Why Arsene deserves time.

By @15yearoldgooner

Recently, frustrating performances and results, not to mention uninspiring dealings in the transfer market, have led to increased calls for Arsene Wenger’s head.

The fact that it appears to be the same old problems from the last six years have been the main reason for the mass anger and annoyance amongst the fans. In the past few seasons, our defence has been our most obvious weak point, and Arsene hasn’t strengthened the playing staff in that department, while we continue to be inconsistent, apparently due to our lack of experience. Thirdly, we’re continuing to sell our best players without replacing them like for like.

However, I think people are seeing things how they want to. For example, while we haven’t signed a new centre back – yet – we seem to have thoroughly improved the way we cope with set pieces, which was our biggest problem last season. We kept two clean sheets in our first two games, and only conceded when we went down to ten men against Liverpool.

We are still trying to buy experienced players – we had a loan bid turned down for Marseille’s 30-year-old midfielder Lucho Gonzalez – although Manchester United have shown that it’s not all about age this season. It’s more important that a player is a winner than being old; personality is more important than date of birth.

Finally, we have proven in the past that spending big to replace big name players isn’t always the answer. When we sold Henry, instead of buying a world class, big name striker, Wenger sprung a surprise by signing Eduardo, and how good was he? Until he was chopped down in his prime of course, thanks Martin Taylor...

People aren’t trusting Wenger in the one area he’s consistently proven his excellence. The signings of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and more have all turned out to be masterstrokes.

Some have speculated that he’s had his hands tied behind his back by the board in terms of transfers, and that wouldn’t surprise me if it was true. Think about his quote about how if we sell Nasri and Fabregas, we cannot convince people we’re ambitious. Surely the board have forced him to sell both of them? If he’s as stubborn as his critics say he is, why would he make himself look a fool by going against his own word?

Some fans are making Wenger out to be an idiot, or a bitter old man trying to desperately prove a point. I can’t see that that’s true – we are the only team to stay in the top flight of English football having built a new stadium I believe. That’s a massive achievement, and if you want more perspective, we have managed to stay in the Champions League all this time too.

All that is down to Wenger’s genius in my opinion. He’s consistently kept this club competing with the biggest, and above those who have tried to overtake us – Tottenham for one. Despite the ever-increasing recession, he still manages to find bargains and rough diamonds who he continues to develop into great players.

People calling for his head is premature seeing as there’s still substantial time to bring in some new players – look at deadline day, deals can be struck in a matter of hours if the clubs are desperate enough. So let’s wait and see who Wenger brings in and how we do before demanding that he’s sacked. He’s certainly earnt our patience.