There is a saying in football, which the Arsenal fans should hope comes true for the Gunners this year, that any problems in the dressing room are made much easier to deal with when a team is winning. Some really tough managers like Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson have got away with all sorts of behaviour towards their players because those same players were confident that the managers would help them to win some trophies.
The Arsenal players are getting nicely used to silverware now, with three more pre-season trophies to add to the two FA cups and last year´s Community Shield success. And there is now real belief at the club that we can take it on another step this season and add the coveted Premier League crown to our cabinet, as revealed by the vice-captain Per Mertesacker in a Daily Star report.
But while the German centre back talked about the widespread confidence in the Arsenal squad and the belief that we would not slip up and have a slow start to the campaign that cost us so dearly last year, he did have some words of warning.
As well as talking about the possibility of real improvement from our Premier League rivals like Man City, Liverpool and Man United, the defender suggested that there could be some problems ahead for Arsene Wenger with some players likely to be unhappy as they struggled to get regular first team game time.
He said, “You can see we have a great squad, a deep squad it is. That means there will be some difficult questions for the manager to answer and for the team.
“There will be disappointment in the squad. At the moment it is easier to handle in pre-season because everyone gets his games.
“But once it is into the season, everyone wants to play in their own position.”
I wonder if he is thinking about his own place here, with Gabriel and Chambers likely to be pushing him a lot harder this season. It might need him and our captain Mikel Arteta to set a good example to the younger Gunners by accepting a place on the bench with good grace.
Do you think there is player trouble on the horizon for Wenger?