In the outpouring of eulogies surrounding the end of Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal, you’re going to read two popular refrains: (1) the beginning was better than the end and (2) there’s some degree of face-saving in his decision to walk with a year yet to go on his current contract.
Longtime Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger announced he will step down as manager at the end of the season on Friday. In the short term, it means an end to the Wenger In/Out meme. In the long term it means figuring out what’s next for Arsenal and Arsene. We have one suggestion for Wenger's next job: USMNT coach.
Batten down the hatches, because I am about to unleash the takestorm to end all takestorms.
Arsenal are in trouble. This much is obvious. They just conceded six unanswered goals to Manchester City in 180 minutes of competition. Manchester City are very good, granted, but Arsenal are one of the biggest, richest clubs in Europe. Arsenal have lost more matches in all competitions (seven) than any other Premier League club in 2018.
It wasn't that Arsenal lost to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. That was to be expected. It was how they lost. At least, that's what the folks who get paid lots of money to unleash Hot Soccer Takes are saying. No word on what their Hot Soccer Takes would be if Arsenal had gamely hung in there and lost a close one.
In every sport, there are rivalries that transcend all others — Yankees vs. Red Sox, Lakers vs. Celtics, Duke vs. UNC, North Korea vs. South Korea, Alabama vs. everyone outside of Tuscaloosa. For football purists, nothing beats the rivalry between Arsenal and Östersunds FK. Fortunately for soccer fans around the globe, the Europa League will bring us another thrilling chapter in the Arsenal vs. Ostersund rivalry on Thursday.
You just can't go anywhere these days without seeing a "Wenger Out" sign. That includes, apparently, the Super Bowl victory celebration in Philadelphia last night.
I have a sneaking suspicion the sign is fake, but the "Wenger Out" movement is certainly real and wide-ranging enough that this is at least somewhat believable.
Like a super blue blood moon eclipse, everything lined up just perfectly for Arsenal at the end of the transfer window on Wednesday. The club signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, one of the most fearsome strikers in the world, nailed down Mesut Ozil to a contract extension and shipped off the now-superfluous Olivier Giroud to ensure the former deal went down. The Arsenal Aubameyang deal came at just the right time for the struggling Gunners. Now if they could just beat Swansea.
In the 60th minute of Arsenal vs. Swansea City, with the score knotted at 1-1, Henrikh Mkhitaryan strode onto the field for his first action as an Arsenal player. Apparently, Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech was so enthralled by Mkhitaryan's grand entrance that he forgot to pay attention to the soccer game he was playing in.
oh petr no..... pic.twitter.com/mDlZpuavht
Piers Morgan has the solution to all of Arsenal’s woes: Bring in Donald J. Trump as new manager. The talking head, an unabashed Arsenal fan, recently interviewed the U.S. Commander in Chief and, according to a tweet on Friday, offered Trump the job of replacing Arsene Wenger as manager to Make Arsenal Great Again.
Arsene Wenger, the Professor with an economics degree, is dipping Arsenal’s pocket book into the crypto-currency markets. The club reached an agreement Wednesday with California-based CashBet, which will thus be allowed to advertise at Emirates Stadium. Now Gunners fans can watch ads for fake money while cheering for fake trophies. The Arsenal crypto-currency deal might just be the most Arsenal thing ever.