Five ways Arsene Wenger is killing Arsenal after humiliating Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich
Why the Frenchman has got to finally leave the Gunners this summer
There have been some low points following Arsenal over the years.
But this is no doubt the worst.
The Gunners have been beaten and crushed by Bayern Munich before – it even happened last season.
Yet this feels like the lowest point of Arsene Wenger’s reign.
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In so many ways the manner of the two 5-1 defeats to Bayern have summed up years of abject decline, and it all leads back to Wenger’s door.
He’s built Arsenal into a modern super-club, but his shocking choices are now slowly killing it.
Here’s five ways Wenger is ruining the club with his decisions.
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Terrible signings
Wenger built a reputation as a transfer genius in his early days, finding gems from all over the world for bargain prices and turning them into superstars.
But in recent years he’s signed so many duds, and continued to put faith in players who keep letting him down. What’s going on?
It’s not even through a lack of money – Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka all cost decent amounts, but just haven’t delivered enough. So sad.
Awful tactics
The Frenchman is famed for playing glorious football and loving to entertain fans, but modern football is just as much about stopping the opposition than them stopping you.
It always seems in the big games that Arsenal lack a plan, and quickly get found out in the same way every time.
Stubbornness
Modern managers have to be quick-thinking, agile and prepared to change their plans mid-game if it needs it.
Wenger’s big thing is all about believing in players and systems no matter what – even if it’s evident that they’re not working.
He’s spoken before about how he loves trying to prove people wrong, but being so stubborn and resistant to change is having negative effects. Having principles is important, but refusing to change things when they fail is just stupid.
Rubbish backroom staff
Sir Alex Ferguson ruled with an iron fist at Manchester United, but always welcomed input and new ideas from his coaching staff. In fact, he thrived on it and would regularly chop and change his assistants to keep fresh voices in the dressing room and new ideas coming in.
Wenger only replaced his long-term assistant Pat Rice because he retired and while there were high hopes for Steve Bould, what does he do? And what does Wenger allow him to do? Other faces have been there for years and while experience is good, things have got stale.
Creating a weak mentality
This is the worst thing that has gone on under Wenger and the hardest to take. Arsenal used to be known as warriors, with the Invincibles the prime example of a team that would fight and refuse to give up.
Arsenal these days are regarded as mentality fragile, easy to rile up and known to totally capitulate when things start going wrong.
It’s an epidemic that comes through the club and seems to be accepted by the manager.
You can’t win every single match, but you can ALWAYS make sure you lose with your head held high – Arsenal have rarely done that in recent years.