When the Highbury Spy posted his first article with regards to “having had enough” I was close to sending a response, but instead decided to take a back seat and see what others said first – which is what I have done. The result has been a mixture of responses – defending Wenger, defending the players, making excuses and so on. I think though there is one key thing we all seem to be missing… this is all about The Arsenal. We are not Wenger FC, we are not Henry FC and we are not Excuses FC. We are Arsenal FC and it is time to fight like The Arsenal.

Splitting hairs as to who to blame is only helping the opposition in my mind, they see a weakness and they pounce on it. Admittedly I wrote an article after the PSV game blaming the squad for their wasteful finishing this season, but I also blamed Wenger and fans for the excuses made. One thing that I have always loved about being an Arsenal fan is that everyone hates us, everyone wants us to lose and everyone wants to jump on the band wagon. But we have always stood up to this, we have always joined as one and 99% of the time came out fighting and winning despite having our backs to the wall – and I have always been proud of this, Victory Through Harmony and Ooh to be a Gooner if I recall rightly?

Unfortunately of late this seems to be a quality which we have lost. We have started to have false perceptions, such as Wenger must go, excuses like we can’t deal with injuries and worst of all that the media like us!!! Has the world gone mad??? Wenger does not need to go, least of all now. He is the only manager in world football who I can think of that has both the reputation/ability to manage Arsenal along with the ability to build a team on a non-existent budget (despite what the board say during every transfer window).

With regards to injured players I’m having none of it. Of late our front line has been slim I will admit, but I still find it hard to make excuses. We have played well enough and created enough all season to win games twice over with or without injuries. Injuries never seem to be a problem when we win but when we lose it’s an easy way out and I’m not having it. Season 97/98 - Crystal Palace at Highbury - Missing players - 1-0 Arsenal via a Grimandi over the shoulder hook/volley. Three points and on our way to a title. If the Grimster was capable of doing that, then why not our current crop of stars? Reason being lack of fight and feeling sorry for ourselves, just look at how the heads drop when we go a goal down, would the likes of Keown and Parlour have done this? Most certainly not. What they might have lacked in ability they more than made up for with fight and pride.

As for the media liking us do me a favour. They claim to like us and our football but this is nonsense and we all know it. Every article I have read recently states “Arsenal, who have had a cup final defeat and two cup exits in 11 days” and the articles have nothing to do with results or performances!!! They just have to get it in there and twist the knife. The media have never been as happy with regards to Arsenal as they can “praise” us by claiming they like our football knowing full well their favourite part is still to come when they shoot us down by saying its all to no avail and we have no trophies to prove it.

Basically it is time for everyone to stand up, address their weakness and work together, despite our backs being against the wall, as only The Arsenal can. Wenger needs to be more ruthless, both in the market for new players and making tough calls relating to team/substitution selections. On top of this he needs to stop excuses, the players will not learn if he keeps protecting them by spouting rubbish such as “too jaded” or “too young/naïve”. The team need to start scoring (I couldn’t believe it when I was told Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky and Freddie only have two Premiership goals between them this season – you can’t blame Wenger for that because they are all good enough and all had the chances).

The team also need to start fighting (for 90+ minutes) and pulling together, not dropping heads and shouting at each other (are you listening Mr. Lehmann?) And then for us fans. We need to start singing, we need to stop the bandwagon not jump on it, and we need to get behind our manager and team. I was at Villa Park and when Senderos came on the bloke next to me said “what is this useless c*** coming on for”. I told him to shut up and support the lad. I’m not his biggest fan either but he will perform ten times better if you sing his name than if you call him a c***. Other teams will try to knock his confidence, we should be there to keep them quiet not laugh and join in.

Constructive criticism is one thing, but wanting our manager and players out is the media’s job. Quite simply it is time to stop being individuals and start being Arsenal Football Club, it is time to win, lose and draw as Arsenal Football Club and it is time to sing with pride that we are Arsenal Football Club, by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.