Excuses and Lies...

Just a mere few weeks ago, Arsene Wenger said this:


                     “We are second in the league. Is that a disaster? There are teams who invest 10 times more than us, and they are behind us… Why do you say it’s a disaster when we are second in the league? Do the 18 clubs behind us have a fantastic disaster?… We have been in the Champions League for 15 years, and there are only two clubs who have done that in this country – it is us and Manchester United.”


Fantastic Arsene. But oh, wait.

WE ARE NOW 4TH!

Suddenly, no longer are we second, or even third. No we are FOURTH. Not only that we are staring down the barrel of no longer automatically qualifying for the champions league. If this happens, our 'rebuilding' of the squad will be thrown into doubt as many players will want guaranteed top flight european nights, before any lucrative and yet risky move is concluded.

But it should never have even got close to this state of affairs.

For all you idiotic fans. labelling me as 'plastic' let me set my stall out.

Let's get this straight; Arsenal SHOULD have won the league this season. However our damn goalkeeper cost us 11 point this season. I say goalkeeper, being one (almunia) lest we not forget good ol' lukas. It's unnacceptable.

To our (Arsenal's) current 'crisis' (yes, a 'crisis') there are many elements.

For now I want to focus on our beloved manager....

Le Boss. Le Prof. Or God even...


Really?

Let me clarify this. I LOVE Arsene Wenger. I love everything about him (even his dubious choice in women). For me, the thought of not having him in charge of the club I have supported for 20 plus years, fills me with great sadness...

I take you back to two summers ago, when Nike and various Arsenal players took part in the Cesc Fabregas show. Personally, the thing that made the entire series of hows was the boss's appearance in one of those episodes. If there were any doubt about my feelings for the manager, they were allayed by watching this and the subsequent pride i felt as he from the audience to rapturous applause:

That was two years ago. now we are in a whole new situation. The way i have felt towards Wenger has very much soured lately.

This is not just as a result of his current managerial failings

Let me put forward these points.

Wenger's Lies

I am not the only one who feels wholly let down by Arsene? Promises about strengthening the side - not wholesale changes, but just tweaks here and there - that have been essential. and time and time again, overlooked.

"I will strengthen."

"We are short"

For 3 years now we have been begging for a new goalkeeper. Names have been touted: Given, Lloris, Hart. Names have been and gone. Always ending in the same outcome. ALMUNIA. uh

Also, but perhaps more crucially, the centre back situation needed to be addressed. Without doubt Wengers' purchase of Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax was a master stroke. Many doubted his ability on the big stage. Well he smashed those theories with a goal on the his premier league debut in a 6 1 drubbing of everton at goodison. A ground where few leave with a point let alone score six. For many, including me, Tommy was the signing of the season.

Expectations were that he would carry that form through into this season. Then, hardly a month into the campaign in an innocuous loking challenge with Dean Whitehead of Stoke, Tommy picked up an achilles injury. he played the 90 minutes, but the damage was done. There was talk of only a week out, but weeks turned to months and he remained on the sidelines.

Suddenly Wengers' wish of partnering him with his 10m signing Laurent Koscielny had hit a snag. The idea was to blood Kos by Vermaelen being his mentor and gradually forming a solid partnership.

Ah...Oh...erm....

Dont get me wrong. I think Koscielny will be a good player. give it a few years..he has proved that with match winning performances against Barcelona and Chelsea. BUT he like certain others in the team are just not ready...he needs to perform week in, week out. He is not there yet and because of Vermaelens' lengthy spell on the sidelines, and Sebastian Squillaci's, well, cavallier attitude, his weaknesses have been - at times - brutally exposed.





I think another aspect that is overlooked is the situation up front. Lets not bring into question Robin van Persies' committment. This guy has had setback after setback injury wise. He bleeds for the shirt. you can see that. But when he is not there, there is a real lack of a killer instinct in the box. Chamakh i like. When he arrived he was hungry and scored 8 goals in an impressive spell. But when RVP returned, Wenger straight away reinstalled him as his first choice striker, leaving Marouane to warm the bench, despite him being the most in-form player we had. In hindsight this was a mistake.

The message in his mind was that the boss had lost faith in him as the top marksman. This was evident when he was given a run at the tail end of this season. Everything he wuld normally snap up as a header he was increasingly lacking confidence and passing the buck as it were.