26.11.13

Asernal situation this season looks bleak Wenger has run out of excuses

I have a good mate called Charlie who is, believe it or not, an Arsenal fan. He wants to believe they can win the title. He wants to say it out loud. But he can’t bring himself to do it.
‘I’ve been laughed at too much before,’ he says. So why are Arsenal fans reluctant to loudly back their team to win the title?
In August 2010 Arsene Wenger said: ‘Trust me, my team is ready to deliver!’ Arsenal sat second in the table, seven points behind Manchester United with a game in hand at the end of March that season. Wenger said they were ‘ready for the fight’. They won two of their last nine games (one of them against United) and won the ‘fourth-place trophy.’
All or nothing: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has no excuses left if his side fail to win the Premier League title
All or nothing: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has no excuses left if his side fail to win the Premier League title
Talk the talk: Wenger has repeatedly said his Arsenal side are ready... now the Frenchman must deliver
Talk the talk: Wenger has repeatedly said his Arsenal side are ready... now the Frenchman must deliver


 
 
Before that, in August 2009, he declared that the season ahead was ‘massive’ for the club, and that his team was ‘mature enough to deliver.’
Wenger said: ‘To talk of winning the league is an audacious statement but I built this team and I want to deliver.’
He accepted that Arsenal ‘are at the period now where we will see whether I was right.’ The Gunners finished third, 10 points behind United, and 11 behind champions Chelsea.
Last season Arsenal fans resorted to celebrating finishing fourth, above Tottenham, after humiliating defeats to Bradford and Blackburn in the domestic cups and after failing to make the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the third successive season.
So you get the picture. Wenger has promised success but failed to deliver. He has a history of it.
This season, failure would be unforgiveable. He’s been backed in the transfer market, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City have all changed managers, and it would be embarrassing if the Gunners failed to hold off any threat from Spurs, Liverpool, Southampton or Everton.
Arsene Wenger’s years in the job should give him a huge advantage.
But the questions that leave Gunners fans doubting whether they will see the title shot through still remain. Can Aaron Ramsey continue scoring? Can they rely on Olivier Giroud all season? And perhaps most significantly, will Wenger spend again in January?
Wenger declaring this week that he doesn’t need to sign a striker in January to win the title must have been the last thing Arsenal fans wanted to hear. They know it will require a huge amount of luck to win the title with just one recognised orthodox striker.
Bringing Nicklas Bendtner on at Old Trafford was as embarrassing as Spurs bringing on Emmanuel Adebayor at City. It smacks of Wenger being stubborn.
Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez were signed by Liverpool in a January window so if Wenger looks hard, and knows the market well enough, he can add quality. If he wants to.
After 12 games, Arsenal have more points than any of the last three title-winning sides had at the same stage.
Days gone by: Patrick Vieira holds up the Premiership trophy after Arsenal won the title in 2004
Distant memory: Wenger must deliver on his promise to win the Premier League with Arsenal
Time to deliver: Wenger and captain Patrick Vieira with the Premiership trophy in 2004

Long time coming: Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004 but must end 10-years of pain
Long time coming: Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004 but must end 10-years of pain

Reliant: Olivier Giroud has led the Arsenal line with aplomb this season but the side is lacking a support striker
Reliant: Olivier Giroud has led the Arsenal line with aplomb this season but the side is lacking a support striker


There really are no excuses; if Arsenal don’t win the title, it will be down to Wenger and nobody else.
It’s there for the taking. Wenger, you’ll only have yourself to blame if you’re left with regrets at the end of the season, saying to yourself: ‘I did not see it through.’
The Arsenal fans don’t want to shout about how they will go on and win the title for one reason – because they know their manager too well.
Next up: Arsenal face Marseille as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday
Next up: Arsenal face Marseille as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday
Main man: Aaron Ramsey has been in scintillating form for Arsenal this season as they look to win the title
Main man: Aaron Ramsey has been in scintillating form for Arsenal this season as they look to win the title


One of the most sickening sights of the season so far was the Swindon fan running on to the pitch and violently confronting Leyton Orient goalkeeper Jamie Jones.
But sadly it doesn’t surprise me.
A quick stroll through various social network sites on a Saturday afternoon will reveal the astonishing level of vicious hate and aggression fans show each other. And most of it goes unchecked.
Threats are made, the language is aggressive, and all in the name of football.
Shocking: A Swindon fan ran on to the pitch and punched Leyton Orient goalkeeper Jamie Jones
Shocking: A Swindon fan ran on to the pitch and punched Leyton Orient goalkeeper Jamie Jones

Shocking: A Swindon fan ran on to the pitch and punched Leyton Orient goalkeeper Jamie Jones

It was only a matter of time before an individual decided that if keyboard warriors get away with abnormal levels of aggression, he might give it a try for real. I’m all for a bit of passion when it comes to football, but it seems there is a whole generation of football fans who don’t seem to know right from wrong.
West Bromwich Albion’s draw with Aston Villa was thoroughly entertaining and filled with some good football. But at full time I started to wonder why so few players from the Midlands are picked for England.
Ben Foster is the only player at either of these two clubs to get a call up for England in recent memory.
Are they all overlooked because they’re not good enough?
Surely not.
Let me entertain you: Aston Villa and West Brom produced some fine attacking football on Monday night
Let me entertain you: Aston Villa and West Brom produced some fine attacking football on Monday night
Main man: Shane Long scored two fine goals before West Brom were pegged back by their local rivals
Main man: Shane Long scored two fine goals before West Brom were pegged back by their local rivals


Recently there was talk of West Brom striker Saido Berahino getting a shout for the friendlies against Chile and Germany. It didn’t happen.
Aston Villa have several players who Roy Hodgson could consider: Fabian Delph has finally come of age and is playing consistently well, Matthew Lowton may be on the bench this season but he could easily have been England’s right back earlier this year– he was in stunning form while questions were still quite rightly being asked about Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker - but he was overlooked.
Ashley Westwood is a mini Michael Carrick – he openly admits he bases his game on how the Manchester United midfielder plays. He rarely gives the ball away and that’s exactly what England need.
Young gun: Saido Berahino has impressed up front for West Brom
One to watch: Ashley Westwood has been in fine form this season for Aston Villa
Ones to watch: Ashley Westwood (left) and Saido Berahino (right) have been in impressive form

Seriously – what has Tom Cleverley got that Westwood hasn’t?
The consistent overlooking of players from Villa and the Baggies is made even more bizarre when you realise Roy Hodgson used to manage one of those clubs.
One of Greg Dyke’s complaints was that Premier League clubs don’t field enough English players. Well right in the heart of England several players are being completely ignored.
‘Maps to goal’.
Anyone heard of them?
Apparently they are detailed diagrams a certain Premier League manager shows his players to help instruct them how to score.
I’m told in preparation for one particular game this manager drew up and showed his players 27 ‘maps to goal’.
Lost: Roberto Soldado struggled to make any impact for Tottenham against Manchester City
Lost: Roberto Soldado struggled to make any impact for Tottenham against Manchester City

Lazy: Soldado's heat map showed he had most of his touches in the centre circle during City's 6-0 win

So who is this manager?
Step forward Andre Villas-Boas. Please tell me it’s not true.
Map to goal?
More like a road to nowhere.
On Tuesday night I will be in the away end at Griffin Park, watching my team Peterborough United try to end a run of four successive league defeats against Brentford.
Posh are stinking League One out right now – they’re giving football a bad name. Normally reliable defenders are waving opponents through and allowing them to score. Midfielders who usually love getting the ball are hiding behind opponents. Strikers are just downright lazy.
Even the manager seems to have lost the plot. At the start of the season Darren Ferguson said it was his best squad ever, now it’s a squad that needs wholesale changes.
In trouble: Peterborough lost to Stevenage on Saturday to continue their poor run of form
In trouble: Peterborough lost to Stevenage on Saturday to continue their poor run of form

In short, Peterborough United are rubbish.
But I wouldn’t ever give up on them, and on Tuesday I will applaud them on to the pitch, and get behind the team. I’ve never booed them, even when they were losing 5-0 at home to local rivals Northampton in the 1980s.
But I’m dreading going to Brentford. They are in stunning form and could run up a cricket score against our gutless shambles.
And then it’s Wolves on Saturday.
Pray for Posh.

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