It was this willing suspension of disbelief by Arsene, as protege after protege played us like a flute and got out while the going was good, which acted as a source of much ire among supporters. We had an abundance of talent in 2007-08, but lost out on three defensive minded midfielders in one fell swoop. Wenger sold Diarra because he trusted Flamini to sign a new contract, while Flamini made googly eyes at AC Milan and pranced off into the Italian sunset. Hleb got frisky

I’m sure every Arsenal fan has had a barrel-full to say about Arsene Wenger and his time at the club. Right from the halcyon days of ‘Arsene Who?’ unexpectedness, to completed jigsaws and invincibility, to the more recent book-balancing and shibboleth-spouting as the club were constantly in financial green but never did too well on the football green; throughout this eventful panorama, Arsene has cut such a delightfully moreish figure that every Tom, Dick and window-licking Harry has had his say about what has gone right and what has gone horribly wrong. I’ll try not to putter down that memory highway, but can tentatively say that I really like the look of this season’s no-nonsense, bullish and apathetic Arsene Wenger.

One of the things people often put in the ‘crosses’ column with regards to Wenger is that he shows far too much faith in his players when they arguably warrant lesser. Taking punts on capricious Dutch teenagers from Feyenoord, trusting a two-pronged pivot of Denilson and Alex Song to take us through the 2008-09 season, buying rickety looking French defenders who were in Ligue 2 a blink of an eye ago, AMAURI BISCHOFF- the list doesn’t need TwitLonger so much as it needs a book. There have been both hits and misses, but the hits have been so resounding in their success that Wenger has often been vindicated in his patience. The one assumption he made was, of course, that the players would repay their manager’s implicit trust and remain loyal to the club that made them.

It was this willing suspension of disbelief by Arsene, as protege after protege played us like a flute and got out while the going was good, which acted as a source of much ire among supporters. We had an abundance of talent in 2007-08, but lost out on three defensive minded midfielders in one fell swoop. Wenger sold Diarra because he trusted Flamini to sign a new contract, while Flamini made googly eyes at AC Milan and pranced off into the Italian sunset. Hleb got frisky with Inter officials in ice-cream vans, Adebayor made a mockery of himself two summers running, Cesc started pining for Iberian paella…and we all know what happened this summer. Wenger has been the subject of incessant patricide from players he has basically built up from scratch, and it seems like he’s had enough.

Let’s take the Alex Song transfer. Right from the time he was a confidence-bereft Cameroonian faffing about against Fulham, Wenger protected him from detractors with the ferocity of an alpha wolf; seeing something in Song that passed even the most ardent gooner by. Sure enough, Alex bumbled but eventually blossomed. And then he started posturing for meatier contacts, throwing airs and scoffing at orders on the pitch, and reportedly being a disruptive influence on the training ground (only Twitter heresy supports this, but there’s more than enough smoke to lend credence). Is Wenger disappointed; I assume he must have been. But he wasn’t going to bow down to smarmy agent-talk and brinkmanship. Song was told to leave if he so desired; Arsenal sold him, of their own volition, when there were three years left on his contract. Same goes for the Dutch snake-in-the-grass we raised at the Emirates for many years. While fans were (rightly) being jilted lovers, outraged at Robin van Iscariot’s well planned out back-stab, Wenger seems to have had one thing sticking out like the sorest of thumbs in his mind: I want people who want to play for Arsenal football club, to play for Arsenal football club. And you don’t get to tell me which direction to take it in.

Our manager looks like he has the glasses and the gumption back this season. I hope it doesn’t descend back into water-bottle mutilating and post-defeat finger-pointing; his first interview after the Sunderland game was unprecedented in its frankness. He made passing mention to how Sunderland’s game-plan was ‘expected’ but then lamented our creativity, speed and movement. No more pampering of players in public and chiding in private; and this current team seems like the sort to be positively receptive towards hearing the truth said.

I don’t think any fan can take an educated guess on our prospects at the moment; we’re too embryonic as a team with players who are not yet well-gelled or on the same wavelength. But if we have an Arsene Wenger who is as uncharacteristically blunt and ruthless as this, it can only be a good thing. Memo to players: Shoo away any little boys who may be living inside you and murmuring sweet nothings into your ears. Arsene has a glint in his eye, and he will hunt them down.