A fans view of Wenger & Board

I said last time that I am reluctant to write about Arsenal, but I had to write this piece as it has been on my mind for a while now. 

Watching Arsenal these days is a challenge because it seems there are flaws in the team, deficiencies in management and problems at board level resulting in the top players leaving every year.

Let me first start on Wenger, for me he has been the best manager Arsenal have had, obviously people may say Herbert Chapman but he is way before my time. It has been an absolute pleasure watching Wenger's teams over the last 15 years, especially the invincibles. This surely is a feat that probably wont be repeated in the premiership again.

When talking about Wenger it has to be kept in mind that he has done many great things, both for the good of Arsenal and English football. For example his training methods and revolutionary ideas regarding diets have now been adopted by virtually all English clubs. He also has to be admired for his love of good football, he has always kept to his principles. Him being a man of principles has often been a brush to tar him, this is something which I believe is very unfair. 

A good question to be asked is that if Wenger had not revolutionised Arsenal in such a way, would the quality in the premiership be more equal to that of the French or Dutch leagues instead of being one of the best leagues in the world. In my opinion the league would not have developed as well, as it has without him. Even the great Sir Alex Ferguson had to adapt to Wenger's new style.

Where he could be criticised over the last 7 years is that he has lost sight of the current problems. I can put up with the comments saying that getting fourth place is more important than the FA and Capital One cups as we need the income to be a top club. It is also a way to show and promote the club across the world to new fans and players. On this front Wenger has worked miracles over the last few years. My gripe about this is that we don't win the so called lesser cups, and also apart from one final do not challenge for the Champions league. 

The statement is a cover up for Arsenal's failing not winning any trophies, the board also probably like the extra income instead of the glory. It can be said Arsenal have been pretty close to winning things in the last 7 years, but the same problems which every fan, pundit or ex player can see always end up costing us. For example Wenger allowed the defence and goal keeper situation to continue for this trophy less period. Most notably costing us in the champions league final and Carling Cup final v Birmingham. 

If I had asked fans about Wenger six/seven years ago then there would be a unilateral backing. But now it seems that the tied is slowly turning, and now many people are changing their minds almost on a game by game basis. There seems to be something lost, the same drive doesn't seem to be there. It could be that he has had to fight so many battles for his players that he now cant see their flaws. 

My biggest problem was the use of Santos in the last few games. It was clear for all to see that Santos against Schalke at home was terrible. Infact he was so bad that in the player ratings in one paper I saw he was given a 4, this was pretty generous and only awarded to him for playing.  Most managers would have taken the player out the firing line for the next few games, but Wenger did not take him out the team. He played against QPR, and Man Utd  big games where he was slightly better but still pretty poor. 

Against Man Utd I blame Wenger for Jack Wilshere getting the red card. Sir Alex took off Cleverly when he was given his last warning, Wenger instead took off Ramsey. Leaving on a player who has been out for so long and had just been warned about a second yellow card. 

The next game against Schalke started all great, Arsenal took a normal two goal lead. But as the last few weeks have shown, two goals are not enough for Arsenal. This switching off that seems to happen is a direct result of the manager and coaches. The motivation of the players is non existent  so it is the managers job to either play more motivated players or motivate them to continue playing. The slowness of making substitutions is also evident now, making the first sub of the game in the 92nd minute against Schalke.  

When Man Utd have a bad game, you can guarantee they will be a lot better the next game, as Sir Alex will make sure of this. When Arsenal play badly it is clear the next game will be worse. Another thing to take note is that when players come to Arsenal they have a good reputation, pretty much most of these players leave with this ruined. It has happened all to much now to be down to individual players motivation, there seems to be something clearly wrong.

For me Wenger SHOULD NOT BE SACKED, but should be given to the end of the season to change things around. if he cant change things around then the phrase every dynasty has its day will come to mind. Then a young and fresh manager should be given a chance to make his own legacy.

It is not all Wenger's fault, infact he may only be acting the way his done because of the shocking board Arsenal have. Peter Hill Wood has passed his sell by date, demonstrated by his hatred of the fans. Ivan Gazidas is a man that speaks well, but the things that come out his mouth is utter garbage. Our policy in theory of being able to challenge in the next few years seems to something that could work in theory, but Chelsea's latest yearly profit makes our plans seem a little flawed. They spend a lot on players, haven't really sold any players for big money, yet made a profit, this means that they spend on squad and make money. We sell our top players, have the most expensive seats and pay off our debts on the stadium to make a profit. OK we need to pay off the stadium but what happens to the excess profit? Silent Stan turned out to say a little lie in the last board meeting. I have never trusted the guy, and that pretty much proved it.

For me things need to change quickly. Hopefully a new board next year, but this is very unlikely. A little suggestion to the board is that if they cant afford to pay some players what the going rate is, then they could try taking this out from the wages of the best paid manager in the league. 

Why Arsenal should not miss out on Huntelaar for a 3rd time

I usually refrain from writing about Arsenal, as I am no great expert but just a fan. So I would like to state that this is purely my opinion of the transfer dealings, in particular why we should not let Huntelaar out of our grasp for a third time. 

It is clear to me that he will be leaving Schalke 04 either in January or for a free transfer in the summer. He is a player that Arsenal desperately need, this is to fill the void of RVP his fellow Dutchman. It will also take the pressure off Giroud who will be good but is still adapting to the premiership. So for me its a no brainier, also the fact that if we don't get him, he will most likely end up at either Spurs or Liverpool directly strengthening our rivals.

Give him a chance and he is likely to score, here is his record since 2006:

Year	Club	Appearances	Goals
2004-2006	Heerenveen	46	33
2006-2009	Ajax	92	76
2009	Real Madrid	20	8
2009-2010	Milan	25	7
2010-current	Schalke 04	62	40
(Total)		(245)	(164)

This is exactly the reason why we should buy him, I think if it had not been  for the failed experiment of Jeffers we may have tried harder for him when he left Ajax, Madrid or Milan. This time the risk is much lower as his price will be a lot less.

I also think it was a mistake not making more of an effort for Affelay in the summer, this may have been down to not being able to sell Arshavin. It is quite a possibility that we will lose two wingers in the summer, both Arshavin and Walcott. So I think one maybe two proper wingers should come in. I actually like how Sir Alex Ferguson always stock piles wingers, and switches  them around in games. There are a few names which I would suggest, but all these will be very expensive. These being: Wilfred Zaha, Tom Ince or Hatem Ben Arfa.

Ben Arfa again is a player who is constantly linked with Arsenal, but he would now cost a lot of money. I would spend the money on two of these, probably Zaha and Ince but it is unlikely we would get both of them, as it would be in the region of £30 mil for the two of them, more likely we will go abroad. 

The fourth signing I would suggest is Yang M'Biwa, he is a young defender who can play anywhere along the back line and is already captain of Montpellier. His contract also expires at the end of the season, for me we should make the pre-contract as soon as it turns 1st January. He could then be integrated into the squad for next season.

In my opinion the club made progress in the last transfer window, but need to add to these. The only way to do this is by getting rid of the deadwood: Chamakh, Djourou, Arshavin, Denilson, Bendtner and Santos. Slowly the club are pushing these out.

I just hope Arsenal are not stingy when buying or selling these players as a few pennies could cost us the player, possibly resulting in the loss of our champions league status. The pennies have cost us with players in the past the latest being Walcott, lets hope we don't have to put up with this much longer. 

Why AFL should be more popular in the UK

Last Saturday I made my way to the Oval where the Western Bulldogs played an exhibition match against Port Adelaide. This was my first AFL match which I have ever seen, but I am sure it will not be the last match. I had little expectations as I knew very little about this sport. In fact the only thing I knew about the sport were from two short videos which my cousin had sent me. Here are the links to these videos: 

Video 1 Video 2

My initial thoughts on the sport were that all these rules would make the game very complicated, but when after about 5 mins of the game some of the rules became clear. As the game went on I started to understand more and more of the rules and the game started to become enjoyable. 

The game seems to be a mix of many sports, as it is played on an oval pitch (usually a cricket pitch) there are certain rules from football, rugby as well as basketball. Fans of these sports will surely like the game, as an alternative to their sports, in the close seasons.

The one concern I had was that my cousin and I seemed to be the only non-Australian people there.  This seemed rather odd considering the British public are usually sports mad. What was even odder is that the cost of the ticket was £40 cheaper than I had paid to watch Arsenal v QPR the week before. Questions have to be asked of the marketing of the sport in the UK, the week before the NFL had packed out Wembley stadium. Yet the AFL could not fill The Oval. 

I do not think that the sport is even televised in the UK, this is something which needs to be copied from the NFL. In my opinion Aussie Rules is better than rugby, and that it should have more coverage in the UK. A reason why the crowds were less could be that the match was scheduled on a day when there are many football matches taking place very near by. This again seems to be poor organisation, If I were to have picked a time to play it would have been either on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon. 

If anyone has any more information about AFL/Gaelic football in the UK please let me know. I would also like to adopt a team, so please leave your comments as to who I should adopt as my team.