I am currently one of the few Arsenal fans, possibly the only one, that is still sitting on the fence and has not joined up with either the AKB or the WOB groups. I was a little disappointed and surprised to see that the Frenchman did not spend anything in the transfer window after signing Petr Cech but I can also see his reasons and am not too impressed with the players our Premier League rivals have signed.
I have to admire Wenger’s courage though, because this decision has left him without a leg to stand on if things should go wrong this season and he is really putting his legacy on the line. He would only have himself to blame if it goes wrong, because he could easily have signed a player or two, even if he did not think they would add much to the team or even get on the pitch a lot.
So if the players get back from the international break and the team still looks a bit disjointed and does not click into the fluent type of football we know they can produce, Wenger will get the blame and he will not have anyone else to blame. Brendan Rodgers or Louis van Gaal can say ‘look we spent the money but it will take time for these new players to gel’.
If the old injury curse comes back to haunt us and any or a few of the likes of Alexis, Giroud, Ozil, Cazorla, Koscielny or Cech have to miss a decent portion of the season, Wenger cannot bemoan his luck because the fans and the football media will say, quite rightly, that he should have planned for it and signed some players.
Having said that, look at Chelsea last season. They could have come seriously u8nstuck if they had lost Costa earlier in the season, or Matic, Terry, Ivanovic, Fabregas or many more, at any point of the campaign. Sometimes you need a little luck and Arsenal are certainly due a bit. But if we don’t get it, Wenger will get the blame and he has no excuses.
The end of this season will see him labeled as either a genius with great foresight or a muppet who is stubborn and stuck in the past. Which will it be?