Arsenal fans are angry, and they're right to be angry. It's hard to be philosophical when you've just had your pants pulled down in front of everyone, dispatched from a very winnable competition by a fourth division side.
No matter how much Arsene Wenger tried to spin it, this wasn't the traditional tale of plucky upstarts snatching one on the break and camping out in their own six yard box. Bradford outfought their opponents, threatened at set-pieces, could easily have scored twice and didn't wilt until extra-time. Arsenal didn't even put a shot on target until the 69th minute. It was an inexcusably disgusting performance from all but a handful of their players and anger is the only rational response. But perspective is required too.
Arsenal are in the last 16 of the Champions League and they are only two points away from occupying a spot for next year's tournament. Not only have they qualified for the last 15 tournaments, but this is the 13th consecutive time that they've made it to the latter stages. That's where the money is, that's where the glamour is and that's why, as sick-up-in-your-mouth-and-curse-UEFA-straight-to-Hades annoying as it is, Wenger is right. Champions League qualification is just as important as accumulating secondary silverware. And I hate football for being that way.
"Gargh!" I hear you wail. "But a club like Arsenal deserves better than that!" Well, do they? In the first four seasons of the Premier League, the ones before Wenger, the Gunners hardly set the division alight.
In 1993, they finished 10th, 28 points behind champions Manchester United. They were 4th in 1994, but still 21 points off the pace. Back they dropped to 12th in 1995, a whopping 38 points behind Blackburn Rovers. In 1996, after heavy spending, they finished only 5th, 19 points behind Sir Alex Ferguson's double-winners. The truth is that George Graham's 1989 and 1991 titles were rare outbreaks of joy in two and a half decades of post-1971 under-achievement.
Arsenal have a fine history, they are one of England's most famous clubs, but they have no divine right to success. If some fans feel that they do, it's only because the bar was raised by Wenger.
The problem, of course, is that while the present is better than the past, there are growing concerns that it may also be better than the future. Arsenal are not a particularly good football team and they seem to be getting worse. They have good individuals, certainly, but for whatever reason, they are not clicking as a unit.
To put it another way, since the October international break, they have gone off the edge of a cliff like a runaway clown car. BOOM! Clowns everywhere. As someone who has witnessed most of those games from close range, I can tell you with the complete objectivity of a horrified neutral, that there is no obvious sign of improvement. Mentally, the players are as resilient as a glass crash helmet. They canıt retain possession, they can't create enough chances and they're so poor in the air that they couldn't defend a corner if they were playing Gandalf's 'Misty Mountain Tour XI'.
But Wenger can only be blamed to a certain extent. These are not kids. These are highly paid senior international footballers and they are disgracing their football team with their pitiful performances.
Wenger, without even going into things like the stadium, the academy, the coaching staff, the scouting network, has done enough to earn time that other managers would be denied. He is not bigger than Arsenal, but Arsenal are bigger because of him. Besides, what would be served by sacking him now?
Pep Guardiola, on the off chance that he doesn't want to hook up with his mates at Manchester City, obviously isn't planning on leaving New York yet and at this point in the season, other options are limited. If Arsenal fail to secure a Champions League place, that will be the time to discuss a dignified exit strategy.
For now, it would be wiser to trust his judgement one more time, and hope that he can somehow engineer a recovery. This is a crisis. Of confidence, if nothing else. But it's not worth sacking him over. Not yet.
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Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
