Akinlolu Dairo 
You will pardon me if, at the end of this piece, it seems that I have no clear direction; confused at the end of the day, you might say, but isn't that the state most Arsenal fans are in today?
I have been an Arsenal fan since 1999, which was about the year when every match in the Premier League was beamed to these parts, and the major attraction of Arsenal was the team’s willingness to play football and the fact that our dearly beloved Kanu was in it. Kanu left, but I have remained. AW knows how football should be played. Good vision, magnificent passes, fantastic movement, excellent teamwork above individualistic plays: you name it and that was Arsenal. The Invincibles season highlighted what you could achieve with such style, and what a season that was! Almighty Manchester tried it last season, only to be brought to earth by the team at the bottom of the table. I mention all this to praise AW and to let him know that, indeed, he has brought sheer joy and delight to us as fans, and he is almost indispensible. In fact quite a number of young Gunners grow up today thinking the club was named after Arsène.
Then came the E******s stadium project, and we have been unable to recover since. The only way to stay sane is to keep telling myself how much more intelligent AW is than I am. Hence, he knows better and knows exactly what he's doing because I can only imagine what would happen if the same team that faced Udinese came up against Barcelona in a champions league match up? Guesses, anyone?
I'm incredibly polarised when thinking about the departures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas. While at Arsenal, Cesc showed incredible commitment. That was never a doubt, but while I review Thierry's heartfelt departure clip on Arsenal TV Online and compare it with Cesc’s disappearance on Sunday, I come up short. This leads me to believe that Cesc was so desperate to leave, he not only part-funded his transfer, he forgot to say goodbye. Whether I like it or not, he's an excellent player, a testimony of the AW project and, as I said a long time ago, if Cesc were to leave Arsenal, it was going to be the climax of a big flaw in the AW project. Cesc embodied the vision, he was the flag-bearer, the symbol of that project and if he, the light of the idea, were to call it quits then aren't we all fooling ourselves?
The Fergie fledglings were a comparable project, and Sir Alex was able to manage the five of them till he got the very best out of each one of them. The club was always attractive to them and they wouldn’t dream of leaving because there was always that balance of youth and experience to achieve their goals. I see Kieran Gibbs two years down the line, getting better and big, and Real Madrid come knocking. Then he totally forgets the heartbreak he put us through when AW put so much faith in him - an untested, untrusted teenager - to play in a Champions League SEMI-FINAL against Man Utd and committing that blunder that put paid to the match as a contest and killed off the dream of lifting a Champions League trophy. We have never come close since then. Would we blame him at that point in time? A lot of arguments for and against but we would lay that aside and return to our ex-Captain Fantastic. I have ambivalent feelings towards his departure but AW contributed most to the circumstances.
Samir Nasri, however is another case entirely and I cannot seem to comprehend it. His quality is undoubted, but four months of performance and suddenly the club is not good enough for him? I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, and would wait for an end to the saga before rendering any opinions, but the underlying truth of our predicament is that the E******s is a ground for rough talents to come, make all their mistakes at different times, perform half a season and exit for greener pastures. That is the signal everyone, both fans, neutrals and 'enemies', now receive and believe, and I think that is really a trend AW urgently needs to address and reverse, because, at the end of the day, he might end up undoing all his good works. He would be remembered as the man that took us back to oblivion. He says he has quality and would not add average players to his squad, only quality players. What escapes me is the idea that Oxlade-Chamberlain is a quality addition, so he would make every attempt to get him into the squad, but Juan Mata is not, so there is no need to spend £20 million on him??? He said himself that no-one is leaving as it would be difficult to convince anyone that Arsenal is a big club if it allows its best players to leave. Inevitably he has pronounced Arsenal the opposite of a big club as its best players either have left or are on the verge of leaving.
This season has bothered me the most, because not only does it seem we are trying to do the same thing the same way and expecting a different result, but AW has reneged on his promise to strengthen. We feel depleted, we feel out of our depth. And only a miracle would ensure a top-four finish. A recent interview with AW sees him saying that success would be a Premier League triumph while a top-four finish would be acceptable. Why would a treble not be seen as success while a Premier League victory be acceptable? If that shows how much expectation our Manager has, then who am I to dream of a treble?
I admire the Barça model. The spine of the team is built around the same people, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi but yet every season, one or two quality players are purchased for a lotta cash and added to the team to maintain that standard. Even when they made an obvious mistake with Ibrahimovic, they won La Liga and made corrections afterwards. Currently, there are three generations of Xavi: Xavi himself for now, who is a local product; Fabregas for the near future, local product but purchased for a lot of money; Alcantara for the far future, another local product who would not leave anytime soon.
Why can't Arsenal be like that?
I want to believe that there is something we don't know about the whole picture. A man doesn't just suffer unnecessarily when he has the resources to make himself happy. AW is being denied some things and is just putting up a bold face for us. He wants to make Arsenal the best in the world but his hands are tied.
Not confused, totally delusional. Right?
Always a Gunner.
