The Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp has come out to claim that Arsenal’s defence has been their focal point for failing to win this season’s Premier League title.
The legend was a part of the Invincibles side which won the 03-04 Premier League title without losing a match, and knows Arsene Wenger all too well. Bergkamp has now spoken out on his opinion on the current campaign.
The former Dutch striker, who is tipped as a future Gunners boss himself, has claimed that the club’s defence has ruined their chances of winning the league this year. Arsenal have conceded three or more goals eight times this term, compared to only conceding more than one goal on three occasions in that famous unbeaten season.
He said: “Arsenal have a really good team and a really, really good squad.
“They’ve got tremendous players and they should be able to win the championship, but one of the biggest problems is defence.
“So many times the team have to react to going a goal behind or two goals behind. That happens too much. And at this time of the year you can’t drop points.
“We would always have a dip in November, but their dip has come in the second half of the season. That didn’t happen a lot in our time.”
The current assistant manager for Ajax went onto praise his former manager, claiming that Wenger is still hungry to win titles with the club, and should remain in his role.
The Arsenal legend continued: “He knows his players so well. It’s like a puzzle, he’s adjusting every player all the time so everything fits together. He’s got a picture in his mind how it should be. And he knew when to push the team, when to let go, when to relax.
“I still think he’s got that drive and if he gets the opportunity to stay there, he will take it I’m sure. He’s still a good manager and you never know what you’ll get if you bring a new one in. That’s the problem.
“Look what happened at Man United when Sir Alex Ferguson left. You never know what’s better. To bring someone new, someone fresh or stick to someone who knows the club. I’m sure (Wenger) is still ambitious to win trophies.”
We have all witnessed the downfalls with changing managers, but we have also witnessed positive results with both Man City and Chelsea regularly changing guard, but we are not looking to spend, spend and spend every season in order to accommodate new incoming managers, and should stick with Wenger.
Instead of switching manager, maybe we should concentrate on bringing in a top centre-back, to go with the necessary striker addition. Is Bergkamp right that our defending was to blame for our season’s downfall?