CanadaGooner
It had to be one of the saddest days for the British sporting press when the headline “Wally without a Brolly” hit the stands, showing Arsène Wenger soaked after yet another loss at the start of this season. The author of that report should be named and shamed, and I bet you he’s an idiot who has never played football nor really supported any club in his sad life, but got hired by a newspaper and found himself as a football reporter by chance. How else could an article of that nature get printed?
Wenger, for all his faults (and he has plenty of those), has been at Arsenal for 15 years (ten years less than Fergie at Man Utd) and has shown the English Premiership all brands of football and all sorts of footballers (from the passionate Martin Keown-led displays at Old Trafford, to the expressive football of Thierry Henry, Bergkamp and the now uncertain but still goal-laden style we play today); spending only a fraction of what Man Utd has spent in the same timeframe, while still managing to get a 60,000+ capacity stadium built, and three premiership titles and a handful of FA Cups to boot.
All Arsenal fans (even those who have been calling for Wenger’s head for the past six months) owe a debt of gratitude to Arsène Wenger, and I’m sure only a few idiots would disagree with that; if for nothing else, for sticking with us, when he could have moved to Real Madrid and other clubs on the back of his most productive seasons at Arsenal (after all, that’s what players do isn’t it? One good season and they cash in, make up countless excuses and leave for the money).
Wenger needs to realize that bringing in new players over the summer isn’t all about how well those players play; it’s about shutting the press up (from distracting the players we have) and also giving the existing players a kick up their backside when they know they are not indispensible and that they have to compete for their positions. Buying new, experienced players (and not just kids) creates that atmosphere within a team that galvanises the existing players into action, makes them play better and also provides options for when regular players are injured. Having experienced players also ensures that the group of kids can develop and stay focused. Wenger’s error-prone philosophy of developing young players became an obsession, and it would definitely have destroyed Arsenal if the summer outcry and fans’ revolt hadn’t forced his hand to reconsider and buy some experienced players. So, I thank you anti-Wenger fans for that, if nothing else.
I was at the Stoke and Sunderland games and, as usual, it was very clear that those folks who express such venom on this site are not being heard, and must be a huge minority, as the atmosphere at the stadium is brilliant, and the majority of Arsenal fans understand the simple logic that you have to support our team regardless during the season. There is nothing to gain from turning on the team or manager while the season is ongoing!
We are not out of the woods yet. The team MUST not become complacent because we beat Chelsea away; we must now go on an unbeaten run and better our goal difference by comprehensively beating both West Brom and Norwich in our upcoming matches (in which time Man city will play Newcastle and Liverpool gets to play Chelsea; so points will be dropped. Arsenal should be back in the top four by mid-November and we can then get back on track and push upwards)
It’s all well and good for the newspaper boys to create sensational headlines to sell their papers, but calling Wenger a Wally is a disgrace and an affront to English Football as a whole
