Saturday, 27 December 2008

Do you really believe Arsene Wenger?

In Arsene Wenger's post-match interview in the clash against Aston Villa he says he has no deals lined up for the January transfer window "at the moment".

I don't believe him. Throughout Arsene Wenger's time as the Arsenal manager he has always played his cards close to his chest. You never know what is going to happen.

I wouldn't worry about what he says, just wait until something or nothing happens.



Anonymous said...

afternoon wrighty

we are all starting to have a few doubts about wenger. despite that fact that he has clearly made some pretty big mistakes of late we must remember he's an intelligent man. if he doesnt strengthen the team in jan then in my opinion it would demonstrate total insanity!

last time we were struggling to finish 4th he brought ade, walcott and diaby. prior to that he also said he wouldnt be buying.

i'm sure he will.....why wouldnt he!..(gulp)

Anonymous said...

Best to not expect him to sign. Otherwise if we get our hopes up and he doesn't we'll get really depressed.

He has to sign some players, it was obvious before, it's ridiculously obvious now.

Anonymous said...

Wenger is a stubborn son of a bitch. I would almost accuse him of arrogance. His teams are a joy to watch, but they are fragile things that can be easily knocked out of their stride. Its obvious to even the most wet-behind the ear manager how you negate Arsenal.
His intransigent stubborness is threatening to turn into a liability for this club. Without someone close like Dein telling him that he needs to add steel to his team Arsene will continue to believe only in the power of positive thought. He'll expect the rest of us Arsenal fans to follow him off the cliff too.

Summerspur said...

good news

sky sports just reported that you are close to signing ouma divin-cheatncunt and issa bitcold-forme

good luck with that

happy days

jh92 said...

hey wrighty I read your articles all the time and love your blog. This is the first time i've commented on your site but anyways who do you think well sign and what type of players do we need to sign. I think we need a dm and I would like to see lorik Cana bought. Do u believe we can still win the ucl? I hope we can

jh92 said...


Anonymous said...

we just cant keep a clean sheet. winning against boro, pool and villa and ended up drawing them all, thats 6 points dropped. not to mention 4-2 against the spuds, hull and fulham games. thats the real weakness of this team.

Surrey Gunner said...

Like every manager he isn't going to give away his hand in negotiations, that would be really stupid. Its not a question do I believe him, its just Wenger doesnt like the January transfer window, he doesnt want to pay over the odds, every transfer window hundreds of players are talked about and eithewr no one comes or someone completely unknown comes.

I hated the draw at Aston Villa but I think we are about to find out how good this team and its youngsters are! Do they fold like a deck of cards or do they fight.

Anonymous said...

AW has made his bed and now he sleeps in it, with thousands of Arsenal fans!

This is as good as it gets guys. At least until the Stadium is payed for...

Does anyone really think he will change his methods and philosophy and go back on his words? No, that would put egg on his arrogant French face!

We have become a mid table team who buy small and sell big to pay back the big dept...

AFC would never admit that to anyone that this was forseen when they decided to invest in the new stadium. That would be bad for business relations. The fans will never turn away and they know it. AW took the responsibility because he was the best "Business man" to do the job. As a manager with limited resourses he is buggered and he knows it!

Get used to it, cos you know it too and there's nothing you or I could do!


leon said...

i dont think he has lost the plot all he has wlways done this,and i dont think he is going evon focus on tranfers until the window opens. wenger is no fool he knows he sign players he has always kept the cards close to chest

Anonymous said...

i think your right. wenger is telling the truth. as things stand we are not going to sign any players. if the prices come down then we may do. how can he come out and say he will sign arshavin when the 2 clubs are so far aprt in valuation.

Marko said...

I believe at the moment he's saying he hasn't either identified a player or certainly he isn't close to signing a player. But I believe there's certainly 1 or 2 players coming this January.

Anonymous said...

You guys must have missed BBC's interview after the hame with AW?

He catagorically admitted "No, we will not be buying in January" when asked...


Spike said...

I have become an effin schizo this season due to the up and down performances of this team! One minute the team are playing well and getting results, then they fail to turn up against the likes of Hull, Stoke etc... The yet again, last night they blow a fucking lead against the team that wants one of the top 4 positions. Brilliant!

IF Wenger fails to strengthen in January then that would be tantamount to a dereliction of duty.

He has bought poorly in Silvestre, has fucked off both Gallas and Kolo and has shown too much faith in the likes of Song, Bendtner and Eboue! Dear old Eboue!

He has asset stripped the squad and for all his chat about not wanting to stunt the development of the young players, we have to put up with Silvestre (we conceed at least 2 goals every game he plays) instead of Gibbs and Eboue instead of Ramsey or Wilshire.

If the club aint skint, ten Wenger is an arrogant stubborn fucker and is in real danger of undoing all his great work.

And one last thing; there's too many effin French players at the club!

1979gooner said...

Wenger cannot win.

It would be stupid to say he will spend as that will make it harder to get a bargain, it's never sensible to reveal one's hand.

However as he says he's not buying, he's criticised for not buying!

I'd judge him after the window is shut.

Dimitri said...

Players will be signed in January, because for the first time in a year and a half we actually have an executive in Gazidis coming in. Wenger is no negotiator, which has clearly been highlighted in the generally poor transfer activity and contract negotiations that have occured over the last 18 months.

Dein was the man who used to handle it all, and now we have Gazides, and if he can get Americans to form an actual football league I don't think doing deals will be hard for him.

Wenger has had far too much to do since Dein left, Gazides will now come in and take care of all the executive issues and let Wenger do what he does best, which is managing.

This is why I firmly believe come the end of January we will have a squad capable of mounting a challenge. We are not too far to catch up and anyone can clearly see it is only in 2 or 3 positions we need the extra bodies for.

On a personal note seeing as the Hammers are going bankrupt anyone reckon a double swoop for Upson and Noble would sort us right out. Everyone says parker but I think Noble takes his defensive duties a lot more seriously and isn't afraid to put a foot in. And since they are both English won't get carded that much. I reckon 17-20 mil would get it.

The only other place I see a need for strength is the wings, and for that I's say Turan Arda, he can play either wing extremely well.

Anonymous said...

a) There is limited money available and Wenger is taking all the flak.


b) The greatest manger in the club's history has lost his freakin' mind.

Spike said...


Hopefully with Gazidis AND Kroenke on board, there will be deals done. Kroenke won't just be happy tom finish 4th every year like HillWood and Fizsman are. Well, thats what they both stated anyway.

As for signings?

Upson and Noble OR Parker would do me, and I'd take Kirkland too, but thts never gonna happen.

Rick Metz said...

I sit behind the 'Pro Zone' guys at the Emirates. Don't know why they are there as Wenger doesn't seem to use it to identify weaknesses in our tactics and players!

Magneto said...

I think thinking Noble or Scott Parker are good enough for Arsenal is wishful thinking at best.

Upson is worth a punt though. That would mean dropping Gallas when Djorou is fit which no bad thing.

It does highlight the problem of the weak summer's trading we did. Ramsey, Bischoff and Silvestre. It's unlikely that you get you top quality from any team in January.

We basically need two from the following: Chellini from Juve, Yaya Toure from Barca, Matterazi from Inter, Essien from Chelsea and Metersacker from Werder Bremen.

That's Arsenal, world class standard!

Wrighty7 said...


Thanks for you kind comments.

I think we need at least a couple of players.

Most important is a DM. I'd love Alonso but it seems we missed the boat on that one. Maybe Yaya Toure?

I'd also look at signing a player like Arteta of Everton. Quality player who can play on either flank OR in the middle. He also has the added bonus of Premiership experience and I think he would jump at the chance of joining Arsenal.

I still believe we will win the Champions League and we WILL finish in the top four.

Anonymous said...

I have always believed in the qualities of our players.However there seems to be one quality that seems to go missing when we need to close down a game......Brains !! Is it so hard for somebody to say "ok guys..lets keep at least five of us back here for the last few minutes ?" ...Is it so hard to say to eachother " ok guys keep possession...don't pass to them?? !! "...instead we have players

Anonymous said...

all of us talking about buying dm ,inger and all that i think the first jan buy should be a good goal keeper ...almunia arguably the worst goalkeeper in the premiership....he is probably the reasonwe conceed so amny goals coz he doesnt organize the people in front of him....and the guy is old as well not going to improve onmly going to get worse

Anonymous said...

Is it me or are Wenger's features becoming more bitter and twisted with each match? The guy needs help. He lost more than an ally in the boardroom when Dein departed, he lost his friend and deal-maker. The current board are too stupid and greedy to understand the precarious crumbling ledge their manager is standing on.

Anonymous said...

you lot chat such utter anus. We need a defensive midfielder wrighty? Ummm last year we had the illustrious flamini and we blew the lead against Liverpool, man um, Chelsea et al. The previous two years we were atrocious defensively. For years I've been rolling my eyes as corners come in and it's only now we're talking about defense!!!???buy a motherfucking CB Arsene. It's no coincidence we went to utter shit when Campbell left.

Evo said...

Alonso would've been good but I think we need more of a driving force in the middle, someone in the gerrard/vieira role, yaya toure has qualities but seeing him at close quarters has a tendency to be quite lazy.

To be honest i'm not convinced with our strikers either. I'll get slated for saying this but for me van persie isn't ruthless, pacy or strong enough - though technically he is the perfect footballer.

I would LOVE, and i mean LOVE to see jermain defoe at Arsenal, he's a gooner and i've never seen a player that reminds me so much of Ian Wright before. He would gobble up the chances we create and could form an explosive partnership with Adebayor - if his head's not turned that is by real madrid or barca.

Gallas will most probs go, maybe kolo too..difficult to find a top centre back though, won't be surprised if we're left with silvestre and djourou as the only centre back options come beginning of feb.

Wrighty7 said...

I actally think that Gallas and Djourou look a good partnership and unless Gallas leaves then I wouldn't think we needed another centre back.

The defence needs protection and it doesn't have that.

Song isn't good enough for Arsenal, Diaby just isn't defensive, Denilson doesn't track back and is really Fabregas' cover,

Its obvious we lack a shield!

Wrighty7 said...


Great shout about Defoe.

I always saw him as an Arsenal player and was gutted when he went to Tottenham.

Anonymous said...

I don't believe anything that Wenger says any more. For three or four years he has consistently been a lying bastard. I am sick of him, his failed experiment and his ego.

And it pains me to say that as a season ticket holder who has been following Arsenal home and away for over 30 years.

I would be happy if he would now just piss off. I would actually quite like O'Neill as his successor having been to Villa Park yesterday and seen again at close hand exactly what he has created on a budget. Villa are fair better than us and were robbed. They should have a clear six point lead over us today, were there any justice.

Spike said...

Anon fella;

We have been leaky as fook since Campbell left. In fact, you can trace the down turn from that night he flounced off at half time after gifting the Hammers 2 effin goals.

I don't think its a secret that we have been prone to high balls and corners since the likes of Campbell, Keown and Adams went.

Wenger has no inclination it seems to bother with coaching the defence or buying quality defensive minded players any more, Sagna apart.


Wow! for such a patronising twat, you have no idea about players!

Yaya??? Mertasacker??? Fucking hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Arsene is taking all the blame when in fact the blame lies firmly at the door of The Board.
The money isn't there despite what we are told it simply isn't there.
The Board always said the stadium (which isn't as good as we were promised) would not imact on funds for Arsene but it has.

The Housing slump has not helped and Highbury Square is not going as well as the board would like us to think.

Wenger is the face and voice to the worlds media so he has to toe the line but we had to sell to buy Hleb for Nasri) and the money we have available is not the sort of money that can buy 3 ready made top class players.

Wenger has performed miracles or us, getting us into the Champions League every season, challenging for honours, winning trophies, without being able to spend anywhere near what the majority of The Prem have.

Spurs have always out spent us and look where they are. Same for Newcastle, Sunderland, Boro.

When The Board say money is available don't ool yourself into thinking we have £50m to spend. We haven't.

What we have to do is support Arsene and the players during a mildly difficult (what we're experiencing at the moment is not anything major, some fans forget that and a quick check of the history of the club shows this) period.

We've had it so good for the last 12 years and it's a shame that when we've fallen below those massivly high standards that a large number of fans are spitting their dummies out.
The club is uncomparable to when Arsene took over and every club has highs and lows, ups and downs and the act is we have OVER achieved or too long.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 19.06

Fuck off you pathetic spud!

Anonymous said...

I can forgive most things, but not Wenger fucking lying to me while I just carry on paying for my season and away match tickets. We are not idiots.

Anonymous said...

Well guys even if we buy in the jan sales unless he/they bed in very quickly it looks like we will be no better off but at present we are fighting for 3rd place as manure are not looking to comfortable either, at the end of the season gallas is going i would place a big bet on that one so i feel le boss will get at least one defender and i do hope he has leadership qualities and is at least 6 foot plus

Anonymous said...

its to late anyway.. should have bought pre season

Anonymous said...

The reality is that we are in a fight for fourth place against Villa and Everton. If Villa suffer no major injuries they will take fourth. We should also be very grateful that Everton have so many injury problems right now. Otherwise we may even struggle to stay ahead of them for a Europa League place.

Anonymous said...

God almighty! Some of you wankers sound like you are about to top yourselves over this. Most of you cock wipes need to relax and get behind the team and most importantly... Shut the fuck up or piss off and take your so-called "support" somewhere else. I don't give a fuck how much money some of you cunts pay to watch the team. That does not give you any right to whine like whores on the net about The Arsenal. Wenger is the manager and until Wenger or the board decide otherwise then you fall inline behind the team and manager. That is what supporting your club means you load of treacherous cockroches...

Anonymous said...

The only issue is that Mr, Wenger is the only one who doesn't see the problem coming. Or insisting everything is fine while in fact it is not.

Remember we are not new to this situation, this happen again and again in 2005, 2006, 2007, how much longer can we be fooled? anybody honestly thinking arsenal can still win anything this season? or fans will have to look into 2009 and if nothing changes, it will be same kind of the year like we are having now.

Mr. Wenger please do something, if not, then please go. we had enough

Anonymous said...

I don't believe Arsene Wenger anymore. He 's an old stubborn and arrogant coach.

Anonymous said...


- Actually it does. It is you. moron, watching on TV and reading all about it in The Sun, who is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

Evo, fair call about Defoe but Wenger wouldnt pay 7 mil for him a few years back and bought Reyes instead, dont think he'll buy him now.

Just read the news of the world article about Given, Taylor and N'Zogbia from the geordies and i think that those 3 would be great business.

Ryan said...

Whoever said we have over-achieved in the past 12 years is talking nonsense.

Times change and just about everything that goes with them. You can't look at our history from decades ago and say we weren't that great then so this has all been overachieving. Arsenal were transformed by Wenger and aren't the same team anymore. Whilst at one time mid-table was acceptable and to be expected, the team is now totally different. The club is used to having major success, we have a massive stadium are one of the richest brands in world football, have an ever increasing fan base and have consistently had lots of world class talent, if not an entire team's worth playing at any one time. That is unrecognisable from the Arsenal of old and to refer to this as over-achieving is laughable. You can only punch above your weight for so long before it has to be accepted that you have actually moved up a weight. NOBODY looks at Arsenal and sees the ARsenal of 20 years ago. NOBODY sees them and expects and team which is happy with mid table and defending. EVERYBODY expects one of the best teams in the world to come and play attackling football as we have consistently done for over a decade. We aren't over-achieving at all. The world and Arsenal have changed and now everyone comments on the surprise of seeing Arsenal do worse than everyone expects.

Don't give this bullshit about over-achieving. If you think Arsenal are not a league challenging team these days (in general) then you evidently have not payed any attention to what everyone else in the world thinks.

Now Wenger has made us this good we have stumbled down a peg and it's up to Wenger to sort this mess out. And seriously over-achieving...that angers me so much. Do you really cheer when we finish 4th because it's better than it used to be? BULLSHIT. We have the means to be at the top or very near and it's through mistakes that we aren't. Not any particular reason why Arsenal aren't capable of it, mistakes like not sorting out DM, selling the wrong players and bad tactics etc. It's not necessary that we are in this situation but I hope you enjoy it you smug twat.

Anonymous said...

Arshavin is a done deal. Its nowhere near the reported £20m - closer to £14m with only £10m to be paid, the rest pending appearances/success.

Upson, Given, Noble, is all rubbish.

N'Zogbia is a possible and a surprise 'return' to the club of an ex-player (not Upson!)

All will be finalised after the Plymouth game.

Anonymous said...

wenger shud go now, its game over 4 him. wat the hell is wrong wid him, doesnt he feel wat we(the fans) feel??? does he think we enjoy seein the shit which has been goin on???? wats da point of beatin chelsea n man utd if we cant beat these other teams????? am positive dat we r now out of da title race considering our performance. even if our injured players r bak, wat r they gonna do?? they wont make a difference dat quick. n yh, obvious by then other players will get injured. so we'll jst b goin round a circle n cumin bak 2 da same place. 4 me, i believe the top 4 is not even a position 2 dream of. we've thrown it away n its a done deal. there r sum players who shud go out 2gether wid wenger; almunia, toure, gallas, silvestre, diaby n eboue. these players shud b allowed 2 leave bcoz they aint gud enuf 2 wear da red n white of arsenal, i believe they dnt giv their best 2 da team. van persie, cesc, denilson, walcott, eduardo n nasri shud b allowed 2 go coz they r too good 4 arsenal, they deserve 2 play in a winning team cozi believe they giv all they got wen on that field. these guys need a winning team n i dnt see dat team 2 b arsenal at da moment. its so embarrasing 2 hear dat da ladies team is performing far much better than the men team. so y dnt we giv the managerial role of da men team 2 da ladies manager, Vic Akers??? coz if arsenal cant buy ready made experience players then i believe they even cant get a ready made experience manager as the likes of Frank Rijkaad, Roberto Mancini etc.

Anonymous said...

To the last post - learn how to write/speak before you open your mouth, you illiterate C***!

Anonymous said...

guy be4 wrote that arshavin is a done deal and i heard that wenger hasnt ruled him out when asked about him on sky which he usually does when a player is put to him so i think it cud be true and arshavin is ours. sweet.