Frustrated, Irked, Furious, Agitated. Probably the F.I.F.A. of every Arsenal fan right now. And who can blame them? After all those years of mediocrity, lack of transfer funds excuse, and watching the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United grab the pole positions in the league year after year, this 2015/16 campaign offered a glimmer of hope for all the Arsenal fans around the globe of something irresistibly good and an opportunity to walk in their schools / colleges / offices on Mondays with their heads held high.
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The arrival of Petr Cech
Arsene Wenger took a huge gamble by deciding to buy just Petr Cech from cross-town rivals Chelsea in the summer, and no outfield player, probably against each and every football fans’ view – let alone Arsenal fans’. Fans wanted a centre-forward, in the mould of Jackson Martinez, or Christian Benteke. No offence, but looking back, Wenger couldn’t have made a better decision by rejecting them both.
It paid off initially when Arsenal fans finally got a taste of having a World-Class goalkeeper after probably a decade, making world-class saves to keep Arsenal in the contest game after game. Things were looking pretty healthy until December when Arsenal had beaten the table-toppers Leicester, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Manchester City with some sumptuous football; until calamity struck when we were hammered 0-4 at St. Mary’s on Boxing Day.
That brought out the much-famed ‘Wenger Out Brigade’ (WOB) into full force, calling for the manager’s head who were practically invisible for almost the whole season.
January transfer window chaos
Injuries in quick succession to Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla forced Wenger’s hand in the transfer market and he responded with a 23-year-old Egyptian defensive midfielder in Mohamed Elneny. It calmed a few nerves, but the fans, as always, wanted more. But the fact of the matter is when you have Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud leading your attack, and Danny Welbeck on the brink of a return, you just cannot convince any striker to join your club and guarantee him regular football, unless of course, you’re talking of Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
With Euro 2016 round the corner, it further dents the chances of signing someone worthy of improving on your existing crop of players, the obvious reason being your inability to guarantee them regular football. Wenger’s faith in Danny Welbeck paid off big time when he came off the bench after being months out to score a 95th-minute winner against Leicester to trim the gap between the clubs to two points.
The blame game
Hindsight is indeed a beautiful thing to have, but you just can’t predict that you will not find the back of the net in 5 of the last 8 games. Fans found a scapegoat in vice-captain Per Mertesacker, finally culminating into laying the blame entirely onto the Boss every time for not starting a more agile and quick Gabriel alongside Laurent Koscielny.
The Frenchman responded by dropping the big German in favour of the Brazilian against Manchester United, and we all saw how that panned out. He was tactically unaware of things going around him, struggling with the ball at his feet, and not at all making Wenger look like an amateur for not starting him on a regular basis ahead of the German – a more tactically sound, and brilliant at anticipating passes.
Why always Arsene?
Watching Arsenal’s title challenge falter further with a crushing defeat at Old Trafford this Sunday was painful, to say the least. Yes, Wenger indeed deserves a bit of stick for the loss, but to entirely put it onto him would be a bit cynical. He didn’t tell Theo Walcott to run into three Manchester United players in his own defensive third with the ball only to lose it which culminated into their first goal.
He didn’t tell Gabriel to not mark a centre-forward in his own 6-yard box for their second. People pointing out that the likes of Ramsey, Walcott haven’t been performing well of late and should be dropped; just because they saw a few opponent teenagers running the show for their side. They must realise that Louis van Gaal, the Manchester United boss, had no choice but to play them due to his injury list.
You always play your big players in big games, and that’s what Wenger did. That Theo Walcott or Alexis Sanchez or even Aaron Ramsey couldn’t penetrate a makeshift centre-back pairing of Michael Carrick and Daley Blind should by no way be the manager’s fault.
The same fans would have been lashing at the boss if Theo wouldn’t have started by saying, “Look that’s Michael Carrick at centre-back, Theo should have started.” We’re talking of full-time international first-team players, they are mature enough to take decisions on their own on the pitch and implement it to perfection.
The season isn’t over yet
The jury is still out whether Arsene Wenger can lead his misfiring Gunners to Premier League glory this season or will they falter again at the final stage of the season; and also whether he should stay if he’s unable to deliver the target. Until then, the best we can do is get behind the team in the best possible manner and make a ‘season-review’ at the end of the season.
