Friday , March 29 2024

After Arsenal’s Champions League humiliation in Munich… should this season be Arsene Wenger’s last?

After another night of Champions League humiliation, Arsene Wenger is under the microscope again.

Arsenal’s hopes of staying in Europe are over again after they were battered 5-1 by Bayern Munich.

Today, we have asked our top team of reporters – should this be Wenger’s last season at Arsenal? Here’s what they said…

Arsene Wenger should leave Arsenal when he feels it’s the right time to do so. If he feels jaded, if he feels the spark has gone, then he should retire. If, however, the passion and energy remains, then he should be encouraged to continue. Let’s at least judge him in May, not February.

It’s a shame Wenger didn’t do the smart thing and quit on winning the FA Cup in 2014 when his contract was up. He could have argued that was mission accomplished: stadium built, major trophy won. Or, surprise us, and quit in 2015 after that FA Cup win. Because the last two years have been painful.

I believe he will go when the crowd turns, as they will, in the next few weeks. And, yes, he should go. But there is nothing shameful about doing a wonderful job for 20 years and then handing on to someone else with fresher, different ideas. Good companies do it all the time. The shame is that it will be perceived as him being hounded out when he should be carried out shoulder high in acknowledgment of his achievements.

Yes. Regretfully it seems to be time to stop. Wenger is a wonderful manager but he has hit that point where you have to question if he has another trick up his sleeve. It doesn’t look like it. He’s tried for the last decade or so to build another title-winning side but clearly can’t do it, so it feels like Arsenal need new ideas if they are to move forward. Quite who they choose is another matter altogether. That lack of options could be vital in whether he stays or goes.

As an outsider looking in, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for a man who turned Arsenal from boring to brilliant and who bankrolled a beautiful stadium while keeping his side competitive. It does, however, feel like the end of the line. But if Wenger goes, who replaces him?

 In a few years’ time perhaps we will say they should never have got rid of Wenger – but Arsenal at least have to try. This cannot continue. It is all painfully predictable and has been for far too long. He should have left after the last FA Cup triumph with his head held high. As it is, this looks increasingly like becoming the season when they finally miss out on the top four.

Sadly the time has now come for Wenger to move on. A shame for Wenger, who has undoubtedly been one of the greatest managers this country has ever seen. But there are no real signs of a title-winning squad being built and each season follows the same pattern. What’s the theory about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Yeah, that one.

It really should be his last season. As much as his team’s capitulation in Munich, as much as the lack of leaders meaning Kieran Gibbs wearing the armband, as much as the continued acceptance of Mesut Ozil’s loose commitment to effort, it was Wenger’s dishevelled post-match answers which underline this ought to be his last season. There was no anger in evidence, just a mild explanation for events.

That kind of reaction allows players to escape scrutiny, post meaningless selfies, and continue to underwhelm when the season reaches crux moments. Whether the club’s board see things that way when set against the balance sheets is another matter. But for Arsenal to progress, Wenger must depart before his legacy is tarnished even more.

It’s the right time for Wenger to go at the end of the season. Arsenal are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity that shows no sign of ending, and it would be a shame if the Wenger era was tarnished any further by the kind of performance we saw in Munich.

It is time for Arsene to leave because Arsenal aren’t getting better as a team, they are slipping back. A lack of spending is a bit of a myth, Xhaka cost £35million last summer – more than Kante. It’s more to do with Wenger’s judgment being fallible.

Like Capello, he’s reached a certain age and lost his mojo.

He should be allowed to go with dignity, but he has taken the club as far as he can.

 Arsenal’s greatest-ever manager should announce that he will be going at the end of the season now. Not only will that give the club time to search for a suitable successor, supporters will then have time to show their appreciation for his hard work and achievements over the past 20 years. As it stands, with no indication as to whether he will be staying or going, Arsenal are boiling over and it’s hurting the club.

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