We haven’t even got to the end of this season and already people are calling for this, that and the other for next.
‘It’s got to change’ it’s the cry, this time from former Arsenal man, Paul Merson, an ex-player who tends to have a bitter side which likely stemmed from Arsene Wenger selling him to Middlesbrough at the end of the 96/97 season.
Speaking before the game against Swansea, he said
“They’ve had a couple of good results.
“I think the turning point was Man City away when they went up there and beat City well, but it’s got to change next season, they’ve got to be in the running.
“They can’t win their last 10 games of the season and still finish 10, 11, 12 points behind Chelsea – that’s just not good enough.
“They haven’t got a Thierry Henry or a Robert Pires, there’s no doubt about that and they definitely haven’t got a Sol Campbell,” Merson added.
“They just need a couple of players. I don’t know what it is, consistency? They’re that good sometimes you have to work a little bit harder in certain games.”
With the Gunners favourites to finish in at least third place despite many pundits, yet again, claiming they would be the ones to drop out of the top four (18 years in a row, ladies and gentlemen), they are the best of the rest despite suffering considerably more injuries than Chelsea this season (Chelsea suffered the fewest injuries of any side in the Premier League) and some would see this as them overachieving given how the first half of the season went.
But, of course, we all want to be challenging for the title and now that the financial noose has been loosened after the stadium build and injured players are returning to the side we get to see what a great squad Wenger has built, mostly without many people noticing.
Things have changed, Paul, and for Arsenal to challenge for the title next season they only need one other thing to happen – Shad Forsythe to keep working his magic.
The answer isn’t always to ‘buy, buy, buy’.
I’d written this before the game against Swansea. It all made much more sense then.