Why Fan Apathy Is Arsene Wenger's Biggest Arsenal Concern After Palace Draw

There are always moments when people snap, when things change and when what has long been accepted and tolerated is done so no longer.

No one is suggesting Yannick Bolasie’s late equaliser for Crystal Palace on Sunday is that moment in Arsene Wenger’s long and, well, let’s call it “consistent” Arsenal career, but the veteran boss can’t have had many moments where his position seems so unstable and so uncertain. He’s losing supporters rapidly.

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And that loss was quite visible at a subdued and fairly sleepy Emirates Stadium at the weekend, where plenty of empty seats were apparent despite the Gunners giving an official attendance figure that would have meant there were just 300 seats unsold. It appears supporters are voting with their feet, and the club don’t want to make that public.

What they can’t hide, though, is the fact a season that promised so much has now passed Arsenal by.

Of course, they are likely to finish in the top four of the Premier League table, thereby confirming UEFA Champions League football once again—although they could be just a point ahead of fifth-placed Manchester United by the time the Emirates hosts its next match against West Bromwich Albion on Thursday—but this really was their time to shine. This was their season.

Instead Gunners fans will feel stuck in a time-warp, just watching supremely talented players such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil dominate possession in matches without laying a serious hand on their opponents.

Teams such as Crystal Palace know that as long as they stay in the game when facing Arsenal, then they have a chance of stealing something, and so it has proved to be all season.

There are any number of football clubs who would swap places with the Gunners in a heartbeat, of course, but any manager has to be seen to be taking their side forward for them not to be falling behind, and there is now a real sense Wenger has stopped doing that.

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The same memes and the same jokes that get trotted out about Arsenal each and every year have suddenly got a bitter edge to them for the fans, who are growing more and more frustrated with Wenger’s oft-repeated stance that everything is just going to be alright eventually.

As they gaze at the teams above them in the league table and wonder what might have been, there is an apathy about Arsenal now, and that was horribly apparent for most of the game on Sunday afternoon.

Of course the hosts were the better side throughout, of course they deserved Sanchez’s opener and of course they could have and should have scored more, but there always seemed to be an edge to the game off the pitch, and all it needed was a moment just as the one Bolasie provided—and Petr Cech should have saved—for things to turn ugly.

There has been a significant “Wenger Out” fringe among the support for some time now, but they were usually always drowned out by those who still believed in the Frenchman. A couple of FA Cups in the past two seasons added to their number.

But football managers can inspire their fans, they can stimulate them and yes, sometimes they can anger them, but the worst thing they can do is bore them, and that is pretty much what Wenger is doing now in the eyes of a growing number of Gunners followers.

At a time when the Premier League is in thrall with the antics of Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur are surely the best they’ve ever been in the post-1992 era, there are superstar managers either in the division already or on the way and other clubs are enjoying dizzying European runs, Arsenal are simply just doing what Arsenal do.

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Supporters have got fed up of that, and Wenger must not let this apathy grow.

The Frenchman faces a difficult night on Thursday when there will be another Trial By Emirates.

Only a good win against West Brom will keep a growing number of supporters off his back, but such is the depth of the ill-feeling around the club now that it won’t be long before that returns.

It really is difficult to know where Wenger turns next, because a look up to the stands would suggest he’s rapidly losing friends at the place he needs them the most.