Unlike most Londoners, each day I look forward to my daily commute on the London Underground. Not because it gets me where I need to go quickly and effortlessly but because it is clunge-heaven, which lightens my mood and sets me up nicely for a productive day. Today was different.
Why? Because the back pages of newspapers, from The Metro to The Evening Standard, were plastered with images of Arsene Wenger, alone, vulnerable with his head in hands, soaked in the rain...
Seeing him like this hurts. A lot. This is Arsene Wenger, a man who has single-handedly revolutionised Arsenal Football Club since his arrival from Japan in 1996. He has worked extremely hard on various fronts; helping build state-of-the-art training facilities at London Colney (so good that it is used by England and a whole host of top European clubs whilst on their travels), overlooking the move from Highbury to the magnificent Emirates Stadium, whilst also guiding us to various trophies and cup finals – all under admirable financial stewardship.
Much to the discontent of many fellow Arsenal fans, he disapproves of debt-financed consumption and exorbitant transfer fees. He believes in nurturing young players rather than buying ready-made superstars. Unfortunately, the game has changed too much, too quickly. Various clubs have become football powerhouses, almost overnight and the harsh reality is that we cannot compete financially.
People are talking about this being a make-or-break week for Arsene Wenger. Such talk is ludicrous – this is a man who guided us to our (and his) third Premier League title in 2003-04 without losing a single game. I do agree that this is a massive week for our club. Being dumped out of the Champions League at this stage is unimaginable and a defeat at Old Trafford would be catastrophic. Sadly though, I think this is how the week will go. Tough times ahead – this must be what it’s like to be a Spurs fan.
Back to Saturday’s game, it was a disappointing result against a rejuvenated Liverpool side. We have an injury crisis already and with key players missing out due to foolish red cards, this was always going to be a tough encounter. The game could have gone either way but it needed an unfortunate own goal to break the deadlock which says a lot about our opponents who were bolstered by several expensively-purchased players (more about this later). Once we were down to 10-men, Liverpool were able to bring on Suarez and Meireles and they stretched the game to get a late second. By contrast, we brought on Bendtner and Lansbury, hardly game changers – the club only have themselves to blame for such a lacking squad. However, there were some positives to take from the game. Tommy V was magnificent. Absolutely outstanding and must have slept awkwardly as I hear Andy Carroll’s still in his back pocket.
We also have the emergence of a new hero, Emmanuel Frimpong. Despite his red-card seeming almost inevitable, this is a boy who plays with his heart and has no fear. Watch out, he’s ready.
On a lighter note, I’ll end this post on a discovery which amuses me (transfer fees courtesy of guardian.co.uk).
£120m gets you: Shay Given (£3.5m), Cesc Fabregas (£35m), Ashley Young (£16.8m), Chris Smalling (£8m), Rafael Van der Vaart (£8m), Javier Hernandez (£10m) and Sergio Aguero (£38m).
With the same funds Liverpool bought: Andy Carroll (£35m), Charlie Adam (£9m), Stewart Downing (£21.6m), Jordan Henderson (£20m), Jose Enrique (£6.5m), Luis Suarez (£23m) and Alexander Doni (£0m).
No thanks, I’d rather walk alone.
