Blinded by Ambition
Guest Opinion by Geoffery D. Wessel
One of the biggest non-criticisms I’ve seen of Arsenal lately, from certain players and certain fans alike, is the claim of lack of “ambition” in the club. To quote The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
It was especially pungent coming from Robin van Persie as his excuse to leave once the bigger clubs started waving money under his nose. And it really is the perfect non-excuse, isn’t it? There’s no gauge to measure it, no quantifiable method of determination, no scientific formula to show just how much “ambition” a club does, or doesn’t have. It’s a great smokescreen to throw up to deflect any criticism from more mainstream quarters that you may be leaving after your one full season (and it was a great one, don’t get me wrong!) at the club… or probably more accurately, the manager… that stood by you where you spent the equivalent of four full seasons out injured instead of shipping you off, not because of any perceived lack of desire to win anything at the management level, but because you may be, deep down, a petulant douche.
Ambition or desire is not the problem besetting Arsenal at the moment. Now, are there issues at the club? Most definitely, and if you ask me the majority of them involve either Stan Kroenke and/or Alisher Usmanov. (Don’t for two seconds tell yourself or anyone else that Usmanov wrote that open letter to Kroenke in a fit of concern; he had that ready to go for the moment when some big player, maybe van Persie, maybe someone else, took a hike.) Sometimes I’m bewildered by the choices Arsene Wenger makes, but you know, overall I think the guy knows what he’s doing. Yeah, we had a rough start last season, to say the least, but that was very much an aberration, not what we normally produce earlier in the year. And really, I think it’s high time the players we field quit caving the second we go a goal down. We started to overcome that after the 5pu2s match, but we still got caught out a few times.
But for someone like George Graham to say the club isn’t ambitious enough? Let me remind you of some history you may not like: George Graham got sacked from Arsenal for taking a payoff from an agent for two players. Guess we know the extent of HIS ambition, eh? And lest we forget, his last foray into management was for Tottenham. You know, THAT Tottenham. So, you’ll forgive me if I take George Graham’s keen analysis into where Arsenal is mucking it up with as much seriousness as I would, say, former Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick telling Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin where he’s going wrong. I didn’t tolerate smack talk from one ex-Spurs manager who took payoffs about this club, I’m not giving another one a pass either.
Lack of ambition? No. Now, lack of ability to pull off that ambition with the money spent and players at disposal? That’s a valid point of discussion all day long. But call me crazy, I really rather doubt the board of Arsenal, or any other club, are going into their season’s plans thinking “You know, I think we really need to sit back and just tank the season for a change. Get ourselves relegated, give us a chance to relax a bit…” Naw, dog. Naw. [Of course, I write that, and what do I see? Liverpool owner John W. Henry saying it’s not a big deal if Liverpool don’t make the Champions League next season. Liverpool. Not making the Champions League. Is not a huge concern this season for the owner. Wow. If Stan Kroenke had said that?…. BOY. But hey, let’s not discuss Liverpool’s “lack of ambition,” RIGHT?]
And call me crazy, but I don’t think a lack of ambition on the part of Arsenal gets us Laurent Koscielny locked for another five years, the golden boot for Ligue 1 last season, or a true talent with over 100 caps for his country before the age of 26. It shouldn’t END there, of course, but it’s hardly a disaster on the scale of, well, LAST season’s pre-season transfers.
Indeed, unless I’m a petulant douche, I don’t look at those acquisitions and see how we DON’T have ambitions of winning. But maybe my definition of ambition differs from yours, or Robin van Persie’s.
Geoffrey D. Wessel is an Arsenal fan living in Indianapolis, IN, USA. He typically writes, and writes about, comics, including the serial-killer football thriller KEEPER (http://keeper-comic.com), but also contributed to numerous other comic anthologies, as well as an episode of Current TV’s 2011 fantasy program BAR KARMA. His website is http://gdwessel.com, and you can mainly find him on Twitter @gdwessel, or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/gdwessel.
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[…] care about such things, last week I wrote a guest editorial for an Arsenal supporters site called You Are My Arsenal. Some liked it, some didn’t. It […]
WTF
Eastmond playing LCB and Miquel LB.
Is it only me, but I have never seen Miquel have a bad game. Would much prefer him to Squillaci.
@Caribkid,
I agree, whenever I’ve seen him he’s been impressive – only problem is when he comes properly good Barcelona will probably tap him up and take him back
@Caribkid, Carib, I’d take YOU over Squillaci.
Although we can’t take much from an early pre-season game it did show a few things:
1. Afobe, although missing a few sitters, showed he is better than Chamakh.
2. Theo (The Headless Horseman) is still headless, regardless of the opposition.
3. Santos was our best attacking forward even though he missed two sitters.
4. Still not convinced by Jenkinson, Yennaris looks way better.
5. Same old Arsenal, poor defensively and not clinical in attack.
Still time to get the team in gear, but can’t understand why Poldi, Koz, Per and Giroud is not the tour trying to bed in with the team and increasing their fitness levels. I know they are going to Nigeria to fulfill sponsorship commitments with Airtel but why not send the crocked players like Sagna, Wilshere, Rosicky and the outcasts like Arshavin, Bendtner, DJ etc.
Can’t figure that one out, especially Poldi and Giroud who are new to the team.
@Caribkid, you do realize a tour of Asia is 100% financially motivated.
It is ALL about making money for the club.
Arsene would rather be in the Swiss forest, playing their Division 4 foes.
@stag133,
Why are we going on tours that make money, but also have an adverse effect on our players (Weather conditions, humidity etc) when we already have enough money. Bet the money made from this goes straight in the board’s pockets as well
poor performance from arsenal to start pre-season. diaby and song were the best players on the day. defense looks a shambles. many want a holding player but that won’t help. when you defend like arsenal’s defenders did today, it doesn’t matter how many holding players you put out there.
chamberlain and song ran the show in the second half but had no help. ryo was okay. theo was far from stellar. aneke didn’t really look to make an impact. kyle bartley doesn’t look like the future either. afobe had three really good chances and blew them all. i would blame it on rust but he was just at the u-19’s about ten days ago.
frimpong in hot water again for running his mouth on twitter. soccernet rumor has it that arsenal will sign santi cazorla from malaga. loved cazorla when he played alongside pires at villareal but haven’t seen him play in a while. i think he scored a goal for spain at the euros. we’ll see.
@joshuad, Josh.
Do you think this has any impact on the season?
I would imagine this is a kick about in the park, with not much bearing on anything.
Our defense has been poor and porous for about 5 years running.
@stag133, stag, i’m simply highlighting player performances for those who didn’t get to see the match. but this is more than just a kick about.
sure, the results mean nothing in pre-season, but there are four or 5 spots that are actually up for grabs. it’s troubling that there aren’t many players actually trying to shine and take advantage of the chance that’s on offer. such is the current climate at the club. players seem to expect to just be given a place in the first team.
i remember in the 2010 pre-season, i was excited about nasri. the maturity was plain to see and i knew he would have a good year. on the other hand, djourou sucked in pre-season but actually had a good season that year so you never know.
like i said, just talking about performances to the guys who may not have seen the game.
@joshuad, well, I was actually asking, if you thought the performances have any impact on the season!
I am a believer that you will end up playing like you practice, in most cases…
so if you screw around and not care about practice, that lack of focus can show up when it counts.
And… if you screw around and play without any type of urgency, focus, or effort… it will possibly show up when the season starts.
Its not a light switch.
Looks like we’re not the only club that manages to bugger up a transfer when it looks like it’s going to happen. Seems Lucas Moura is not moving to Man United after all due to them not making a high enough bid. In other news lots of news about us getting close to signing Santi Cazorla, could he be this season’s Mata? Hope not but until we get an official confirmation I’m not going to believe anything, not going to lie he’s a fantastic player and I’d love him at Arsenal and if we get him for £15 million (which is what’s reported) that would be a bargain, plus we need someone who’s creative and not injury prone to bridge the gap between Rosicky and JW/AR/AD/AOC in CM. Would be a brilliant signing and I hope this happens, because he really would help us get some more goals (although the main focus should probably be keeping them out at the moment – oh well) and his Free Kicks aren’t half bad either.
Shoulda been 2 or 3 up in the first half, when Chamakh could be bothered he did well. Gibbs was very impressive, Diaby was good as well in the AM role (probably his best position). Unfortunately defense looked all over the place, kept getting runners in behind we needed last ditch tackles to deal with, not working hard to get the ball back and Coquelin should’ve been closing down for their goal.
Second Half, really really poor. No pressure despite being 1-0 down, we were just letting them knock the ball around, Miyaichi was probably our bright spark, Walcott anoymous, Song played some nice balls including the one to Yennaris and the one to Afobe which he should have scored. Lucky to get the win really, good finish by Eisfeld but awful in the second half.
arsenal down 1-0 against malaysia 11. crap performances defensively from the team. no closing down. the kid from malaysia hit a wonder strike from 30 yards. santos missed two easy chances. chamakh looks like he’s put the hookah pipe down. diaby looks the best player. hope he can stay fit. santos playing in a more advanced role. we’ll see how this plays out.
Wenger says M’Vila is not on our radar, we are no longer interested…
OK. WHO IS Arsene?
WTF are we doing… waiting for RVP to go on August 18th? and just going with the squad we have?
Why not raise prices on the hot dogs too…
@stag133,
“Why not raise prices on the hot dogs too” – They did.
hahaha
so, United making major moves this Summer, after finished EVEN on points with ManCity…
About to sign Lucas Moura from Sao Paulo…. for 26 MILL!
and are supposedly in for Dembele … which so many folks on here are frothing over …
once again, we’ll be further and further behind in the league.
but United are going to collapse financially? right?
I’m a little surprised this post was published. I guess comics are the ultimate make believe.
“…very much an aberration…”
Now there’s an assertion worthy of picking over. I dare say most Arsenal fans look back on the last off-season and see a massive cock-up not an aberration. Wenger/the club dallying over Fabregas and Nasri, seemingly either deluding themselves or playing a negotiation game, and then literally signing a swag of players when the season has already started with humiliating results. I mean… I call that ’cause and effect’ – certainly not an aberration. Then after spawning such a mess Wenger/the club claim glory from the ‘recovery’???
On George Graham. Your lack of knowledge of English football has been well called out. Graham demonstrated his human fraility no doubt and will forever be remembered for his wrong. But… and this is a serious but. George Graham IS the reason that Arsenal not only re-emerged in the late 80s early 90s but also the reason why Wenger won anything at all Arsenal FC. Take away Wenger’s back 5 and I am wholly convinced Wenger would have flopped badly. And that doesn’t even mention the small fact that Bergkamp was not a player Wenger would have bought – too dear and not ‘a find’. With every ‘aberrational’ season that passes the counterfactual takes on a less kindly hue for Wenger.
@Kiwi,
…that’s ‘Graham’s back five’. :-)
so, Wenger says he wants to keep VanPersie… but doesn’t want him on the tour.
an Perside allegedly prefers Man United over City or Juventus… and United would be the worst place Arsenal could sell him… we’re already miles behind City, and they have all the money in the world to get better/additional players.
United… would be getting our best player, for money… and lining him up next to Rooney… with Vidic back from injury, Kagawa already in, and Baines looking like he’ll wind up there… a team that lost the league on goal difference, will have added 2 defenders, a midfielder, and the best striker in the EPL?
I’d rather we told RVP we weren’t selling him at all, and he could sit up in the stands and watch the season go by, than selling him to United or City.
Seems to me, the club KNOW he’s leaving… are waiting to get the best offer / most money… and are going to do exactly what they did with Cesc and Nasri… wait until the very last second, so we have no time to bring anyone additional in.
(of course, they’ve already bought their replacement anyway)…
@stag133,
You know. I do not like to say this. But it is about time we finish 5th and below. or else every summer will be the same thing running in circles. By then, somethings might change.
@tAi, If the fans still show up, buy merchandise, and concessions… the club have more than enough profits stored away, that it won’t matter that much to them…
Maybe its then that they would sell…
you ride the cash cow as long as you can, and then you sell it…
If we finished out of the CL, then the club would be sold…
Thanks for this awesome article, i so agree.
My current feelins for my arsenal addiction is that it has made me too “EXHAUSTIPATED”.
In other words, I’m too tired to give a shit anymore :) :)
@Geoffery,
Ambition is a very subjective and ambiguous word to say the least. Everyone has ambitions. Maybe some one wants to be a beach bum and someone else wants to be the President of their country. They both have ambitions just different ones.
In no certain terms predicated on the last few years we all know what Arsenal’s ambitions are. They want to be a self sustaining team mired in the second tier of top BPL clubs. That puts us in line with Newcastle, spuds, Everton, Fulham, QPR (for now) and the likes.
This is shown by their lack of investment in adding quality players to compete at the top echelons, sales of our top players to direct competitors, replacing quality players with inferior ones at much lesser cost and building up cash assets each year even though they have to pay 25% tax on it.
If you see this as being ambitious then so be it and I have to respect your view. However, based on our history of success at the highest level and our potential to remain at the top, I see it as being unambitious. What grates on me even more is the fact they are trying to sell us a load of hogwash about wanting to be the best, while jacking up ticket prices and paying the manger some 7M.
This is a total insult to anyone with a modicum of intelligence.
Just me!
@Caribkid, no, its certainly not just you.
If Arsenal had any sort of ambition whatsoever, the club will:
1) Offer 40 million plus RvP for Wayne Rooney.
2) Report the details of the offer on Arsenal.com and report it widely in the media. And babble on about being desperate for winners while also vowing to build a winning team around Rooney.
3) Offer Rooney 200k pw – which can be EASILY gotten by getting rid of Denilshit, Squillaci and Vela – who are ALL on 60kpw.
– Man U might reject the offer (although Gazidis might be willing). So …
4) We’ll wait one week and let the news marinate in the media. Then we’ll offer 45 million plus RvP.
We’ll then rinse and repeat those four steps till we get to 50 or 55 million or so.
I’m pretty sure Man U especially with Gazidis and co. looking at their debt will think “hmmm, RvP outscored Rooney last year, lets just do this exchange and pocket the 50 million”.
It would be a bit expensive for us (but guess what we made a PROFIT of 50 million on transfers alone last summer!!!), but it will also signal to the world that we are not a club to be messed around with. It will also bring a top, durable player who has been consistent in the EPL for years and is a few years younger than the more injury prone RvP.
It would also immediately invigorate the fan base, change the entire narrative of the club …
After sorting that out and giving Rooney, RvP’s old number, we can then offer Walcott a take it or leave it new offer on his OLD wage (not a penny more). If he doesn’t sign it immediately, we sell him off the next day to Liverpool (if their 15 million offer still stands).
We then conclude deals on an additional midfielder and a defender. And hope for the best.
///End of dream///
@Fred, that might be the best idea you’ve come up with!
But there will be those confused Arsenal supporters who said RVP was the best in the world, then they said he was injury prone, over-rated, and owes the club to stay…
not sure where they’d stand exactly!!
Before it happened, they’d say we don’t want Shrek, or any ManU players, because ours are better all over the pitch, but after we got him… he’d be the best player in the world, and it would be another piece of shrewd business by Arsenal!!
I’d do it simply to SIGNAL INTENT… which is what your getting at anyway.
United wouldn’t do it… but they’d be in some turmoil and would back off pretty quickly.
At the same time, we should request a RVP for Tevez or Balotelli swap… just to back off City.
@stag133,
It is also a plan that we can pursue without making a loss,
if you can believe that.
Get rid of the Fabianski, Chamakh, Yung, Bendtner, Arshavin
and Squillaci, for a total of say 25 million. Walcott would
get at least 15 million. So that’s a total of 40 million.
Add in the 50 million in PROFIT we made from transfers
last season and we are more good for this “ambitious” deal.
The club won’t even need to add extra money from the club.
If we are going to spend 50 M on a player, Rooney over
Tevez or Balotelli any day. Rooney can MOVE MERCHANDISE in
ways Tevez and Balo just can not.
@Fred, oh, I agree.
Rooney is in his prime, and he doesn’t have “issues” they way Tevez AND Balotelli do…
However, if the Arsenal cared about winning, instead of money… they’d explore all options…
I’d take Balotelli or Tevez over the 20 Million, because we’d never spend it anyway.
Lack of ambition is one part of it. Another part of it is acting as if the fans are blind and stupid. Too much ego going around. Fans pay fortune for tickets. It just too much to digest at the same time. And yeah, losing your captains, 2 years in a row.
@tAi, how about losing 4 captains in row.
Viera Henry Cesc … RVP?
@stag133,
You left out Gallas.
@Caribkid, indeed…
and we sold Toure, because they didn’t get along, and then we let him Gallas walk too.
brilliant.
Nice piece of business that, aye?
@stag133,
Yeah forgot about the other captains. Yaiks.
-RVP,
-Cesc
-Kolo
-Galas
-Henry
-Viera
6?
I don’t think you understand the word… frankly.
GG was 1000% correct. We have no ambition.
Clubs with ambition don’t sell their best players regularly, let alone to rivals in their league.
As noted above, when has Arsenal openly bid for United’s best player?
And lastly… players have a limited time in the game. It can all end with one horrific tackle, and its over. So, they would have to be stupid… to not attempt to make the most money they can, and try and make sure they are set financially for their future and family. And heaven forbid they want to WIN, while they play… I know, I know… that’s crazy talk… it they want to go to a team that’s winning, that means they are “petulant douche’s”…
yeah. makes sense to me.
so, please…
tell me… what is make a club who soak their fans for the highest ticket prices in Europe, while making the most profits in the EPL… while selling their best players for massive transfer fees and NOT re-investing them back into the team on the field?
What do you call that?
And you are telling me its Robin Van Persie that’s the bad guy? and Cesc… and Nasri… and Henry? and Vieira? ….
they were all wrong…
The club … spotless, Wenger…. God.
yeah. i get it.
You have Arsenal rose colored contact lenses, and you had them surgically adhered.
Why are you talking about Tottenham like it has any relevance to you whatsoever? Were you born and raised in North London, is there a Spurs fan living within 100 miles of you? I cant stand being lectured to about being a fan from bloggers like this with their holy than attitude as if they are how real fans should act.
Your emotional involvement is zero, we were raised on this, its in our blood. The Italians have a good way of describing fans like you they call them soap opera fans, thats what you are and thats what you always will be.
What do you know about George Graham? Without GG there is no Wenger. GG took on the most dominant team in England, possibly in history and turned them over in their own back yard. Everyone was taking bungs thats the way business was done then, GG took the fall but they could have caught 20 managers if they had looked. Oh and by the way now that Wenger has gone so long without a league or anything for that matter GG is once again the most succesful manager we have ever had. Thats the GG you are slagging off.
@Anthony,
GG didn’t win us two doubles, or even one double, or an unbeaten season, or play the most the exciting football Arsenal have ever played did he?
@George, George. you are missing the main point.
Without GEORGE GRAHAM, there is NO ARSENE WENGER at Arsenal.
George Graham created the “ambition” at the club.
@stag133,
I was addressing the point where he said GG was the most successful manager the club has ever had
@George, well, it could be argued Chapman is… and Wenger’s legacy is falling every year that goes by… and the argument that Wenger definitely benefitted from GG… grows as well.
I think the “lack of ambition” meme started, or was at least perpetuated saying things like 4th place is like a trophy, or whatever.
That said, the point of the post is correct imo – it takes no ambition to win the title when you have unlimited resources to do so. True Ambition is the desire to achieve something difficult. So as you say or allude to, Arsenal/Arsene is perhaps guilty of being TOO ambitious in trying to win the PL with cheaper signings and young players either signed early or brought through the youth system.
@davi, You know that ambition and difficulty are two different words for a reasons. If you have unlimited fund that has nothing to do with your ambition. Its possible to compete for a CL spot with discount player but unfortunatly in todays EPL you cant just be smarter and do a better job because ManCity bought themselfes a margin of error thats just too hard to overcome.
You obviously don’t know what ambition means and I therefore assume you are a perpetual loser. Enough said.
@Jan, Mate, no need to be insulting
Geoffrey
While I mostly agree with your arguments, I still think Arsenal can be a bit more aggressive as London’s largest club. You see, it hurts to see ManU bidding for RVP. When was the last time we bid for a Rooney or a Lampard. My point is, Arsenal let herself be prized open with a reputation of a selling club, and that as a negative vicious circle not fit for our club. We are not Barnett or Gillingham, We are the Arsenal and yet we slipped to a much weakened position for a series of reasons. And that hurts. Not a lack of ambition per se, but the aura is gone far too easily.