By the time you read, our faltering league win hopes would either be dead and buried at White Hart Lane, or still limps on with all the faults and inadequacies of this team propping it up.
According to L’Equipe, five of Arsene Wenger’s much-vaunted, much-heralded, very precious ensemble are considering their collective futures at Arsenal, and if we are to believe the highly-respected French daily, they will hand-in transfer requests at the end of the season. L’Equipe added that Samir Nasri is heading the rebel, breakaway group of which Sebastian Squillaci and Abou Diaby are other members. The newspaper didn’t mention the other two members of the group, but I suspect Gael Clichy will be among them.
So, that is that. What is however most preposterous was the revelation that the players were all considering their membership of Wenger’s ‘Colney Creche’ because – the team has so far failed to land any silverware in the past six seasons! How very unbelievable!
If a team doesn’t win anything, shouldn’t that automatically mean that the players have failed? Was it not their duty all along to go onto the field and fight for the right to win those silverware? Yes, player contracts don’t demand that they deliver trophies at the end of seasons, but the incentives and objectives of the bigger picture of their playing duties demands that. And of course, what player can boldly say they have made a success of their careers, if they didn’t have any trophies or medals to show for them? What player?
So, if Arsenal football club has failed to win trophies these six seasons past, who should be directly responsible if not the players entrusted with the task of winning games, that will ultimately deliver those trophies? But of course, Wenger’s bunch are now pointing accusing fingers at everything and everybody except themselves. Very convenient.
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| Wanting Out?? Nasri(right) and Clichy (left) considering their options |
Typical of this spoiled bunch. Typical of the over-indulgent group that Wenger has placed so much faith in, and staked his career these six past seasons. No wonder the club has been going backwards since, with players bearing such misplaced attitude.
The French boys, whom Wenger took from nowhere and made into superstars and French internationals are now literally biting the finger that fed them. The French boys who owe their careers and fame and wealth to Wenger, are now thinking of jumping ship and abandoning the man who made them what they all are today, because suddenly the man and his club are both inadequately unambitious enough for their big dreams.
If only they would all stop for a while and think, they should realize that all the so-called big clubs like Inter Milan and Juventus that they consider more-serious, trophy-winning sides do not enjoy the stability they have been used to at Arsenal these six seasons. In addition, those ‘more-serious’ clubs do not have a French coach that would indulge all their whims and tantrums.
To put things into more perspective, what have the likes of Abou Diaby done to help us win those elusive trophies in his 4-5 years at the club? Wenger, in his typical style, bigged him up as the next best thing after Patrick Vieira. Since then, he has flattered to deceive with inconsistent performances and turncoat displays that leave you shaking your head in sadness and bewilderment. His form has fluctuated to and fro like a yo-yo so much, that an unheralded Alex Song has since usurped him in the starting eleven. Even after Song, “little” Jack Wilshire has pushed him further down the pecking order.
Rather than accept that he’s just not good enough to make it here despite Wenger’s extended patience and over-indulgence, he is now reportedly ‘frustrated” at the club’s empty trophy cabinet and is eyeing interest from the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and – wait for it - Barcelona. Dream on Abou! What exactly has he done in his Arsenal career to warrant any tangible interest from those teams? I’m scratching my head on that.
Nasri and Sagna apart, I doubt if any Arsenal fan will shed any tear seeing the ‘infamous five’ depart. It would be very good riddance to rubbish. They could as well as go now, rather than wait for the end of the season. If nothing else, it just shows the depth of dissatisfaction within Wenger’s crèche and how much surgical work “Le Professor” has ahead of him this transfer window.
Before they head off into their perceived greener pastures, the “infamous five” must look at “little” Jack Wilshire and learn a lesson or two about the fruits of endeavour. Since he was introduced into the senior side, Jack has seized his chance with both hands and held on tenaciously to his first place. He has won admirers amongst friend and foe; broke his international duck; and just last weekend, he deservedly emerged as PFA Young Player of the Year.
Poor Wenger must be wondering what to think of all this. Poor Arsene. After investing in his beloved French players and treating them with kid gloves as he has moulded their careers, he must be feeling like Julius Caesar now, as he watches with bemusement, his precious kinsmen stick in the knives and twist them. It is betrayal of the most-classic type.
Hard as it may sound, methinks Wenger deserves it.
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