As for last night, I'm not even angry, it's past that point. it's just sad now the level we are at.

It's got to the point now where Arsene and the board have until January 31st to show they are the right ones to lead this club forward.

Which is sad , he needs something to say your not Safe. I love Wenger but he needs a boot up the ass from time to time

Something has to give. For the past two months, even the whole season, we have had no incisiveness in the final third. We are too happy to just stagnate attacks, ad let the opposition crowd the area. The problem is Wenger is too stubborn to fix it. FFS we're not Bracelona, we dont have someone like Messi to dribble through defences, we have fucking Gervinho FFS.

In January we definitely need

- A true fucking DM. Not M'Vila, who is another pretty passer, but a destroyer. Someone like a Wanyama, De Jong etc.
- A top class AM who can dribble. Walcott's off, Santi can go out wide ( where we may actually get some success out of crosses) and the new AM can come in and do his work.

Money is not a problem, Its the board and Wenger. If we spend and don't make the top 4, no biggy, just a bad season. But if we dont spend and we dont make the top 4, then someone has to go, whether that be Kroenke or Wenger himself.

What we need is a player who will rip into our boys and light a fire up our asses . Since viera left we haven't replaced him . Hope to hell that frimpong gets good he is in that mold

Read somewhere that göetze release clause is 30 mil and if rumours are true and we offered 30 mil last time we should go after him . I don't see him going to bayern

If you're waiting for Frimpong to become that player don't bother. Can't see him having a career at Arsenal.

Yes im waiting for frimpong to be that player . Yes he seems not to have a career with us but he is what we need . Sad really he is the physical type which we lack .

We are desperately missing Alex Song. The current midfield just isnt working, individually great players but I dont think they balance well.

A mate of mine (a Palace fan) use to say, with his tongue in his cheek, that being a striker for Arsenal would have to be the easiest gig in professional sport because the team would create so many chances for you to score, you'd have to get one eventually. What the fuck happend to that Arsenal? I knew Cesc would be hard to replace but jesus...

Song is probably the one big name player we've sold who are are missing the least, if not at all.

It think that dubious honour goes to Samir Nasri. Of course Song's no Fabregas or Van Persie, two of the best players in the world, who can win a game off their own boot, but there is a big Song shaped hole in our midfield, in terms of balance, at the moment. We are looking bang average. As far a pulling this team up, we are missing those game changing players.

That's the question we've all got to ask ourselves. It's irrelevant whether the board will actually sack him Sydcro, it's about the pressure fans can put on the board to make a change.

Song is clearly an important player and we're missing his dominance. Arteta is no holding midfielder and while I'm sure you can get hold of plenty of statistics to prove otherwise I think the results show for itself.

The number one player we miss is RVP who is probably the sole reason why we're in the champions league now.

We need extra quality all over the pitch. The only player I can point to in this squad who is "super, super quality" as Wenger puts it, is Santi and he can't be expected to carry us in his first season in England. Replace top class players with bargain buys and what do you get? It will take a lot of investment over a few years to fix this.

I'll answer my own question with Wenger, no Champions League spot = no Wenger.

I think Giroud, Podolski, Santi, Kos and Mertesaker were all good signings and these were the sort of players we should have been signing but, its the players they have replaced which have been the problem. They should have been replacing our bottom performers ( AKA our famed deadwood), not our top performers.

x2 . We have become content on getting to fourth and become a selling club . If Wenger does get sacked or walks I would hope we try go get pep . He will get rid of players he doesn't want .

Just going to put this here :lol:

First we have to work out were the problems lay, is it Wenger or has the board/owner tied his hands? Has Arsene become complacent or the board. If the problems are systemic from the board down, Id rather keep Wenger, because we'd struggle to find a manager who'd do better under these conditions. But if its Wenger's philosophy that's failing, then at some point he has to be held responsible.

If thats the case, Pep would be great because he'd attract top top draw players in the way Wenger used to, provide there is some money there, but we'd have to battle Roman for him. I'd like to think that we'd offer the better working conditions.

I think its our board . They've been hindering wenger in the transfer market . Hell man united fans hate the glazers but they have always stumped up the cash for Fergie when he asks. I would love to see pep if somehow Wenger leaves or gets sacked . Would love to see try to play with Fire in our belly again

Nobody knows where the problems lie, not really. Frankly I think indiscriminate pressure at everyone up top will help. The BSM is moving against the board, ordinary fans (many of whom are part of the BSM) are simply signalling their discontent and that's all we can do.

Seems ridiculous to move Wenger on if we are going to handcuff his replacement; but as someone said on Twitter last night this is starting to have a "Cloughie's last days at nottingham forest" vibe about it.

Which is a sad thing . Wenger has done more English football than people give credit to . Like hinderz said if we replace Wenger and get his replacement handcuffed than were screwed. It seems that when we go thru crisis the board always gives Wenger money to spend

What exactly is to :lol: about. We're 5 points off 3rd after 15 games. With 15 games left last season we were 13 points off 3rd, Sp*rs fans gloating just like they are now, remember how that all turned out.

Don't really think my prediction of us finishing 4th and maybe even a chance of 3rd is that far fetched tbh.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 2/12/2012 08:29:19 PM

Agreed, it's a delicate situation.

IMO, it's all up about January. The talk from up top so far point to money in the bank, but we've all heard that before. Will it actually eventuate into worthwhile investment? I'm sceptical but hopeful, perhaps the pressure in recent times might actually eventuate real investment.

Yep, January 31 is the big moment of truth and will really give us an indication of where this club is going in the next 5 years.

One thing's for sure, Arsene will only be leaving if he decides not to renew a new contract, because he will not be walking out before his contract is up and the board don't want/are to scared to sack him.

Peter Hill-Wood has been admitted to hospital following a heart attack after a bout of pneumonia

Yeah just read that on twitter. Don't have time for him as chairman, I hope he recovers though

As fans we dont know 100% what is going on behind the scenes but we all got our opinions based on what we see and read from time to time.
My opinion is that Wenger isnt a big spender and willing to buy a already big name superstar but i do think he would love to keep his best players he has brought into the club and if he was allowed to do so with new big deals for those stars and still be allowed to make more signings to add to the squad then he would have done so.
Also players im sure players would stay with us if they knew the club would go out and buy and extra two quality players,instead it seems they are told to sign for less then what they can get elsewhere and to make matters worse are also told the club wont be signing anymore players as they think they already have enough which is wrong especially with us being involved in every competition.
If it was Wenger that was the one who simply didnt want to spend the money for what ever reason then i would say sack him now but i dont think this is the case i am 100% sure its the board who dont give him enough money to sign new players and keep the existing big name players at the club.
For a manager that spends less then nearly evey club in the EPL i think Wenger has done a amazing job for us just getting us into the top 4.Yes i do hate and question some of his decisions (like starting Gervinho and Ramsey) and sticking with Almunia and Fabianksi all those years and watching their mistakes cost us the season but overall i think he has been great for a club that makes profits on transfers every single year. Something now other rival club's manager has been able to do.

I would like to see us go back to a 4-4-2 formation like we were at Highbury.

-----Podolski--Giroud------

Ox-Wilshere--Arteta-Carzola

Gibbs--Verm--Kocielny--Sagna

---------Szcezeny---------

I would like to see Carzola play one game on the right side of midfield to see how he goews and im sure he would send in may decent crosses from the right,something Walcott has failed to do in the past few years consistantly.

Per in for one of Vermaelen and Koscielny and maybe someone in for the Ox, but apart from that I'd agree with that.

Maybe also Theo up top with Giroud.

Something like this wouldnt bother me, just to get us through the next month until we can look at bringing in a couple of players

-----Walcott-----Giroud------

Carzorla-Wilshere-Arteta-Rosicky/OX

Gibbs---Verm----Mertesaker--Sagna

---------Szcezeny---------

Because that whole page of this thread was saying how you're still the best placed to finish 4th. Following the loss to Swansea it was 100% doom and gloom. It is rather amusing.

3rd is very far fetched and it will take a real turn around to get 4th. I've been doom and gloom since RVP left.