Piers Morgan says Arsene Wenger has run out of excuses – and has called for Arsenal to replace the Frenchman with Jurgen Klopp.
The journalist and TV host joined the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on Wednesday after seeing his beloved Gunners humiliated by Olympiacos in the Champions League and launched a furious attack on the club’s manager.
“That is the worst performance I have seen by Arsenal in Europe in Wenger’s entire tenure,” he began.
“It is a case of the chickens coming home to roost. I have persistently said that I see no evidence of this progress, of this great leap forward, that we are supposedly making all the time. I point to last night as to what I am talking about.
“I was a diabolical performance against a team that have played 12 teams in England and have never won. They have been thrashed in almost every game they have played in England. They have scored three goals in 12 games in England and conceded 37. Last night, they basically hammered us.
“Wenger always has a great excuse, whether it is the stadium, his spending, the board, the weather. Whatever it is, there is always some excuse that doesn’t involve Arsene Wenger. Well last night the excuses ended. It is him.
“There is a wider malaise at the heart of Arsenal. I have had a lot of flak for persistently saying for six, seven years now that I believe Wenger has run his course at Arsenal.
“It is not personal. I have no problem with Arsene Wenger. He is a very erudite, intelligent guy who did an amazing job for the first eight years of his tenure. But how many more years can we put up with shocking mediocrity?
“In the last couple of years alone, we have conceded three goals at home to Olympiacos, Monaco and Anderlecht. Any other big European club manager would be long gone just for that.
“How many more calamities can Wenger perpetrate on this club before the penny drops!”
Having consistently made it clear he wants Wenger out, Morgan believes Klopp should be the club’s number one target to replace the Frenchman.
Asked why he wants the former Dortmund boss, he said: “Firstly, he is available. Secondly, we understand he is itching to get back in the game.
“Thirdly, Liverpool are likely to part company with Brendan Rodgers and he might be tempted by a club of that stature.
“If you look at what Jurgen Klopp did at Dortmund, he completely transformed that team from a very mediocre German side into one that beat Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga twice.
“This is a guy who is twenty years younger than Wenger who is absolutely ravenous for success with a new club.
“He loves attacking football, so Arsenal fans wouldn’t be deprived of attacking football, but he would make our defence a granite-like defence.”
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