The ups and downs of supporting Arsenal never seem to end. The high of beating Leicester City and seemingly on top of the favourites charts to win the league was met with a catastrophic low of losing to an understrength Manchester United followed by a shock defeat to Swansea at home.
The loss severely dents Arsenal’s chances of winning the league, especially with Leicester six points clear of Arsenal, once again.
Arsene Wenger might have chosen his strongest side but it was the young guns of Manchester who took the game to the Gunners, especially Marcus Rashford, who scored twice for the home team.
Arsenal have only themselves to blame for the loss, this coming after a 2-0 loss in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League to Barcelona, the only chance Arsenal now have of any silverware is another FA Cup title waiting for them.
Here is a perfectly put together tweet by a disgruntled Arsenal fan;
Reminder: this is a response to the Untied loss, which was the response to the Barcelona loss, which was a response to a 0-0 draw w/ Hull
— MJ (@MJ_Boh_) March 2, 2016
The glaring inefficiencies of Arsenal were laid bare for all to see but it obviously stems from what Arsene Wenger has not been able to teach his team, big game management. This has been a typical scenario for Arsenal in the last 10 years or so.
They go to play big games, hype it up with their players and end up losing to the opposition and it is a circle, a vicious one at that. Talk big, end up losing, change players and it starts again. Should it not be also the manager’s role in fixing this rather huge mental deficiency that Arsenal seem to suffer from, or at least the players do.
Arsene Wenger has not found the able replacements for the likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, they weren’t just great players, they were leaders in the team. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil might be incredible players but they aren’t leaders in their own right.
Wenger did sign Petr Cech to solve that problem but the veteran goalkeeper is just one player, not enough to fix the large void that Arsenal have had for a good portion of a decade. The final straw lies with the man who is making all the moves at the top, and no we do not mean Theo Walcott who had an absolutely horrible game against United, we mean Arsene Wenger.
Time and time again, he has had the money and opportunity to get some steel into the defence, even Laurent Koscielny, who has been incredible for the Gunners, needs some support at the back.
Wenger though has a missed a trick, like Liverpool in 2013, this was their best chance of winning the league and they still have a decent chance of doing it as long as they forget about the Champions League tie against Barcelona.
All the effort must be on the Premier League, with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United having poor seasons, there would be no better chance for the other big team to win the league. Only Leicester and Tottenham stand in the way but had Arsene and Arsenal taking the wins that they should have gotten in the big games, read at Anfield against Liverpool, this discussion would have been more about what Arsenal can do next season.
Rather it is about the future of the manager who will complete 20 years at the club soon. Time does fly and fortunately it is for Arsene Wenger also, come May if he is holding the Premier League title high above his head, he should remain as the manager for a few more years but anything less and it should be the sack for him.
Arsenal need to get the title and show what they are made off but they look like the Arsenal that Arsene Wenger has moulded, good on the outside, hollow on the inside. FA Cup glory beckons, we guess.
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