Does embarrassing even begin to cover it?

It's very unlikely Wenger would be sacked, even after a poor December. Chances are, he'll be given the January window to try and improve the squad and then the rest of the season to see if he can get into the top four.

I'm not sure we could handle the massive disruption Wenger leaving would cause in the middle of a season.

GoonerJay29 wrote:It's very unlikely Wenger would be sacked, even after a poor December. Chances are, he'll be given the January window to try and improve the squad and then the rest of the season to see if he can get into the top four.

I'm not sure we could handle the massive disruption Wenger leaving would cause in the middle of a season.

Just like last season, everyone was calling for his head and saying it was his last year with Arsenal yet we've done worse now and he's a year older and the fans are another year more restless. I already posted in the Lobby that goal.com said his last achievement should be to try and leave the club in a proper state for the next manager (Champions League qualifications, good squad, the stadium and facilities are already world class)

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:
This is where I feel sorry for Wenger, the players he genuinely improved left him as soon as money/hometowns called

No matter how much we don't want to I think about it. I think that everyone except Cesc mentioned the same reason on why they were not going to sign a new contract or going to stay. They specifically mentioned ambition and the direction the club was heading. Maybe just Maybe they actually had the Intelligence to foresee the state that Arsenal is in now and would rather move on than spend the rest of their years in football not trying to win silverware.
To me the biggest failure of both the board and Wenger is that for to many years now we and the players have been told that 4th place in the EPL is the main trophy we need to achieve and that if we were to actually get silverware it would be nice. The problem with this is that it starts to breed a loosing mentality. When you compound this with the fact that we have continually sold our star players and replaced them with kids or inferior players and to me it is just not a surprise we are in the state we currently are in.
I remember a few years back now when everyone wanted Dennilson to be gone since it seemed as though every pass he made was back to the CBs. Consistently putting our opponent in our own half and our defense under pressure jeopardizing our attack and killing the flow. Now it is our entire midfield that does the same thing. I am not sure if our mid-field is scared to possess the ball our they just don't have the vision to see the rest of the pitch. Yes our forwards have been crap this year but the midfield does not seem to be helping them out like they have in the past. With those that have made comments about Wilshere being the only one that actually acted like he wanted to win I would agree. I would add to that for any and all games we should be starting a healthy Rosa, Wilshere and Walcott. Without these three starting every game we will struggle.

Finally read all the posts. Agreed with Franchise on everything, Our problem isn't down to the fact that the general football is poor. It's more or less the same thing which wenger introduced back in the days and the same football we thrived in.

The problem is the lack of players who can do that. It's kind of like at liverpool. Forgive me if i am wrong on this but Brendan Rodgers want to play similar type of football, but he is finding it hard because some of the players are not suited to it. For example Skrtel is a brilliant defender but he isn't a ball playing CB, neither is Enrique nor Downing.

Wenger's teams were playing and winning when he had Bergkamp, Vieira, Pires, Henry, Cashley. And recently Hleb, FABREGAS, RVP, Nasri. Now he barely has players of those calibre. It is his fault for getting players like Gervais in, or getting the wrong idea that Gervais was Pires in disguise.

That's why Jan is so important. If he can get 3-4 players of top quality, we won't be suffering so much

Finish work for 2-3 weeks next Friday. Will be able to spend more time on here and read the posts. When I get home from work I've missed like 2-3 pages of posts lol.

The most terrible thing is that, after each disaster we feel that nothing worse could happen from there.. But it gets worse every time...
Losing to Spuds at home after being 2-0 at half..
4-4 at Newcastle..
8-2 at Old Toilet..
4-0 at Milan..
Now the first team getting knocked out by a fourth division side..

I think this could be an option. Won't happen!

Szczesney
Sagna Mert Verm Gibbs
Arteta Rosicky
Walcott Wilshere Cazorla
Giroud

With a few obtainable signings it could be

Szczesney
Sagna Mert Verm Gibbs
(Diame or Wanyama) Rosicky
Nani Wilshere Cazorla
Ba

I would prefer Theo over Nani, but he is going. Nani will do as a replacement imo. The second team I mention looks decent enough. donchathink?

Arteta-Rosicky would be a recipe for disaster. Both are in their 30's and we shouldn't rely on them, knowing their injuries either.

Your second formation looks more reasonable with Diame or Wanyama in the mix but my pick would be Capoue who looks like the real deal.

My starting 11 after January would be:


2nd string:


Throw in players like Miquel, Eisfeld (who I have high hopes for), Frimmy (if he comes back strong) and we're pretty much set for an epic second half of the season.