Arsenal Continue To Get It Wrong Under Arsene Wenger

Arsenal have made their worst start to a Premier League season since Arsene Wenger took charge of the club. Lying in 17^th position, just one-point above the relegation zone winning only once in five games and scoring five points, they still show no signs of improvement. Any suggestions that Arsene Wenger’s position at the club is under threat have been strongly rebuffed by the man himself and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis.

Despite being trophy-less for six seasons, Wenger continues to defy the notion that Arsenal have stopped moving forwards, constantly using the argument that he has been at the club for 14 years and delivered 14 years of Champions League football. But is that really what fans want?

The true answer to that is that fans want everything–of course they do. Champions League or trophies? “Both please,” most would respond.

But with such a young squad, and still with no momentum in the season despite October quickly approaching, that is too much to ask. So surely it is time for Arsene Wenger to prioritize winning trophies, and in the process teach his young players the art of winning, ahead of finishing above 16 other teams in the league table?

The endless cycle of fourth place, Champions League quarter finals, third place, Champions League last 16, ad nauseum, must surely become tiresome, even for Wenger himself.

Where is the ambition to win trophies?

Where is the ambition to etch his and his players’ names into the history of the club?

No one can argue with the success Wenger enjoyed in his first eight years at Arsenal. He has won league titles and FA Cups, as well as overseeing the move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium. But is that enough? Perhaps there lies the key to all of this.

More than any other club that has managed its own funding for a stadium move, Arsenal have kept their finances in reasonable order and can now boast one of the highest match-day revenues in the world. Not only that, but they also have an American sports tycoon owner, as well as a Russian billionaire shareholder, yet they are still reluctant to invest heavily in the transfer market.

Any attempts to question this philosophy, from fans and media alike, are quickly shot down with the argument that Arsenal will still be at the top of the game in 20 years' time when all the pseudo-rich clubs have fallen away. But that use of the word “still” cannot apply. A team cannot “still” be at the top in 20 years if they are not at the top now. And Arsenal are a long way off the top.

But what do fans want? Do fans really pay their money at the turnstiles to support the club’s finances? Do their demands really end there? Knowing that your club’s finance are in good order is fine. There’s a nice warm feeling that goes with it. It means your club will survive, at least for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, Arsenal’s finances are probably the envy of most other clubs; certainly in the Premier League. But that warm, fuzzy feeling of security dissolves pretty swiftly if it doesn’t translate to success on the pitch.

Success on the pitch is severely lacking at Arsenal. Local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, new challengers Manchester City and, most painfully for Arsenal, relegated Birmingham City, are all among the clubs that have won a trophy since the last time Arsenal did.

Would the fans of those clubs swap their fortunes with Arsenal’s? As a Tottenham fan, I certainly wouldn’t. I won’t be able to tell anyone, in 15 or 20 years’ time which season (or seasons) the Spurs managed to finish in the top four. But I will be able to tell you that they won the League Cup in 2008. Because trophies are what the game is all about. Seeing your team score the winning goal in a final, and watching them lift a shiny cup, is why fans go and watch football in the first place.

This article is not attempting to say Arsenal should go out and spend millions on new players. Rather, it is suggesting that reassuring yourself that Champions League football, regardless of whether or not you are even close to winning the Champions League, is not enough. Not for this long, anyway.

It's about time Arsene Wenger admitted that to himself. It’s great for balancing the books with all that guaranteed income, but surely it’s time to start aiming for first in the table, instead of comforting yourself in a blanket of financial bliss and telling yourself that fourth is all that matters.

It wasn't enough to persuade their two best players to stay with club, with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leaving in the summer for Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. How long will it be before the fans decide it isn't enough, and that they no longer want to stick with Wenger and his philosophy?