It seems to be an increasingly rare opinion among Arsenal fans, especially after the season we are having with a bigger than ever gap between us and the Premier League leaders and almost no chance of finishing in the top four, but for years there has been a theory that Arsene Wenger is taking the blame for the woes of the Arsenal team when the real fault lies with the people in charge of our club, such as Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis.
A lot of the anger of Arsenal fans has been caused bu the transfer dealings where we have lagged behind our main rivals and you could argue that Wenger has been doing great things just to keep us in touch given this situation. Others will say that it is the manager to blame for the lack of signings or their quality and it is certain that more Gooners than ever want to see the back of the Frenchman.
Maybe we should reconsider, though, if we accept that our recent transfer addition from Manchester United, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, has a point when he suggests, as reported by Metro, that our manager is better than the much lauded Jose Mourinho.
The Armenia international said, ‘When I heard I could swap Man United for Arsenal, I said, “Yes, I want to do that”, I didn’t think twice.
‘It’s important for me to play in an offensive team. I couldn’t have imagined a better start [providing three assists in his home debut against Everton].
‘I’d missed playing offensively. I joined Arsenal because Wenger wanted me, not because he wanted to replace Sanchez.
‘We are different players and characters, with different abilities and skills, so I’ll try my best to do everything for the club.’
Maybe this just shows that Mourinho is a feisty character who did not get on with this player, but we have seen a lot of this sort of thing and we have also heard a lot about how well Wenger’s players respect him. Add in the difference in transfer spending and wages between the two and perhaps Arsenal fans are forgetting just how good a manager Wenger really is and how much he has done for us a difficult situation.
Sam P.