It is without doubt that I can say that Arsenal are pretty much on a roll right now. We have put 3 past the last 4 teams against whom we have played, West Ham, Wigan, Leeds and Ipswich, and that too with quite a fair bit of rotation in the squad. The last goal we conceded in the League was Squillaci’s own goal against Wigan away.
In short, if you were a Gooner, you would be wishing we played like this every week. Any Arsenal supporter would think that this squad was probably the best lineup we had seen in a lot of time.
The only thing that irks me right now, is the indecisiveness of Arsenal supporters. We draw away to Wigan, and bloggers declare that the Arsenal team has lost its potency, we need to buy new players and whatnot. And this coming after a historic win over Chelsea, which was as rare as it was special. At the end of that game, every player was perfect, everyone had got a 10/10 rating. And after the draw to Wigan, all of us shook our heads in disapproval and tutted about the team and its players. There is a reason why we are called supporters. We back the team. Of course, a major part of our role is also to provide constructive criticism, but if we criticize and dismiss the players every time the team drops points, and then praise the players every time we win by a huge margin, we are hardly being constructively critical. We are simply being hypocritical.
If Wenger wouldn’t have made 10 changes at Wigan, do you think it would have been easy to beat Birmingham by 3 goals at Fortress St. Andrews? We talk about squad rotation. In the past month, we had to play twice a week the whole time. And still we are unbeaten in the league since we last lost to Manchester United at OT, and have lost only once since then, and that was away to Ipswich.
There had been cries to bring in Benzema from Madrid and Mertesacker/Cahill. Now that Van Persie has scored 6 in 3, everyone’s quiet. Now that Djourou has turned out to be a wonderful partner in defense, nobody is shouting for new CBs anymore. Now that Gael Clichy hasn’t made an error in a long time, nobody wants him to leave the club, and now we ‘remember’ that he is one of the quickest left backs in the League.
And I anticipate, that after that wonder strike by Bendtner, noone will want him to leave the club either. And his cross to van Persie againt Leeds was ‘wonderful’ too.
All I am saying is, don’t change your opinion after every game, Arsenal fans. Remember that every player, every team, and every manager has good and bad games. Yes, we should criticize our team when it performs below par (Newcastle, Manchester United spring to mind) but just declaring that Bendtner is a bad player based on a handful of fringe games is nonsensical. We were thanking god last season when he was scoring nearly game to game and keeping us at the top. Nor should we call for transfers irrationally when a player doesn’t perform for a few matches. Keep the faith!
I am sorry for the quality of this article. It is not very explanatory. I am just being straightforward. I have been an avid reader of Football Talk, and I am sure other readers would agree that the same person who is one day criticizing the team for lack of spirit, is found praising them after win 3-0 or something. I have read articles which read ‘We are going to be trophyless if Wenger doesn’t change his tactics’ and after the next match the same writer goes out of his way to appreciate Wenger’s forethought and to declare that Wenger will lead Arsenal to success. Some writers go as far as to question Wenger’s presence in the Club, and later say that they trust in him fully and are okay with every decision he takes.
I hope I got my point across. Thank you.
