Two more years, Two more years Arsene Wenger.

Two more years, Two more years Arsene Wenger.
Two more years, two more years I say.
Two more years two more years, Arsene Wenger.
Playing Football, the Arsenal way.

The song is one that all opposition fans will continue singing as long as Arsenal keeps hold of the Frenchman. After suffering another soul crushing defeat at the hands of Premier League strugglers Brighton (2-1) the Gunners find themselves closer to the bottom of the table (25 points), than the top (33 points).

The Gunners seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle as they seem to get overly excited at the start of the season after making one or two big signings and expecting to win the league. Next, they perform relatively well at the start of the season only to fall off the pace and call for their manager’s dismissal at the end of the season.

My opinion of the problems at Arsenal.

Problem 1: Arsene Wenger.
Problem 2: Overly optimistic expectations.
Problem 3: Poor management of players.
Problem 4: Insufficient transfer dealings.

Starting off with the gaffer himself. Arsene Wenger as had a fairly decent career winning 3 Premier League title’s (1997/1998, 2001/2002, 2003/2004) and 7 FA Cups (1997/1998, 2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2004/2005, 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2016/2017). The Frenchman has had some great moments, who could forget the invincibles. However, in a 22-year spell with the Gunners this equates to 1 trophy every second season, not even. While this is not a bad record, probably better than most comparing this record with what the Arsenal fans expect Wenger falls drastically short especially noting that 7 of the 10 occurred during his first 9 years at the club.

The Problem with Wenger is he has turned Arsenal from a real contender for the Premier League to a subpar opponent that cannot realistically be considered a contender for the top 4 spots. At any other club Wenger would have been cast aside long ago, but for some reason Arsenal seems to feel that they owe Wenger something. Yes, he did bring the club success, but the moment a manager gets bigger than the club it is time to part ways. Wenger’s style of play and transfer policy is unfortunately not good enough in today’s game. The Frenchman reached his expiry date about 10 years ago and has been milking Arsenal Football club somehow convincing them that they are still relevant.

Unfortunately, Gunners fans also must take some of the stick. Einstein defined Insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. This Wenger/Arsenal cycle has been repeating for 10 years and somehow, they still expect to compete. Arsenal’s squad since the Invincibles hasn’t been strong enough to win the Premier League and their transfer dealings have also not matched that of their competition. Examples of the “Title winning signing that fills all the gaps” include Ozil, Sanchez, Cech. While these players are all brilliant footballers all three of them where players who were falling out of favor at their current clubs. While making signings like these aren’t always bad if you want to beat the big teams you need to beat them to the big signings and not sign their rejects. While the above-mentioned players have been great for Arsenal, the club also tends to let their top players leave examples include Sanchez, van Persie, Henry, Vierra, Nasri, Vermaelen, Sagna and Adebayor.

The other big problem is these players are not managed correctly and many of them leave on bad terms and state that they leave to win silverware. These statements should ring alarm bells, if the players do not believe that they can win silverware with the club there is a big problem. Wenger clearly struggles to convince top players about his ability to further their careers and this is just another strike on the managers scorecard.
Furthermore, looking at Arsenal’s spending in the past 10 season’s Arsenal are in 6th position behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham spending a staggering 150 million pounds less than fifth placed team Tottenham.

The Verdict. The Gunners have two options, Keep Wenger, lower expectations and accept that they will solidify their position as a mid-table club that can challenge for the Cups and play Europa every second season. OR get rid of the Frenchman that is destroying the club while showing no remorse, bring in a top manager, give him financial backing and hope that they can return to the good old days.

My Opinion. Wenger out. Bring Simeone or Ancelotti to the Emirates and start enjoying your football again.