Alex Jackson
It’s the 10th August 2014 and Arsène Wenger’s popularity at Arsenal is at a near ten year high, certainly the highest it has been since the move to the E******s Stadium. Just months after delivering his first piece of silverware in eight seasons, the FA Cup after victory over Hull in May, Arsène’s side have comfortably dispatched the reigning English champions Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield final at Wembley. In the midst of this has been a summer of positive action, with Arsenal moving quickly to replace the departing Bacary Sagna and Lukas Fabianski with quality upgrades as well as the now almost compulsory annual luxury buys, this summer’s offerings being Alexis Sanchez and Calum Chambers. Wenger is making the right noises about the need for a physical presence in the midfield, whilst promising fans he will replace skipper Thomas Vermaelen when his move to Barcelona is confirmed.
Yet fast forward just over a month to the defeat against Borussia Dortmund on the 16th September and Twitter is exploding with furious fans ready to turn on the manager. The calls for ‘Wenger Out’ have not been more prevalent in over twelve months, since before the arrival of Mesut Özil last September. So how has it all turned so sour for Le Boss? A friend who supports Charlton Athletic described it as “outrageously ungrateful” that a club who remain unbeaten in the league and have just suffered their first defeat of the season, against a team of Dortmund’s quality, have the cheek to feel hard done by. Yet there is something more than simple disaffection at the first defeat of the season brewing in N5. It was not the loss nor the 2-0 score line against one of Europe’s better sides that most hurts but the manner of that performance. On paper a 2-0 away defeat to the 2013 Champions League runners up does not seem enough to justify this level of backlash against the manager, but the fact is that the result could have been so much worse.
It could so easily have been yet another dismal away day humiliation and that this did not surprise even the staunchest of Arsenal fans starkly reveals the lack of confidence in this team. Manchester City games aside, the performances this season have been woeful. For far too long there have been too many players in the squad not contributing enough to justify their place in an Arsenal starting XI. The embarrassment for most is the realisation that this is the best the club has to offer. Where once we had Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira now it’s Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta. How can Wenger think this is good enough? The man who built the Invincibles cannot look at this squad and seriously believe it is capable of reaching the heights expected at Arsenal. His negligence in his failure to address the many weaknesses in the squad is what most hurts the North London faithful. So much has been made of the need for a powerhouse in central midfield and genuine cover at the back, yet Wenger continues to take chances with his ‘make do and mend’ approach. His outright refusal to spend big on desperately needed players is so frustrating when it is clear the money is available to spend. This feeling is compounded by Wenger’s indecision in the transfer window as moves stutter over a player’s asking price, as with Julian Draxler in January when the boss refused to pay an extra £4m, or over their wage demands, notably Luis Gustavo and Sami Khedira, as if it is his own money he is spending. Until this mentality is changed Arsenal will always be two or three players away from having a complete starting XI.
His smug grin in his post-match interview strikes deep at what most riles fans with regards to Wenger: his seeming acceptance of mediocrity. Paying the highest season ticket prices in the country, and therefore likely the world, fans demand the best football. The nine year trophy drought was accepted under the special conditions of the stadium move but now there is no excuse for the total lack of focus and determination shown in the transfer market. Wenger may be happy with fourth place and one FA Cup win every eight years, but fans want to see Champions League quarter and semi-finals against the best Europe has to offer and a title challenge that lasts beyond the first injury crisis of spring. At the very least a team we can be proud of, signings that get you excited to go to the E******s every other weekend and players actually doing their job in the team. The policy of cutting corners, filling round holes with square pegs, playing a £42.5m world class number 10 on the left of a four man midfield to shield the ageing and increasingly immobile selection of holding midfielders available at the club smacks of desperation after yet another transfer window was allowed to slam shut without this obvious inadequacy being rectified. The pain of this is made so much worse when Chelsea move so decisively in the market to bring in exactly what they need for a similar outlay. The less said about Cesc Fàbregas here the better.
So when Arsenal offer a season ticket in the same price bracket as Charlton, Arsenal fans will be happy to accept the same old story of ambitionless underachievement and abject failure whilst being left behind by the teams we once called our rivals.
Ed’s note – To finish off our promotion of the Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition handset – which I know has gone down very well with a number of our readers(!), a gallery of photos taken with the handset at the game v Southampton on Tuesday evening has been posted here.
