in the second leg of the season is drastic anyway, who would have thought that they hang somewhere just above the middle rank in the leauge. I find this quite sad, from a point of attractiveness of the competition.
Also, there was a funny DFB-cup half final last season. Bayern loosing against Dortmund in penalties, because three of the Bayern players slipped on the gras. The final was Wolfsburg against Dortmund. I also love to remember the finale of the DFB cup 2013, when Stuttgart fought and put all it had on the pitch and hold 2:2 for some time until Bayern won 3:2 against them. I also love to remember how angry Stuttgart's Harnik got in that match. (Stuttgart btw. this season has become the team with the most stupidly missed chances. It is actually unbelievable, if you see it).
Wolfsburg way in the second leg of the season is drastic anyway, who would have thought that they hang somewhere just above the middle rank in the leauge. I find this quite sad, from a point of attractiveness of the competition.
We have settled with looking forwards to who of the top teams gets second.
Also, there was a funny DFB-cup half final last season. Bayern loosing against Dortmund in penalties, because three of the Bayern players slipped on the gras. The final was Wolfsburg against Dortmund.
I also love to remember the finale of the DFB cup 2013, when Stuttgart fought and put all it had on the pitch and hold 2:2 for some time until Bayern won 3:2 against them. I also love to remember how angry Stuttgart's Harnik got in that match. (Stuttgart btw. this season has become the team with the most stupidly missed chances. It is actually unbelievable, if you see it).I agree, who had thought of Hertha being a challenge to Dortmund for the second place and against other top teams for one of the CL starting spots? (If you forget the DFB-cup half final against Bayern lately... sorry Tweetie, it was really heart breaking that they lost there, but on the other hands, they didn't look as if they were really investing will in it).
While he was in Bayern, he was the same way he is now. I have the impression that he's had his best times while in Werder Bremen. I think he would be an exceptionally good defender if he laid off some of that coolness. He's very, very inconsistent, but I think that's a general problem with many of the players in Wolfsburg. People like Schürrle or Draxler are also rarely consistent. This seems to go through the whole team, somehow.
But, as you might have caught, Wolfsburg is said to do a complete "overhaul" for next season. It'll be interesting to see what the squad looks like for 2016/2017.
But, as you might have caught, Wolfsburg is said to do a complete "overhaul" for next season. It'll be interesting to see what the squad looks like for 2016/2017.
Hehe, still up, like me
Didn't hear of the "overhaul", but that reminded me of the rumors Hummels is leaving to Bayern, which seem to be getting less rumor-some every week. I can't comprehend, how someone can really think of doing such a cruel thing, even worse after Götze and Lewandowski.
Am going to bad now, have a good night.
Didn't hear of the "overhaul", but that reminded me of the rumors Hummels is leaving to Bayern, which seem to be getting less rumor-some every week. I can't comprehend, how someone can really think of doing such a cruel thing, even worse after Götze and Lewandowski.
Am going to bad now, have a good night.
Hehe, still up, like me
Didn't hear of the "overhaul", but that reminded me of the rumors Hummels is leaving to Bayern, which seem to be getting less rumor-some every week. I can't comprehend, how someone can really think of doing such a cruel thing, even worse after Götze and Lewandowski.
Am going to bad now, have a good night.
Being a huge Bayern fan, I like the prospect of it. But I do see how that move would be somewhat painful for Dortmund. And I really like Dortmund, too.
Have a good rest!
For a team which has won titles, with an expensive manager, expensive tickets, not winning a trophy is failure. Allowing a team like LCFC to win the title is failure. Chelsea are defending champions, yet the season is a failure. The last time Arsenal were defending champions was 11 years ago.