So we are just past halfway the league campaign and it’s occurred to me I’ve not posted much about football recently. Arsenal fans have never led a quiet life when it comes to supporting our club and things have not changed. We are simply 90 minutes away from a crisis. We have the most divided fan base in the country.
I’ve always been vocal in my support for our manager. He has faults and boy, can he be stubborn. But he has unquestionably been a force for good for our football club. I guess I have been increasingly critical of him, but the abuse he has faced has been shocking and an embarrassment to the majority of Arsenal fans.
We had a few really tough years following our move to the Emirates. Fans who claim he’s had millions to spend during the first years at our new ground and he stubbornly refused to buy world-class talent are simply deluded. To think he was happy to go toe-to-toe with Fergie and Jose (and often losing) with a depleted squad is an opinion formed with a set agenda in mind. Seeing the likes of RVP, Csec and Nasri leave us for big money and replacing them with the likes of Bendtner, Denilson and Baptista has been cruel for us all.
But I’m going off on a tangent. I’m pretty defensive of all the criticism that Wenger has faced. The actions of most on ArsenalFan TV were amusing at first but now have been come an irritant and most certainly an embarrassment. Forgetting the past few barren years (excluding the significant consolation of a couple of FA Cups), we need to ask are we improving as a team and a club??
Unquestionably, the answer in my view is yes. I’m gutted we have lost so many crucial games in recent years. They hurt a lot but I’m a little too long in the tooth to react to defeats like many of our social media loving fans. The squad is in good health, bar the incessant injuries. I will argue to my dying day that we would have won the league last year if Santi has been fully fit. But this year we have greater depth to our squad. Our key players – Bellerin, Sanchez, Girod, Xhaka, Walcott, Koscielny, Mustafi, Cech, Monreal and the lavishly gifted Ozil have been in largely excellent form. The back-up players – Perez, Elneny, Iwobi, the Ox, Ospina, Iwobi and Ramsey have all played their part.
The response to our reason defeats at City and Everton (two traditionally tough games) has been completely overblown. We have had only three defeats (the other defeat to Liverpool was largely down to us having a second-string defence) and we have show great spirit to come back from losing positions. Grabbing points against Burnley, Southampton, WBA, Ludogorets, Preston and Swansea when we first well below our best were fantastic wins. Savaging points from games against Utd, Bournemouth and PSG demonstrated the mental strength which the players never receive credit for.
Alongside those games are the performances where we really excelled – Hull, Sunderland, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Ludogrets (at home) and Basel, have been so good to watch. We’re in the knock-out stage of the CL, facing a relatively easy path to the FA Cup Fourth Round and I still maintain we are well placed in the league.
I shall endeavour to post more. I sense it’s going to be a rollercoaster ride but I’m the eternal optimist.