Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
There are some fairly logical reasons for thinking Wenger's taken us as far as he can and we should look elsewhere.
What annoys me is the hysteria.

Had we won on Saturday we'd be a point off the top of the table. I seriously doubt anyone would have been calling for Wenger's head then.
Fine, we lost, but that result shouldn't be the difference between Wenger and Wenger
I appreciate that one result is against a backdrop of 9 years of ups and downs and no trophies but at the start of the season, especially after the Villa game, the issue was could we stay in the top 4. No-one seriously expected a title challenge this year, that shouldn't be the criteria for success this year. IMO we've done very well to stay up there as long as we have. I am concerned about a massive collapse and if that happens then the progress we seemed to be making will disappear. Right now though we're 12 points ahead of where we were last year and we're in the FA Cup quarter final with a winnable home tie.
Concerns about the 'big games', squad depth and the ability to last a season remain and we can only really assess where we are in May.
Right now though no-one would sack their manager based on how we've done this year so far.
With regards the "No-one seriously expected a title challenge" line, I ask why? The reason is because in the last 8 years we haven't progressed like we should have and as Wenger had many times stated, we should be expected to challenge, we have massive resources, a stable club with a manager who has been there for years, we have everything you need to be successful, Ferguson managed it with Man U so why can't Wenger with us?

For me the reason we're never genuinely seen as winners is nothing to do with money, it's to do with the obvious flaws in our manager's methods, at Christmas we were 7 points clear with a chance to go 10 points clear in the end we were outplayed by Everton at home and then proceeded to drop more points (at City and then against Chelsea), I'm sorry but we shouldn't have been tired at that stage of the season and given our position and form should have beaten them at home, at the time people claimed it was a good result, but it clearly wasn't. Then we had our 2nd hard run in February once again we came unstuck with 2 defeats and a draw (at home) again showing when it gets tough we seem to lack the resolve to get the results.

IMO part of the problem is our generally passive approach to game, rarely to we start with any kind of tempo, we let the opposition settle and against the better sides it's suicidal as once on top you're not going to get a 2nd chance. In addition to that, when things are going wrong, where is Wenger, from my observations he sits on the sidelines and does precious little as highlighted when Liverpool slaughtered us and he refused to make any kind of change to stem the flow.

It's not about the Stoke game and not really about this season, it's about seeing the same pattern unfold time and time again and watching a team who just don't seem to have the stomach for the fight, after almost 9 years you can only conclude that it's the manager that doesn't give them that fire, that doesn't inspire them and make them believe they can beat anyone, it's compounded by the fact he no longer signs players with true inspirational qualities that drive teammates to victory.

It's not been a bad season, there's been improvement in some areas, but for me there hasn't been improvement in the areas I wanted to see thus far.