Bard
This time last year Arsenal were joint top of the PL. Chelsea were in transition and Man U were in a complete mess. It augured well for a tilt at the title, the first for many years, but we needed to add one or two to the squad, notably a forward to share Giroud’s load. Extraordinarily the club did nothing but take Kallstrom on loan, even though he had a broken back ! It was a breathtaking statement of the club’s lack of ambition. Despite the lack of investment we clung on to claim our usual 4th spot. The summer saw us invest heavily. Our net spend of £70m was second only to United’s supermarket trolley dash. Nevertheless it was the biggest net spend in Arsenal’s history. This was surely the statement of intent that we had been waiting for.
Here we are a year on and things aren’t looking good, we are currently 13 points behind the league leaders Chelsea and to all intents and purposes out of the title race. On current form we have our work cut out to claim the 4th spot. We can hardly claim to have been playing great football in the run up to the New Year, far from it, some of it has been shocking, our defensive play has been at schoolboy level, without the brilliant Sanchez we might have been languishing in the lower half of the table.
As we enter the January transfer window it is self evident that Arsenal will have to spend even more money to maintain the status quo. Another centre back is a near certainty but we might also be in the market for a defensive midfielder. It is perfectly reasonable to suggest that by the end of the season Arsenal/Wenger will have spent the thick end of £200m in transfers plus wages over the last season and a half to very little effect. There is an argument that suggests we have gone backwards. We are still chronically mentally weak and our defensive frailties are seemingly insoluble.
The apologists point to our chronic injury problems but the reality is that bar Debuchy none of the injured were tearing up trees when they were fit. Arteta has been a liability all season, Ozil, Ramsey and to a lesser extent Jack have been peripheral figures. The Kos situation is the elephant in the room as it was well documented that he was carrying his injury in the World Cup. His absence might reasonably be classified under the ‘shooting yourself in the foot’ column. Furthermore our injury problems go back years and point to a systemic issue in the club, they are not a new problem. Worryingly Theo, Jack and Ramsey are beginning to resemble the next generation Diabys.
They also promote the fallacious argument that no other manager could do better. Are we really to believe that no other top manager with £100+m to spend over a season and a half couldn’t produce better performances than we have seen over the last two seasons?
What seems barely credible is the level of apathy and lack of accountability around the club. Despite the odd protest there is, by and large, an uncritical acceptance of this state of affairs. Wenger seems to have a remarkable grip over both a section of the fans and the media that blinds them to seeing the reality of the situation. The fact that club are now in a dogfight for 4th place after the extraordinary levels of investment is testament to the fact that he is failing, of that there can be absolutely no question. What the club do about it is another question altogether.
