Arsene Wenger: 10 Reasons Arsenal Must Sack Him

This has been a disastrous season for Arsenal.

The Gunners are miraculously hanging on to fourth place by a thread, have endured absolutely abysmal stretches, and most recently were unceremoniously dispatched from both the Champions League and FA Cup in the stretch of four days.

Indeed, these are dark times. And no football fan would have predicted that an Arsenal team managed by its immortal manager, Arsene Wenger, would ever fall to such depths. Yet this is where the club finds itself—in decline and on the verge of absolute implosion.

This is primarily due to the failings of Wenger, the man in charge, who has built this side specifically in his image. Arsenal must sack him as soon as possible to move forward as a club, as their crest implores.

Here are 10 reasons why.

Tactical Inflexibility

Against AC Milan recently, Arsene Wenger displayed one of his most glaring weaknesses as a manager: extreme tactical rigidity.

He persisted with his usual 4-3-3 formation against the Italians, deploying the aging Tomas Rosicky on the left wing where he would not be able to hurt Milan on the counterattack—the one area in which they have proved to be vulnerable.

The result was a slow, plodding, ineffectual display from Arsenal, which has become all too commonplace for the Gunners this season.

Time and time again, Arsenal pass the ball sideways to the flanks of a defence, and fail to achieve any measure of penetration.

Yet, for some reason, the manager persists with a formation that is not working, that only did work with very different personnel and gives other teams ample opportunity to plan a strategy for how to defend Arsenal, as they know exactly what the Gunners will do before they do it.

Unwillingness to Work with Others

When Arsenal were giving away goals like Sheikh Mansour gives away money at the beginning of the season, it was clear that something was fundamentally wrong with the Arsenal defence.

Good defenders frequently found themselves out of position and stranded, as if they has never put in proper defensive work on the training ground.

Arsene Wenger is not a defensive-minded manager, and the obvious solution to this critical problem would have been to bring in a defensive coach—someone like Martin Keown, for example, who knows the art of defending better than almost anyone.

Yet Wenger refused to deviate from his own vision, and it has cost Arsenal dearly, as the Gunners have kept clean sheets in only two of their last 10 matches.

Arsenal Have Become a Feeder Club

The Arsenal of old would certainly not have found itself in the awful position which the Gunners fell into last summer: Their two best players left in one summer, and both were not yet in the primes of their careers.

That is one crucial difference between the Arsenal of today and that of yesteryear. Whereas Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires were all sold after they had given their best years to the club, the Gunners are now seeing their stars leave before they really get going.

True, it is a great corporate formula: Let Wenger work his brilliance at scouting youth players and sign them for pennies, then reap huge profits when Arsenal turn them into world-class superstars and sell them to bigger clubs.

It was a change that began with Ashley Cole's departure, and looks likely to continue this summer with at least Theo Walcott and possibly Robin van Persie, while the Dutchman is finally beginning to contribute on a meaningful level.

Lack of Investment

This has unfortunately been an infuriatingly regular theme during the past several seasons.

Time and again, when investment is obviously needed to strengthen the squad, it is not made, despite Arsenal being in fifth position in the Deloitte Football Money League.

When Arsenal clearly needed another central defender last season to make a serious title push, none was purchased; when Cesc Fabregas was sold, no appropriate replacement was purchased; when it was abundantly clear that Arsenal needed more strikers this past January, no action was taken.

Instead, we get useless deadwood like Ju-Young Park, simply because players like him represent the absolute cheapest possible option available. This must change if Arsenal seriously wish to push for major trophies.

Mental Fragility

Another thing that has been endemic in the squad for years has been a disturbing and crippling mental fragility that seems to grip the team at the most inopportune moments.

The men who ironically wear the word "forward" on their chests seem to forget that they are professional footballers, and they must focus on what lies ahead, rather than lying in the fetal position and wrecking the team's ambitions.

After the Carling Cup debacle last season, Arsenal endured a historic collapse that killed their title hopes. After Eduardo's horrific injury a few years ago, the team again threw away any chance they had at winning the league.

Even on the scale of an individual game, the Gunners always seem to look their shakiest when other teams really try to attack them, conceding crushing equalizers all too frequently.

If Arsene Wenger cannot seem to coach this out of his team, perhaps someone else can.

Defensive Fragility

Speaking of conceding late goals, Arsenal have been unable to keep goals from entering their net at any time for a while.

An inability to defend plagued the Gunners last season, and this Achilles heel was the main reason why their push for silverware was too weak. And it does not seem as if much has been solved in this area.

As previously mentioned, Arsenal have kept the opposition at bay only twice in their last 10 matches, thus putting an enormous amount of pressure on the attack—specifically Robin van Persie—to win matches.

It can be argued that Arsene Wenger has never built a truly great defensive unit of his own, and Arsenal will not be able to win trophies if they cannot build from the back like every other successful club.

Stubbornness

Arsene Wenger is known to be one of the most stubborn men in all of football, if not the most stubborn.

He is unfailingly loyal to his footballing philosophies, and even more so to some players who perpetually disappoint.

He persists with the same small, technical style that has yielded no success for the past seven years.

He sticks to the same ineffective transfer policy that has borne little fruit.

And worst of all, he cannot or does not want to realize that his persistence is dragging the team down and preventing it from achieving any success.

If Wenger cannot wake up, it is time to show him the door.

It's Always the Same Old Excuses

Arsenal lose nowadays with frightening regularity and consistency.

In the depressing hours following a loss, Arsene Wenger can always be counted on to trot out the same hollow excuses that he uses to defend his bedraggled team, while trying (and failing) to restore some level of faith in his men.

Whether it's the bad pitch, poor refereeing or a blight of injuries, the manager never fails to come up with some canned rationale to explain why his team cannot deliver.

Arsenal deserve a man in charge who can actually get results, rather than constantly coming up with new reasons why he cannot achieve them.

The Rise of Spurs

While Arsenal have been in constant decline for the past few years, another club has seen its fortunes improve. This club i now laughing at its rivals, who are now 10 points below in the table.

I am referring, of course, to Tottenham Hotspur, who have not finished above their hated rivals for more than two decades, but will in all likelihood do so this season.

The way in which Spurs have usurped Arsenal is quite interesting, in that Harry Redknapp has built a team with strong character and mental fortitude, blending youth and experience like his counterpart Wenger has shown he is unable to do.

If the Frenchman cannot realize his folly and take measures to improve his team, it may be time for him to go.

Seven Seasons Without a Trophy

There really can be no better reason to sack Arsenal's venerated manager, can there?

In any other team, and not just one managed by Roman Abramovich, no manager would have been given a leash of remotely the same length as that which Arsenal have kept Arsene Wenger on.

Seven consecutive seasons without a major trophy is an eternity for a club of Arsenal's stature and, given the glory that the club achieved in the years prior to this barren spell, an embarrassment.

It points to Wenger's lack of ability to adapt and change to fit the needs of a dynamic footballing world. Arsenal have given their beleaguered manager more than enough time to deliver on his grand promises, but it is now time to move on and begin a new era at Arsenal Football Club, as must always be done.

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