The life & times of an Arse(ne) at Arsenal

So here we are again, it’s December and the speculation of a young Arsenal team winning nothing rears its head once more.
As sure as Xmas we hear in the media that the team is too young & Arsene must buy, buy big & buy experienced. All we need to do is to take a step back and examine the Carling Cup squad that was sent into the firing line last week – A team of teens & no back-up on the bench & compare that with the Chelsea/Blackburn game, Chelsea also fielded a young side but played an experienced bench, the fact they lost was just a bonus...even if Drogba did score.....
So my point... we lost, beaten by a more experienced and more match-fit first team. But it was the off-pitch
antics that interest me far more. It’s no secret that Mark Hughes & Arsene Wenger have a less-than-friendly history, during this game they were bickering & taking the ball off each other like 4 yr olds. After the game this didn’t improve, now I’m old school meaning that what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch – you shake hands, swap shirts and have a pint & crucially the managers shake hands. Not the case in this game, there was no hand shaking, just bad mouthing, which results in tabloid press & the eventual trickledown effect will spread to the amateur leagues & the youth leagues. If premiership managers can behave like this...so can we.
I’m not writing this as a rant and I have nothing but respect for any manager who can successfully manage a team of footballers but antics like this have no place in the modern game. I don’t think at all that this is the time for Arsene to leave, just a time to reflect on the past to improve on the future. Essentially he does need to find the finances to buy in the winter. We’re looking at a severely depleted squad at the moment – players are injured and there will be players missing for the African Cup. If Arsenal want any hope of winning anything this season they need to buy.
Of course, alongside this, he needs a look at himself and assess how he interacts with officials and fellow managers, Arsene has to realise that they are essentially the same as him – he can’t claim an aura of superiority because, unfortunately, in recent years not winning anything makes it difficult to justify such an attitude. If this year we win the FA/European & Premiership then, yes he can be arrogant and live by his own rules, but until then, Mr Wenger is simply a Manager.

Omar Malick