Has the time since Wenger left changed what we think of him? by Gurjit
Let me start by saying this – It was right that Wenger left. Regardless of who you blame, things were stale and the team was season by season slowly slipping down the table to mediocrity.
Thing is, what came after him was Emery and Arteta. And whilst a lot can be said about the two of them (and the jury is still out on Arteta) there is one thing that is apparent. We have got worse, and that slip down the table has turned into a tumble. It seems much too cliché to use the excuse “the rot Wenger left us with” because that rot was performing much better than our current side has been. That side still played the beautiful football that we associate with our club and which had initially made a lot of us fall in love with it in the first place.
2 years down the line are we happy with where our club has gone? Wenger rightly left but took with him some of the Arsenal DNA that he brought in the first place. It was never expected that we would simply bounce back from such a huge change but at this point a well-run club should be able to say that it is moving in the right direction. I don’t think we can say that yet, and personally I look back at those final years of Wenger’s with at least some respect that he got so much from a group of players that we have not been able to improve since. Looking back, I think that maybe even in those final years he was responsible for a lot of the good within the team, and much of the staleness came from those around him.
I miss the style of play we brought to this league. It was as much a part of our club as the cannon on our badge and I for one hope it returns. I have some faith that Arteta knows this and, with time, I hope that with his own ideas some of that football returns and we can have some pride in how we play.
I think most fans agree it was time for Wenger to go – but has your opinion of him changed now you have seen how the club has been run without him?
Gurjit