It’s a shambles as cycle of failure sees Arsenal become third-rate.. & that’s in London!
ARSENE WENGER telling his players to stop using doubts over his future as an excuse for Arsenal’s deteriorating season is a cop out.
The biggest reason for the Gunners’ slide out of the top four is the soap opera around Wenger’s position. Instead of telling the players not to go looking for “escape excuses”, the manager is the one who needs to show leadership and put an end to the circus. Two months ago, after Arsenal’s humiliating Champions League collapse in Munich, I said that Wenger should make a definitive statement about his future so everybody knows where they stand – and to stop the poison spreading among a divided fanbase. I can’t believe he has not revealed his intentions, one way or another, although the smoke signals have suggested he is going to stay on. Sorry, but Arsenal’s four defeats in their last five Premier League games are at least partly your fault, Arsene. You have bred the uncertainty, you could have put the speculation to bed weeks ago, and now you are in danger of finishing outside the top four for the first time in your 21-year reign. For Gunners fans it has become a circus, a shambles, an embarrassment – because for 20 years, they have never known anything else but top-four finishes.
Wenger will be remembered as a legend who built the Invincibles team and delivered a new stadium, but that was then and this is now.
He has created the vacuum for unhappy supporters to vent their anger and for players to drop hints about jumping ship.
Wenger can taunt Chelsea all he likes about Alexis Sanchez (right) going nowhere and saying there’s only one team in London – but it remains to be seen if events this summer will back up his bravado.
It would be the final nail in the coffin if Sanchez left the Emirates, and one more nail for luck if he joined Chelsea.
That would complete another cycle of failure for Wenger – challenging for the title, falling short after failing to strengthen obvious areas of weakness in the team’s spine, and then back to the bad old days of selling his best player. Since the 3-3
THE future is here – video assistant referees changed the course of France’s friendly international against Spain this week, justice was done... and it didn’t hurt, did it?
France thought they had taken the lead through Antoine Griezmann when his ‘goal’ was correctly reviewed and disallowed for offside before Spain went on to win 2-0.
The process took about 30 seconds, and we got the right decision. Former England captain Paul Ince expressed his reservations about the VAR system on TV, and I am only in favour of it up to a point.
But with the vast amounts of money involved at the top end of football, surely we cannot complain when officials get the big decisions right.
draw at Bournemouth, Sanchez’s body language has told its own story. He says he wants to be a winner, so why would he stay at Arsenal – to win the FA Cup again? He’s been there and done that. Why wouldn’t he want to join Chelsea, when they are geared to winning titles, instead of treating fourth place as a trophy? We have been here before when Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie left, and I can’t believe the Gunners would go down that road again. When do Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea sell their best players to a rival at their peak? Apart from, arguably, Carlos Tevez going from United to City, it simply doesn’t happen. And, yes, William Gallas went from Chelsea to Arsenal – but for me he was a very good player, not absolutely top drawer. One team in London? As things stand, Arsenal are not only well short of being the best team in the country – they are only the third best team in the capital. If you were a £75million player who fancied joining a Premier League team in London, you’d join Chelsea – because they are going to win the title by a distance. And your second choice would be Tottenham, who are set to be a real force when they move into their new stadium. Third rate in London. Has it really come to this, Arsene?