The Football Thread - 17/18 Season

[Kamal]

mZuzek said:

The Fury said:

Arsenal are hardly a sinking ship and people need to get over that fact. They made some good purchases at the start of the season, one being a good striker who shows excellent potential in the prem but no, lose to Liverpool and "Arsenal are dead boys". 

...no. Arsenal has been getting worse and worse with each passing season, culminating with them finally missing out on UCL this season. They've been selling more good players than buying, and their Premier League start has been atrocious with not only the 4-0 defeat at Liverpool, but also defeated by Stoke and having barely scraped a win against Leicester at home. That, and they have unhappy players like Sanchez, or players like Ozil who honestly just don't look like they give a crap when they're playing. Wenger has no idea what he's doing anymore and the longer he stays, the more comfortable he'll be with his failures, and the more the players won't be motivated on the field.

I mean, yeah sure this is just the first time they didn't qualify for UCL, say it's a "hiccup". But do you see that changing anytime soon? Do you really see them finishing top 4 this season? I don't think so... it's clear they're leagues behind Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and both Manchester clubs at the moment, I think even if they finish 5th they would be overperforming.

I always feel that Arsenal is on the prescipice of success but Wenger isn't the kind of manager (anymore) to rouse the spirits of his players and motivate them to die for the club. Which is the complete antithesis of Simeone who time and time again pushes his teams to go above and beyond for the club, while for Arsenal a last ditch surge to top 4 is enough to appease the board's monetary ambitions. And Wenger has been riding on the coattails on those expectations.