Daily Mail praising Arsene & Arsenal...

I understand the angst that many Arsenal supporters feel over the future of the club under Arsene Wenger. I understand why a swathe of the club’s support has started to give up hope that Wenger can recreate the success he brought to the club more than a decade ago.

I even started to inch in that direction myself last autumn after Arsenal made a poor start to this season.

Sometimes, it feels like Wenger is the problem, not the solution. He is a stubborn man and it can be hard to defend the choices he makes.

After the desperately dispiriting defeat by Monaco, Wenger will come under fierce scrutiny again when Arsenal visit Manchester United to contest an FA Cup quarter-final. Lose and people will say that their season is over. Lose and the ‘Wenger Out’ bandwagon, which is already accelerating, will move up another gear.
Well, maybe they should be thinking about slamming the brakes on it instead. Because in the last five months, Arsenal have taken great strides forward.

I don’t buy the idea that the club is standing still or even going backwards. The defeat by Monaco notwithstanding, there are real signs of progress at last. Put it this way, if you are an Arsenal fan, which team in the Premier League would you swap places with today? Look around. Which team looks more upwardly mobile or better set for the future than Wenger’s side?

Manchester City? I don’t think so. City are creaking. They’re starting to look like a side at the end of an old cycle, not at the start of a new one.

Manchester United? Be serious. United may have spent lavishly under Louis van Gaal but they are beset by doubts about Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria and Robin van Persie.

And that’s before we start on their defence and the continuing absence of a dominating central midfield player.

Spurs? Well, Tottenham might well be advancing under Mauricio Pochettino but they’re still a way away from the level they achieved under Harry Redknapp.

Liverpool? Liverpool are looking good again under Brendan Rodgers and, like Arsenal, their prospects are improving.

OK, so that leaves Chelsea. And everybody would swap with Chelsea at the moment, but the point is that Arsenal’s future looks bright again.
It is easy, and valid, to point out the occasional failings of Per Mertesacker, but why not consider Arsenal’s array of attacking talent instead? Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott and, yes, Olivier Giroud are formidable forward- thinking players close to their prime.

And that’s before we talk about Jack Wilshere and Mathieu Debuchy, coming back from injury, and the emergence of Francis Coquelin as a holding midfielder.

Calum Chambers has not made the strides expected of him since his summer move from Southampton but his qualities are not in doubt.


There is no reason why he should not bolster Arsenal’s defence next season. If Wenger signs another central defender in the summer and perhaps a more experienced central midfielder, there is no reason why they should not challenge for the title next season.

It would be a shame if Arsenal lost their nerve on Wenger now just when it feels as if they are on the verge of being real contenders again.

Their victory over City at the Etihad in January was the clearest evidence yet of the fact they are casting off the inferiority complex they had developed against the other leading clubs. The tie against United, at the venue where they were humiliated 8-2 in 2011, will be another good test.

Arsenal are the FA Cup holders, let’s not forget. There is plenty to suggest that they are about to re-emerge into the light. Defeat by United won’t change that even if it will, inevitably, lead to renewed calls for Wenger’s head. It has got to the stage now where some Arsenal fans behave as if Wenger is the only thing standing between them and the Premier League summit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2984485/Arsene-Wenger-Don-t-make-laugh-lose-grip-FA-Cup-Manchester-United-Arsenal-fans-careful-wish-for.html