When we have to put up with things like that, I feel short-changed as an Arsenal fan. I’m not talking financially necessarily but as fans/supporters/whatever, we invest a lot of time, effort and emotion backing

A lot of people are talking about whether the good ship Wenger has run aground. Has The Professor taken the club as far as he can? Ultimately, Should he go? I’ve not reached any sort of conclusion (I’m indecisive like that) but I seriously feel, having seen the team out-fought and out-played at Villa as well as sacrifice a two-goal lead to leave the possibility of finishing outside the top four even more of a reality, questions certainly need to be asked about the manager especially when he fails to acknowledge the problem in hand.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Despite the circumstances around the equaliser and whatever you think about the penalty, Arsenal were extremely lucky to come away with anything at all last night. The first half can only be described as abject. It was as poor a performance as you are likely to see from anyone in the premier league let alone Arsenal. I watched the game with a Liverpoo fan who said it was the worst Arsenal side he’s ever seen. I struggled to come back with any retort. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who tries to engage in football ‘debate’ with rival fans and currently finds that you aren’t wholly convinced with your own arguments when you try to defend The Arsenal.)

Given the fact we somehow found ourselves two goals up, you’d think that would be enough. I don’t buy into all these clichés about not writing off teams etc. If you are in a position of advantage such as that, you simply have a duty to maintain that. It’s unacceptable to surrender a 2-0 lead in such a manner. Completely unacceptable. The fact that this is the second time in just a matter of months this has happened makes it all the more painful.

After the game, Wenger chose not to acknowledge the fact that Gallas was stupid to go to ground as he did, but rather some nonsense about the referee being influenced or something like that. Now, we’ve had to suffer for years with this country’s xenophobia towards the manager as being a stereotypical moaning Frenchman. Arsene Wenger is a passionate man as we all know and never afraid to defend his, and his side’s honour when there is a genuine sense of perceived injustice. Sunday and Adebayor for example. However, his rantings last night (and that’s exactly what they were) were wrong, and so far wide of the mark they were almost embarrassing. In truth, they just made me feel sad. Wenger was clutching at straws big time.

When we have to put up with things like that, I feel short-changed as an Arsenal fan. I’m not talking financially necessarily but as fans/supporters/whatever, we invest a lot of time, effort and emotion backing, not just the team on the pitch but the club as a whole. As such, when the manager comes out and speaks, we want some honesty about why the team performed so shambolically not some diatribe aimed at the referee, who to my mind had a fantastic game.

Arsene Wenger has broken the mould when it comes to speaking to the press. He’s an intelligent and articulate man who rarely resorts to clichés and never shirks from expressing his opinions. Ultimately, agree or disagree, when he talks, people listen.

With that in mind, a lot of what he has been saying recently hasn’t filled me with confidence. Last week, Wenger made the point that Milan and Bayern have struggled in recent seasons as if that gives him some licence for yet another season of what can only be described as failure.

Yesterday, the manager suggested that Villa were favourites to win the game. It’s a sad day when a team containing Luke Young and Zat Knight are favourites to beat The Arsenal.

Make no mistake. Arsenal have been in decline the last 4 years. Great players have been allowed to leave and not been adequately replaced. The instance on this youth experiment is a sham. In sum, young players need experienced players to learn from before being thrust into first team action. The only players there should be an exception made for are those who are EXCEPTIONAL talents. For instance, Francesc Fabregas is an EXCEPTIONAL talent. Alexandre Song is not! Geal Chichy is an EXCEPTIONAL talent. Denilson is not. Robin Van Persie is an EXCEPTIONAL talent. Nik Bendtner most certainly is not!!!!

I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of what the team needs as as it’s been done to death but when asked why he won’t strengthen the team with proven quality, Wenger claims he would be stunting the development of the kids. Am I the only person that sees the fallacy in this statement? Wenger’s job is to win football matches, win trophies and make sure the club is successful on the pitch. He seems to have lost sight of this fact and more concerned about youth development. If this is the case, he should be managing at reserve level and not be in charge of a side that has a reasonable expectation to be challenging for top honours every season.

All these comments are becoming increasingly worrying. The team is falling and the manager can’t seem to understand why. Is Wenger is losing his will to win? The mentality of a football manager should be that it is never acceptable to lose. Never! That’s what separates the Jose Mourniho’s of this world with the Gary Megson’s. The former goes hell for leather to win even the Carling Cup while the latter will go to Anfield – as he did yesterday – and wave the white flag before the game has even kicked off.

I’m not saying Wenger has become Gary Megson over night but there is an increasing belief that he is not capable of recapturing his previous glories. We need to all take a second to remove our rose-tinted glasses. The Double Double and the Unbeaten season were fantastic achievements granted but the club has slipped so far away from those heights and one person has to carry the can for that.

Some people behave as if he is the glue that holds the club together. If you honestly believe that there isn’t another manager in world football who could be a success at Arsenal Football Club then that is very sad.

Discuss…