Arsenal fans need to destroy Wenger

I’m sending out a plea to all Arsenal fans going to tomorrow’s home game against Wigan - fans that still have an open mind. If Arsenal lose, destroy Arsene Wenger - give him both barrels! Demonstrate your voracious disgust in the strongest possible terms.

I know a lot of fans are still sitting on the fence, but tomorrow’s your chance to jump off the fence for the benefit of Arsenal Football Club.

Even if Arsenal beat Wigan, the club’s Champions League fate will still hang in the balance until the last game of the season on Sunday. But, should Arsenal lose tomorrow night, they will probably be consigned to fifth place, and the board should be left under no illusions that the manager’s performance is seriously inadequate – his position untenable.

If Wenger scrapes fourth there’s a danger that the board might offer him a new contract and consign you all to another five years of seriously expensive yet totally abject boredom and failure. They may offer him a new contract regardless, but might yet be swayed by supporter opinion.

The board will not listen to you at various meetings or AGMs, and supporter groups are well-meaning but ignored – all avenues are being deliberately cut off to immunise the board and Wenger from criticism.

However, one has to ask why Wenger has not been offered a new contract when he has already signalled his desire to stay at the club. The board could be looking at where Arsenal finish in the league, so if Arsenal lose tomorrow night (however doubtful), you may have a chance to help make the board’s mind up for them.

Remember, from Ivan Gazidis own mouth, it will be the supporters that signal the end of Wenger’s reign (because he hasn’t got the balls to do it). Should Arsenal lose, tear into Wenger – but not the players. It’s not the Arsenal players’ fault the manager is no longer fit for purpose.

I know a lot of Arsenal fans read this blog throughout a season, despite writing very infrequently, about half a million, so think on. Tomorrow night could be your last chance before you consign the club to another five years of complete dross. Do you want 8 years of nothing to become 13? Do you want to be sitting here in 2018 still ruled by a selfish dictator drunk on excuses that’s only interested in his salary and personal job satisfaction?

If Arsene Wenger signs a new contract at the club, I’m turning my back on it indefinitely. That’s how strongly I feel. I’m willing to give up almost 35 years of passionate support and will stop watching all Arsenal games and probably focus on a local non-league club.

I know many disillusioned fans have done just the same having become sickened by the self interest and egotistical indifference of modern day board members; of which, to all intents and purposes, Wenger has somehow been allowed to become one. The Arsenal board and manager are trading on your loyalty and abusing it to the maximum. 

Although at every home game there is now 10,000 empty seats, unfortunately, most supporters are too unprincipled and weak to give up their Arsenal fix, which is why they allow this farce to continue by continually shelling out extortionate prices for season tickets, even if to sell it on to other supporters that don't turn up.

Albeit remote, as Wigan are likely to be knackered, should Arsenal lose tomorrow night it could be your last chance to be heard for five long years. So vote with your mouths before Wenger banks another £40m of your hard earned.

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Moyes to Utd; Arsenal blow it

I can’t help feeling a touch envious that David Moyes’ destination is Manchester United and not Arsenal. Even more so under the current circumstances, where we have a manager so drunk on egotistical arrogance and selfish indifference he can only offer indefinite hopelessness.

As regular readers of this site know, Moyes was my number one wish for the Arsenal job, and Arsenal should have grabbed him while they had the chance, perhaps even two seasons ago.

When I first suggested Moyes should replace Arsene Wenger, I was mocked. What has he won they said? Well what had George Graham won before he came to Arsenal? However, Man Utd can see the potential and Alex Ferguson was quick to appoint his successor.

What Moyes has done at Everton has been remarkable. He wasn’t given the sort of handouts Wenger had, when he took over at Everton they had just emerged from a relegation dogfight. In fact, when the Premier League first began in 1992-93, Everton only made it into the top 10 once prior to Moyes joining 10 years later. Subsequently, under Moyes’ tenure, Everton have finished 11th, 7th, 17th, 4th, 11th, 6th, 5th, 5th, 8th, 7th, 7th, and 6th.

What makes Moyes’ achievement incredible is not just the consistency, but the lack of funds he’s had to operate with. When Wenger sold off a high profile player, he either sat on millions available in the bank or was able to use the money to buy replacements, whereas Moyes had to make do. Everton don’t have the pulling power of a London club – especially a club of Arsenal’s stature, so Moyes could never attract big-name players to Merseyside, or even well-known players. He couldn’t afford a big squad either, so when injuries hit they really did have an impact.

And, of course, Moyes never had a £145m wage bill to play with, Everton’s wage bill currently stands at £63.4m – some £80m less than Arsenal, yet this season they only trail the Gunners by 7 points.

But what I like most about Moyes is his burning desire to win and how, in Everton's play, they reflect that desire. His teams gave their maximum 99% of the time, so when Everton lost it was usually because they didn’t have anything like the quality to compete or, like all clubs, simply had a bad day at the office. It was never for lack of effort or desire, or in particular the sort of arrogance and overconfidence, or hopeless tactics, that have plagued Arsenal under Wenger.

As a manager, Moyes makes the right noises. He was a great ambassador for Everton and is not prone to making stupid excuses. In his post-match interviews, Moyes is nearly always calm, lucid and explanatory. A classy chap, he’ll slot in beautifully at a classy club.

So what will Moyes offer Manchester Utd? Well, he evidently doesn’t suffer fools gladly, he seems to have the balance right between being hard nosed and respected and liked by his players. He’s a stable tactician; his Everton sides maintain a good balance between attack and defence and go into games with a gameplan - a strong defensive mindset against sides with much higher quality players/resources and sustained attacking impetus against those they’re expected to beat. Their willingness to battle and fight makes them attractive to watch and very difficult to trump.

In the Premier League, Moyes has everything in place to continue Ferguson’s success. At the moment, Man Utd have a young team and no rivals; they walked the title this season with a side that has plenty of room for improvement, while Man City and Chelsea have put up virtually no resistance.

However, it’s the Champions League where Moyes will have to prove his tactical worth; considering the club’s resources, Ferguson has a comparatively poor record in Europe. Thoughts of emulating Ferguson’s domestic success is the stuff of fantasy, but Moyes does at least have room to manoeuvre in the Champions League.

I believe that key to Moyes being able to keep Man Utd at the top will be how he handles Utd’s centre backs. Despite winning the title, Utd’s defence has been unusually poor in recent seasons; particularly this season. With Ferdinand ageing and often injured, and Vidic also out for long periods over the past few seasons, at some point soon Moyes will need to oversee a defensive revolution at the club. Still, it will be interesting to see what he can do armed with the sort of financial firepower he’s never had as a manager – that’s what makes his appointment so intriguing.

Of course, Moyes could fail – there has to be question marks on whether he can handle the pressure at the top. But fail spectacularly? I doubt it. The infrastructure at the club is too strong and he has the sort of experts around him to assist that Wenger refuses to employ or simply throws aside. Ferguson’s era had to end some day and Moyes is a brave, but sensible choice. It’s better to take a gamble and fail than fail indefinitely while doing absolutely nothing about it (cough).

With Moyes and Guardiola snapped up by Man Utd and Bayern respectively, and Jose Mourinho likely to return to Chelsea in the summer and give them new impetus, Arsenal have not only lost out on numerous opportunities to get rid of their criminally overpaid and underperforming manager, but are only likely to fall further behind the big clubs. Of course there are plenty of other managers out there much better than Wenger, but the biggest clubs in Europe have not hung around waiting to fail, they’ve acted swiftly and decisively to get their men while Arsenal dodder on seemingly impervious to the club’s decline.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the huge amount of funding that will benefit Arsenal financially in the coming seasons, but for me, it won’t make a blind bit of difference. Wenger will do what Wenger does; he does not want big-name players that will come in and make an immediate difference - they might question his authority, and even if I’m wrong and he does buy them, at the very highest level he’s simply not tactically competent enough to make the percentage difference where it counts. Wenger's record in Europe is quite simply abysmal; he’s simply not fit for purpose at that level – and after another horrible domestic season, he’s evidently no longer fit for purpose in the Premier League either.

The good news – if you can call it that, is that with huge funding next season from Sky’s megadeal and a major kit deal with Puma likely to be announced, plus the £100m+ sitting in the bank unspent, Wenger has even less grounds to cowardly hide behind the money factor and use it as an excuse.

Even if the Frenchman is willing to loosen the purse strings, if only to save his own neck, one has to ask, is Wenger really the man to blow Arsenal’s new inheritance? He’s squandered £164m in transfer fees over the past 5 years – and just as much in wages - yet doesn’t have a single world class player to show for it and hasn't moved the club on in any area.

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Check out the Arsenal Truth Facebook page to see "Dancing Wenger". Enjoy.

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Arsenal fans; show some class for your own good!

Robin Van Persie returns to the Emirates on Sunday with Manchester United as a Premier League winner, and the word is out that Arsenal fans are going to act distastefully and give him a rough ride.

That would be a shame, as I like to think Arsenal fans still have a bit of refinement about them that other clubs’ supporters do not possess. Although the club is in a directional mess, it’s a good opportunity to show that Arsenal is still a classy club with classy fans.

RVP left because he’d won nothing in his career and couldn’t see a future at Arsenal where he would win anything. To have his sort of talent and end his career empty handed would be a travesty, and I do not begrudge any player’s desire to want to fulfil their potential.

As a supporter, I wouldn’t want characters at my football club that don’t care about fulfilling their potential. I’d rather have 5 or 6 world-class, hungry players and lose one sulker every now and then than a squad full of mediocre but loyal players that stay indefinitely but lack the burning desire to create history, which is exactly what Arsenal has now.

Yes, Arsenal fans are frustrated and embittered about Van Persie’s departure, but that frustration is misdirected – it should be aimed at Arsene Wenger. He is the one that failed to create an environment in which Van Persie felt that he could prosper and succeed as a footballer. In fact, one might ask, who failed who? Who failed to build a team that would allow RVP’s talent to be rewarded? What did Wenger expect RVP to do, rot at Arsenal just so he can end his career as a popular failure? World-class players don’t do that, that’s why they’re world-class, they have that bit extra; they don’t subscribe to being second best.

It’s rarely about money - that's what hurt fans dream up to dab away the tears; it’s about fulfilling the destiny you have shaped for yourself, dreamed of all your life.

Inevitably, there will be thousands of loathsome individuals that will seize the opportunity to unleash their fury born out of frustration (or some deeper personal malaise) – football tends to attract that slime like no other sport, but I hope the majority of fans reign over them. The best thing to do, if you have any intelligence about you, is turn the RVP sideshow into a damp squib.

This applies to any ex-player that's left under a cloud. If you genuinely feel strongly that they've shafted the club, hold your nerve and give them... silence. If they do play at any point they will be pumped up and expecting the worst, therefore it would be better to pull the psychological rug from under their feet. Fill them with hate and they’re more likely to want to respond, give them what they least expect and they'll feel strangely deflated.

I’m sure Arsenal fans will remember the end result the last time they slaughtered an ex-player for leaving the club, Emmanuel Adebayor. Motivated to respond, he played his heart out that day and took Arsenal apart with a vengeance.

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Wenger oversees another dead season

As I prepare to wrap up the blog following yet another season of abject failure, I thought it only fair to submit to my pained readership a recap of how things lie within the Arsenal squad with the same fearless honesty as I do every season. 

Wojciecjh Szczesny
Szczesny has regressed since last season, probably because there was no genuine competition for his place, so he got complacent and arrogant. He’s a decent keeper but still has a lot to learn and is not yet of the calibre required for a side that’s supposed to hold expectations of challenging for major trophies. Arsenal’s goalkeeping farce continues unabated.

Lukasz Fabianski
Has hardly played this season after he made his feelings clear about not wanting to stay at the club. Came in when Szczesny was dropped and did OK, but there wasn’t much pressure on him and no doubt given the chance long-term he wouldn’t be able to hack it. As Fabianski is criminally overpaid there is likely to be problems finding a buyer, so expect him to go out on loan next season, with Arsenal stumping up his wages.

Vito Mannone
Not up to it.
 
Bacary Sagna
Wants to leave and will no doubt get his wish. I doubt he’ll be missed though as he’s always been poor going forward and Wenger has demotivated him and ruined his confidence to the extent that he’s clearly not the player Arsenal bought. Like Walcott, Sagna’s upturn in form of late is clearly all about putting himself in the shop window, earlier in the season he was woeful.

Nacho Monreal
To early to make an assessment. From what I’ve seen looks half-decent but is unlikely to improve any further under Wenger – defenders never do.

Per Mertesacker
Adequate, but no more than that, Mertesacker lacks pace, knows it and therefore tends to panic in one-on-ones and make elementary mistakes. Considering his height and experience you’d expect him to be way more commanding at defending set-pieces, but he’s no better than any other player. Mertesacker’s simply not good enough to play in a side with the sort of expectations Arsenal supposedly possess – and anyone who thinks he is has completely lost sight of the calibre of defender a side needs to compete for a major title. 

Sebastien Squillaci
The sorry sum of £11.1m has been blown on transfer fees + wages for this overpaid joke that refuses to leave.

Thomas Vermaelen
Four years at the club and he’s regressed every season. Giving him the captaincy has had an adverse effect as Vermaelen didn’t seem to want the responsibility of it and his (already poor) form suffered from the added pressure. A good defender, destroyed by Wenger due to inept training and lousy man management, for his own benefit, Vermaelen should be looking to leave – and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, or blame him either.

Carl Jenkinson
An honest and likeable player that brings the ball forward to better effect than Sagna but has a lot to learn about defending. Seeing as he won’t develop defensively under Wenger’s stewardship, Arsenal need a new right back when Sagna leaves.

Laurent Koscielny
Has good games and bad games, but is largely unpredictable and prone to dropping massive clangers at any given moment. Usually, the bigger and more pressurised the game the bigger the mistakes he tends to make. A decent bench warmer, but no more than that.

Kieran Gibbs
Not the perfect defender but is becoming a more efficient attacker and his pace is a valuable weapon. Unfortunately, however, Gibbs has a horrendous injury record and, like Diaby, is clearly not up to the rigours of Premier League football. 48 starts in 6 years is shocking and he’s eating up the wage bill. As he’s decent enough to attract bids, Arsenal should look to sell and use the money to buy a new left back.

Abou Diaby
Have sympathy for his predicament but the amount of money Diaby has cost the club for so little contribution is beyond a joke. That the Arsenal board have allowed Wenger to subsidise this idiotic pet project is a perfect example of the misplaced power he holds. The player surely has to be let go of when his contract expires next summer.

Aaron Ramsey
Received undeserved criticism after being played out of position for months on end, but let’s face it, while Ramsey has a great engine and decent ball retention (sideways), he’s average. The player lacks creativity, character and bottle, especially in front of goal – he’s no DM either. Grossly overpaid, Arsenal need to find a buyer.

Tomas Rosicky
Probably my favourite Arsenal player at present. Great attitude and always positive on the field of play, he tries to make things happen while everyone else is passing it sideways, and doesn’t constantly talk out his arse to the press. However, as we all know, Rosicky can’t stay fit for more than 2 games in a row. Averaging 13 starts per season, the huge wage expenditure is completely unproductive. He’s 33 in October too, so he’ll soon be on the slippery slope downwards. Arsenal need to sell while there is value left in him, or offer a rolling one-year contract with reduced salary.

Santi Cazorla
Although not world class, Cazorla’s been a positive signing and is a player that brings a lot to the team. Scored 12 goals, which is decent, even though half of those were against Reading and Aston Villa. Needs to produce in the big games, although not much sign of that this season.

Mikel Arteta
Continue to be baffled why Arteta plays in a defensive midfield role, Alex Song would have done better there this season. A good, honest pro with an excellent attitude – albeit a bit too ‘nice’ on the pitch, to all intents and purposes he’s been Arsenal’s captain this season, but his talent is being completely wasted. Arsenal STILL desperately needs a top class DM that can protect the fragile back four.

Francis Coquelin
Wenger evidently doesn’t rate/trust him and I don’t believe he will amount to anything so should be looking to loan or sell him on. 

Jack Wilshere
Slightly overrated yet you would like to think still has another level in him (under the right manager) – he could become world class but doesn’t deliver nearly enough end product to be considered so yet. Would like to see Wilshere played out wide for a few games where he can have more of an attacking impact – he often plays too deep. Assists aren’t great and two goals this season is a very poor return for a player of his talent. More concerning, however, is how he’s slowly but surely being physically destroyed by Wenger who is to blame for perpetually rushing him back from injury and never resting him when he’s fit.

Andrey Arshavin
Lazy sod’s bleeding the club dry. In retrospect a stupid buy as Wenger had no intention of playing him through the middle and it was obvious Arshavin doesn’t have the characteristics of a hard-working winger. Fairly or unfairly, Arshavin always was a special case and needed to be treated like one – Wenger didn’t and has paid the price by wasting a £15m transfer fee and £16m in wages for 14 starts a season (8 in the past two).  

Lukas Podolski
As I said when we bought him: “My gut instinct is that Podolski will be a decent signing, but far from prolific – and if he’s stuck out wide, the goals might dry up as they have for Germany.” His former coach warned of his lack of work ethic, and subsequently Wenger has dropped him because of it. Some say he’s been injured all season, sounds like bollocks to me. 9 Premier League goals is feeble, 2 away from home is pathetic. Arsenal should look to sell while the German still has value.

Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain
Has made an impact as a sub at times, but the season has probably not gone as the youngster planned with relatively few starts. £12m is beginning to look like a daft fee and whilst Oxlade-Chamberlain has considerable development in him, as we have seen with dozens of young players under Wenger, subscribing to that improvement as a certainty is as much a fantasy as reality.

Olivier Giroud
As I said when we bought him: “Giroud could be good, but he’s not a signing I would get excited about, and like Chamakh, he could just as easily become a victim of Wenger’s inability to play to his strengths.” Truth is, he’s looked isolated up front and his frequent glaring misses demonstrate that he doesn’t possess the killer instinct expected by a club of Arsenal’s stature. 11 league goals is hardly emphatic (even Chamakh got 7 in his first season), and considering his height and physical stature, 1 PL goal away from home is quite frankly a laughable contribution. Holds the ball up well, but if you’re going to compete for the title or Champions League the idea of having Giroud as your only striker is quite frankly preposterous and just goes to prove Wenger’s total and utter lack of ambition.

Gervinho
Doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing half the time. His performances have been mostly abysmal and he’s not fit to wear the Arsenal shirt. £10.5m was a ludicrous price; whoever scouted him should be flayed.

Theo Walcott
Played very well when he thought other clubs might be interested in him, but when he realised they weren’t signed a paltry 3-year contract extension and his form has reverted to type. Finishing has improved, but his all round game remains limited and if you examine where his goals have come from it’s usually against divisional dregs. Criminally overpaid, he had Arsenal over a barrel, which speaks volumes in itself. Walcott is a useful tool as a sub (although highly questionable at £100k a week), but a complete tool for any other purpose. Arsenal need a winger with more guile and creativity than Walcott can provide.

Summary
Coming 4th or 5th does not impress me, and this is probably the worst Arsenal side since the late 1960s. Why? Because it's the worst in Wenger or George Graham's reign, which itself stretches back almost 30 years, and the club has won nothing for 8 seasons now and remains in decline. For as long as Wenger is in charge then next season's drought will continue to 9 trophyless years, which would mark the club's third worst trophy drought in its history post-1930.

The performances this season have been dire with even most of the wins completely devoid of character, including against some of the worst clubs in the division. I can't remember a single genuinely impressive performance this season except perhaps the 2-0 away win at Liverpool back in September and the 2-0 win at Bayern, but that was the second leg of a match that was already done and dusted in the first leg.

Whatever way you look at this season, it’s clearly been blemished by underachievement, with no progress whatsoever – only decline, albeit small decline. In footballing terms, Arsenal have been mediocre to watch and the season has been tainted by genuinely embarrassing cup exits, an inability to defeat all five of the club’s competitors for a Champions League spot, bar Tottenham (because Adebayor got sent off), and not a hint of a challenge for the Premier League or Champions League.

The quality of football has been mostly dull and tedious with very few standout performances, while only a couple of players have performed consistently across the season.

I doubt there will be much to talk about over the summer either, as the usual depressing nonsense we’re treated to regarding Arsenal having to sell another world class player is now redundant; Arsenal have no world class players left.

Sagna will leave no doubt, but the papers won’t drum up a fuss about that.

There is only one solution to Arsenal’s malaise; get rid of the vastly overpaid, overrated, ambitionless egomaniac that’s been allowed to influence how the club is run from top to bottom to grievous effect, backed by a boardroom of inept dullards.

Until that’s fixed, the club’s dead – there is no hope; zero future.

I strongly urge all Arsenal fans to boycott the final home game against Wigan on 12 May, but this seems unlikely as the players will still be fighting for a CL spot. Unfortunately, this is the Arsenal supporters’ only chance to make a statement of intent regarding season ticket renewals before another summer of lies and spin commences with nothing achieved at the end of it.

Negative? Yes. But where’s the positives? Yes, Arsenal are in a good run of form at the minute but it’s too little too late as usual. Besides, who have we played in the last 10 games? Stoke (2 wins in 15), Sunderland (0 wins in 9 up to O’Neill getting sacked), Villa (on the edge of relegation), Reading (down), Norwich (1 win in 15 before Arsenal played them), and Swansea, West Brom and Fulham – of which the form of all three has nosedived since they secured their Premier League status yet could clearly no longer qualify for European competition.

Everything’s explainable, and despite recording numerous wins against distinctly average opposition Arsenal could not win any of those matches convincingly, except against the bottom club Reading. The other two games, Everton and Spurs, Arsenal only got 1 point. 

Sadly, anyone who thinks there has been a significant reversal of fortunes in recent weeks is deluded - and there are plenty of those about. Too many fans are still caught in the trap of everlasting hope emitted by a handful of self-defeating, cowardly bloggers that have pretty much thrown the towel in to serve their stubborn readership of pro-Wenger subordinates. These ‘fans’, who seem more than happy to fester in mediocrity indefinitely than admit that change is desperately needed remain oblivious to the only rational conclusion left, that their lord and master is an overrated failure, and it's time for him to be shown the door.

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End of the road for Diaby

Abou Diaby will miss the remainder of this season and most likely the whole of next season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in training on Wednesday.

Although I have a lot of sympathy for the player, as none of his injury problems have derived from unprofessional activities, it's time to call an end on his Arsenal career as the amount of money wasted on the player has become somewhat obscene.

Diaby joined Arsenal in January 2006 for £2m, but has cost Arsenal £18m in wages alone over his 7 year career, in which the player only started 92 matches.

The reason for this article is to dispel much of the ignorant nonsense that's been doing the rounds on the Internet relating to Diaby, such as it was Dan Smith's tackle in 2006 (during a game against Sunderland) that has effectively ruined Diaby's career.

It's all too easy to blame Smith for Diaby's career path, despite his crude tackle. The lad was only 19 at the time and doubtless tried to make an impression for his club in the stupidest way by committing a horribly late tackle on Diaby that fractured his ankle. But that was 7 years ago now and it seems absurd to suggest that tackle is the root cause for Diaby's malaise, particularly as 4 years later Diaby amassed a healthy 29 appearances during the 2009/10 season.

The fact is, like Kieran Gibbs, Diaby is simply an injury prone individual whose body cannot handle the rigours of training and playing professional football at the highest level on a regular basis. In fact, anyone who bothered to do their research would have discovered that prior to joining Arsenal, Diaby's career at Auxerre was similarly littered with injuries - making him a somewhat risky purchase in the first place, hence, no doubt, the cheap price.

Personally I hold no ill-feeling towards Dan Smith, and neither should Diaby who himself has 'form' when it comes to committing dangerous tackles - rendering accusations against others pure hyperbole. On the 28th January 2007, Diaby was booked for an over the top tackle on Ivan Campo that broke the then Bolton player's foot, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. On the 29th March 2008, Diaby committed an abysmal late challenge on Bolton's Gretar Steinsson, which was every bit as ugly as Martin Taylor's lunge on Eduardo, but luckily Steinsson escaped unscathed. 

In such cases we're talking millimetres that events are not reversed. On another day Eduardo might have had a lucky escape and Steinsson might have had his foot snapped in half. Meanwhile, we're also supposed to believe that Smith's tackle on Diaby was borne out of malice whereas Diaby was the innocent perpetrator of a mistimed challenge. Of course, it's all a pack of bollocks borne out of lazy, biased journalism. 

The plain fact is there is probably nobody to blame for Diaby's injury blighted career, although if you're going to point the finger at anyone, we can find evidence a little closer to home. Arsene Wenger has a history of rushing players back before they're fully fit and/or overrelying on individuals - causing them to become frequently injured. 

In my opinion Arsenal players such as Pires, Henry, Fabregas, Arteta and Wilshere have all suffered from being thrown into action too quickly due to Wenger's overreliance on key individuals, causing them to frequently break down or suffer serious injuries. Having built large squads bloated with mediocrity, Wenger may feel he had little choice, but one now has to ask some pertinent questions, such as is Jack Wilshere gearing up to be the new Abou Diaby? After 18 months out of the game he's been clumsily thrown back into the Arsenal first team without respite and has now broken down again, and is unlikely to be back for the remainder of the season.

As for Diaby, having wasted millions Arsenal can ill afford to continue carrying the burden of paying his astronomical wages any longer than the club already has. It's highly dubious that the Frenchman should have been given a new contract in 2010 when his entire professional career had been littered with persistent injuries up to that point. It's time to cut him loose and wish him the best when his contract expires. Besides, it's hard to imagine that the departure of Diaby will be of any great loss to the club, as even when the player had a couple of prolonged injury-free spells his infuriating penchant for slowing the game down meant he never really fitted into Arsenal's style anyway. 

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