22 December 2012

Is Life Under Wenger So Bad?

So, its safe to say that the last week or so has been difficult at best.  The loss to Bradford put The Arsenal firmly into a "crisis" or at least it did according to the papers and SkySports news.  Wenger on the other hand  said the usual "I have belief in this team" and two games on we now sit 3rd in the table, 12pts behind the leaders going into the Christmas Break.
Of course it wasn't just the Bradford defeat that had caused so many fans to say enough is enough and we want Wenger out.  That has rumbled on for the last couple of seasons, and the main reason for it? Simply no trophies in 7years.
But is that a fair reflection on a man whom will forever be an Arsenal managerial legend?  The Arsenals fans have high expectations, and why shouldn't we? We are The Arsenal and we are the team that by the late 90s and the early noughtys  were the team to beat.  We battled Man U for EPL titles every season.  We won FA Cups and league doubles and we of course had an Invincible season.  But since 2005 the well has run dry.
Times have changed, Billionaire owners have came in and took over teams and made them "super powers".  Teams that had no history are now out there winning Champions League Trophies and EPL titles while The Arsenal are simply now battling for 4th.....3rd if we're lucky.  And for a team of our status that simply is not good enough.
So who is to blame?  Our board, for the lack of funds to compete and for letting our players go? Our players for not showing loyalty or passion for the badge? Or as many would now believe is it Wenger, a man with no plan b, poor team selection, and the no trophies for 7yrs.
Now I'm no AKB, I simply respect a man that if we as fans looked at it with some perspective, maybe we'd see that actually hes not done or in fact is not doing that bad a job.
In the 16years Wenger has been here we've won 7 trophies, 2 Doubles, and that Unbeaten season.  All that came in such a short space of time that we as Arsenal fans started to believe that the the Era of The Arsenal was upon us.  But alas the Russian money machine came in and took over Chelsea, and we started to get left behind.  And then came the Dubai Dollars and the change in power up North.
But looking at our record are we under Wenger that bad?  If we split the the trophy haul over the 16years, then it works out a trophy roughly every 2 seasons, take that and add the fact that we've made Champions League football every year, and we don't spend vast amounts of money, what Wenger actually achieves is very good.
Times at The Arsenal do appear to be changing.  The recent contract extensions for 5 British players shows a mould Wenger has broken.  He was always one for buying foreign, and putting trust in other players but our own.  Of course theres the Theo saga and The Arsenal only have themselves to blame for that.  But even where thats concerned Wenegr seems to be softening by now playing Theo in his "preferred" center role.  And with the Stadium all but paid for we, as fans, are told that there is most definitely money there to help make us once again compete at the very top.
Is Wenger the man to do this? I believe yes, for the time being.  Theres still one or two things that he needs to iron out.  The lack of that Plan B being one of them.  But I think as things stand, Life at The arsenal isnt as bad as the Press would like us to believe.  If we were told at the start of the season we'd be 3rd going into Christmas, many of us would have taken that.
Maybe all we need to do is keep a little faith.  in 16yrs Wenger hasnt done us that wrong.  Change is good and freshens things up but lets not just change because the Press tell us we need to. Theres many teams out there that would kill to have Wenger as there manager.  Maybe we should be great full for what we have, as it could be a lot worse.

Have a Cracking Christmas and stay safe

Keep the Flag Flying High and the Canon Loaded

@RabbitArmitage

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