Arsenal: Arsene Wenger should not be sacked - Vermaelen

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments462

Arsenal players

Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen says he is stunned by suggestions that manager Arsene Wenger should be sacked.

Pressure is mounting on Wenger after Arsenal lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Emirates on Tuesday.

This followed a 1-0 home loss to Championship Blackburn in the FA Cup.

Asked if he was shocked Wenger's future is being questioned, Vermaelen said: "I am actually. Everyone in football looks too short term."

He added: "They don't look at the long term and he's done a lot for this club. He is the right man for this club and we are all behind him."

Winger Theo Walcott said: "We've got the best man in the job to get our heads back to where they should be. I've played a lot of games in the Champions League and I know how things go.

"We need to react in a positive way straight away. We can't be down in the dumps in training. Everybody needs to be alive and alert, recover well."

With an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals, Arsenal are now facing the possibility of an eighth successive season without a trophy.

They are 21 points behind leaders Manchester United in the Premier League and were knocked out of the Capital One Cup by League Two Bradford at the quarter-final stage.

But it is understood senior figures at Arsenal have no intention of sacking their 63-year-old manager - even if they fail to qualify for next season's Champions League.

On Monday Wenger became angry at a news conference over a report he would be offered a new contract, claiming it intended "to harm".

Following the defeat by Bayern Munich, some newspapers suggested that Wenger should consider his positionexternal-link.

But Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere said that Wenger was not to blame for the team's poor results.

Vermaelen agreed, saying: "We have to show it on the pitch as well. At the moment the results are not good. But we will work hard with him to get the results back."

"It doesn't mean that because it's not going well at the moment we don't stand behind him."

The defender has also asked that the club's fans stay patient despite the poor run of form.

"The fans must not forget that we need them because they belong to the team and to the club," he said.

"Sometimes, as a player, you are frustrated as well. If you lose you get frustrated but it's not the right thing to act on. We have to stick together, work hard. We need each other.

"Of course we are not happy. Don't look at each other, don't blame each other, work hard every day to get the results back."

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

462 comments

  • I don't know about Wenger out - can we have Phil McFaulty out please? His level of journalism and grasp of the English language is high-school at best.

    McFaulty out!

  • Wenger's influence goes beyond the pitch - Arsenal couldn't afford a new training ground in 1998. Wenger got 25m profit for Anelka, got Henry for 11m and Colney for 14. Arsenal wouldn't have been able to afford the move to the Emirates without the PL wins, the CL qualifications and the increased profile of the club. Arsenal are one of the top 10 clubs - if not teams - in the world cos of Wenger.

  • I'm a spurs fan and I would love Wenger to leave because he has consistently lead Arsenal into the champions league, finished above us every year, beat us 5-2 the last two years. He has also won the league three times? and several cups. Played great football and helped you move into an amazing stadium and training ground. If he was ours he would be a legend and given the respect he deserves.

  • I'm no Arsenal fan (far from it) but this is like the 4th article about Arsenal that is open for discussion.

    Sometimes the BBC is just as bad as the awful tabloid newspapers.

  • There should be a Statue of Arsene outside the Emirates Stadium.

  • Journalists have double standards - Wenger has achieved more in the EPL than 6 or 7 clubs who have spent loads more on players and wages. He has changed the game for the better and should be admired for his stance against irregularities in football. Its about time the board took of the restraints and gave him more budget to play with and increase wages - I'd bet Wenger would win the league.

  • The sewer-rat-spud-fan journalists who started the crazy notion in the media that Bale is worth 60m and they are the same vermin who have created the vindication of Wenger. It is spiteful, jealous and disrespectful to pick on one of the legends of the game - if only spuds could do better considering they spend hundreds of millions more. AW will rise above this and bring Arsenal back to glory.

  • How many stories about Arsenal are the BBC going to write and open to comments today? Yes Arsenal lost to Blackburn and it was a bad result, but I can't think of any teams that would be able to beat Bayern in this form. Give Arsenal and Wenger a break!

  • If I was an Arsenal fan I wouldnt want him sacked, Id just want someone to shake him and shout in hi9s ear to buy better players. Hes proved he can win the league, but his squad right now arent good enough.

    So get some better players and do what most people are aware you can do.....

  • Are the BBC going for some kind of record for discussing one issue in a day?

  • Sack Phil McNulty !

    Never hits the target- just drivels and drivels and drivels...

    Sunday league journalism.
    Get your act together BBC! This is embarrassing.

  • The main thing I dislike about this journalist is that we pay his wages. he is constantly on Wenger's back, it's not a new thing, it's without foundation and is obviously a result of some resentment - Phil Mc Faulty in Spurs fan admittance shocker - the man's a clown.

  • Football's a fickle game. Thrash Spurs 5-2 again at WHL and Wenger is the right man once again.
    I know we shouldn't live in the past but we're talking about a man who has had a whole season UNBEATEN with his club, in an era when football was so physical and brutal. I mean Fergie in his 26 years hasn't even done that.
    Who's to say they won't win at the Allianz anyway, it's unlikely but it's doable.

  • Dear BBC

    We the license payers demand a Points of View - on TV - where we the license payers can hold to account the journalism being broadcast on the BBC website.

    The journalists on TV & Radio are scrutinized- why not the Web ones also?

    There's a serious lack of quality and accountability on this Sport site - it's not good enough - and we demand better!

    THE BBC ISN'T A RED TOP !!! (sic)

  • I think Phil McFaulty is a wee bit out of his depth here. Joining the bandwagon and trying to assert pressure over AW is just lazy. Chief football writer? More like tabloid sheep.
    Thats the problem with this guy. Arrogance is a recurring theme in his drivel. Sees himself more of a pundit than journalist.
    Taking things (AW's managerial record) out of context = bad (standard) journalism. Simples.

  • Why would one of the best coaches in the world take a directors role...i don't think people realise real Madrid are desperate to sign him...arsenal's biggest talent is Arsene wenger...

  • We cant really blame wenger for the bayern game no team in europe would beat them at the moment including barcelona. We just need to be ready for villa on saturday. Up The Arsenal

  • I just cannot phathom how Phil McNulty is Chief Football writer BBC.

    If his article is anything to go by there must be some very poor football journalists at the BBC!!

  • 158

    Arsenal are just having a bad season but theyre only four points off forth. . As for Bradford they've had a fairytale cup run and I reckon if they'd played some of the other big guns they might have done them as well.

    I just honestly think people are over reacting and I'm not an Arsenal fan.

  • What makes me laugh is the 'blame Arsene' bandwagon, especially for not spending. It's hard to spend when you're not allowed funds. It's hard to spend when the franchise's owner is about profit (see other clubs he owns). It's hard to spend when you have the limitations he has.

    He is FAR from faultless (wages on weaker players). But to blame him, solely? No.

    Kroenke out. Usmanov in!

Top Stories