Well it wasn’t the best of weekends for Arsenal, in fact it was probably the worst in a while. It all started on Friday when Wenger made that stupid comment in his press conference
“I hope I get the praise that I deserve, I’m doing the best job I can”
This comment is ludicrous, he has had praise for all his previous achievements and he still has followers that praise him for that now but he doesn’t deserve any praise right at this moment in time, we can’t praise a man who isn’t doing anything to be praised for. If this is the best that he can do then Wenger has lost it or is openly lying, we all know he can do better but he just doesn’t want to because that would involve him admitting he was wrong, a change of philosophy again and spending money, 3 things we know he would never want to admit to.
When Saturday came it got a lot worse as I sat there and watch the game unravel into a big sloppy frustrating mess. I can’t believe how bad we played on Saturday, outclassed by yet another lower league team. My biggest issue seems to be the most discussed issue and that was team selection. We had a more of a shot at winning the FA cup than we do the Champion’s league so the logical option would be to risk it and field a strong team for the FA cup tie like all of the other top clubs did. Instead Wenger still chose to leave out a few key players, and even though you can use the excuse that the team should have still beat Blackburn it was not a game to risk that given our form this season.
There were no excuse for the way we played on Saturday and both the players and Le Boss are to blame. Wenger said in his press conference that the team lacked mental strength, Arsenal rarely lack mental strength, in fact we are always better when we are under pressure so I think that is utter garbage. We lacked on skill, pace, energy, tactics, control and confidence and most of all we lacked desire, that was the issue with the game.
The rumour mill went crazy after we got knocked out by Blackburn and I think the media are playing on the obvious divide between fans with half reporting that Wenger will leave by mutual consent/get sacked and the other half saying Wenger has been offered a new 2 year contract. I’d be shocked if either rumour was true but I don’t think they are. I think it’s lazy journalism to be honest and the fans could do with not being wound up anymore, it is adding fuel to an angry fire.
The pressure does seem to be getting to Arsene and that was made obvious by his Champion’s league press conference* this morning when he snapped at a journalist and ended up being quite awkward to interview. I think the trouble is Arsene is running out of things to say to defend him and the team and in my opinion there is no defence (and none in the team either)
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21498386
This has been a tough season for Arsenal fans and sadly it seems we are all dividing in our opinion which is sad because we all want the same thing just different opinions on how to get it. I think the club are letting this get out of hand, when fans are dividing and fighting it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong it matters that it is happening-and if fans are fighting it definitely means something at the club is wrong so the board need to wake up and do something about this situation in the summer.
We have been knocked out by Bradford and Blackburn and after Saturday’s game my optimism for beating Bayern Munich is dwindling. Our bad luck seems to come in B’s this season. The two B’s we have faced so far have outplayed us and the third have a real chance of eliminating us. I think it might be another repeat of last year’s AC Milan fiasco but you never know which Arsenal will turn up on the night, I hope it’s the Arsenal that remember how to play.