Right across the English media websites the polls are up and they are all asking the same thing – is it time for Arsene Wenger to step down as Arsenal manager?
The Frenchman’s future is the biggest topic in English football this week after he saw his side get knocked out on penalties to Bradford City in their League Cup quarter-final.
Coming in such a difficult period for the club – Arsenal are currently sitting in seventh position in the Premier League standings and 15 points off first placed Manchester United – it’s not exactly a one off result which has led to such widespread frustration among the club’s fans.
In fact, last week, despite having already secured Champions League qualification, Wenger was criticised for not putting out his strongest team against Olympiakos. The argument being this was as good of an opportunity as any to get the team back on track with a positive result.
Well it now appears the Frenchman’s plan was to rest the majority of his strongest team in Greece so he could play them against Bradford City in the League Cup on Tuesday evening.
A win would leave Arsenal just 90 minutes from another cup trophy and the chance at silverware. There was only one small problem – Bradford City.
Wenger was right to reject assertions this was a hugely embarrassing result for the Gunners.
“I think we lost on penalties to a team who defended well,” he said.
“I cannot fault the effort we gave for 120 minutes. You have to give credit to Bradford on the night. That’s part of the game.”
It was an awful result in a bleak period for the North Londoners, but as Wenger said they were knocked out to deserving opposition.
It’s worth noting that the Arsenal manager was a lot more gracious than some of the club’s fans, including some high profile broadcasters and journalists, who took to twitter to reveal they felt bad for scoring against their plucky fourth division opponents. How patronising.
The worse bit for Arsenal fans, and this is where I can sympathise with them, is losing to such lowly ranked opposition isn’t really all that shocking anymore.
This isn’t a crisis the club find themselves in – only fans who’ve enjoyed continuous Champions League nights and a team going through a season undefeated in recent memory could think such a thing – but as David Hytner put it in The Guardian on Wednesday, “Arsenal are not so much on the back foot these days as mired in ever-decreasing circles of anxiety and frustration.”
The question of whether Wenger’s time at the Emirates should be brought to an end can only be tackled by first considering whether Arsenal are in fact playing at or about their level.
Could this just be a difficult start to a season for a club that over the last few years has realistically and justifiably turned aspirations down from the Premier League title to Champions League qualification?
Certainly the finances hint as much.
Money spent on wages – which is a much clearer indicator of a team’s ability to challenge for titles than the amount spent on player transfers – shows in 2011 Arsenal’s tally had them in fourth in the Premier League, a whopping AU$75 million behind spending leaders Manchester City.
Nonetheless frustrated Gooners are right over an extended period of time to expect the team to be going in the right direction.
And so as Arsenal slipped back from Premier League and Champions League contenders to the inconsistent mire they now find themselves in, this hasn’t happened.
Wenger and the Arsenal board must draw a line in the sand and accept from this point onwards only forward momentum is acceptable. Even for the man who helped to modernise the English game at club level.
Harry the Hornet
Guest
Routinely buys and sells ordinary players? Oh you mean Viera, Henry, Fabregas, Van Persie, Anelka, Petit, Overmars, Nasri Bergkamp. Yeah pretty ordinary players. I think you were going to the AFL page and clicked the wrong link?
Harry the Hornet
Guest
The team wins..the manager is brilliant...the team loses..the manager should go. Such is professional football. Van Persie made it clear he wanted to go..Fabregas made it clear he wanted to go. What's Wenger supposed to do? Put them in the reserves? Take Rooney out of ManU and then what? It's pretty clear Arsenal haven't adopted the open chequebook approach so Wenger has no choice but to make the best of what he's got. Now Walcott wants to go and guess where? ManU. Wenger is between a rock and a hard place when the best talent wants to play elsewhere. Those three are the difference between success and mediocrity and Wenger must be incredibly frustrated at developing these players who ultimately play elsewhere.
Banger
Guest
'He routinely buys, breeds and sell ordinary players' What a load of rubbish, only need to refer to Mr's Viera and Henry, to refute that. Two players rejected and unused by other clubs which he brought in and turned into the best players in the world fo their respective positions. And sure Chelsea have won a lot more trophies then Arsenal recently, which makes them the 'winningest' club in London, by no means of the imagination would they be able to claim to be the biggest, they would rank fourth for supporter base. Finally, you rightly stated that Arsenal season tickets are the most expensive in English football, but first do your research and be aware that this is only because they include in the season price six or seven extra home match tickets for cup games (incl CL) of the fans choice. This brings the relative value of the season ticket well below that charged by both Man Utd and Chelsea
Ian
Guest
HA! - you'd be forgiven for thinking that when all you can see is emirates written larger than arsenal.
turbodewd
Guest
Im puzzled, is this team called Arsenal or Emirates? Man, advertising on jerseys sux!
Ian
Guest
hmmmph..... solution. pay your tax.
Midfielder
Guest
BREAKING NEWS ATO APPLIES TO WIND UP JETS AND KNIGHTS http://m.smh.com.au/business/27-million-debt-tax-office-moves-to-wind-up-tinklers-teams-20121213-2bb7w.html
pete4
Guest
Losing to a League 2 side is always going to be embarrassing It seems every year were getting these calls for Wenger to step a side and replace him with who? The club made over $50M profit last financial year so the Board may still be very happy with his performance for all we know
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Consistently near the top of the table despite not having the hundreds of millions splurged upon them that their nearest rivals (or even a lot of teams below them) have had. Consistently qualifying for the Champions League, and usually performing pretty well after doing so, and let's not forget that they're still in this season's competition, something which can't be said for Chelsea and Man City. I'm not totally aware of the club's finances but I'd imagine that Arsenal's are far healthier than those clubs that are bankrolled by deep-pocketed billionaires. Just imagine what will become of Chelsea if (or when) Abramovich gets bored and takes his cash away, similarly for Man City. Man Utd's finances, as well documented by the English media, are just an unholy mess. Personally, if my club had Arsenal's "problems", I'd be pretty happy.
buddha9
Guest
wenger has been protected for years by the submissive english media -- they constantly refer to his past record even though those victories by and large were gained with a back four he inherited -- since then his record is appalling -- as is the bullshit excuses he routinely gives: we're in transition etc ( he doesn't give this one much anymore) -- we're always in the champs league etc they're all nonsense and pathetic but again he's been allowed to get away with it He routinely buys, breeds and sell ordinary players and his teams have always lacked two clear things -- a winning mentality and a plan B -- when martin keown was defensive coach for a season they got to the champs league final -- what does Wenger do? He sacks him. Their defence has always been a shambles. He also never stops moaning and whinging about other teams especially chelsea who have clearly usurped arsenal as london's biggest team - arsene whiner The real reason he continues in the job is that he protects the board because the fans believe him --- allows the board to go on lining their own pockets ( and his, he's on the biggest salary of any english manager) charging the highest season ticket prices in england and the most expensive food prices -- arsenal fans are a dumb submissive lot , full of false snobbery and they have gone along with it to their current regret but in fact all this has been obvious for years.
MV Dave
Guest
Not the point of the article but what a performance by 4th Division Bradford City in the League Cup...a night their fans will never forget and one of the reasons why Football is the greatest of all games...this just doesn't happen in other pro sports. Watched the game on Setanta and it was everything that is great about cup football...David vs Goliath, capacity and vocal home crowd, underdogs getting ahead and hanging on for dear life and then a dramatic penalty shoot out. Fantastic! Now Bradford into the semi finals...what a great filip for that town. As for Wenger...well as a Man Utd fan.dont really care but l think he will be ok and continue another decade of mediocrity for the Gunners. :).