Arsene "Wenger-Gate": Lightning-Quick Appraisals Are Unjustified

You wouldn't begrudge Arsene Wenger if he took a very, very long vacation after this year.

Having already joked that he "could write a book" about the events that have transpired at Arsenal Football Club these past few months, each new setback now sees the manager facing another heaping pile of—erm—anger and resentment.

It's entirely justified at this point. Four points in five league matches is something you'd expect from, well, Everton. Not Arsenal.

The Gunners were bereft of any concrete ideas of how to stem a not-so-formidable Blackburn attacking scheme of angled lobbed balls into dangerous areas on Saturday. We'd seen this tactic employed by the Lancashire side for years now. There was no excuse for the missed markings, and shoddy clearances.

Manchester United and Chelsea, two teams who never seem criticized for defensive frailty, would have punished Rovers for employing that tactic. Arsenal seemed unsure about just what to do, and it cost them four goals (two of them self-inflicted.)

When they did try and counter, it was inexplicably poor execution—like that howler from Gervinho—that saw the moves sputter like a put-put car at Disneyland.

But that's besides the point. No point raising the ol' blood pressure again.

Wenger must answer for his current squad composition, which has more holes than aged swiss cheese, but a note of perspective before you grab the pitchforks, please.

The rush to christen each successive failure as the next "reason" why the Frenchman should be sent to the managerial chopping block is getting old, and fast.

That sentiment seemed set in stone in the week following the Manchester United demolishing.

But then, transfers! Bright, gold-tinted, glorious new transfers! We forgot all about how much we hated Wenger when we saw him bring home that shining package of new toys for us to watch each week.

This shifting pendulum of reactions—think the very worst after a loss, think the very best at the faintest glimmer of hope—is lazy and unjustified.

What happened to tempered response? Fools rush in, after all. Or was it "Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something." (Plato)

Both seem quite fitting at this juncture, and many would-be naysayers would do well to heed some caution in their rush to judgment.

Calls for Wenger to demissioner ("resign") make no sense. Sure, you can bag Roy Hodgson for running Liverpool's faulty ship aground by midseason (as the Scousers did in late 2010)—he had no history with the club.

A man who has never missed out on Champions League football, and has three Premiership titles and four FA Cup titles to his name, deserves far better.

My opinion: let Wenger learn from this season. Arsenal had been teetering on the brink of collapse for what seemed like years; this season, a spell of incredibly bad luck has made has simply made the deficiencies that more glaring.

Yet who would ever have predicted the day when Monsieur Wenger would have spent big (well, for him—he got five players for about three/fifths the price of one Fernando Torres) on older talent? Who would have ever thought they'd hear him utter the following words?

"

“You could see that the confidence in our defenders has gone a little bit and it is important to get it back,” [Wenger] said.

“It is important that we get our confidence back quickly. We made mistakes and, at this level, you cannot make the mistakes that we made.

“We were guilty [because] we made basic errors. But now you just have to focus on the next game."

"

This sudden disposition toward acknowledging—and addressing—deficiencies is classically defined as a way of coping with addiction.

Wenger had grown dependent on playing a certain way of football, and he came to believe so completely in this principle that he neglected to strengthen certain other facets in his squad.

To put it in FIFA video game terms, Arsenal would have a very high meter of creativity, and a very low meter for defense. Laurent Koscielny has probably played himself into a 55 rating at this point.

Le Professeur is well on his way to shaping up this side. It will take time, but he has done far too much for Arsenal to not be given the chance.

Remember how quickly Liverpool turned things around a season ago. The appointment of Kenny Dalglish helped, sure. But what ultimately galvanized the side was a select choice of immediate-impact winter transfer signings—Luis Suarez in particular.

Arsenal have two diamonds waiting in the rough—er, injury treatment room—but you get the picture.

Jack Wilshere will back on the pitch before Christmas (knocks on wood.) Thomas Vermaelen should be back before then, and will immediately pair with Per Mertesacker (I don't know why the German got grief today.

His only real mistake was forgetting to mark Samba on a header that the big Blackburn player missed anyway), and send Koscielny to a Bart Simpson tribute society, where hopefully he will spend some time writing "I will not give away possession carelessly" on the local chalkboard.

If another defender is brought in in January—with Premier League experience, please—we could be looking at a revival of epic proportions.

It's not too late to shore up this side. Champions League football next season may be a stretch at this point, but it was always going to be a tall order with the Manchester City blue moon rising so rapidly.

It's time to dig in, not whine with that annoying petulant tone that seems to linger indefinitely after the latest Arsenal loss.

Fair weather fans, football is not for you.