(Ed’s note – We had some trouble being able to post material at the end of last week which has resulted in a minor backlog of pieces. The one that follows was submitted between the Liverpool and Reading home league matches)

Having recently bought the latest issue of the Gooner, I was glad to find included within the articles was a piece bemoaning the lack of support for the team (especially our captain) and the manager that has been creeping its way into the media – from our own fans. I felt that I needed to join in highlighting this curious situation.

Let me start by stating the obvious, despite not having too much hope of winning the Premiership title at the beginning of the season (I apologise Arsene!) prior to the match at St. Andrews I had started to firmly believe that it was a real possibility. Following what happened in that game and the subsequent poor run of results, Gooners everywhere have had to slowly watch our title ambitions slip further and further away. Admittedly it’s not mathematically over yet, thanks to Man Utd dropping a few points, but I am extremely disappointed that after being very much in the driving seat we have seemingly pulled the car over to the side of the road for a breather, letting Chelsea and the aforementioned Mancs scream past with their respective pedals to the floor. When we fail to finish top of the table at the end of the season we will have no-one to blame but ourselves, a view which our manager must agree with, having stated repeatedly (when we had a five point lead at the top) that it was all in our own hands and that is the best position to be in.

As disappointed as I am, I attempt to put this aside every time I go through the turnstiles at Ashburton Grove for the next match, and do my utmost to support the team throughout the following ninety minutes. It seems that this is not the case for all of the fans, some storing up all their anger from the previous game and letting rip during the next one as soon as things start to not quite go our way. It is repeatedly said that the fans pay a high price to attend football matches nowadays and they’re fully entitled to their opinions – I agree, but does it really help our eleven men on the pitch to turn things around with the crowd firmly on their backs?

A real case in point was the recent home Premiership match against Rafa’s long-ball hoof merchants, Liverpool. It is absolutely true that we were so pedestrian in our build up in the first half that it was a real slog watching the game, let alone playing in it. Also I can’t deny that the defence seemed to completely switch off to allow Peter Crouch to put the Merseysiders in front. He had five men around him for Christ’s sake and it was Peter ‘legs like a newborn foal’ Crouch! Nevertheless, I was embarrassed that the team were booed off at the break and by the abuse being shouted at our own players during the first forty-five minutes.

First to suffer was Nicklas Bendtner. Yep, he had a bit of a stinker of a half and I’m still not entirely convinced he’s top quality lone frontman material, but he was told that he was ‘f**kin useless’ and Wenger was advised to ‘f**kin take him off, I’ve seen enough of that t**t!’. Luckily Mr. Wenger was clearly out of earshot, kept faith with the big Dane and Nicklas promptly headed in the equaliser – Fans 0, Arsene 1.

Also taking a verbal battering was Gilberto, a surprise inclusion given his recent run of poor form. Clearly suffering all season from the lack of a run of any sort in the team, to say he was ‘off the pace’ before half-time is being very charitable to the former ‘Brazilian Wall’. From different sections of the crowd he was also being given his marching orders, via the use of various four letter words. After the break many of the Arsenal team were much-improved but, in my opinion, none more so than Gilberto. He was snapping into tackles, constantly pressing the Liverpool midfield and continuously winning the ball back for us to launch another attack. Naturally his range of passing was still, shall we say ‘limited’, but we know that’s what Cesc is there for. I think that was Gilberto’s best performance in the red and white this season – Fans 0, Arsene 2.

The most surprising abuse of the day was saved for the newly christened ‘Flamster’ who, after seventy minutes or so, was visibly struggling to keep up with the play and misplaced more passes than we have become accustomed to this season. Despite being a revelation as the engine in the heart of our midfield all season, Flamini was still not safe from the boo-boys and was taking some serious stick – Mathieu was yet another player to be told in no uncertain terms to pull his finger out. Ten minutes or so later the manager made his third substitution, on came Hleb and off went the Flamster.

Arsene knew, as did most of the crowd that the Frenchman was struggling for two reasons – (a) he had suffered a nasty clash of heads hurling himself at a cross in front of the Liverpool goal; picking himself straight up (as is his way) but looking distinctly shaken, and (b) he had run himself into the ground, working tirelessly to drive on his team in all of his thirty-eight starting appearances to date this season. Flamini has paid the price for his own tremendous from and looks shattered – boo-boys give him a break! Le Boss saw this and coupled with the quality second-half that the much fresher Gilberto was having (only sixteen starting appearances so far this season), knew that he needed to save the Flamster’s legs – Fans 0, Arsene 3.

These cases, occurring during just one game highlight how easy it is for all of us to jump on the bandwagon and start heaping more pressure upon a team scrabbling around for self-confidence wherever it can find it, and also desperately hoping for a little of the good luck that seems to have completely deserted them. Poor refereeing decisions, unlucky bounces of the ball, highly debatable offside decisions – it all seems to have gone wrong lately. Of course there are the wider criticisms of the manager and his (admittedly frustrating) lack of activity in the transfer market.

The disappointing run-in has highlighted the frailties in the squad, with the likes of Van Persie, Rosicky (has anyone seen our Czech winger?!), the unfortunate Eduardo, and most recently Sagna all being big misses on the team sheet. I agree we need to spend in the summer to mount another challenge next season but surely now is not the time to get on Wenger’s back. The manager and the players need our support now more than and ever, let’s give it to them, they earned it in the first six months of the season when the football was electric and the points tally was effortlessly rising. Gooners are the best fans in the country, this is the time to prove it.