Arsenal In defence of Arsene Arsenal In defence of Arsene

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Just two weeks into the new season and the knives are already out for beleaguered Gunners bo s Arsene Wenger. The weakening of an already small squad after Barcelonas succe sful completion of the Cesc Fabregas saga and a fourth raid from the Premier Leagues nouveau riche Manchester City (who have splashed out yet another 25 million on Samir Nasri), coupled with a shaky start to the league season, had led pundits to declare yet another  season for Arsenal. Yesterdays capitulation at the hands of Manchester United will inevitably lead to the Frank Jackson Jersey  knee-jerk reaction that the season is already over.Media analysis of Arsenals plight often leads to the rather depre sing conclusion that in order to compete for the top honours Wenger must abandon his supposedly antiquated ideals of running a club as a busine s, and simply join the lunatic arms race with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, who have each spent in exce s of half a billion in recent years, with nothing like that figure recouped in sales.No le s than ex-Gunners bo s George Graham has thrown his weight behind this school of thinking this week, as the Gunners midfield, in particular, looks particularly threadbare after recent departures, and central defence has been a problem area for some time.Is this a valid conclusion though? Is it realistic Nick Collison Jersey  to expect Wenger or indeed Arsenals owners to put together a squad match the quality of Manchester City or Chelseas by spending way beyond the clubs income? Are Arsenals budget and resources being used badly at the moment? It could be argued both ethically, and practically (given Leeds Uniteds ill-fated attempt to keep up with the Jones, for example) that Wenger is doing the best by his side. Arguably given the clubs net spend over the Premier League era compared to their London rivals , one could make a case for a 4th place finish actually representing a solid performance or even a team kicking above its financial weight, rather than the disaster scenario presented to us by a number of unrealistic Arsenal followers and a Josh Hall Jersey  blood-thirsty, .The Gunners have been an ever-present in the Champions League since its inception in its current form and throughout Wengers reign, and have even reached the latter stages on a number of occasions, even reaching a final with Barcelona. The Frenchmans record hardly needs defending. Were it not for an unprecedented flow of incoming money from outside of the game Wenger would surely have added at least a couple more trophies to add to his three Premier League titles and four FA Cups. Indeed until the appearance of Roman Abramovich triggered Chelseas overnight ascent to footballing superpower almost every season Wengers side at least finished runners-ups.However, Wenger and his old-fashioned ideals look increasingly out of place in a league where a new Ru sian Oligarch and an Arab oil Sheikh are now threatening to take the role of main players from  Danilo Gallinari Jersey the Cristiano Ronaldos and the Thierry Henrys. All the evidence suggests that Wengers time is probably up and that he will struggle to take Arsenal any further. The only thing Wenger has on his side is the backing of a patient and intelligent Chairman in David Dein (take note Mike Ashley).If, as seems quite likely, Arsenals latest make-or-break season ends in another series of glorious failures around March or April, and Wenger decides or Luguentz Dort Jersey  is forced to vacate the Arsenal hot-seat, people would do well to remember how many fantastic players Wenger has brought into the English game, how he created probably the most exciting Arsenal sides in the clubs history, and how some of the most fluid football anywhere on the planet was played under his stewardship. The job will surely be a poisoned chalice for any succe sor, as people slowly begin to realise that they had never had it so good as they did under Arsene.