Lazio's solicitor Gian Michele Gentile added that this is a «clear breach of contract» and that legal action was inevitable with the club put in a difficult
position both on and off the pitch.
No matter what you currently think about Arsene Wenger and his position at Arsenal, there is no doubt that Le Prof will leave the club in a strong
position both on and off the pitch when he leaves and we can all appreciate his hard work, success and loyalty to Arsenal Football Club.
Hopefully by then, Arsenal will be in a much healthier
position on and off the pitch than they are currently to convince Lemar that they are a club worth joining.
Not exact matches
It is incredibly satisfying to see the team really starting to click both
on and off the
pitch and despite being in low
positions on our Saturday league, I have high hopes we will turn it around this term when we re-meet teams that I know we can give a run for their money.
He is also struggling with his passing, giving away the ball too easily
and his
positioning on the
pitch has also been
off key.
So bearing in mind nearly all the whining
on here involves the alleged lack of quality in nearly every other
position on the
pitch other than those occupied by AR / MO (LW / ST / CDM / LB / GK / CB etc) your idea to improve the team would be to sell Ramsey
and / or Ozil
and buy Fabregas, a player who f**ked
off when we needed him
and came crawling back expecting royal treatment after his Barca love affair went tits up.
Mertz should never have been our captain in the first place... who has ever heard of a team that makes 11th hour transfer buys (Arteta & Mertz) then seemingly places those same individuals into prominent leadership
positions from the get - go... indicative of the problems that have permeated our clubhouse for the better part of 7 years under the Kroenke & Wenger... what is wrong with the players chosen
and / or the management style of Wenger that doesn't develop
and / or encourage strong leadership from within... Mertz was the fine collecting lackey from year one... this is what happens when you don't get world - class players because many times they want to have a voice
on and off the
pitch and this can't happen when you play for a fragile manager who has developed a coddling wage structure where everyone is rewarded for simply wearing the shirt
and participating in the process... not enough balance between performance
and pay, combined with the obvious favoritism shown to some players regardless of their glaring lack of production... remember that Ramsey has played in
positions that make no sense considering his skill - set (out wide)
and has forced other players
off the field or into equally unfamiliar
positions with little or no justification (let's remember when you read articles about how Ramsey's goals this upcoming season being the potential X-factor for our success that this is the same individual who didn't score a goal until the final week last season)... this of course is just one example of many... before I hear another word from Mertz I want this club to address the fact that no former player of any real consequence has any important role in the management structure of this club, yet several former Gunners have expressed serious interest in just such an endeavor (Henry, Viera, Adams, Bergkamp... just to name a few legends)... there is only one answer: an extremely insecure manager!!!
Instead, Wenger strengthened the one area
on the
pitch that didn't strengthening, CM
position,
and in Kallstrom we had a very average player with no pace
and to top it all
off... he couldn't even play for about 6 weeks due to injury.
What that teaches us is this, one bad signing can destroy a team season, Xhaka possesses none of the credential Arsenal need his lack of stamina effects his ability to move up the
pitch and distribute the ball
and hence close the opposition down, his poor acceleration put him in at a massive disadvantage in taking
on the one
on one chase back toward his goal, his sluggish tackling causes him to get sent
off and his poor
positioning allow the opposition plenty of space to exploit, Xhaka overall style of play is going to cause Arsenal huge problems for the foreseeable future.
Then lets play players out of
position, monreal is a lb only, chambers better at cb or dm, mertesacker needs getting
off the
pitch and not
on the bench either.
Ronaldo, Hazard, Reus, Neymar
and Pires (amongst others) have made a decent fist of having a starting
position left of centre
on the
pitch so I would not write Ozil
off too soon as an option.
This is an incredibly difficult question to answer for a variety of reasons, most importantly because over the years our once vaunted «beautiful» style of play has become a shadow of it's former self, only to be replaced by a less than stellar «plug
and play» mentality where players play out of
position and adjustments / substitutions are rarely forthcoming before the 75th minute... if you look at our current players, very few would make sense in the traditional Wengerian system... at present, we don't have the personnel to move the ball quickly from deep - lying
position, efficient one touch midfielders that can make the necessary through balls or the disciplined
and pacey forwards to stretch defences into wide
positions, without the aid of the backs coming up into the final 3rd, so that we can attack the defensive lanes in the same clinical fashion we did years ago...
on this current squad, we have only 1 central defender
on staf, Mustafi, who seems to have any prowess in the offensive zone or who can even pass two zones through so that we can advance play quickly out of our own end (I have seen some inklings that suggest Holding might have some offensive qualities but too early to tell)... unfortunately Mustafi has a tendency to get himself in trouble when he gets overly aggressive
on the ball... from our backs out wide, we've seen pace from the likes of Bellerin
and Gibbs
and the spirited albeit offensively stunted play of Monreal, but none of these players possess the skill - set required in the offensive zone for the new Wenger scheme which requires deft touches, timely runs to the baseline
and consistent crossing, especially when Giroud was playing
and his ratio of scored goals per clear chances was relatively low (better last year though)... obviously I like Bellerin's future prospects, as you can't teach pace, but I do worry that he regressed last season, which was obvious to Wenger because there was no way he would have used Ox as the right side wing - back so often knowing that Barcelona could come calling in the
off - season, if he thought otherwise... as for our midfielders, not a single one, minus the more confident Xhaka I watched played for the Swiss national team a couple years ago, who truly makes sense under the traditional Wenger model... Ramsey holds onto the ball too long, gives the ball away cheaply far too often
and abandons his defensive responsibilities
on a regular basis (doesn't score enough recently to justify): that being said, I've always thought he does possess a little something special, unfortunately he thinks so too... Xhaka is a little too slow to ever boss the midfield
and he tends to telegraph his one true strength, his long ball play: although I must admit he did get a bit better during some points in the latter part of last season... it always made me wonder why whenever he played with Coq Wenger always seemed to play Francis in a more advanced role
on the
pitch... as for Coq, he is way too reckless at the wrong times
and has exhibited little offensive prowess yet finds himself in
and around the box far too often... let's face it Wenger was ready to throw him in the trash heap when injuries forced him to use Francis
and then he had the nerve to act like this was all part of a bigger Wenger constructed plan... he like Ramsey, Xhaka
and Elneny don't offer the skills necessary to satisfy the quick transitory nature of our old offensive scheme or the stout defensive mindset needed to protect the defensive zone so that our offensive players can remain aggressive in the final third...
on the front end, we have Ozil, a player of immense skill but stunted by his physical demeanor that tends to offend, the fact that he's been played out of
position far too many times since arriving
and that the players in front of him, minus Sanchez, make little to no sense considering what he has to offer (especially Giroud); just think about the quick counter-attack offence in Real or the space
and protection he receives in the German National team's midfield, where teams couldn't afford to focus too heavily
on one individual... this player was a passing «specialist» long before he arrived in North London, so only an arrogant or ignorant individual would try to reinvent the wheel
and / or not surround such a talent with the necessary components... in regards to Ox, Walcott
and Welbeck, although they all possess serious talents I see them in large part as headless chickens who are
on the injury table too much, lack the necessary first - touch
and / or lack the finishing flair to warrant their inclusion in a regular starting eleven; I would say that, of the 3, Ox showed the most upside once we went to a back 3, but even he became a bit too consumed by his pending contract talks before the season ended
and that concerned me a bit... if I had to choose one of those 3 players to stay
on it would be Ox due to his potential as a plausible alternative to Bellerin in that wing - back
position should we continue to use that formation... in Sanchez, we get one of the most committed skill players we've seen
on this squad for some years but that could all change soon, if it hasn't already of course... strangely enough, even he doesn't make sense given the constructs of the original Wenger offensive model because he holds onto the ball too long
and he will give the ball up a little too often in the offensive zone... a fact that is largely forgotten due to his infectious energy
and the fact that the numbers he has achieved seem to justify the means... finally,
and in many ways most crucially, Giroud, there is nothing about this team or the offensive system that Wenger has traditionally employed that would even suggest such a player would make sense as a starter... too slow, too inefficient
and way too easily dispossessed... once again, I think he has some special skills
and, at times, has showed some world - class qualities but he's lack of mobility is an albatross around the necks of our offence... so when you ask who would be our best starting 11, I don't have a clue because of the 5 or 6 players that truly deserve a place in this side, 1 just arrived, 3 aren't under contract beyond 2018
and the other was just sold to Juve... man, this is theraputic because following this team is like an addiction to heroin without the benefits
I could not watch the match we were very bad any time i was watching we lost
position of the ball
and then we conceeded I was furious i switched it
off and turned the router
off and then i turned it back
on welshire
and wallcott in
and we scored.They looked tired
and out of sorts with mistakes all over he
pitch thank god we drew
With that in mind we may still be a few steps away from returning to our glory days, but the
position Wenger will leave the club in, both
on the
pitch in quality
and off it in financial structure is quite remarkable.
Nothing like one underachiever blowing smoke up the ass of another... we know that Ozil has some incredible technical gifts, but to be considered the best you have to bring more than just assists to the table... for me, a top player has to possess a more well - rounded game, which doesn't mean they need to be a beast
on both ends of the
pitch, but they must have the ability to take their game to another level when it matters most... although he amassed some record - like stats early
on, it set the bar too high, so when people expected him to duplicate those numbers each year the pressure seemed to get the best of our soft - spoken star... obviously that's not an excuse for what has happened in the meantime, but it's important to make note of a few things: (1) his best year was a transition year for many of the traditionally dominant teams in the EPL, so that clearly made the numbers appear better than they actually were
and (2) Wenger's system, or lack thereof, didn't do him any favours; by playing him out of
position and by not acquiring world - class striker
and / or right - side forward that would best fit an Ozil - centered offensive scheme certainly hurt his chances to repeat his earlier peformances, (3) the loss of Cazorla, who took a lot of pressure
off Ozil in the midfield
and was highly efficient when it came to getting him the ball in space, negatively impacted his effectiveness
and (4) he likewise missed a good chunk of games
and frankly never looked himself when he eventually returned to the field... overall the Ozil experiment has had mixed reviews
and rightfully so, but I do have some empathy for the man because he has always carried himself the same way, whether for Real or the German National team, yet he has only suffered any lengthy down periods with Arsenal... to me that goes directly to this club's inability to surround him with the necessary players to succeed, especially for someone who is a pass first type of player; as such, this simply highlights our club's ineffective
and antiquated transfer policies... frankly I'm disappointed in both Ozil
and our management team for not stepping up when it counted because they had a chance to do something special, but they didn't have it in them... there is no one that better exemplifies our recent history than Ozil, brief moments of greatness undercut by long periods of disappointing play, only made worse by his mopey posturing like a younger slightly less awkward Wenger... what a terribly waste
Time for some brutal honesty... this team, as it stands, is in no better
position to compete next season than they were 12 months ago, minus the fact that some fans have been easily snowed by the acquisition of Lacazette, the free transfer LB
and the release of Sanogo... if you look at the facts carefully you will see a team that still has far more questions than answers... to better show what I mean by this statement I will briefly discuss the current state of affairs
on a
position - by -
position basis... in goal we have 4 potential candidates, but in reality we have only 1 option with any real future
and somehow he's the only one we have actively tried to get rid of for years because he
and his father were a little too involved
on social media
and he got caught smoking (funny how people still defend Wiltshire under the same
and far worse circumstances)... you would think we would want to keep any goaltender that Juventus had interest in, as they seem to have a pretty good history when it comes to that
position... as far as the defenders
on our current roster there are only a few individuals whom have the skill
and / or youth worthy of our time
and / or investment, as such we should get rid of anyone who doesn't meet those simple requirements, which means we should get rid of DeBouchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Mertz
and loan out Chambers to see if last seasons foray with Middlesborough was an anomaly or a prediction of things to come... some fans have lamented wildly about the return of Mertz to the starting lineup due to his FA Cup performance but these sort of pie in the sky meanderings are indicative of what's wrong with this club
and it's wishy - washy fan - base... in addition to these moves the club should aggressively pursue the acquisition of dominant
and mobile CB to stabilize an all too fragile defensive group that has self - destructed
on numerous occasions over the past 5 seasons... moving forward
and building
on our need to re-establish our once dominant presence throughout the middle of the park we need to target a CDM then do whatever it takes to get that player into the fold without any of the usual nickel
and diming we have become famous for (this kind of ruthless haggling has cost us numerous special players
and certainly can't help make the player in question feel good about the way their future potential employer feels about them)... in order for us to become dominant again we need to be strong up the middle again from Goalkeeper to CB to DM to ACM to striker, like we did in our most glorious years before
and during Wenger's reign... with this in mind, if we want Ozil to be that dominant attacking midfielder we can't keep leaving him exposed to constant ridicule about his lack of defensive prowess
and provide him with the proper players in the final third... he was never a good defensive player in Real or with the German National squad
and they certainly didn't suffer as a result of his presence
on the
pitch... as for the rest of the midfield the blame falls squarely in the hands of Wenger
and Gazidis, the fact that Ramsey, Ox, Sanchez
and even Ozil were allowed to regularly start when none of the aforementioned had more than a year left under contract is criminal for a club of this size
and financial might... the fact that we could find money for Walcott
and Xhaka, who weren't even guaranteed starters, means that our whole business model needs a complete overhaul... for me it's time to get rid of some serious deadweight, even if it means selling them below what you believe their market value is just to simply right this ship
and change the stagnant culture that currently exists... this means saying goodbye to Wiltshire, Elneny, Carzola, Walcott
and Ramsey... everyone, minus Elneny, have spent just as much time
on the training table as
on the field of play, which would be manageable if they weren't so inconsistent from a performance standpoint (excluding Carzola, who is like the recent version of Rosicky — too bad, both will be deeply missed)... in their places we need to bring in some proven performers with no history of injuries... up front, although I do like the possibilities that a player like Lacazette presents, the fact that we had to wait so many years to acquire some true quality at the striker
position falls once again squarely at the feet of Wenger... this issue highlights the ultimate scam being perpetrated by this club since the arrival of Kroenke: pretend your a small market club when it comes to making purchases but milk your fans like a big market club when it comes to ticket prices
and merchandising... I believe the reason why Wenger hasn't pursued someone of Henry's quality, minus a fairly inexpensive RVP, was that he knew that they would demand players of a similar ilk to be brought
on board
and that wasn't possible when the business model was that of a «selling» club... does it really make sense that we could only make a cheeky bid for Suarez, or that we couldn't get Higuain over the line when he was being offered up for half the price he eventually went to Juve for, or that we've only paid any interest to strikers who were clearly not going to press their current teams to let them go to Arsenal like Benzema or Cavani... just part of the facade that finally came crashing down when Sanchez finally called their bluff... the fact remains that no one wants to win more than Sanchez, including Wenger,
and although I don't agree with everything that he has done
off the field, I would much rather have Alexis front
and center than a manager who has clearly bought into the Kroenke model in large part due to the fact that his enormous ego suggests that only he could accomplish great things without breaking the bank... unfortunately that isn't possible anymore as the game has changed quite dramatically in the last 15 years, which has left a largely complacent
and complicit Wenger
on the outside looking in... so don't blame those players who demanded more
and were left wanting... don't blame those fans who have tried desperately to raise awareness for several years when cracks began to appear... place the blame at the feet of those who were well aware all along of the potential pitfalls of just such a plan but continued to follow it even when it was no longer a financial necessity, like it ever really was...
Agreed he looked out of sorts
and Insufficiently interested still has those world class touches and lay offs inc a perfect tee up for Ramsey who like a donkey skied it over the bar... Wasn't helped by having wilshere playing a weird forward position and while wilshere played well it seemed to destabilize ozil... Stupid to play ozil miki wilshere and Ramsey... Latter is a bench player but wenger's darling so he's willing to disrupt team to get him on the pitch... And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternat
and Insufficiently interested still has those world class touches
and lay offs inc a perfect tee up for Ramsey who like a donkey skied it over the bar... Wasn't helped by having wilshere playing a weird forward position and while wilshere played well it seemed to destabilize ozil... Stupid to play ozil miki wilshere and Ramsey... Latter is a bench player but wenger's darling so he's willing to disrupt team to get him on the pitch... And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternat
and lay
offs inc a perfect tee up for Ramsey who like a donkey skied it over the bar... Wasn't helped by having wilshere playing a weird forward
position and while wilshere played well it seemed to destabilize ozil... Stupid to play ozil miki wilshere and Ramsey... Latter is a bench player but wenger's darling so he's willing to disrupt team to get him on the pitch... And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternat
and while wilshere played well it seemed to destabilize ozil... Stupid to play ozil miki wilshere
and Ramsey... Latter is a bench player but wenger's darling so he's willing to disrupt team to get him on the pitch... And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternat
and Ramsey... Latter is a bench player but wenger's darling so he's willing to disrupt team to get him
on the
pitch...
And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternat
And it seems xhaka has entered the chosen circle as it is clear that elneny right now is a better alternative
Olivier Giroud was taken
off the field against Aston Villa as a «cautionary move» according to Arsene Wenger, but anyone who watched his replacement Chuba Akpom, trying his damnest to get
on the scoresheet could not have helped being impressed by his determination
and positioning in the 20 minutes he was
on the
pitch.
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