Is it Time Mr. Wenger?

Its been five years now since Arsenal has won anything. The truth is we never had the squad that could win anything since the invincible era. Arsenal fans all over the world have started asking Wenger to step down. Had it been Chelsea he managed he would have been long gone.

After the departure of the Invincible team, Wenger changed his approach in the game. He started to buy young and promising players instead of established proven players. When you adopt something like that you have to wait for some time before the team starts to win some silverware. But now its five years, is five years not enough for a  team to develop and mature to win a silverware?

It's becoming a habit that Arsenal choke at the final stage of the season. Last season we lost two semi final clashes in the FA cup and Champions League, the season before that we blew away our title chances after having a nine point lead in mid march, and now again this seasons we have blew away our chance after loosing to Spurs. Time have changed.  In 2004 we won the title at White Hart lane, and now the unthinkable happened, we lost the title race in White Hart lane. There is still the outside chance of Arsenal winning it, but it is unlikely to happen. There are various problems we have season after season that make us mere pretenders than real contenders. 

The first problem is either we keep losing players to richer clubs like Barca and others, or we lose players through long time injuries. The latter is a bigger problem for the Gunners, when we lose players through long term injuries like Eduardo, Rosicky, Van Persie, and now Ramsey, it is tough for them to come back and reach the same class they were before the injuries. Arsenal has the smallest squad in all of the Premier League, and for the amount of injuries we have every season we can’t afford this.

If we take a look at seasons when we played bigger opponents, Arsenal lacked one or two key players who can change the complexion of the game. For the first Man Utd match it was Fabregas and Nasri for Man City, and I reckon it was Cesc, Nasri and Arshavin. For Barcelona we didn’t have Fabregas, Arshavin, RVP, Song, Gallas. Its not the injuries we should blame.  We don’t have enough fire power to replace them. Wenger still was quiet at both the transfer market.    

The second problem is we never have a solid defense. In the past Arsenal were tough, and had the strongest defense in the league.  The likes of Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, David Seaman, Nigel Winterburn, and Martin Keown are all gone now. The present defense is the most fragile among the big teams in the Premier League. Arsene Wenger has lost focus on strengthening the defense.  He forgot to remember that it is defense that wins you titles. Thomas Vermaelen has been a good buy for the Gunners this season, but we need at least another centre back like him.

The third and the most decisive problem Arsenal have in the past five years is that the Gunners attack choke up in the final third of the pitch. For all their passing they don’t get an end product. The reason is well known to all, we don’t have solid strikers. Players like Bendtner just don’t find the target. Bendtner is not a player of Arsenal class.  For his potential I would expect him at bottom clubs of the Premier League. Eduardo, who showed his potential initially, was out injured after a breaking his leg, and he has not been the same since. We keep loosing RVP to injuries, and Wenger never showed the desire of buying the players.

The last and not the least problem I would like to mention, is that Arsenal don’t perform against bigger teams more often. They’ve been trashed by Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City, Barcelona not only away in some cases, but at home as well. As Evra often says, it is like playing boys against men. The reason is simple.  When bigger teams play against Arsenal its more of a physical battle than a football match, and Arsenal cannot handle it.  There's no point in blaming the opponents for it, when you play in the Premier League you have to handle it, or else you fall like we often do.

Arsenal is often compared to Barcelona for its style of play, but as we all saw they are no match for Barca. The difference is well known to all, Barcelona plays well both with the ball and without. As we all saw in the game against Arsenal, when Barca lost the ball they tried to get back as quick as possible, and more often than not they succeed. For all the beautiful football Barca play, they have a solid defense at the back that is the cutting edge Arsenal lacks. That is how you win silverware. 

I’ve not said anything new, we all know these problems, the thing is Wenger doesn’t understand them or you can say his faith in his young team fails to make him understand. But it's five seasons now, and how long can we wait. Wenger must change his youth policy now. He must try to bring in experienced and proven players that can make instant impact.

The time to act is now, and if we don't, then Arsenal could have a big fall.  I want to see Wenger leave the club, with his head held high.