We have blown the league..........that is a clear fact! Having the chance to go eight points clear and now finding ourselves six points behind in such a short period of time there really is no other way to describe it!
We have to face up to the fact that this has been a catastrophic collapse hidden briefly by a great result in Milan, a ten man comeback against a woeful Bolton side and the circus around an all English Champions League quarter final!
When you look at some of the sides we have dropped points against it is even worse! Birmingham! Wigan! Jesus Christ!
If we win nothing this year that will be four seasons with sod all! That is nowhere near good enough for a side that parades as one of Europe's big hitters! That surely cannot be right! If we had any other manager in charge now we would be screaming for change! So why are we so different with Wenger? The legacy he has created at the club is immense and can never be underestimated. The football we have watched has been incredible at times! The player who have graced our turf we have been in awe of!
But that is all past tense now! History is wonderful and planning for the future is great but it counts for fuck all unless you are taking care of the present!
Some Gooners are going to have to accept that the same as everything and everyone else Wenger has a shelf life! Please don't point to Ferguson, he is the exception rather than the rule. Every single person only has so much drive in the tank and new ideas to freshen things up. I think it is quite clear that Wenger is struggling.
He is struggling with the players we have got presently and he seems to struggle badly when it comes to trusting himself to lay out the big money on established stars our squad and kids are crying out for. There is nobody in football who can agree that we needed greater and more experienced numbers to sustain a title push. So why do we accept that this was not forthcoming with an apparent £70 million war chest? Even if we did not want to dip into all of that and to have kept some rainy day money we have so many fringe and surplus players that could have released funds and wages. Hoyte, Djorou, Gilberto etc could have been sold without great loss to the squad. Sure the squad size could have stayed the same even but included in that small number needed to be more genuinely experienced players and leaders!
I read today that Wenger said he could not have imagined that RVP, Rosicky and Eduardo would all be injured at the same time. Why not? Robin has had many injuries many lengthy since he joined us and Rosicky has a long line of lengthy muscle injuries to his upper legs. Sure Eddie's injury was a hideous incident but it still only counts as an injury.........we don't get any consolation points for its severity! Injuries are part of any season and so must be envisaged surely?
Finally did we seriously expect to win the league with Almunia, Diaby, Senderos, Eboue and Bendtner? Fine as squad player if you have a decent sized squad but ours is so small it was inevitable we would have to rely on these guys to play a large part of the season. You compare these players to what our rivals have available on the bench or sometimes in the reserves and there is a huge gulf in class. Sorry people have to face the fact that Wenger has placed to much faith in certain individuals. Eboue has to be the most hated Arsenal player since Eddie McGoldrick, maybe even more so, yet we have to put up with sub-standard nonsense from him week in, week out. Please someone tell me how Eboue has positively influenced our season as a right midfielder! Someone please tell me when he has influenced a game and maybe even turned a match in a position that demands creativity! This has been a huge mistake by Wenger not to buy a proven player such as Ribery in this position and to instead trey to get the same results on the cheap!
If lessons are not learned this summer and the fundamentals are not addressed then we are fully entitled to start seriously worrying if our club is still in the right hands. If the dross that needs to go is not replaced in decent numbers it will only serve to reinforce the fear that the league is now a personal crusade for Wenger to win it without investment.
That cannot be tolerated and nor should it be. The club as a whole is greater than any one person and that applies to Arsene as much as it does any player!
