It is pretty hard for Arsenal fans to be upbeat right now. A shocking start to the Premier League season has not got a lot better and the chance to add some real quality in the summer transfer window to help the Gunners fight for the Premier League title has come and gone.
It is still very early days though, and the form that Arsenal showed from the start of the calendar year right up until that game against West Ham does give us reason to feel quite confident that we can still have a good season. But we are still looking forward to the resumption of the domestic football action more in hope than expectation, mainly because of the disappointment in Arsene Wenger’s failure to sign a single outfield player.
So anything that cheers Arsenal fans up at the minute is very welcome, so we should all say a big thank you to the former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown, as he has got stuck right into our rivals Manchester United and their increasingly erratic manager Louis van Gaal, in his Daily Mail article.
You thought Wenger made some odd decisions? Well check out what Keown thinks of the United boss and his bizarre treatment of some of the United players, not to mention that eyebrow raising panic buy of some unheard of and unproven French youngster for more money than we paid Barcelona to get Alexis Sanchez.
Keown wrote, “It was embarrassing. The signing of Anthony Martial is a huge gamble. He has been compared to Thierry Henry and if he is half as good then he will be a decent player.
“Van Gaal likes a pacey ball-carrier — he had Arjen Robben at Bayern Munich and tried and failed to make Angel di Maria that man at United — and Martial fits the bill. He might even be the answer to their striker dilemma but it is still a big risk to take on an uncapped youngster.
“Van Gaal also thought nothing of selling Di Maria and losing £16m just a year after signing him and the way Di Maria and Radamel Falcao both flopped discredits the Dutchman.
“The biggest issue for Van Gaal, though, is his man management. The David de Gea saga was farcical but if no offers had been made by Real Madrid until deadline day then he should have been playing.”
Keown goes on to question van Gaal’s treatment of Valdes, Shaw, Rojo, Januzaj, Rojo and others and suggesting that his man management skills clearly leaver a lot to be desired and could be why they lost the Pedro transfer to Chelsea. And he made it clear that Wenger is much better at this part of the job.
So should Arsenal fans appreciate what we have got and be glad that we don’t have a tyrannical nutter like van Gaal or Mourinho in charge?