Arsenal fans are as changeable as the weather, and just as fickle! We lose our first two games and suddenly we are relegation candidates. Then we go on a 22 game unbeaten run and Emery is suddenly the best think since sliced Wenger, and the Gunners are surely on our way to the Champions League next season.
Now that our usual injury problems have arrived and we have had a long run with hardly any fit defenders, Emery is now being called the worst man for the job and there are calls for him to be replaced already. Okay, so we lost away at an in-form West Ham, in a fairly even game, and with a completely unsettled back line. It is certainly a set-back but it is hardly the end of the world. As our captain Laurent Koscielny said after the game: “We came here to win because for us the three points was very important, and next week as well to play against Chelsea. We tried to play, we did well in the first half but didn’t have a lot of chances in the final third. We need to keep calmer in the final third and find the final ball, but in the second half we didn’t start well and conceded early. After that we tried to push for the rest of the game, we had some chances and we didn’t score so it is difficult to come back with no points but we need to continue to fight to make the top four.”
It is a fight, and it is also a marathon. We lost to West Ham, Liverpool lost to Wolves, Man City lost to Palsce (and Leicester!). We are barely over the halfway point of the season and we are being written off for a Top Four place. Get a grip!
Come on lads, we all knew that any rebuilding programme was not going to be fixed after just six months of a new coach, and we really do need to show a bit of patience with the new boss, the new players and the new tactics. There are 16 League games to go, and we are actually 3 points better off than this stage last year. Can we please maintain some sense of decorum for a year or two to give Emery a chance to work his magic?
The times they are a-changing!
Sam P