Wenger Out calls drown out Rodgers protest
ONE HAS overseen his club’s worst start to a league campaign for 32 years, the other has seen his team slip to 12th in the Premier League having finished second last season. Both have just suffered damaging defeats they’d rather forget.
Only by scrolling through Twitter could it have got any more miserable for Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger or Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers this weekend. Both managers were the subject of a barrage of fans’ fury condensed into 140 characters.
A section of the Arsenal fanbase seemed to lose patience with their manager after Manchester United picked up their first away win of the season at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, while some Liverpool supporters apparently lost faith in Rodgers after a 3-1 loss at Crystal Palace spelt a fourth straight defeat in all competitions for the Reds.
In the last month alone the Twitter hashtags #WengerOut and #RodgersOut have been tweeted over 80,000 times, with both reaching a peak this weekend according to social analytics tool Topsy.
On Saturday the hashtag #WengerOut was tweeted 27,904 times as Arsenal fans failed to come to terms with yet another failed attempt to beat United. The Gunners have beaten United just once in their last 15 meetings.
The #RodgersOut brigade were smaller in number, but still clearly visible on the social media platform. The hashtag was tweeted 11,284 times yesterday, and was even trending in Liverpool during the afternoon. The majority of Londoners were seemingly preoccupied elsewhere on their Saturday evening, but #WengerOut was a national trend in Nigeria.
Tweets from both sets of fans reveal a hankering for Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp as the chosen saviour. #KloppIn was tweeted 975 times yesterday.
It should be noted that Arsenal fans have a greater online presence than Liverpool’s. The London club has 31m Facebook likes and 4.85m Twitter followers, while Liverpool have 24m likes and 3.52m followers.
It was all so different a year ago for both managers, when Arsenal sat top of the Premier League with 28 points and Liverpool were hot on their heels with 24 points. Yet Arsenal’s tally of 17 points after 12 games is their worst in the Premier League era, while Liverpool only narrowly avoid such ignominy.