Don't blame it ALL on Wenger

Could it get any worse? A glum Wenger looks sombre as he witnesses his Arsenal side lose 8-2 in the hands of Manchester United (Picture courtesy of The Telegraph)

 

As a fan fond of Arsenal and their classy play, stylish technique and football principles, seeing yet another season go by without a trophy has me worried about the future of what was once an illustrious club. The loss at the weekend to Sunderland typified everything that could possibly go wrong at a team recovering from the setback of what promised to be a beneficial project. We can sit here and talk about how Fabregas and Nasri moving on were the cause of Arsenals demise, and to an extent it was. The squad as many Arsenal fans should know was built around Fabregas, including Nasri. With a highly influential midfielder in Fabregas, he occupied the wings with players who could feed of his ingenuity and with a resurgent Van Persie; it looked like the puzzle was finally coming together. Losing to Birmingham in that utterly shattering final, brought Arsenal's confidence to an all time, even one legends like Tony Adams and Martin Keown would never have experienced at their time at the club. Such was the pressure and expectation that losing that final led to the exit of 4 competitions in 2 weeks. Sound like a bad run in FIFA? Not even close.

Now with another trophy less season surfacing, many will be quick to criticise the Philosopher and ask for his head. But have they looked at all angles of the spectrum? Sure I reckon Wenger has had a big part to play with in all of this. His decisions at times can be erratic at best, and seem to be made with a lack of thought, like the line-up at the San Siro. Ramsey has been in poor form, and at such a stage, the safe option would have sufficed. He knew the wings would be in a poor state, why play Walcott? Why not the bold and aggressive Chamberlain? And Arshavin...Yes I know Arshavin has had his pitiful performances for the Gunners, but in a match of that significance, Arshavins experience and movement with the ability to make solid final decisions (one Walcott needs to develop in depth) would have been more than welcomed.

Now why is Wenger not to blame for this seismic downfall? One reason is that he is one of very few managers who are LOYAL to his players. When Gilberto, Viera and later Flamini left, he failed to replace them in the transfer market. With Song developing and later proving himself, he was ensured of a midfield replacement to line up with Fabregas. Why not get a Viera replacement? Well Abou Diaby has the ability to be just as good as Viera. Wenger's reluctance to but new players rests on what I feel is that he knows, he has the players to cover their positions internally. Wilshere is conclusively the ideal switch for Fabregas, with the Scholes edge, and ingenuity of Iniesta however, with an unfortunate injury term, his presence is sorely missed. Other players that could fill in could come in the form of Ramsey, Rosicky and even Diaby. Now once we began to suffer injuries, people instantly demanded for new signings, and fast. Well, what happens when the injured players return? Manchester City is the perfect example to show why having too many players is not an ideal situation. Wenger knows that he has the instant impact replacements, but he is only being realistic and looking out for the player’s welfare. Why buy another Fabregas in the likes of Gourcuff, Marko Marin or Pjanic, when the players are sat in the dressing room? Sudden injury plagues do not call for rash spending and wild card players.

All in all, Wenger's part is this kafuffle is subsequently evident, but considering other factors such as simple bad luck, injury plague and the player’s poor form, it is not a sole BLAME WENGER situation. Far from that in fac, far from that.