Arsenal fans deserve more than Wenger's lame excuses

9 years ago

Arsenal fans deserve more than Wenger's lame excuses

COLUMN: With a title challenge looking bleak and a team throwing away comfortable leads, the Frenchman can only remind Gunners fans what might have been

By Greg Stobart

The sands of time are running out on Arsene Wenger’s reign as Arsenal manager - and Frenchman's comments over the last few weeks suggest he wishes he could turn the hourglass on its head and correct past mistakes some past mistakes. However, it is time the 65-year-old looked to rectify the issues he is currently faced with, rather than the opportunities passed up from years gone by.

Last week, Wenger revealed that he almost signed Lionel Messi when the Argentine superstar was a leading light in the Barcelona academy but could not convince him to move to London.

"It's true, it's just that he [Messi] didn't want to move," Wenger told reporters. "In the end, he was comfortable at Barcelona."

Barely a fortnight earlier, it was Paul Pogba who Wenger was telling the world he almost signed.

The ‘nearly signed’ list for Wenger is completed by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez.

What might have been.

While Arsenal sit eighth in the table after making their worst start to a season since 1982, Wenger’s attempts to deflect attention are making little impact.
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The suggestion that Arsenal might have signed countless superstars hardly offers any comfort to the desperate supporters who are increasingly giving up on Wenger in his 18th season in charge of the club.

There was a time when Wenger used to buy players as youngsters before they became household names - from Nicolas Anelka to Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry.

Now, the 65-year-old can only keep reminding us of what might have been as he loses out to potential superstars while the likes of Nacho Monreal and Mikel Arteta started in the spine of his team that lost to Manchester United on Saturday.

Maybe a handful of Arsenal supporters are encouraged that Wenger still has an eye for talent, that if he can make that right decisions in the transfer market and the north Londoners could end up with a team full of stars.

Fat chance when he didn’t even address the glaring need for central defensive cover and a defensive midfielder during the summer transfer window.

Despite the FA Cup final triumph in May, the last decade for Arsenal has been defined by missed opportunities and regrets.

Even Wenger is indulging in misty-eyed nostalgia when he should be focussing more on how he can possibly turn the Gunners’ season around and finish in the top four with the title already out of reach.

Nearly signing Messi and boasting of ’80 per cent domination’ in a home defeat in Saturday’s defeat to United should not represent the major positives of the campaign at the Emirates.

Rather than telling the world how he tried to sign Messi, perhaps Wenger would have been better off explaining his transfer strategy, tactics, team selection and substitutions this season.
Arsenal fans simply don’t want to hear how it might have been better. They know that already, they have suffered enough.

By turning laughable tales about Messi into the main headlines, Wenger is disrespecting the club’s supporters and only adding to the reasons why time is running out on his reign in north London.

LIVERPOOL PINING FOR STURRIDGE RETURN

Of all the reasons offered for Liverpool’s dreadful start to the season, perhaps the most underestimated is Daniel Sturridge’s injury problems.

It is no coincidence that the Reds won 3-0 at Tottenham in his last appearance before suffering the thigh injury that has ruled him out of action since September.

Off the back of his 25 goals in the last campaign, the stage was set for Sturridge to step up and lead the line for the Merseysiders following Luis Suarez’s departure to Barcelona.

Liverpool won two of the three league fixtures in which the 25-year-old played before being hit by the injury that is now going to keep him out until January.

Sturridge’s skill, movement and eye for goal was needed as desperately as ever in the 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Sunday and his return cannot come soon enough for Liverpool.