With the way the last week has gone – frankly, it has been a horror show – I have have decided to scrap the match report this week and focus on the positives, if any, and the fate that could arise for Wenger and this current squad in the forthcoming months. I’m going to be as honest with you as I am with myself.
I thought that it would’ve been too much to ask and too much of a painful occurrence for many a fan to relive and read about the catastrophic last week that has left Arsenal’s and Wenger’s title challenge in dismay. On the contrary, however, the brutal truth of Arsenal’s title challenge is in fact that it died the day Aaron Ramey and Theo Walcott were ruled out for substantial periods of such a congested season. It hurts me to say this as much as the next optimistic supporter. I’ve been telling myself for months and months that we’ve still been right up there with the most formidable contenders. But it was just not to be, not this season, at least.
In this piece of writing I will review what has gone wrong and right in this devilish month of March, the problems on and off the pitch, as well as why this season is still one to be admired over.
The irony of hope
It came to my attention recently that it was not the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Mesut Özil and Jack Wilshere that many a Gooner were giving their life and limb for in order for these figureheads to keep fit and avoid injury over the season. It was actually the man victim to substantial amounts of criticism and abuse over the last few months, Olivier Giroud. I am not one to stand here on my high horse and dismiss a fellow supporter that has done so, as I am one to fall into that as well. With his lack of big game performances, off field antics with glamour models and a general shackle of effort over course of the second half of the season, the French workhorse has finally seemed to have lost the patience and support from the majority of the club’s fanbase.
This is not to say that he has failed to score some vital goals over the past couple months, with goals against Everton springing to mind, guiding us to a Wembley semi-final that we had all been craving for. And on this note, it has drawn to my attention that we had been fretting for weeks and weeks over Giroud getting injured and consequently dismantling our title challenge, where the irony is, it was actually the injury’s to the players I formerly mentioned that was the real spanner in the works.
Leaders? What leaders?
Throughout the season, I have heard the murmuring of the club containing three captains in the club. That’s right, three. The obvious candidates of current captain and vice-captain, Mikel Arterta and Thomas Vermaelen, as well as the emergence of fan favourite, Per Mertesacker – who has created this leader-esque image after showing tremendous leadership traits, on and of the pitch. As well as possibly Tomas Rosicky, who I see mentoring each and every player on the pitch game after game, with him being one of the clubs currently longest serving players.
Over the past few months, it is clear to me that these so called leaders have appeared to be illusive to the fans and rest of the squad. With heads dropping dramatically quickly after hammerings inside the first 20 minutes at both Anfield and Stamford Bridge, not too also mention the pathetic and gutless performances against Swansea and Stoke City retrospectively, with Stoke being, in my opinion, one of the most embarrassing performances of Wenger’s reign regarding the two clubs issues. With the battle for fourth right on, these leaders need to stand up and replicate the form that was present this time last year, some of their performances on the pitch this season have frankly been, excuse my language, taking the piss out of Wenger and his legacy. Totally atrocious.
She Wore
Whilst all of the drama has been going on over Twitter and Arsenal Fan TV, it truly astounds me that we have all been forgetting one delightful game of football, that we are for once involved in. A semi-final. A semi-final at Wembley. This is by far going to the pivotal moment of the season. Win and it’s happy hour in North London, lose and it’s the apocalypse. I am scared of the thought of losing to Wigan and the catalyst of protests against Wenger that it would spark. But this is not to say we aren’t going to be successful at Wembley on April 12th and possibly even May 17th. In real honesty I have extremely high hopes for us there. But there is still the agonising thought that everything could go wrong. Stop the thought though, this is Arsene Wenger for god’s sake, the man desires his 5th FA Cup trophy. It is devastating to accept defeat in the league title race, but as I mentioned before, it was over months ago, so put it beside and enjoy the rest of the cup run and hope for the best in our league run in.
WengerIN or WengerOUT?
I am thoroughly much a Wenger in man. Arsene has been at the forefront of all my years as an Arsenal supporter and without him Arsenal wouldn’t be the Arsenal we are today. Yes you can argue that he’s struggled in the big games with his tactics and team selection, but this season has been a drastic improvement to that of previous seasons, we’re in the Semi Finals of the FA Cup, challenged with the oil money drenched squads of Chelski and Manchester City for the majority of the season and brought in a player of the highest calibre in Mesut Özil from Real Madrid. Real Madrid. That’s unheard of. With the emergence of Aaron Ramsey and the tying down of core players within the squad things are only on the up, I can promise you.
Oh, and the financial deals too. I am hearing there’s a £100m budget this summer. Yes the last two or three windows have been failures, even with the remarkable capture of Özil. But Arsene has built a project at The Arsenal that is only to be admired by. Clubs such as Liverpool and Spurs have all attempted to expand their clubs status by building incredible infrastructure and stadia, but there’s only been one club in England that has managed to do so. The Arsenal. This is Arsene’s project. And his project has only just started to come to fruition. The debt is cleared. The money is raking in. And the players are starting to admire to security and statue that this club has. Just ask Mesut. So let Arsene have this final window, this one last chance, let him finish the project he started and grasped at only for the beneficial purposes of us fans.
He could’ve have taken the easy route and left this club for dead during the troublesome years where we had to make £30m a season, leaving himself with a clean ride away, but he didn’t. If we were to compete with the financial superpowers of Europe whilst still at Highbury now, I am almost certain that we would be paying higher ticket prices than we are now. So please, whether your WengerIN or WengerOut, leave the protests until after the season and let yourself and the players enjoy their big day at Wembley. Don’t ruin it. Rant over.
See you on Saturday.
