Was Arsene Wenger right to publicly criticise his players?

Morning all.

No doubt we Arsenal fans will continue to be critical of Arsene Wenger after our loss to Barcelona a couple of nights ago. The lack of top quality players signed over the years, the tactics deployed in the league and Europe and perhaps the strongest of all criticism surrounds the players the club have kept over the years and given nice little pay rises along the way.

The forever injured should have been sold, those like Wilshere, Walcott and Rosicky and one or two like Oxlade-Chamberlain and again Walcott should be long gone because neither have pushed their career on since moving from Southampton, yet Wenger stands by them.

Spot on I’d say and right now there’s probably around 6/7 players who if sold in the summer, would hardly be missed and that would mean spending a good chunk of the reported £180 million in the bank. (That amount is expected to be confirmed later today.)

Barca should have thrashed us seems to be the general opinion but to a degree, I disagree. One moment of stupidity from Arsenal let them in and yes, they were clinical but had Ramsey and then Ox been equally as proficient in front of goal, I doubt we’d have been so stupid to press forward in so many numbers. In fact I suspect we’d have defended even better than we’d done before they scored.

Yes Barcelona, one of the best, if not best team in football, had a few other good chances to score but rather than see it as them missing so many, I prefer to give the team a bit of credit for defending so well to keep them out for so long so in fact, we weren’t quite so bad really.

Anyway, the manager publicly slated the players for their naive and average performance after conceding two sloppy goals. He certainly didn’t look happy after conceding the first and I bet he was even more pissed off after Mertesacker committed his defensive howler…

No excuses this time from the boss, no blaming the ref, the weather, the direction of the wind or anything else. He was brutal and simply blamed his players.

But was he right to make such comments publicly?

100 thoughts on “Was Arsene Wenger right to publicly criticise his players?

  1. tsgh says:

    Good topic for debate Rico…
    AW criticizing his squad is quite rare; if he wasn’t AW I would deduce that their was a rift in the dressing room.

  2. Kel says:

    Morning again. Good post

    To answer your post no he was wrong as he left himself out of the criticism he is also very naive imo.

  3. tsgh says:

    Morning Rico and all btw…

    how uncouth of moi…

    Comment from previous page.

    My view is that whenever the strength of our squad is brought up one point probably over looked is player wages.

    Loads of folks bring up the wages AW waste on ineffective players, however it has been proven time and time again by several research that has been conducted that club expenditure on players wage bill is a direct reflection on where they finish in their respective championship at least for the top 6 positions.

    Once in awhile a Montpellier or Leicester might break the trend but in the last 5 years across the 5 top european leagues comparing wages only Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolfsburg, BVB, Seville,OM, Montpellier, Roma have over acheived in their respective leagues.

    The reason Stan being financially savvy believes AW is one of teh best in te business and the top accountancy businesses all agree.

    So in the EPL we have the 4th highest wage bill behind chelsea, city and yanited. chelsea’s wage bill is £40m above ours and ours is about £40m above the chavs. tottenham have the 5th highest wage bill and finish 5th or 6th on average….

    So chelsea finish 7 to 13 points above us in the league and we finish 2 to 10points above the spuds on average…

    The moral of my point is on paper AW is over acheiving with this team; fans expectations is another story.

  4. Kel says:

    Surely then it stans to reason then ts why everyone has been saying the same thing for yrs…. Spend some fucking money?? (As the money is there)

    What that points out to me is that Arsenal are 2 or 3 players short of competing properly imo.

  5. allezkev says:

    Man Ure currently have 14 players injured.

    Newcastle have 12 out, Liverpool have 8 out…

    Arsenal have 4…

    I blame Fiszman and Hill-Wood and I always will…

    They got rid of Dein and it’s been ever thus, since…

    Dein would have got the Suarez deal done.

  6. Begeegs says:

    The buck stops with Wenger, imo. He has had 19 cracks at the CL and has one final to show for it. That is abysmal. The finances argument is a non argument because it highlights the tactical side is more important than just having deep pockets. Look at Atletico with Simeone and don’t think that it is a one off. That is yet another excuse for Wenger and his merry band of apologists. The man has had loads of time now to win titles but we always fall short with the same familiar flaws. The players change but the same tactical naivetes, always 3 players short, belief in inadequate talent, and blindness top the obvious reasons on whose fault that it really is.

  7. Wavy says:

    Just returning to the latter remarks of yesterday’s post, Kronke is in my opinion lazy! It is far easier for him to sit in one of his many ranches checking his online bank accounts seeing that all at Arsenal is well profitable and thinking to himself, “Arsene is keeping my books black, so that’s ok, but he’s not really cutting the mustard, let me look again, oh yer, loads a money. Now then, could the old ship do with a bit of a refurb? A new manager perhaps? Well, I reckon I’d sack the old geezer but I can’t find any one better than good ol’ Arsene! So I think I’ll stricken not twist! Ah mean, he’s taught me all ah know about recruitment………blah blah blah”.

    And so the cycle continues. Lack of ambition? Inertia? Self satisfaction? Laziness? Who can say, but so long as the money tap is still open and gushing Stan the syrup won’t be going anywhere. I would add that I believe when he eventually tires of his English enterprise and decides to sell, just watch him asset strip the club and leave us in the soft and smelly!

    As for Arsene criticising his own players, it is most unusual and I take the point that the dressing room may be a bit of a cauldron for him just now, because I think he promised Sanchez and Ozil and Cech the earth and he, on his own his given them the Isle of Dogs! Just not enough and just not fulfilled his ‘transfer’ promises. Instead he persists with Flamini who fcuks the game plan up within 47 seconds whilst the other stars know that he should even have been on the bench as he absolute doggy do! Just look at Alexis face and body language at the end of the game. Yes, he was disappointed but there was far more dissatisfaction in his demeanour than just another defeat. I’m pretty certain that he felt the manager had let them down and quite possibly he told him so in the dressing room and I dare bet a few others joined in too!

    Dissent and discontent in the camp, not good. I wonder if Weger can motivate his team for Sunday’s game? If he can’t and they play like a Sunday pub side, again, I think the writing will be on the wall and Wenger will walk at the end of another unsuccessful season, silverware wise!

    We’ll see. We’ll see.

    Blue skies and sunshine despite my mood being black.

    Morning all.

  8. rico says:

    I think the team will be up for the Utd game, despite Tuesday’s result. If I was AW I’d tell them all to forget about the CL and concentrate on the league. And the FA Cup.

  9. tsgh says:

    kel- very true.

    Unfortunately I am unable to post a pdf report by Deloitte on player signing.

    They give an example showing the influence of Tv money in the EPL and how inefficient EPL clubs are especially for clubs competiting in the UCL and UEFa cups.

    A quick surmise; -They said something like, if an Eredivisie team had £20m to spend on player acquisition about £8m will go to selling club, £2.5 on player and about £1m on agents etc.

    In the EPL, it was roughly £10m on player, £2m on agents fees with the rest going on player salary…

    That goes to show the disproportionality and inefficiency of the EPL.

    When Jorge Mendez has been involved in over a billion euros worth of transfers over the last 10 years and taken nearly 20% commission with most of his income coming from 2 leagues no wonder stan and AW maintain their philosophy…

    When we spent £42m on ozil we ended up spending nearly £48m that year not including flamini’s free signing…

    When Gervinho was signed that year we spent less than £15m on him in total..

    One could argue merchandising has paid for it; but has it? nike or is it Adidas has taken the bulk of whatever merchandising the club has made plus the kebab shopshops in Islington who saw a 400% increase in sales during the parades… 🙂

    Stan will see no point in over spending to bridge the gap… imo

  10. tsgh says:

    Begeegs, I think you will find that Ath Madrid have the 3rd highest wage bill in Spain and it is nearly £30m more than 5th team valencia.

    As i argued, one team may show an anamoly within any data analysis…

    It does not deviate from teh fact that whenever RM salary goes higher than Barca they win the league whilst the opposite is true…

    Your argument is valid when taking into the context of UCL football but not home leagues.

    The end all and be all is that UCL is European football and EPL teams as a whole are tactically inept.

    Talkshite may argue Man city has dome us proud last night but the clueless fu**kers wont tell the masses that Kiev’s first game in 10 weeks due to wonter break was against City…

  11. tsgh says:

    Pundits on Sky sports will question the quality of La liga but if you take out the 2 la liga giants’ wage bills one will find that la liga has the 5th highest wage bill after EPL which is 45% higher than the bundesliga (2nd), 3rd Serie A, 4th La ligue 5th Ligue 1.

    Also EPL pundits earn 110% more than bundesliga pundits and so it is in their best interest to keep on saying we have the best league when in essense we have a league reflective of our national team…

  12. allezkev says:

    Ginge/Rico, he would have talked it over with Wenger, and then would have just got the Suarez deal done, even if he’d paid over the odds.
    Wengef might have complained, but Dein was a Director and had authority – and Wenger trusted him…
    Gazides doesn’t have the same authority.
    Not his fault, just a fact…

    Kroenke is not like many owners, who actually live in England/London, so it’s a case of what you don’t see, doesn’t bother you with him.

    All he sees is a healthy balance sheet.
    CL football every season.
    And two FACups.
    Happy Days ya’ll…

  13. tsgh says:

    If would be funny if a ‘coups d’état’ was started in the dressing room to oust AW…

    A coup started by Bould backed by AS17 …ha ha ha…

    When a manager starts distancing himself from his squad, flags gets raised…

  14. rico says:

    Agree Kev and Wenger respected Dein. As far as I can make out, back in the Dein days, AW didn’t have as much control but they day he left, it all fell into Wenger’s lap and imo has remained the case since.

    He shouldn’t be allowed so much control, but clearly that opinion is not shared by his employer…

  15. tsgh says:

    A friend of mine was wonder why City and Psg owners spend on their clubs whilst the yanks do not….

    As someone who keeps an interest in geopolitical stuff, I have always argued that it had nothing to do with those owners liking football or being more ambitious but rather those owners wealth shifting…

    Smart Qataris who are also wealthy and my read or be privvy to Kissinger or Brzezinski writings will know they have a short time span to transfer tehir wealth to Europe…

    The first Thai man city owner tried to do the same but needed the cash from Qatar to fight his legal cases back home so took the offer he could not refuse…

  16. Marshall says:

    AW is just tired of defending that sorry bunch out there. I feel he had given them (defence) specific instructions not to surge fowards no matter how inviting it looked, then what does an experienced Mert do? That’s naïvity to me too.

    Ofcourse AW been undoing himself for years now. Remember when IG and AW said we can now compete for the same quality with the elite? Mouthful of lies.

  17. Begeegs says:

    Tsgh – was Atleticos wages the same when they won the league? I just think that Wenger is culpable for the state of the squad regardless of money. We are one of the richest clubs in the world but look toothless against Bayern or Barca. We should expect better now that the financial shackles are off

  18. Marshall says:

    Somebody once said our English players are shit- he didn’t put it nicely- and was scorned for it. But look at the players we are always saying they are slacking. This week Theo, the next Ox, Ramsey we’re used to him switching off. JW is commited to shisha pipes and slating Spurs (much to our amusement). They are complacent cause they know the club ‘need’ them to fulfill a quota.

    Keep on getting payrises for nothing. How AW doesn’t fix this baffles me.

  19. Kel says:

    Ts 11.22.. thx for replying 🙂

    I completely agree that the way the money is being thrown around the PL Is causing inefficiency on a big scale.

    I’m sure the clubs in Germany, France etc can’t believe some of the transfer fees the English clubs pay/offer, but that is the modern game.

    Is mendez the agent wenger won’t deal with? If it is I think wenger is wrong m8 you can’t exclude yourself from a big pool of talent just because you don’t like someone.

    I understand puma, Emirates etc get most of the merchandising money, but they do stomp up around 65m a season to the club. ( not enough imo we should be getting more) and for that they wanna see a star player wearing their product.

    But as you say wenger and Stan are singing from the same hymn sheet as regards to success top 4 they’re happy.

    so I don’t think we’ll see any change unless the sponsors start feeling short changed, or wenger just retires.

  20. Kel says:

    Gibbs, Chambers, Ramsey welbeck even Jenkinson im happy to keep.

    Jack I would like to keep a bit longer as his talent and passion for Arsenal I like but his contract must reflect that considering his injury record…

    Ox wants double his money? No thx see ya later.

    Walcott only show it in flashes (hopefully this wk end) but personally I think I’d move him on.

    Barkley and Aubameyang for the Ox and Theo. ..

  21. tsgh says:

    Begeegs- you are right Ath. didnt have the hugest wages then but as I am saying there are always anomalies.

    The same as Montpelleir with OG12 won the Ligue 1 and Wofsburg won the Bundesliga…

    It is about the consistency…

    If it was merely about tactics then why is Simeone not won the league since?

    Can Leicester replicate their form next season?

    Even the portugese league follows the same league, the biggest spenders make the UCL and UEFA qualification positions…

  22. tsgh says:

    Lol Dev, make a cheeky bid. 🙂

    Indeed kel. I have come to the conclusion that AW’s time is up. Not because he has finally lost the plot but because expectations are as high as ever…

    Football has become a diversion for loads of us whilst everyday lives become more difficult and challenging…

    As the latest survey shows that 8m households in UK pay on avergae £89 per month for Sky Tv with nearly 8 out of 11 paying for BT sports or skysports… the noise from football fans will continue to ring louder… imho

  23. Lee says:

    “I just think that Wenger is culpable for the state of the squad regardless of money. We are one of the richest clubs in the world but look toothless against Bayern or Barca. We should expect better now that the financial shackles are off”

    True.

  24. tsgh says:

    My personal point of view is that, there is no defence or reasonable explanation with regards to why AW does not spend the supposed cash he has…

    If the conspiracy of him not wanting to spend is true then it is purely indefensible…

    But at this stage it is at least a plausible conjecture, until the contrary is proved…

    With regards to the squad he has and where we are and finish yearly… all arguments imho are conjencture.

    looking at things from what has happened in the past when the club have said AW had money to spend; PV04’s ”Obviously, Mr Wenger, you are not shopping in Harrods.” comes to mind…

    Imho, there is no proof another manager will do better with this squad than what AW does…

    Another manager might win against chelsea or barca with better or more pragmatic tactics but same as Stoke or WHU can beat City or Chelsea and finish way behind them; one match does not necessarily define a club’s fortune unless its a one of cup game…

  25. tsgh says:

    PV04 2001

    Based on the spending AW has made and the player salary averaged over the last 10 years..

    “I do not honestly see Arsenal finishing in the top five in the league – and you can forget the Champions League.”

    Arsenal wished to keep their star player happy by launching a summer spending spree but Vieira dismissed the signings of Francis Jeffers, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and probably Richard Wright.

    “When I told Arsene Wenger I was leaving, he said to me, ‘I have £25million to spend on a few players’. My answer was, ‘Obviously, Mr Wenger, you are not shopping in Harrods. That will only buy you one good player.’ Now I have been proved right. Arsene Wenger has signed two hopeful players who haven’t proved themselves in the Premiership yet. One of them is a boy of 20.

    “You can’t compete with the best clubs in Europe by making these kind of signings. Arsene Wenger is an ambitious manager and he knows deep in his heart that he needs five world-class players to compete among the best in Europe.

    “With £25million in the kitty, Arsenal is not a great European club. With that budget they won’t even be among the top 20 clubs in Europe.”

    It seems that statement still applies today… the only difference between then and now are:
    1. we are now playing 1 mile down the road from where we were when PV04 made that statement…
    2. more sugar daddies in Roman and Sheikh Mansour

    ”Arsene Wenger is an ambitious manager and he knows deep in his heart that he needs five world-class players to compete among the best in Europe. With £25million in the kitty, Arsenal is not a great European club. With that budget they won’t even be among the top 20 clubs in Europe.”

  26. tsgh says:

    I know I sound like an apologist but 10 months after PV04 (most peoples club legend said we won’t even make 5th the following season) we finished 1st.

    Another proof that AW (was)/is able to get the best out of his unbelieving squad…

  27. Wavy says:

    Usminov should buy Notts County. Buy it as a feeder club and ‘our’ juniors, á la Madrid etc in fact he could start by installing Wenger’s prospective successor. Then they could send
    Ox and
    Theo on loan to get them used to properly being kicked.
    If the fat Uzbec’s is a bit short of readies I bet Arsene of Gringott’s Bank fame will help him out with a bit of cash from the transfer fund!?

  28. rico says:

    The one thing I’d really love to know, just as all fans probably would is just how much money Kroenke tells AW he can have each transfer window…

    Afternoon guys…

  29. rico says:

    Is that 100% true though Lee? I haven’t a clue… lol

    You’d have thought he earns enough without a slice of what he saves the club, but then again, if he does get a bonus for being frugal, what knob agreed to pay him such a fee?

  30. rico says:

    Well there’s no way I’d give him a new contract, not until he proves his fitness and I can’t see that ever happening.

    Frugal in the transfer window and then to dish out contracts to players who are always injured, doesn’t make sense at all.

    Jack is just another Diaby….

  31. tsgh says:

    Dear oh dear.. 🙂 🙂
    Maybe there are making such he cant walk as a free agent at te end of next season…

    The club’s excuse is probably that they can’t sell him whilst he is in Abou’ Diaby’s ‘wheel barrow’.. 😉

  32. rico says:

    Well Ts, don’t play him until right at the end of the season so that the world can see he’s fit. Then sell him and add Ramsey, Chamberlain, Walcott, Mertesacker, Gibbs and Giroud to the list and with Flamini going along with Arteta and Rosicky, promote two or three and then spend some money on getting a better quality of player and by that I don’t mean break the bank but get players who are prepared to give 100% every game…

    2/3 of Ozil and Alexis standard wouldn’t go a miss too, especially up front.

  33. Adam says:

    I can’t see Wenger doing much this summer transfer-wise. I guess he might buy a few French second tier players or could have-beens from Lichtenstein or somewhere. No chance Ramsey leaving I would have thought Ozil? Maybe to probably, depending on if we win the PL.

  34. Steven says:

    Barcelona are the best team in world football and we should hold our heads up high!

    It really pissed me off seeing “same old arsenal” in the papers the next day…we competed for the duration of the game and really didn’t give M,S,N any real space until we come out to attack and what the hell was the slide tackle from Merts? he was genuinely around 5 yards away from the ball and left Messi 1 on 1 with Monreal you could see the pass 5 seconds before it happened if merts had come back not committed for no reason that goal wouldn’t of happened, couq should have been more central as well Sanchez was right to have a pop at him to… Merts cocked up for the pen you can see Flam saying get it out and he passes it in the box when Messi is sniffing about…he’s had his day and Gab would of played if fit… so Wenger did have the right to have a pop and Gabriel is back this weekend if he stays fit you wont see Merts in the team imo

    Chambers for all his previous (right back) fault has looked good when he’s played when he came on against Leicester he showed he had ability I’d look to use Merts as a last option he’s caused too many defensive downfalls

    I’m not to disheartened and I enjoy the fans making the stadium feel like the ref had to side with us (second half may I add)

    Looking forward to Welbeck starting at the weekend I think he’ll score

  35. Adam says:

    Yes Rico. But we have quite a few second tier players already so we don’t really need any more. Having said that, top class players are too much money and our scouting network can’t find them anyway.

  36. tsgh says:

    🙂 Rico.

    Adam, I can hazard a guess you are not going to join Aw in the commentators box during the euros? A long summer ahead me think… IF he stays. 🙂

  37. Adam says:

    TS. If there was indeed a correlation between his commentating activities, lectures, seminars etc and the lack of any discernible and meaningful transfer activity I might not be surprised.

  38. tsgh says:

    🙂 Adam. A man has to have his excuses prepped as you know…

    if you recall Aw even got away with saying ‘I left my phone at home’ during the WC in Soth Africa.

    The countless excuses used in the past have also included:-

    1. Before the tournament t…. ‘ the players we want to sign are unavailable’ or with their national teams’
    and ‘ we are waiting for a certain player’s club to appoint their new manager so we can to talk to them’…
    2. During the tournament ‘ all players are on holiday’ and the agents well…
    3. After the tournament when asked about an individual player ‘ I don’t make signings based on a players performance during tournaments’
    4. A few weeks later, Far East tour …
    5. Just before season starts, ‘ we have had a good pre-season’, if you can show me a player available now who is better than what I have I will buy him’…

  39. Adam says:

    I guess it comes down to what we each see as second tier. It is perhaps defined by who we see as first tier and follows from that. Also, within each tier there are probably other sub divisions, right up to elite players.

  40. Adam says:

    TS. There’s a cunning get-out clause in most of those. 🙂
    What if someone had said,”Why don’t you buy Payet for 10 million quid then?, before the season began.

  41. rico says:

    Can you imagine the fans reaction to signing a player like Marhez (spelling) – wasn’t he a third tier player from a club I’d never heard of….?

    Look at him now…

  42. tsgh says:

    🙂 Adam… That will definitely catch him on the spot…

    I can second guess what he might say though- he might say he did not know a player of that quality was for sale’… 😛 a la Charlie Austin

    You know like all near misses AW has reported in the past, the wind changed direction and the said player ended up somewhere else…

    Wenger on Drogba: “I would have loved to have managed Didier Drogba, for two reasons.

    “One, I missed him when he played at Le Mans in France, not even in the top league. I knew there was a good player there and I missed him.

    “And secondly, because he hurt us so much in big games that all this pain would not have happened.”

    On Makelele, AW recalls- ‘Makelele was close to signing with us. He was straight after Vieira came, August 1996. He was still in Nantes.’

    None of the statements make any sense…

  43. Adam says:

    TS. These things all seem strange like his assertion that he agonised for ages before agreeing to sign Cech. Why would you say that?

  44. rico says:

    I just googled and it looks like he was trying not to offend Ospina… Considering how soon we were in talks, I’d say he knew he wanted him….

  45. Joaquim Moreira says:

    I read some comments… we expect to beat Barcelona?
    We have good players. Mostly, are international
    Barcelona has exceptional players.
    The difference is this: we have good players and we are a good team; Barcelona has a few execeptional players and are an exceptional team.

  46. potter says:

    I never thought that we would win but I was annoyed by the way we lost . . Having been down this road so many times before it was galling to see the way some players just abrogated their responsibilities . We now face a humiliation in the camp nou. I would play the non performers and make them suffer a truly embarrasing time over there.

  47. Joaquim Moreira says:

    Clattenburg and his team is so awfull !!!
    Two players clear off-side in Porto v Dortmund !!! and the game is closed!

  48. Kel says:

    Ts 1.54. Sorry for the delay m8 was working.. I think football has become a diversion for people because normal day to day life has become more difficult it’s an escape.

    Plus 8 million households with sky and BT. That doesn’t include the people who watch via online or other source’s like myself, the audience has never been bigger so I agree the noise is only gonna get louder.

    Martial pulled a hamstring on the warm up tonight that’s good news. 🙂

  49. Lee says:

    Wenger will be busy this summer, I know for a fact he’s been closely monitoring two embryos from Burkina Faso and Michael Carrick is a done deal………….

    The Ox and Crack Wheelchair are both being put on £150k + pw 10yr contracts….

    And Stan has resigned Diaby……

  50. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.

    How about selling Ospina and Ches and then buy Timo Horn from FC Koln?? What do you say Ginge. I have always liked to see Timo in action…..ever since he broke in the team at 18 years.

    My team for next game vs Man Utd.

    Chec
    Bellerin, Gabriel, Kos, Nacho
    Coquelin, Aaron
    Campbell, Ozil, Sanchez
    Danny

    Subs…..Ollie for Danny (70th) Elneny for Ozil (65)

  51. tsgh says:

    Morning Rico, dev and all…

    Some fine words have been said about Timo Horn Dev. He could be our own Courtois…
    If Neuer was not around Horn will be DFB’s number 1 me think…

  52. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Whenever I have seen him I have been impressed Ginge. And at 6ft 4 he is massive.

    I would say buy him and rotate him with Cech. Not cup games only….even during league games.

    Plus we have the same Birth day/month…………and that makes him awesome.

  53. allezkev says:

    Morning All

    Morning Rico, it’s a bit nippy this morn…

    Higuain linked again as a possible summer signing…. ???

    Ah, the Summer Transfer Window, a complete and utter fcuking waste of time and energy…

    Yes, we’ll get the usual summer platitudes and mendacity from the Arsenal hierarchy, desperate to sell season tickets.
    But it’s all a croc of shit, it’s all false…

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