Le Boss... Le Joke

Le Boss

Le Joke

Nowadays, all you hear from Arsenal is "bouncing back". Why we always have to bounce back I never fully understand. In fact I don't understand why we bounce away in the first place. No wait, I think I do know why.

Every time we go through a bad result (which is nearly every week of late), we hear the same sound bites. It used to be Djourou mostly, then everybody else would chime in but with the same results following. Now they have resorted to putting the "new" man Wilshere out there to do the sound bites... shame on them all.

There was a time when Arsene Wenger was Sir Alex Ferguson's only rival in the Premier League. The Frenchman had a swagger about him. He was cocky, he had a perma-smirk on his face, making him look like he always had a trick up his sleeve. And he did.

Year after year, Arsene would tap into the French Market and sign up or produce gem after gem in players. Arsenal's scouting network was touted as the best, possibly in the whole of Europe. We had all the wiz kids on our radar and we would snap them up and turn them into world class players in no time. Those were the glory days of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger's reign at Arsenal.

Sir Alex Ferguson, gum-chewing , irritating Manc that he is has managed to produce winning team after winning team, regardless of the obvious drop in technical ability of his players. I mean, take a look at the current Manchester United midfield... does any name really stand out as being technically gifted? I don't think so. Now compare to Arsenal's Cazorla, Arteta, Wilshere, Diaby and Rosicky. Clearly Arsenal have the more technically gifted players in this department.

Yet we see season after seson the manager tell us how this team is good enough to win the league, even the Champions league. We are mesmerised by a few decent results and we begin to believe and hope. But just when we really think we are on to something, reality kicks in. First our perma-crocked players get crocked, despite being told that this season they will last the distance. Then we start to lose games and produce abject performances for which there is no proper explanation. We are told the players are "jaded", yet they play the same amount of games as their rivals.

The cycle goes on and on and we eventually get back to the usual sound bites about bouncing back, standing up to be counted, being serious, lacking a little bit the sharpness... But the truth is that we are lacking a lot the   quality, application and brains.

It is not fair to blame the manager when an International striker misses an empty goal from 3 yards out. Nor is it fair to blame the manager when 11 Internationals fail to beat a fourth division team in 120 minutes of football, worse still, when the same internationals miss penalties; I mean not hitting the target at all. It's not the manager's fault.

However, it's the manager's fault when he puts out 11 internationals who are not consistent, who can be technically brilliant but also poor when they so-choose. It is the manager's fault when the tactics he employs do not get the best out of the players he has. It is the manager's fault when the players he buys turn out to be a waste of money and time for the club. It is the manager's fault when he simply can't acknowledge that the squad he has is not good enough to compete for the league title. It is the manager's fault when he continues not to strengthen his squad because he thinks he has enough players, who are permanently crocked at that.

It is the manager's fault when he sells his best players but doesn't replace them in the transfer market. It is the manager's fault when he doesn't SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY! despite being told there is money to spend.

Sometimes I wonder, does Arsene Wenger know where to spend some fucking money in order to improve his squad? I honestly fear that he doesn't. He pride and stubbornness make  blind to the obvious deficiencies in his squad. Does the coaching set up at Arsenal allow those under the boss to air any different opinion on how to change things? I don't think so. Much as I like us promoting from within, I also realise that this is the safest way for the manager to ensure that he get's (for lack of a more respectable term) "yes men" to work under him. This is what autocratic leaders do.

I do not think that any of our coaching staff can talk sense into the boss' head to change the way he does things. I also fear that the boss himself has had his eyes peering down his nose too long that he has failed to adapt to the times. Other teams have studied our methods and caught up, some are improving on them. As Arsenal, we are too proud to realise that perhaps the captain of our ship has lost the way and perhaps we need a new captain to turn change the course of the ship.

Arsene Wenger was the right man for Arsenal in the past 2 decades. He was the right man, just as the great Herbert Chapman was in his time, to transform Arsenal from an over-achieving medium club and put it on par with the biggest clubs in Europe. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Arsene Wenger has managed to achieve this.

But can you, dear reader, honestly see Arsene Wenger successfully managing Barcelona? Real Madrid? Manchester United? PSG? Borussia Dortmund? Bayern Munich? Inter Milan? AC  Milan? Juventus? Manchester City? I wish I could honestly answer yes to at least one of those teams, but in my heart of hearts, I believe that Arsene Wenger is over the hill as an elite Manger.

I do not see Arsene Wenger leading Arsenal back to glory, nor leading any other top European team to glory. Where once there was a swagger and an air of knowledge to the man, there is now a weakness, a desperation, a hopelessness, a lack of ideas on how to move forward. Where once there was fresh thinking and cunning, there is now staleness and idiocy.

Whenever Arsene Wenger speaks after a defeat, I do no feel sorry for the players, but I feel sorry for him. He is a man hitting his head against a brick wall time and time again yet hoping for a different outcome. There is a word for that type of behaviour... but I just cant remember it...

The club has got new sponsorship money coming in from the Emirates deal; the transfer window is fast approaching. What Arsene Wenger does will prove once and for all if he still has it in him to battle at the very top.

COYG!