Wenger: Arsenal Don’t Like Winning

By Brian Lofrumento | 20th July 2009

Wenger: Arsenal Don't Like Winning | read this item

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arsene-wenger1 Has Arsene Wenger lost all of his ambition or does he just not care anymore? After Arsenal lost to Manchester United in May, I published an article about how Arsenal needs to learn a lesson if they want to improve and win something again. Part of that lesson was to focus on improvement and not accept stagnation. Arsene Wenger, however, did not get the memo.

Wenger’s most recent statement came with regards to Emmanuel Adebayor’s exit to Manchester City. Most followers of the Gunners believe the sale was a good one, and who am I to disagree? For the record, I think Adebayor is a class player, and without him Arsenal will struggle to find quality up front. Bendtner, for one, just can’t cut it in the Premier League.

But back to Wenger’s comments. Whether or not Adebayor’s sale was the right decision, Wenger’s statements in the aftermath are indicative of Arsenal’s problems in the past five years and show a glaring problem with the club’s and the manager’s philosophy.

“We are good enough”

“We must trust the players we have. It’s a very important season for us and I believe we are in a very strong position,” Wenger said. “Big clubs lose big players. AC Milan have lost Kaka but will go on. Arsenal have lost big players before but we go on.

“I believe we have a strong enough squad to meet the targets we have.”

On top of these claims, Wenger went on to say that he would not be buying any replacements.

These statements are outrageous and quite delusional. Arsenal, quite clearly, are not strong enough to challenge for the Premier League title. Before you say that Wenger is not aiming for the Premiership crown, think about it… a club supposedly as big as Arsenal should be gunning to win the league every season.

By all means, Arsenal’s only transfer activity this summer has been to sell Emmanuel Adebayor. So Wenger is trying to tell us that take the Arsenal squad that finished fourth last season, take away Emmanuel Adebayor, and all of a sudden they will topple Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea?

Like I said back in May, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger need to start thinking about today and forget about tomorrow. While the likes of Carlos Vela and Nacer Barazite may be world beaters in five years, that will not prevent the likes of Manchester City, Everton, and Aston Villa from overtaking the London outfit.

If Arsene Wenger wants Arsenal to maintain their historically good reputation, he needs to ensure his squad does not stand still – and certainly does not go backwards. In a time where all clubs around him are improving, it is absolutely imperative that Arsenal go out and sign a big name that can fire them to Premier League glory.

Is Wenger just getting impatient with an inflated market or is he losing it? Have your say below!

Andrei Filimonov says:

July 20, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Well, don’t discount the problems that Arsenal’s main competitors are facing. Lets look at the big 3 that Gunners are supposed to topple to win the title.

Manchester United minus Ronaldo. United were shaky at times last season and Ronaldo was a difference maker on many occasions. This year the team may not have the edge that separated them from the rest. Can “as is” Arsenal topple them? It is still hard but doable.

Liverpool minus Alonso (rumored). As it stands now this team is not any better compared to the last season. They didn’t beat Arsenal in face to face games and were almost as inconsistent as Gunners and that cost them the title. To me they are not clear favorites and Arsenal have a chance.

Chelsea minus Hiddink magic. Pretty much the same but older team with a new coach. Another transition year? And we the rumors are true about impending Terry’s departure that could be a big blow for Chelsea title hopes.

Which brings as to … Manchester City. If they end up signing Terry and with new additions City are real title contenders – at least on par with big 4. To me it looks like very open title race with Arsenal very much in the thick of it.

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Zain Alvi says:

July 20, 2009 at 10:13 am

Haha…good one, Brian…since I just urged Wenger to step it up in a recent article, I was hoping someone could take over and finish the job of getting on his nerves again.

I definitely thought your analysis of Wenger’s quotes was accurate and very cool. But another statement he made which is missing here is that the return of Rosicky should be as good as a great attacking signing. However, by no means do I agree that Rosicky’s return justifies a lack of new established signings.

But then again, if we lost Adebayor, we got back Rosicky up front while Eduardo should have much better match fitness this season. In the defense, we got a much improved Senderos back as well as Vermaelen. So on the whole, I can see at least about 1% of where Wenger is coming from. About the remaining 99% or so, I am just as clueless as all the doubters.

While I am sure that we will finish in the top four no matter what, I certainly agree that this squad will find it very tough to win a major title. With that said, I would never write off Wenger because despite his increasingly bizarre strategies, he has way too much intellect to be criticized freely.

So basically, if we end our silverware drought this season, I will gladly hail Wenger. If not, then I am not sure how much worse I can feel about his transfer policies than I already do.

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