The season is all but over and all that remains to be seen from Arsenal fans’ point of view is whether they automatically qualify for the group stages of the Champions League by finishing third or whether they are overtaken by FA Cup winners Manchester City and finish fourth thereby triggering a potentially difficult qualifying campaign for Europe’s elite football competition.
All of the football talk, in terms of the Gunners, will now focus on the plans for the summer with a majority of fans now calling for changes to be made. A 6% increase in ticket prices (blamed, almost humorously, on high transfer fees) has been a slap in the face to the Arsenal faithful and most will be praying for Arsene Wenger to change his philosophy and spend the money required to get the players that the squad so desperately needs.
But we know all of this. We’ve heard the same talk at the end of every season since 2006. Wenger never spends money, so what is different now? Is there hope for the fans that they might finally get what they’ve been screaming out for?
Let’s start with Wenger himself. His position has never been questioned… up until now. His excuses are starting to wear thin and his stubborn dedication to his football philosophy has not paid dividends and, to be honest, it doesn’t look like it ever will. Wenger has been proven wrong a few times this season and Arsenal fans are starting to wonder if the genius they once adored is turning into the man behind the curtain; pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. Maybe Arsenal have been happy to ‘make do’ for the past few seasons.
I dug out this interesting quote from only a month ago and it shows how far Arsenal have fallen in the space of four weeks. Speaking in early April, Arsene Wenger said:
‘We are second in the league. Is that a disaster? There are teams who invest 10 times more than us, and they are behind us. If we are disappointed at the end [of the season] then OK. Why do you say it’s a disaster when we are second in the league? Do the 18 clubs behind us have a fantastic disaster?’
I remember thinking at the time that Wenger being content with second showed a lack of grit and determination that I like to see in a football manager. Sure, he was being realistic but there seemed a subtext of defeatism lingering in those words. Wenger was trying to convince us that second place wasn’t a disaster, how is he going to do next week if he has to defend fourth place?
i just wan’t to se the players we really need come in and the players we really dont need to go
Totaly agree.
Arsenal have shown the world that you can’t win the prem or the champs on a budget. Football has moved on for good or for bad and arsenal need to move with it.
F**k sake..!! Do somethin squilachi is rubbish p*ss him off and sign sakho bring back Bartley as fifth cb.. Denilson is all but gone replace him with inler or diarra.. Arshavin, rosicky and Bendtner need to go for hazard, Douglas costa and falcao.
Much as I like the idea of bringing on youth through the academy today`s level of football makes the jump to first grade very difficult. Even the few that make it stuggle to maintain the pace and demands. So, young players start their apprenticeship with a club like Arsenal and then have to be shipped out to gain experience and mature. Having said all that the modern day game is won by buying in proven quality as Arsenal must know by now. Fabregas is a point of issue. Good as he is he would have been a much better and happier player had he been allowed to mature in the presence of top line professionals and be led for a while, not expected to lead.
No doubt in my mind Wenger misread the demands of the modern game when he plugged for youth.