Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Case Of Our Former Players

It is of course not uncommon to watch and read negative stories concerning the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose days at the Emirates are numbered according to some biased experts of the beautiful round leather game.

Some of the club's former players have climbed on the bandwagon and joined the vast majority of Arsenal-haters to place the north london outfit at par with clubs on the lower rung of the Premier League table, and this is unjustified by the various soccer parameters like the leaky defence, sale of our midfield orchestrators and the inability of our attackers to maintain consistency upfront. I disagree with the basis for the lower rating. I see the shrewdness in the club's approach to signings as something that is needed, timely, beneficial and capable of leading to a better financial structure in respect to the club's future monetary objectives.

Two wins at home in less than five days makes me believe that Arsenal is not doing badly on the pitch now. So over all I see it as a positive indication of our awakening after suffering a bizarre defeat in the hands of Manchester United. Although we are having problems with injuries currently, I think the situation will get better as the acclimatisation of the new additions progresses. Our fundamentals are very strong even when compared with the likes of City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and United.

Sincerely speaking, the reasons for the downgrade are debatable. However, I wouldn't say they are baseless. I am sure they are hinged on concerns with our defensive frailties and our inability to go head to head with the 'big clubs' in order to sign topdraw players. So I can't say their arguments are baseless. But having said that, I think it came at a wrong time given what the club's board did during the transfer window and Wenger's determination to ensure that critical issues affecting the team are addressed.

So I think those former players should have waited to see what the outcome of that exercise would be before arriving at their hasty generalisations. There is absolutely reason, save for sentiments, to endure hard times given the promise of what lies ahead for our club.