4th place in 2009.

@ Criz I agree now - there was no contact with Cech. 

Hahaha. . .thank you. Even Ronaldo has never been that daring with a penalty dive.

@babs787
I didn't lock the thread 'cos Arsenal lost. I locked it 'cos all threads have to be locked and new ones opened once they are up to a hundred pages.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Premier League - Wenger's ageism costly
Eurosport - Thu, 07 May 13:44:00 2009

In his 12-and-a-half years at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has seen almost everything.

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Along the way to completely rejuvenating the North London club from top to bottom, Wenger has captured two league and cup doubles, reached the club's first European Cup final and completed an entire league campaign unbeaten.

One thing he had not experienced until recently, however, was the handful of fans calling for him to leave the Emirates Stadium.

Such deluded demands are well wide of the mark; disgruntled Gooners might like to ponder the 21-game unbeaten run in the Premier League. But Tuesday's humiliating home defeat to Manchester United in the Champions League has condemned Arsenal to at least five trophyless years, something the fans are not used to.

The French coach now faces the realisation that he must reinvent himself as much as he reinvented the club he has come to define if he is to drag them back to the top.

For years he has justified his heavy reliance on young players by insisting that - with the Emirates being built and Highbury yet to be sold - he does not have the transfer budget to compete with the other big clubs, despite club chief Peter Hill-Wood repeatedly declaring that the money is there to spend if he so wished.

However honorable Wenger's intentions in refusing to commit the club to the kind of 'financial doping' that has left Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea saddled with huge debts, the simple fact is that the Gunners have more often than not been left struggling to keep up rather than setting the pace.

A lot has been made of Arsene's Junior Gunners' weakness, but Wenger's insistence on marginalising players once they turn 30 is just as significant.

While Arsenal have five players born in the 1990s on their books, of the first-team squad only goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and defenders William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre - both unwanted by their rivals - can look back on their 20s.

Compare that with Chelsea who, with more than twice as many over-30s in their squad, are third in the league with one major final confirmed and another pending. Even his supposed nemesis, Alex Ferguson, still feels comfortable enough to field senior players like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, to the point where this season the former passed the 600-match mark and the latter notched up 800 and was named PFA Player of the Year.

Robert Pires was forced to leave to find for job security than the one-year rolling contract on offer in North London, and he and Thierry Henry continue to perform at the highest level in Spain, while the midfield struggles of Denilson and Alex Song show that Patrick Vieira, sold to Juventus in 2005, is still missed.

If nothing else, the presence of Pires at London Colney would hugely benefit the likes of Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott, while Henry's haul of goals in La Liga this season is equal the combined total of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor.

That is not to say that Wenger's youth policy has not reaped its rewards. Cesc Fabregas is one of the most highly-coveted midfielders in the game, and a great deal of the future of the England team rests on Walcott's shoulders, but the balance is all too often skewed towards emerging rather than established talent.

The jackpots that the club have hit with the big-money sales of Nicolas Anelka (£23 million), Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit (a combined £30m) and most recently Alexandr Hleb (a mind-boggling £11.8m) have not nearly been matched in the opposite direction.

Even the signing of Andrei Arshavin would not have happened had the Russian not flown himself in to complete the deal.

The Premier League, and football in general, has much to thank Wenger for, but unless he makes his peace with the financial realities of the game as it is now, he may never lift any silverware at his team's shiny new home.



http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07052009/58/premier-league-wenger-s-ageism-costly.html

Oh Le Prof,what have you done?

The same Debosky who's been 100% behind Wenger all season co-signing twats like Djorou, Nasri, RVP, Toure etc and backing his decision to get rid of guys like Flamini is the same one now saying that he's happy L'Arse lost so that Wenger can get the message. Shebi I told you long ago that the only reason Wenger won the league in previous seasons was because of Winterburn, Bould, Keown, Adams, Campbell etc. Ever since these guys left, Arsene can't do jack. Face it, Arsene is defensively inept. Even his own defensive coach claimed that Wenger never did any defensive coaching for even one day when he was at Arsenal.

Pathetic match.

Anybody who says Arsenal is the Pride of London will be e-slapped.
Now we know who the men are and the boys are.

AW should go and buy players, then we can talk.
What happened to the 49 unbeaten days?
BLUE RULES

Arshavin is all the proof Wenger needs that if you don't spend on experienced quality, you get no results. If you must buy neonates, at least let them have people in the squad that can bring them up. Mix the old and new, combine their strengths.

A team of skilled kids won't work against already experienced teams consisting of soccer gurus.

Arsenal are a DISGRACE!!!!

They were taught footie lesson today by a very good Chelsea side.
RVP, Nasri, Gibbs, Walcott and Song should be sold.
Buncha idiots.

Cristalz:

 Arshavin is all the proof Wenger needs that if you don't spend on experienced quality, you get no results. If you must buy neonates, at least let them have people in the squad that can bring them up. Mix the old and new, combine their strengths.

A team of skilled kids won't work against already experienced teams consisting of soccer gurus.

Well said.

You both say alot of rubbish . . . Like the one above. . .
So you have never complained about refs decisions . . We are supposed to believe that. . .

Dig up evidence where I have ever complained about the ref. When Barca beat us I congratulated them and wished them luck

Only EPL people whine about refs.

Arsenal loses to Barcelona 2006

Wenger complains about ref that Larson was offside

Henry complained that ref allowed Barca players to kick him

Fans complained that ref shouldnt have given Lehman a red card for the attempted manslaughter

2005 Barcelona 2 Chelsea 1

Mourinho complained Rijkaard spoke to ref

Chelsea fans sends death threats to the ref.

Top ref Abders Frisk resigns citing threats to his life.

2007 UCL finals Benitez complained the ref didnt allow the 4 minutes of added time to run out before blowing the whistle

Wednesday Chelsea, players coach and fans complained the ref did not give them penalties while forgetting about the red card he gave Abidal with 30 minutes to play.

Today Debosky complaining about ref not giving Adebayor a penalty and Malouda offside.

Why must it be refs everytime whiners?

@Allboyz, where are you? you still think that baba ni e je?  

Arsenal will now be left to negotiate an open draw qualification for next season's Champions League, which could potentially pit them against a team from the German, Spanish or Italian leagues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8023065.stm

wish you luck sha.

The Arses are a disgrace.

Even the signing of Andrei Arshavin would not have happened had the Russian not flown himself in to complete the deal


Wenger has a Problem  

BlueDiva:

Anybody who says Arsenal is the Pride of London will be e-slapped.
Now we know who the men are and the boys are.

AW should go and buy players, then we can talk.
What happened to the 49 unbeaten days?
BLUE RULES

I got your back. If you need help, let me know.

And him suggesting insignificance is what irritates the hell outta me . . . . Useless lot!

kay_pumpin:

Pathetic match.

Your gaffer is contented with 4th place.
Champions League spot is about 40 million pounds from the English FA.

FBS:

I got your back. If you need help, let me know.

Ok, will let you know.

The 3rd placed team automatically qualifies for the CL.
The 4th placed team will have to fight extra hard at the prelim stages. . .tough luck !!

Diaby a central midfielder playing left-mid. Nasri a left-winger playing central-mid. Both had poor games. Arsene knows best.  

Ibime:

Diaby a central midfielder playing left-mid. Nasri a left-winger playing central-mid. Both had poor games. Arsene knows best.  

In wenger they trust.

These quote by an Arsenal fan after the match sums up Diaby's uber-uselessness.

Bendtner-8- by far our best play- is simply a different class of player to the c*nt he replaced (not saying much) had a personal point to prove today and he did. We didn’t look like scoring until he came on- and he did it all from the left- a better LM than diaby by some extraordinary- extent both offensively but defensively also- I dare say he’d even be a better CM- and this isn’t me proclaiming bendtner as a footballing genius- it is me condemning diaby as a footballing turd. Bendtner doesn’t have half the technique of diaby- but showed that with 2 brain-cells one can do a job.

Different season,same story ain't shit changing except diapers on babies
The ironic part is i saw the lineup and i knew we where going to get a beatdown but at what point would the fans at the Emirates lose their patience with this disgrace of a team and a manager who would rather lose back to back to their major rivals at home than fight and show some pride i was expecting to hear boos at full time.These players and the manager have no shame and no respect for their fans

Did anyone notice when the cameras intentionally to the board and showed our trophies won in 2002,2003,2004 and 2005 please what happened to 06,07,08 and 09? did anyone go up there to wipe it off?
P.S Kolo and Silvestre thank u guys u can go to Man City now

@Ibime
Diaby's only place at Arsenal central midfield. . . . on the bench!!

We have no defense whatsoever i don't know if Wenger has to go to other planets on the solar system to buy defenders but we can't continue with this rubbish backline Toure and Silvestre are midgets and can't compete with well built strikers! Silvestre would have needed a ride up an elevator to get to Alex for the first goal

Fabianski should be third choice at best we would have lost by 9 goals to 1 if he faced half the pressure Cech faced

@bluediva, i only know that only d 1st and 2nd teams qualifies automatically for the UCL, 3rd and 4th teams will play in the playoffs

Specialist900:

@bluediva, i only know that only d 1st and 2nd teams qualifies automatically for the UCL, 3rd and 4th teams will play in the playoffs

you are wrong mister.
Chelsea secured a top three Premier League finish and entry into next season's Champions League group stages with a comprehensive win at Arsenal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8023065.stm

good thing i didn't even bother to watch the game. This season is a wash.

it was a pathetic performance

@ Specialist900

New rules.
Arsenal will slug it out with other major teams in the 'playoffs'.
Tough luck if they decide to use these kiddies.

BDiva and FSB

Chelsea will play some other european clubs to qualify for CL proper likewise Arsenal. This means their season starts before Man United and Liverpool. Last season Arsenal and Liverpool went the same route.

Muki

Time is the healer of all wounds . . .

I wonder why y'all are sounding like broken records cos of the dismal performance by AW and his bunch of overrated under-performing boys

didnt I say b4 the start of the season that we WOULD NOT WIN THE EPL ? WASNT I TAGGED ANTI-GUNNER EVEN BY SOME DSTV BOYS HERE ?

let me tell y'all gunners. . .

EXPECT ROUGHER TIMES IF WENGER DOESNT CHANGE HIS WAYS . . .BLOODY PROUD FRENCH IDIOT ACTING GOD !

what pisses me off aint the EPL, but the way and manner with which we got thoroughly whooped by the scum and chav teams . . .need I say how depressed I feel as a Gunner

believe u me, the defeats to Manscum in the 1st leg wasnt painful and I knew from then we wouldnt be able to keep the dirty scumtwats from scoring in the 2nd leg with that cursed Silvestre in there

lo and behold THE DISASTER HAPPENED

and if it were not enough

THIS WHOOPING ?

SERIOUSLY Myles P is a dork for having said Ade was responsible for that goal in the 1st leg against the scum but . . .

I MUST SAY AM TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED IN ADE AND CESC . . .AM ACTUALLY ASHAMED OF THEM, THOUGH MORE ASHAMED OF BENDTNER WHO COULDNT KEEP HIS PANTS UP, WAS HE BEING SERVICED A MouthAction ?

I fear Cesc and Ade might leave, the effect I am not sure would be palatable . . .

all this tlk about experienced quality yada yada . . .let the man come out first and publicly apologise for his numerous goofs

haba . . .am too young to have HYPERTENSION

GOD DEY !

nothing do we gunners

@ Dr Kit

Sorry my brother!!! I said it too and i still believe they won't win anything next season too even if he buys Messi and Iniesta.Wenger is satisfied with fourth place in the league and he's not hungry for medals.He keeps deceiving Gooners but deep inside,he's cool with the way things are as long as they tell him Arsenal still play the beautiful football.Lmao!!!

Wenger's bias for his countrymen is irritating.He wouldn't have bought Silvestre if he wasn't french and look at all the important matches that fool made us lose?

I'll forever remain a gooner even if Wenger drives us to relegation, I believe he deserves the name Mourinho gave him.Expect Wenger to goof next season again.

[size=18pt]Hopelessly Devoted[/size]

Dr Kitaun:

Time is the healer of all wounds . . .

I wonder why y'all are sounding like broken records cos of the dismal performance by AW and his bunch of overrated under-performing boys

didnt I say b4 the start of the season that we WOULD NOT WIN THE EPL ? WASNT I TAGGED ANTI-GUNNER EVEN BY SOME DSTV BOYS HERE ?

let me tell y'all gunners. . .

EXPECT ROUGHER TIMES IF WENGER DOESNT CHANGE HIS WAYS . . .BLOODY PROUD FRENCH IDIOT ACTING GOD !

what pisses me off aint the EPL, but the way and manner with which we got thoroughly whooped by the scum and chav teams . . .need I say how depressed I feel as a Gunner

believe u me, the defeats to Manscum in the 1st leg wasnt painful and I knew from then we wouldnt be able to keep the dirty scumtwats from scoring in the 2nd leg with that cursed Silvestre in there

lo and behold THE DISASTER HAPPENED

and if it were not enough

THIS WHOOPING ?

SERIOUSLY Myles P is a dork for having said Ade was responsible for that goal in the 1st leg against the scum but . . .

I MUST SAY AM TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED IN ADE AND CESC . . .AM ACTUALLY ASHAMED OF THEM, THOUGH MORE ASHAMED OF BENDTNER WHO COULDNT KEEP HIS PANTS UP, WAS HE BEING SERVICED A MouthAction ?

I fear Cesc and Ade might leave, the effect I am not sure would be palatable . . .

all this tlk about experienced quality yada yada . . .let the man come out first and publicly apologise for his numerous goofs

haba . . .am too young to have HYPERTENSION

GOD DEY !

nothing do we gunners

This is PRICELESS!!!!!