Wenger Must Go

One of the great things about the internet is the ability to openly air one's grievances, even if only a few people read those grievances. I have been writing for some time about Arsene Wenger, the coach I love to hate. There is no question that the Frenchman brought glory and an exciting style to an Arsenal team known for the boring 1-0 victory. Yet eight years without a trophy looks in the cards. We will probably lose to Bayern in the Champions League; yet another year when we exit in the first round of the knockout stage. And our best hope for the league is a third place finish, though fourth is more likely. As I outlined yesterday, our problems were glaring in the draw with Liverpool yesterday and the great hope of fans was that Wenger would spend some of the supposedly 37 million pounds at his disposal. Not surprisingly, little was done. Don't get me wrong, the signing of Nacho Monreal from Malaga was good business, but it will do little to help us in the Champions League, as he is cup tied. What this means is we might actually see the awful Santos playing as left back against a scary Bayern squad. What it means in a broader sense is that king Wenger is unwilling to listen to reason in his pursuit to show his critics wrong. 

What did we need in this window? As I've said so many times the first need was a defensive midfielder. Our back line is exposed in almost every game and our few clean sheets resulted from teams that put two flanks of four in the back and rarely ventured forward. Even as Liverpool did this in the second half, the "brilliant" Jordan Henderson was able to get past four defenders and score to make it 2-0. While the long term answer is to replace Sagna, unless he improves, and get a solid centre-half to play alongside Mertesacker, the obvious short term solution was a real defensive mid who could provide cover. And there was an obvious choice out there -- West Ham's Diame, who appeared excited to join. But no movement on that front and now the opportunity is gone. Even if we decided against him, there was M'Villa, Capoue or Wanyama at Celtic, among a few other choices. But Wenger wants to prove the world wrong, arguing a few months ago that the DM is obsolete in football today. The argument is funny in its absurdity. 

The second need was another striker to at least backup Giroud, who has improved dramatically. There were options out there from Demba Ba, who we didn't even bid on, even as his price tag was in Wenger's wheelhouse. And then there was Llorente (who is headed to Juve), Villa (who I don't believe we ever submitted a formal bid for), Jovetic at Fiorentina (who we probably could have gotten for 20 million pounds) or a number of other middling choices. Against Wenger believes he only needs one, even as RVP's lack of a backup almost cost us Champions League football last season. Another option would have been to pick up a spare winger and allow Giroud and Walcott to switch up in the middle. Now we have Ox and Gervinho (who has scored a couple of goals at ANC, but has been downright awful this year) as backups and thus not really viable threats to allow Pod or Walcott to play in the middle regularly. Another clear need that went wanting yet again.

Our midfield is okay, but we certainly could have used a centre-half and again options were available. I think Newcastle picked the best of the lot in Yanga-Mbiwa, who was purportedly on our radar. But again we let him go to a team that could very well be a competitor in the coming years if we keep letting Wenger buck convention and common sense. But what about QPR, who took Samba back from Russia? Or Tottenham who stole Vertonghen from under us last summer, as Wenger wanted to play him as a DM. Wait, he wanted a DM? Apparently, though he was unwilling to sign any of the available choices in the last two window.

So last summer Wenger said we needed a DM and a striker but did nothing to sign either, netting yet another profit for the shareholders. And now we bought a left back, probably only because Gibbs get injured and Wenger has to admit that Santos is not up to snuff. Wenger could be right that the Winter window is unfair and often leads teams to pay inflated prices for players (Torres anyone?). But he has to compete within the specter of the current football reality and appears unwilling to do so. There is discontent all around the Emirates these days and the players just aren't performing at their maximum week in and out. Could part of the problem be a coach who keep lowering expectations? Could it be the players seeing their best peers leave every year? Could it be the unsubstantiated rumors that Wenger will finally loosen the purse strings? Or maybe the socialist wage structure that allows young players to live like aristocracy before they accomplish anything on the pitch? I think all of these are equally important, and all fall on Wenger's shoulders.

The reality is that Wenger fails in every aspect of the game. He has far too much dead weight in the squad, insufficient depth at half the positions (and I'm being kind), too few world class players and a team that seems rarely to rise to the big occasions. We have no, and I mean no, impact subs to come off the bench and win games late. And there is a mentality of losing at every level of the club. Arsenal might get luck and win the FA Cup or sneak into fourth place, particularly if Tottenham does another late season swan song, but few would argue that this is a team that can compete for silverware on a regular basis. They can't even show up for 90 minutes in games that will determine their collective future. 

The real question that emerges now is what the board will do. Will they let us become the next Liverpool (who, by the way, did win silverware last year) and fall completely from grace, or will they act to restore a team that was one of the most exciting in Europe a few short years ago? Will they finally find someone willing to spend money and stop betting on long shots from inferior leagues? Will youth first at any cost continue to be the Arsenal model no matter what? And will they keep faith in the profit-monger extraordinaire at the expense of the fans and the future of the club? 

I worry that the answer to these questions is a resounding yes and that Gooners will have to set their expectations at a level commensurate with those of Wenger, minus 10 to 20 points. One hopes someone is willing to take on the dying king and restore order to an organization on the decline. Maybe its Gazidis? Maybe we talk David Dein into coming back. Maybe it's a new coach. Or maybe it's that crazy Russian. But something has to change and it has to start with Wenger. Even if he does pull off another miracle this year, it shouldn't be enough for any fan ... or the players for that matter. Wenger must go, should be our collective cry until the inevitable becomes reality. Let him go to Madrid. I would be happy for him and us.   

P.S. Most of the top teams in the world have three to four strikers. Man City has Dzeko, Tevez and Aguero, even after Balotelli left. Man U have the best four in the world with RvP (remember him?), Rooney, Welbeck and Hernandez. Real Madrid have Ronaldo, Higuan, Benzema and Di Maria. Etc., etc. Even Everton have more options than us up front with Anechebe, Mirallas,  Jelavic, Naismith and Vellios. Anyone who continues to support Wenger at this point is insane.