Bard
A dramatic title for sure but let me explain. For some fans, including Wenger, this season is merely a temporary glitch as the club moves inexorably onwards and upwards. A season of hope blighted by bad luck, injuries and poor refereeing. This view constitutes a serious case of denial. It is blinkered in the extreme and ignores the seismic shifts that are occurring this season in the make-up of the Premiership’s title contenders. It’s my view that Arsenal need to up their game on all fronts if they are to stay anywhere near the top, let alone mount a decent challenge. A repeat of the mediocre fare served up over the last few seasons might well see them disappear into mid-table obscurity. The club needs to get a grip and fast.
Next season is likely to be one of the most competitive for many years. The money sloshing around the Premiership will be huge; the top teams, Chelsea, City, Man U will undoubtedly strengthen. Tottenham look to have a very good young side and, provided they keep hold of their best players, will be challenging next season. Klopp appears to be getting something going at Liverpool. West Ham’s move to the Olympic stadium may well usher in a new era under Bilic. Whether Leicester manage to produce the same performance levels is debatable, but who knows. If you add Arsenal to that top list we could have six or seven teams challenging and scrapping for the title. Wonderful for the neutral not so good if you are an Arsenal fan.
The reason is that, under Wenger, Arsenal haven’t done very well when the competition hots up. His most successful period was 96/97 - 03/04. During that period he won three titles. He was undoubtedly a revolutionary of sorts in those heady days, but in reality our only challengers then were Man U. Moreover he had the good fortune to inherit arguably the greatest back five Arsenal have ever had. Seaman, Winterburn, Bould, Adams, Dixon. In June 2003, Abramovich bought Chelsea and the top table now had three players instead of two. In 2008, the Sheiks bought City and the top table expanded to four. The fact of the matter is that, since the competition expanded beyond just Man U, Arsenal haven’t managed to win a single title. It’s also worth adding that they haven’t managed more than a third-place finish in the last 11 seasons either.
Many Arsenal fans have accepted this chronic underachievement as being down to the impossibility of competing with the more wealthy clubs, what Wenger termed financial doping. This was widely accepted as fact despite the performances of the likes of Dortmund and Atletico whose success suggested it could be done.
This was supposed to be our season, all the big rivals having faltered for a variety of reasons. As the wealthiest of the challengers left, it was assumed that the title would be ours. Using Wenger’s logic (ie you can’t trump financial clout) we were in the driving seat for sure. The reality has been a disaster; not only have Arsenal not even challenged, they have come up short of two sides, Leicester and Tottenham, who have nowhere near Arsenal’s financial muscle. As I write this, we are 13 points behind Leicester. What happened to the financial doping argument?
The bottom line is that Wenger hasn’t been able to better any of the other big competitors since 2004. And even when they have gone missing, as they have this season, he still hasn’t managed to get the job done. With a track record like this, what on earth makes the club think that next year, with even more competition, he will be able to mount even a top-four place finish let alone a title challenge? Mid-table obscurity beckons in my book.
