Stuck in a toxic club, where it is hard to find a serious contingent of fans who want him at the helm and struggling to make any significant progress in the league with a group of players who appear not interested in fighting for him, wouldn't any logical person decided enough is enough? This hostility towards the manager hasn't just arisen, it has been 5 years in the making. Slowly, we have seen Arsenal's inability to compete with the larger sides grow further and further each year, 8-2 against United, 6-3 to City, 6-0 to Chelsea and 5-1 against Liverpool are all results in the past 5 years just to name a few. 20 years in the Champions league means absolutely nothing if you're consistently on the wrong end of humiliating results at least once a season by the teams you're supposed to be "competing" against. This is not to say that the big sides can never be on the wrong side of a hiding, Chelsea last season suffered consistently, United even under Ferguson weren't impervious to a battering, City and Tottenham too. The issue with Arsenal being on the end of these results, and they more often than not are the ones being humiliated, is that they never appear to put building blocks in place to fix it.
The tactics stay the same and the side rarely changes in all honesty, how can you go on with a failing tactic? Apparently you can go nearly 13 years with one and still be in charge of Arsenal.
This is why I can understand where the rage from Arsenal fans has come from. You listen to the guys from Arsenal TV and we often laugh at how aggressive they can be, but you have to remember these fans go to watch their team week in and week out, more than most of us can say. So when they pay such an inflated price to potentially see their team let them down, and see it happen so often, you can understand their frustration at the club as a whole for refusing to change it. The board lies about planned investment to raise the club up and begin to compete, and now this time around, they've told the fans that they can't afford to keep up with the others, namely the Manchester clubs. Spending isn't the answer and I am not sure Arsenal fans actually care that they're not spending the same as the Manchester duo, this season they've spent 6 million less than Chelsea. Their London rivals are 1st and 16 points clear of Arsenal, it's not the amount they've spent but who they're spending it on. Bringing in the likes of Mustafi, Xhaka and Perez, none of them have exactly impressed. Xhaka has been especially disappointing and they have all been signings by Wenger.
As well as the new signings, the ones he has made previously have generally struggled as of late. Sanchez has been incredible for the side if we are being fair. Can we really say Ozil has been worth the time, though? On multiple occasions, he hasn't turned up to the fight and for the price paid he really should be the game changer along with his Chilean counterpart. Going further back, Walcott has never really lived up to his potential and somehow still to this day frequently gets into the side. Mertesacker, Squillaci, Silvestre and Arshavin just to name a few transfer flops.
I guess after all this, you must think I am a big opponent to Arsene Wenger. You'd be wrong. This man was an incredible manager, and still could be. Just not here. Sometimes in football, things can go stale, players can become complacent and in many aspects so do managers. When Wenger came to England, he was an innovator in the game and completely changed so many parts of how we prepared our players and spread knowledge about how we can reach our peaks in producing talent from players we'd have never have thought could be so good. We should never forget that this man led Arsenal to 3 premier leagues whilst playing such beautiful attacking free flowing football, even winning the title unbeaten, something that no other Premier league manager can claim, and for this, we should all applaud this incredible footballing mind. In an ideal world, we would be seeing him leave with his head held high and everyone remembering him for his achievements with Arsenal and his level as a world class manager. One sign of an incredible manager, however, is the ability to know when it's done. The ability to know when to pack up and get the hell out of dodge. Not only has Wenger missed this opportunity, but now he has the whole town after him ready for a good ol' fashion showdown.
The Arsene Wenger situation has become a catch 22 for the man himself. The board clearly want him to stay otherwise he would be out, and he doesn't want to let the board down, but by staying with the club he is letting the fans down, he, therefore, feels that if he can turn it around then he can win the fans back, but he won't be able to do that. His pride is blocking any logical argument about leaving, and that will be his downfall. Rarely do I feel that the best thing for a club is to finish outside of the top 4, but the board will always love him as long as he carries on their consecutive run in the Champions league, with maybe an FA Cup every once in a while, and the only way he'll be let go is if they finish 5th or lower. Wenger can't resign, he is too proud or arrogant a man, depending on your view. The fans have made it clear they want change, the board need that push. That push will only be Europe.
As a Football fan, we should all thank Mr Wenger for his contribution to our league and how he innovated the global game, but enough is enough, Fergie knew when his time had come and left with a league. Wenger might be lucky to leave with his honour if he leaves it too late.
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