Right now, the Arsenal camp is abuzz with optimism. Like the ever-smiley school teacher every person would have had at one point or another, every Gooner has reasons, not half-truths, to believe that their beloved club could achieve something truly special this season. A Premier League challenge seems an absolute certainty, while the Champions League could see a wild card entry to, if our Pot 1 club isn’t too monumental.
After years of apparent absence of cash, finally the club have the funds to put the money where their mouths are. Their backroom staff seem ‘fit’ enough to handle injury woes, tactics have improved, and the manager’s acquisition of Petr Cech – shortly before ending Mourin-hoodo – means Arsene is poised to take a stab and satiate his ambition.
The optimism surrounding the camp could come back to haunt Arsene Wenger.
Look, I’m not concerned about the retorts – I know Wenger is incompetent. I know he’s negligent toward tactics (unless the pressures on him reach boiling point, which is when he reacts) I know he’ll overplay Sanchez, Ozil, Bellerin, Ramsey to death, and I know that even if other teams are equally inept enough to drop points, Wenger won’t instill the winning mentality in his Arsenal team to grab their chance.
How could he? He couldn’t even nab second last season, when Manchester City were dropping points away. The Premier League is a huge issue – and while I reckon we just about have the squad to win it, I know we don’t have the manager. It would take an extraordinary amount of fuckery by Manchester City and Chelsea for Wenger to win the league.
Even if Rasputin were in Arsenal’s injury staff, he couldn’t do anything to influence Wenger’s team selection. In the end, it is Wenger who coaches his players, tells them to run their routes and plays them. Bar a freak injury or any uncontrollable variable, controlling injuries fall on his shoulders.
I like that Wenger seems passionate enough to win the league, in fairness. Ever since last season, he seems to be aware that his time at Arsenal is tending to zero – hence the opportune buys in Sanchez and Cech. However, passion is not enough in this business. Wenger also needs tactical acumen, game management and a willingness to change his ideologies to achieve what he wants, and I’m tired of proving he doesn’t have that.
However, it seems this season I won’t have to convince anyone. The high levels of ecstasy will drop to equal outcries of anger when (not if, when) the manager fails to deliver what was expected of him – a Premier League win, or a Champions League challenge. This time it will be impossible to lay the blame at another person’s door.
Injuries? Nah, apparently we fixed that last season – it has to be Wenger’s fault for overplaying them.
Players letting the manager down? Well, all of them are winners. Giroud won the Ligue 1, Ozil won the La Liga, Cazorla the World Cup, Sanchez has won a lot – all of them have won the FA Cup. They have ambition, they have desire – they’ll follow the manager’s orders to his grave. That is, if his orders are clear and direct.
I’d be hugely surprised if Arsenal have a bad start to their Premier League season, but doubly so if we actually win it. And don’t kid yourself it will happen – even though the quality in the current team is evident, they need a manager to bring the best out of them. Arsene Wenger is not that man.
The pessimism in this post might surprise a lot, but you’d be more surprised at the prophecy of this post if you re-read it in May. This season is not about Arsenal winning the Premier League or the CL – it’s about Wenger failing to achieve that mandate, and finally getting recognized for those failures.
Judge this post in May.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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