Arsenal 2016-17: Get Ready For A Xhak-attack

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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Cazorla is out for the season, officially...I hope he is the first to go this offseason, or gets relegated to a Rosicky/Flamini/Arteta bench status next season
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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I've been listening to old Men Blazers podcasts just for fun. According to an early 2015, did Szczesny really lose his spot because he was smoking in the locker room/shower (on top of poor play)?
 

miracleofmidre

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Ok, so who is it going to be?

Allegri
Tuchel
Jardim

Does it even matter? Arsenal need to start (if they haven't already - though nothing seems to indicate they have) succession plans - and now.

Anyone have opinions? I can't say I am expert enough to know who might be best to replace Wenger. It has surprised me the last few years that he didn't take any former players under his wing and promote from within. In fact he seemed more inclined to let guys walk (Vieira, Arteta, now Ljungberg) than to groom a successor.

It's going to be messy. Either if Wenger stays, (which may lead to intensifying revolt from the fan base) or if he goes (academy direction is in flux, who runs the personnel, and who is the manager?). To say nothing of player movement and what seems like an inevitable exodus of the best of the lot (Sanchez, Ozil). The next few years might be rough.
 

JimBoSox9

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It's starting to look like an untenable situation, if Arsne can be taken at his word that he's intent on managing for 3-5 more years, at Arsenal or otherwise. He IS the club's institutional football knowledge to a degree well beyond compare elsewhere. The only way this really works at all is if he agrees to hand-pick a successor and move upstairs, at the end of next year at the latest.

The wild card is we really don't know what actions would or wouldn't compel Ozil and Sanchez to re-sign. If they and Wenger all leave at once, it could take a decade for the club to get back to having the Champions League be a reasonable expectation. All the piles of money won't be enough to attract top talent.
 
The wild card is we really don't know what actions would or wouldn't compel Ozil and Sanchez to re-sign. If they and Wenger all leave at once, it could take a decade for the club to get back to having the Champions League be a reasonable expectation. All the piles of money won't be enough to attract top talent.
This is too pessimistic. Players still want to play for Manchester United and Liverpool even when they're not in the Champions League. And I'm pretty sure there are other managers besides Arsene Wenger who can successfully manage Arsenal.
 

JimBoSox9

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Arsenal without the Arse is not Manchester United, and our supporters would be tying knots in nooses if we had Liverpool's track record in the last decade.
 

mikeford

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They're already tying knots in nooses because the club is held hostage by a senile egomaniac.

The only way forward may be down. I have no confidence the board or Stan will ever make a managerial change while we continue to qualify for the Champions League. They might if we miss out on Europe.

I personally think another 3 years of Arsene Wenger managing the club would do much more harm to the squad, club as a whole and the club's brand on a global scale than replacing him with someone else and having that person pull a David Moyes.
 
Arsenal without the Arse is not Manchester United, and our supporters would be tying knots in nooses if we had Liverpool's track record in the last decade.
Liverpool has come closer to winning a title than Arsenal has in the past decade. (Which isn't everything, of course, but it's certainly something.)
The only way forward may be down. I have no confidence the board or Stan will ever make a managerial change while we continue to qualify for the Champions League. They might if we miss out on Europe.
I don't think Stan and the board would push Arsene overboard if Arsenal fails to qualify for the Champions League for the first time. But that might be enough to make Wenger acknowledge failure and, with the fans more clearly and fully pushing against him, fall on his sword himself. I'm inclined to agree that with or without Arsene, Arsenal is going to get worse before it gets better, so why not bite the bullet now?
 

mikeford

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1. The level of arrogance is shocking. Arsene did not "build this club"
2. Straight from the horse's mouth: we finish 4th and he's staying.
 

InstaFace

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Well he couldn't have asked for a much more favorable draw in the Football Arsenal Cup - PNE, a 5-0 thumping of Southampton, and then two non-league sides in a row. Practically a bye to the semis. He'll have to go through two other top-6 clubs to win the thing, but it's not like it's been a real distraction to his season.
 
A nice column from Gunnerblog on why Arsene needs to go:

http://arseblog.com/2017/03/gunnerblog-renewing-vows-arsene-go/

Here's the money quote from my perspective:
It’s almost impossible to break down where it all went wrong, but the simplest answer is that it never really went wrong—it went stale. Top level sport is about pressure and accountability, and those things have been uniquely absent at Arsenal. The manager has never been under real threat, and that comfy atmosphere has seeped into the playing squad. There has been pressure from the fans, sure—but never in the history of the club have the fans held less sway. There are tactical issues of course, but the fundamental problem is a lack of ambition and aggression. The owner and the board play a huge part in that too, and I hope some of the anger at Arsene is redirected at the entirely deserving Kroenke & Co.
Incidentally, the fact that people like Gunnerblog are no longer writing, and Gooners like Alan Davies are no longer podcasting, makes being an Arsenal fan that much less fun even apart from the other issues on and off the pitch.
 

mikeford

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Smear campaign against a guy on his way out the door is in full force the past 2 days on Alexis Sanchez.

Almost like the Red Sox brass bought Arsenal instead of Liverpool with this shit.
 

The Gray Eagle

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So many rumors and accusations flying around the club now. It's ugly and surely will get uglier after Bayern pounds them again today.

Alexis supposedly stormed out of training last week and had an angry confrontation with teammates in the locker room afterward. That's obviously why he didn't start against Liverpool.

But even before the rumored conflict in the locker room, Sanchez reportedly had made no secret to his teammates that he wants out. The Daily Fail says he has already decided he is leaving.

It's not just Alexis. Ian Wright claimed that Ozil wasn't really sick when he missed the Liverpool game. And Sol Campbell says even if he was sick, he should still have been at Anfield.
Ozil was back in training yesterday but won't play today. Ozil still hasn't extended his contract yet either.

Bellerin may be considering a Barcelona move, and Barcelona let it be known that they will have representatives at the match today to scout Bellerin. They clearly want Bellerin to know that they are interested in him.

Bayern comes in today, then Arsenal hosts non-league Lincoln in the FA Cup this weekend. Presuming another beat-down today, anything less than a total demolition of Lincoln will only make the noise louder for Wenger.

Then Arsenal visit Pulis and company at West Brom, then Man City comes to town. If things go poorly, it's possible to envision a scenario where Wenger doesn't even finish this season as manager.

When Wenger goes, Stan Kroenke's son wants to hire Thierry Henry as manager.
This Josh Kroenke will probably be one of the main people in charge of picking the next manager. I'm sure he's very knowledgable in the inner workings of top level football management in England, along with his other duties as President and Governor of both the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. He must be a total sports genius to have the knowledge to run all those different teams in different sports.
 
So many rumors and accusations flying around the club now. It's ugly and surely will get uglier after Bayern pounds them again today.
Are we sure Bayern will pound Arsenal today? The most Arsenal-esque result would be a 3-0 or 6-2 win for the Gunners.

As for everything else in your post, that last tidbit is the most frightening. This is what happens when you let one man singlehandedly mastermind your club's infrastructure for too long.
 

The Gray Eagle

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June 2013: Ivan Gazidis declares that Arsenal can now compete with Bayern Munich:
"This year we are beginning to see something we have been planning for some time, which is the escalation in our financial firepower. It means we can look at some options that weren’t really in our financial capability.

“We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich. I’m not saying we are there by any means but this whole journey over the past 10 years really has been with that goal in mind.

“It really is time now for us to turn that into sporting success. We have a certain amount of money which we’ve held in reserve. We also have new revenue streams coming on board and all of these things mean we can do some things which would excite you. We are moving into a new phase where, if we make our decisions well, we can compete with any club in the world."

Wenger deserves the heavy criticism he is getting, but Gazidis is never mentioned. He is the Chief Executive of the club, and he should be taking just as much heat as Wenger for this abject failure.
 

the1andonly3003

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Seems like Koscielny comes out of the tie with more credit than anyone - he was injured at 1-1 in the first leg and left the pitch today at 1-0 (in a manner of speaking), right?
Liverpool also destroyed them in the league opener without Laurent

When Wenger goes, Stan Kroenke's son wants to hire Thierry Henry as manager.
This Josh Kroenke will probably be one of the main people in charge of picking the next manager. I'm sure he's very knowledgable in the inner workings of top level football management in England, along with his other duties as President and Governor of both the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. He must be a total sports genius to have the knowledge to run all those different teams in different sports.
I assume this is sarcasm...but if Arsene is forced out, I'm likely going back to being a roving league fan

Maybe Arsene will complain about having to play two games in four days and being a bit leggy...
this works for Mourinho all the time!
 

miracleofmidre

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SocrManiac

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After my first click, that site redirected me to a "Your Google Chrome is out of date" page and started trying to push an executable of the old Chrome Update virus. I tried to recreate and I can't.

FYI, beware, etc.

Fake edit- after several refreshes, I got it again.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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This might be a tad hyperbolic.* That said, Kroenke is a horrible owner and his track record elsewhere speaks to utter disregard for quality, so I can see the source of the fear.

This column today from Andrew Mangan couldn't nail it any better for me.

http://arseblog.com/2017/03/arsenal-1-5-bayern-munich-both-legs-show-arsenal-cant-compete-at-this-level/

* it could take three!
The only part I thought was off was when he felt that game could have remained in Arsenal's hands. At some point something would have gone against them and collapse was coming. This squad is fragile. Maybe not down to 10 men, 5-1, but I couldn't see them finishing taht game on top.

After my first click, that site redirected me to a "Your Google Chrome is out of date" page and started trying to push an executable of the old Chrome Update virus. I tried to recreate and I can't.

FYI, beware, etc.

Fake edit- after several refreshes, I got it again.
Same.
 

mikeford

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Well morning came and went in London and this shameless man still hasn't resigned so that's great.

I wish we had a Board of Directors or an owner who gave even an ounce of a shit.
 

miracleofmidre

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After my first click, that site redirected me to a "Your Google Chrome is out of date" page and started trying to push an executable of the old Chrome Update virus. I tried to recreate and I can't.

FYI, beware, etc.

Fake edit- after several refreshes, I got it again.
Huh, I use Chrome and had no such issues. Weird. Is it better to use a URL shortener, or would that redirection happen regardless?
 

miracleofmidre

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Is it too early to play a "what happens next" game and corresponding flowchart?

Factors:

1. Wenger - stays or not.
2. Ozil/Sanchez stay or not.

If Wenger stays, what happens with Ozil/Sanchez. If not what happens with Ozil/Sanchez?

If Wenger stays, and Ozil/Sanchez refuse to sign contract, are they sold?

If Wenger stays, and one of the two refuse to sign contract, do they sign the other?

If Wenger goes, does this change the dynamic for either of them? That is, is Sanchez more likely to stay if someone like Tuchel or Allegri comes in? Or is it straight-up a business decision (say he can get 250K a week from PSG, he leaves no matter what, right?)?

If Sanchez goes, how does this impact Ozil?

If Wenger goes, does this speed up Ozil's exodus, since Ozil has made he affection for Wenger somewhat clear (even if his presence isn't necessary for Ozil to re-up)?

If both of these guys go, who comes in? Does Kroenke use this as an excuse to stop spending (i.e. "see what happens when we spend 100M quid? Nothing! We get worse! Let's find bargains!")?

Does any of this matter?

OY.
 

ifmanis5

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Okay, finally in control. See you in the semis against a real team that they can't beat (unless they draw a Millwall miracle).
 

The Gray Eagle

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Arsenal was confused in the first half by Lincoln's formation.
They were expecting them to come out in a 4-3-2-1, but instead they came out in a Pastry Chef-Bartender-Factory Worker-Uber Driver back four, with a Deep-Lying Postman, with a Bricklayer-Dogwalker midfield axis, the Forklift Driver as a False 9, and a front line of Dockworker-Plumber-Office Temp.

That's a lot different than what they faced against Bayern.
 

JimBoSox9

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That missed slide tackle that let Alexis make a run with the ball for the 4th goal....I really think it's the single worst tackle I've ever seen that didn't horrendously injure someone.
 

Zososoxfan

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Arsenal was confused in the first half by Lincoln's formation.
They were expecting them to come out in a 4-3-2-1, but instead they came out in a Pastry Chef-Bartender-Factory Worker-Uber Driver back four, with a Deep-Lying Postman, with a Bricklayer-Dogwalker midfield axis, the Forklift Driver as a False 9, and a front line of Dockworker-Plumber-Office Temp.

That's a lot different than what they faced against Bayern.
Little known fact - Ribery doubles as an actuary.