Having watched that disastrous first half display by our beloved Arsenal team at Stoke, some may say that the team and Manager being booed after the game was in context, justified… but, doesn’t everybody have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? And even worse, horribly wrong?
We had a bad start after 17 seconds, a poorly timed jump from Chambers and an unfortunate slip from Bellerin gave Stoke and Crouch the perfect start that Arsenal were after but didn’t get. The Gunners never recovered from that immediate start, hence, they were 3 love down at half time.
Arsenal started the second half a little brighter and with a little luck were 2 goals back and chasing a draw or even possibly a win. Their luck ran out however when Chambers was yellow carded a second time and their chance went through the window and out came the “boo boys” lashing out at the team and the Manager in particular.
Frustration is getting the better of a small group of fans who really don’t know or care much about Arsenal or Arsene Wenger. Arsenal have a defence that should have been sured up by spending more money over the summer to strengthen the team so that we would be competitive for the championship. There has been a constant complaint about buying since Arsenal lost Thomas Vermaelen. But why is this? He is injury prone (as is proven at the moment) and he is a player that was seeking regular playing time. How was that going to happen when Koscielny and Mertesacker were doing so well? He tried to break up that partnership but it never happened. The partnership between the two was just too good and was expected to kick on this season after finishing last season with 17 clean sheets, a FA Cup, a Community Shield and Champions League football. Calum Chambers was bought as the cover needed for Thomas, he started out so well, but more bad luck just kept following the squad that was just starting to come together, and these injuries has some fans would claim are causing a mini crisis at the club and is causing them to jump all over the Manager and calling for his resignation. But are we really going through a crisis? Arsene said that Arsenal will win the Championship within the next 3 years and those words are good enough for the majority of us fans.
Teams that perform well over a season are the teams that are used to playing regularly with each other and the system that is set up; injuries have disrupted our system at the moment and are showing up our inconsistencies, but are sure this Arsenal team will start gelling within the coming months.
Things are going to turn around for this Arsenal defence, but it is going to take time, I guess time some of you fans don’t have. Hector looks a real good prospect in the making so does Chambers and the others that are coming through from the under 21 squad. The January transfer window will let us see what Arsene has in store for us fans with that big name defender we would love to welcome to The Emirates, who will give us that extra push towards closing the gap in the race to the championship.
Whatever the boss does I am sure Arsenal will benefit from the transfer in the same way that we have done in previous seasons. Players like, Vieira, Toure, Song, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb, Henry and the list goes on…
We have had back to back victories with the same defence and Manager that have been booed. Most fans and players still believe in Arsene Wenger as being the right man for the job, which by their actions after the victory over Newcastle made that known by singing aloud “there’s only one Arsene Wenger”!