Win or Bust

Just something I typed up in about an hour, hope you enjoy it! Before I start I just want to say well done to Tottenham, honestly thought they didn't have a chance against Milan, now hopefully you draw Barcelona in the next round!

I've been an Arsenal fan for as long as I can remember. I’m almost certain my dad sat me down before I could walk or talk and just drummed into me that I would be an Arsenal fan. I have memories of being a small child and having Arsenal wallpaper, Arsenal posters, Arsenal Shirts, Arsenal Shorts and Arsenal Socks. If Arsenal had made an everyday product into some sort of merchandise with their name or badge stamped on it, the chances are, I had it. Arsenal is all I know, I live and breathe Arsenal Football Club and I have done for my whole life. I've experienced the highs of our double winning team in 1998 and ‘The Invincibles’ of 2004, to the lows of losing out in a Champions League final  and experiencing five seasons without a trophy.

Watching Arsenal has always sent me through a whirlwind of emotions, at times it’s just breathtaking to watch, at times we look unstoppable, I always get told be the neutral supporter, ‘You’re brilliant to watch!’ ‘You play the best football in the country.’ But all too often, when we need to pull something out of the bag, I always get a feeling of frustration and disbelief. Although it appears that this season is our best chance for 5 years to snatch a trophy, this season I have found myself more frustrated than I have done in the past. I can give you a few examples, two nil up against our arch-rivals Spurs, and we lost 3-2, being 4-0 up against Newcastle and going on to draw the game 4-4. This season has also seen us lose at home to West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle, 3-2 and 1-0 respectively, both teams that were in the Championship the season beforehand. No wonder people tell me we’re brilliant to watch, I bet the Newcastle and Tottenham games were absolute blinders for the neutral! The only reason we’re in touching distance of United, and have a chance of winning the league this season, is due to their awful away record this season.

This frustration was highlighted by our performance against Barcelona at the Nou Camp this past Tuesday. Pep Guardiola described our performance perfectly in his post match interview, ‘They couldn’t string three passes together.’ Now I know Barcelona are a very good team, but to end the game having 31% possession and having made about 550 less passes than Barcelona, is kind of ridiculous. They made us look like we didn't belong in the competition. The main issue I had with the game was that it was exactly the same as last year’s performance; it was as if we didn’t learn anything. It was just unbelievable to watch our team play a way that we never play, we tried to sit back and absorb pressure for 90 minutes, a plan that would never have worked. I could go on for hours about what went wrong on Tuesday night, there’s no point me going on, but  the decision to send Van Persie off is the single most disgraceful decision I’ve ever seen by a referee in my lifetime. When you take into account the magnitude of the game and the pettiness of the offence, he ruined the game.

I’m not going to go on about where we need to improve, everybody knows, well most people anyway. I don’t want to criticise him because of everything he’s done, not only for Arsenal Football Club, but for English Football in general, but Arsene Wenger’s stubbornness seems to be going a bit far now. I understand that he wants to win the title his way, by bringing through his own bunch of ‘kids’, doing so by trying to keep Arsenal in a good financial position. But for young players to become great players they need to play alongside great players. My first choice has always been the German defender Per Mertesacker, established as one of the top centre backs in the world, Koscielny and Djourou could learn so much from playing with a world class player like him.

Now despite what I’ve said, I still think we’ve got a great chance of winning something this year. We’ve got a good chance against United this weekend in the FA Cup after Nani was injured last week. It gives our defense one less player to worry about and United will be hurting after their loss to Liverpool as well. I also believe that we have a good chance of going on a good run going into the last 10 games of the season, but when it comes down to it, I think the winner of Arsenal and United at the Emirates will be the team that lifts the trophy at the end of the season.

Some of you might shoot me down for saying this, but if we don’t win something this year, the Arsenal Board need to take a look at Wenger and seriously think about the future of Arsenal Football Club, I don’t know any other top club in Europe that would have kept the same manager if they hadn’t won a trophy for five years. Arsene Wenger will also need to take a look at his own management style. Surely he’s given this group of players a chance. Everyone knows Arsenal can afford to splash out a bit, so surely if this group of players can’t achieve for the 6^th season running, Arsene Wenger’s got the right to go out and make two or three big money signings in order to help him towards some silverware next season.

I just hope I feel elated come the end of the season, it’s been far too long since I’ve seen an Arsenal player lift a trophy. I remember Arsene Wenger saying in a press conference two years ago, ‘If I don’t win a trophy within the next two seasons, I will have failed.’ When he says failed, he was referring to his policy of bringing young players through to the first team and spending little money and winning a trophy. If he succeeds, he’ll no doubt be considered a genius by every Arsenal fan, we’ll instantly forget about the past five years. But if he fails, I get the feeling that the Arsenal faithful might start to get a little bit restless.