It was perfectly understandable for the Arsenal fans to be pretty far from okay last weekend after losing away to Stoke City yet again. It was not just the result that cheesed most Gooners off royally, it was the limp manner of our first half performance against the Potters. For me it evoked memories of those painful away days last season at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Goodison Park and the Etihad.
But as unhappy as I was with Arsenal in that first 45 minutes, I was equally unhappy with the abuse that Arsene Wenger got at the train station afterwards. Whatever we think of how well he is doing at the club, Arsenal have always had more class than that and Wenger deserves so much more.
But the video has made it the talking point of the week and our manager has been asked many questions about it. His latest words on the subject are, for me, the definitive response, because when you realise that a win over Newcastle today will make it five out of six, the wailing and teeth gnashing of some fans does seem a bit of an overreaction.
Wenger told Arsenal Player, “We have a good dynamic in our team, we won four of our last five games. We had one blip against Stoke but overall I think we are on a good trend.
“We have played eight Champions League games [this season]. We won five, drew two and have only lost one in Dortmund. The regret is Anderlecht at home. That cost us first place because we are level on points with Dortmund. Overall 13 points – when you look at how many some other teams qualified with – is a decent total.”
Of course we should have been better at Stoke, but we did come back strongly in the second half and our recent performances have been pretty good. So should we all just calm down and appreciate what the Gunners are doing rather than looking on the bad side of things?