Losing is part of any sport. The very best accept it with good grace, something about which Arsčne Wenger could learn something.
Yesterday afternoon’s loss to Aston Villa was though unacceptable. Too many of the team clearly didn’t really care that much. Given the extravagant salaries they receive we’re entitled to the highest level of commitment, concentration and effort at all times. Yesterday the club was taking money under false pretences.
You can argue that we had a goal chalked off that should have stood. You could argue that we should have been awarded a penalty. You can argue that we got stronger as the game went on. You can argue all you want. The fact is that this current team lacks tactical discipline and awareness. It also lacks heart. For the former the manager bears most of the responsibility. He must also bear his fair share of the burden for the latter.
Since losing the Carling Cup Final at Wembley we’ve gone into a nose dive. Aside from beating Manchester United we’ve had little about which to cheer. Off the field we’ve seen the Stan Kroenke takeover and unjustified ticket price increases across the board for next season. Clubs around us are achieving more with less. It’s time for us to join the real world, most importantly the players and the manager.
Personally I don’t demand trophies every season. I’m not a success junky. I’ve always been an Arsenal supporter and I always will. The problem is I’m getting very little back for that support at the moment. I honestly don’t think that many of the players give a monkey’s one way or the other, cocooned as they are in a world where nothing is beyond them financially. We’re paying out too much for too little in return.
Wenger himself seems to have retreated into a laager, moving to a house in a gated residence, cutting himself off from journalists who ask probing questions and anybody who isn’t signed up to his “project”. I can understand his irritation with media intrusion into his private life. He faced it right at the start of his career at Arsenal when outrageous and completely unfounded allegations surfaced. Recently he was alleged to be having an affair with a woman in Paris. As hurtful and salacious as the latter story must be that’s no reason to retreat behind a wall of silence.
His attempts to redefine “success” as qualifying for the Champions League every season when questioned is, frankly, nonsense. Success means silverware. It’s as simple as that. You asked to be judged at the end of the season mate. Well, on the evidence, you’re a failure.
Not just because you haven’t guided the club to trophies but because we keep on making the same tactical errors that lead to giving away silly goals. Because we keep on choking in big games. Because we show no heart in adversity. Because when anything goes wrong it’s always somebody else’s fault, never ours for not being good enough.
The constant excuses are getting really old. Wenger currently dominates the club to an extent which isn’t healthy for him or us. It wouldn’t be permitted elsewhere. With our new absentee owner things aren’t likely to change unless Stan Kroenke recognises that no manager should have as much power has Wenger has aggregated to himself. It isn’t healthy or wise.
All this makes me so, so sad. There’s been no bigger admirer of what Arsčne Wenger has achieved for us. The truth is though that the man has isolated himself to such an extent that all criticism or any alternative view is treated as treasonous. That’s not good enough. Not even close.
The time has come for some very hard questions to be asked. To go on as we are is to invite yet another season of under-achievement next term. For this season Manchester City are now in the box seat for a third place finish and the last automatic Champions League place. We can but hope that they lose their game in hand; giving us a chance of third if we can beat Fulham at Craven Cottage on the final weekend of the Premier League season.
I can’t get the words that Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams sung in 1978 out of my head, “Guess its over. Call it day. Sorry that it had to end this way. No reason to pretend. We knew it had to end some day. This way. Guess it’s over. The kids are gone. What’s the use of trying to hang on? Somewhere we lost the key. So little left for you and me, and it’s clear to see.”
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