Arsene Wenger Right To Keep Faith Despite Arsenal's Puzzling Summer?

Few clubs, and perhaps even fewer managers, provoke such conflicting opinions as Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. To some, the club plays beautiful football but its playing staff lack the resilience and mental strength to win the game’s big prizes.

To others, their brand of football is just a bit of experience and a dose of good fortune away from winning every trophy they compete for.

As for the manager, even Arsenal’s fans sometimes seem divided about the direction Wenger is leading the club. Some are unquestioning in their faith to his vision. Others are less impressed—frustrated by his apparent refusal to pursue expensive signings and outright angered by the misguided faith he appears to have in his young charges.

Deliciously, it often seems the 59-year-old’s comments only serve to provide ammunition for both sides of the argument. This summer has proved no different.

"This team has improved a lot as compared to last season. They played 21 games unbeaten from November until the end of the season. We reached the semi-final of the Champions League, FA Cup,” Wenger has been quick to point out.

“We have a squad which is very ambitious. We have the basic quality, they have international quality and are under 23, so their best time is now.”

Certainly Arsenal impressed during periods of last season, and got better after an abysmal start that saw some shocking defeats (most notably, and embarrassingly, at home to Hull City). But while they may have managed all the feats Wenger mentions, they also finished a full 18 points adrift of eventual champions Manchester United.

For a club that believes it is a full member of the “Big Four” that is simply not good enough.

Wenger may believe this season is the one for his team, but the summer sale of two high-profile assets has led many to question whether he is correct in that assertion. After all, it is one he has seemingly made for the better part of four, ultimately trophy-less, seasons.

With the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, Arsenal have undoubtedly lost two important players and diminished the squad’s strength. But on the other hand, the club seem to have profited in at least three important ways.

Firstly, and most obviously, the have added £40 million of much needed finance to their bank balance. Whether Arsene Wenger chooses to reinvest all or any of that remains unclear, but one way or another those funds will help the club’s future.

Secondly, Wenger has sold two players who would otherwise have probably missed a key period of the season to play in the African Cup of Nations. With Emmanuel Eboue also likely to be offloaded, Wenger is ensuring that his team is minimally disrupted (Alex Song should be involved) by the competition, unlike two seasons ago.

Thirdly, Wenger has managed to offload two players who threatened the dressing room harmony. Adebayor’s poor attitude was becoming increasingly apparent, and left a sour taste in the mouth whenever he made his not-so-subtle comments to the media.

Toure might have seemed the archetypal loyal servant, but his recent comments about his “six-month” relationship with Manchester City indicate that was not necessarily the case.

Now, however, those issues will be Mark Hughes’s—a privilege for which he has also played handsomely.

Wenger might lose some sleep over the loss of Adebayor, who was capable of moments of magic when the occasion most demanded it. But the Togolese international was also lackadaisical and disinterested when his team desperately needed more.

With the Robin van Persie leading the line, Nicklas Bendtner in the squad, and a litany of attacking midfielders to provide from midfield, Adebayor had become expendable.

As for Toure, the Ivorian was a defender of limited ability whose athleticism often made him look significantly better than he deserved. Statistically poor last season, he was nevertheless an integral part of an Arsenal defence which conceded 37 goals in the league last season (Manchester United, by contrast, conceded just 24).

Clearly, the 28-year-old should prove eminently replaceable.

Whether Thomas Vermaelen, the £10 million summer signing, will prove that replacement remains to be seen. But the Belgian brings with him a decent reputation from his time with Ajax and as long as he settles well, should prove a competent performer.

Nevertheless, Wenger might well be scouting for an established Premiership central defender to provide further steel to a sometimes soft Arsenal defence. The club have been strongly linked to Fulham’s Brede Hangeland, and at the right price the 6’5” Norwegian would be a great capture.

If St. Etienne’s Blaise Matuidi is also brought in to address the club’s glaring deficiency at defensive midfield, perhaps alongside former talisman Patrick Vieira, then it would not be unreasonable to suggest the club have had a successful summer.

On the other hand, Arsene Wenger is notoriously reticent to make too many big signings. Such a stance—especially when high-profile players are sold so willingly—has disappointed many and only served to overshadow the good news of returning players this summer. But the Frenchman is unrelenting in his stance:

"We have developed a style and culture of play that everybody accepts, so I feel confident and very strong. Our focus should not be who can help us from outside, but who can help us from inside."

For example, the return to full fitness of both Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo will feel like two new signings for the Gunners. The Czech midfielder has fantastic technical ability, and as long as his return continues in the same promising vein it has throughout preseason, he should be able to slot in as a perfect replacement for the injured Samir Nasri.

Eduardo, meanwhile, is one of the most naturally clinical finishers in the game today. If the Croatian can get a decent run of games, he has the ability to more than replace Adebayor’s goalscoring contribution. Even in the Emirates Cup, the 26-year-old has shown great composure in front of goal.

However, the biggest cause for optimism for the North London club could just be the first full campaign of their expensive January signing, Andrei Arshavin. Having tracked the Russian for many months, the club finally got their man in an eleventh hour deal.

The 28-year-old showed fleeting glimpses of his ability in the second half of last season (including a memorable four goals at Anfield against Liverpool) and fans will no doubt be excited to see what the mercurial midfielder can conjure up this season.

Available for the club’s European campaign as well (last season he was cup-tied), the diminutive Russian international will have a massive role to play in the club’s season.

“He now knows how English football works,” Wenger said after Arshavin lead Arsenal to a 2-1 victory against Atletico Madrid in the Emirates Cup. 'He knows as well he is part of the team from the start, and the team know how important and how big an impact he can have on the results.

"Arshavin has what you cannot give to a player—he understands when there is an opportunity in the final third, and is certainly dangerous.”

With the likes of Arshavin, Fabregas, Rosicky and Walcott supporting Van Persie and Eduardo, Arsenal should once more prove a formidable attacking threat.

With youngsters like Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and the returning Armand Traore (who have all been impressive in preseason) also keen to be involved on a regular basis, the first-team squad could find itself competently reinforced from within.

It might not necessarily all be doom and gloom for Arsenal, then, even if the cause for optimism is based on a lot of "shoulds", "woulds", and "ifs."

Yes, the squad might have been weakened during the summer—but so have the majority of the other Big Four sides. Depending on which side of the Wenger debate they fall, fans at the Emirates might well be feeling more confident about their summer activity than fans at either Anfield (especially if they lose Xabi Alonso) or Manchester United.

The Gunners may have lost some quality to their squad, but they have made improvements in team cohesion. Their rivals appear to have dropped back in both departments.

Nevertheless, it must be remembered that Arsenal are coming from a long way adrift of their rivals after last season’s campaign. And with tough games facing the club from the first whistle, Wenger knows that snap judgements of him and his young charges will be immediate.

"We have Man United, Everton and Man City away in the first four games," he said. "The team is conscious of a difficult start, but very determined to do well."

With so much speculation surrounding the club, and even fans divided by what has gone on during the summer break, only the start of the season in two weeks will begin to reveal any real answers about the club’s true health.