He’s lost that loving feeling

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It seems faintly ludicrous to describe the second game of the season as a ‘must-win’, but that’s where we appear to be.

The biggest alarm bell last week for me was not the lack of signings. We can berate the lack of movement but in reality we cannot judge the state of the squad until the deadline day circus has finally left town. Football has the extraordinary knack of feeling entirely different one week to the next. That’s why I’m not hanging the season out to dry after week one.

That said, I do think Wenger has been dithering at a time when we need ambition and direction and decisiveness. Whether fairly or not, it gives the impression that we have not planned our summer well enough and are not being ruthless enough reacting to things (injuries) that are out of our control.

However, I do also agree that the market is insane. Wenger is not the only one to decry this; Chelsea’s new boss has been saying something similar. It’s as mad as a sack of badgers.

So no, that’s not what worried me most. What worried me more was the utter collapse of the early second half – the kind of cave-in that we have seen time and again with the late Wenger-era Arsenal and is so commonplace that it’s no biggie. Forget the veneer of respectability added by Ox and Chambers; we were 4-1 down at home and utterly ragged after 18 minutes of the second half, having entirely dominated the first half. The worry is that no amount of new players will fix that because we switched off and it’s a mental, structural thing.

I suppose you could say this for any one of the last three of four years, but this feels like Wenger’s last season to me. I’m not saying that because I think we’ll do badly this year – there are 37 games left, after all, and we have a decent if incomplete squad. I think it is his last year whether we win the league or come seventh.

21 years is a long time and it just feels as though that time is near. Not just practically, with his contract being up. But psychologically, the well of patience is empty now and the pressure at the slightest hiccup is very real. We all sense it and he does too. Wenger’s shine is wearing off.

This is all hypothesis though. Today – August 20th! – we need to win to get back on track. We need to control the game and we need to be ruthless. We need to bring back our best players, because we need them badly. We need a reaction. Same words, different season, but that’s what we need.

A win at the champions will go some way to zipping the naysayers.

For now.

Jim

Arsenal since about 1979. Thick, thin and all that.

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. A K DASGUPTA

    Wenger is a looser and a liability. Can’t help he be shipped out.He should go only when Arsenal will compete in the lower half of EPL. I am surprised fans are still buying tickets. Stop buying , an empty stadium will only see the back of this tragedy star.

  2. Jim

    He’s not a loser and he’s no liability. But it does feel like his best days are behind him.

  3. G10

    Wenger is not just a loser and a liability; he is a liar, coward, fraud and specialist in failure.

  4. mark

    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt. – LINCOLN

    Wenger would still have a lot more supporters if he followed this sage advice. Unfortunately he is such an egomaniac that he is guilty of hubris- always giving complex answers and spouting opinions. Quickly he is in contradictory territory and its game over.
    Lets be frank – if it were anyone else – he would be a laughing stock

  5. James

    You have a great page and great articles! Keep up with the good work! From Arsenal Ukraine fan!

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