I guess we are all in agreement that August did not go according to plan. We started well enough against Chelsea holding them to a draw and winning on penalties. We looked hungry and ready to mount a title challenge after claiming the first title of the season.
Our first game against a resurgent Leicester City proved tricky and despite us grabbing a late goal from super sub Giroud to win the game, alarm bells should have been ringing by then due to our leaky defence. It was understandable when Wenger dismissed the amount of goals we leaked and put it down to nerves. After all, the relief, around the stadium, at winning our first game was palpable.
You could immediately tell when we played Stoke City that the old Arsenal was back in full swing and I don’t mean in a good way. We created a lot of chances at the beginning and wasted all of them, got hit by a sucker punch losing the game 1-0, and could only cling to the sorry excuse of a good goal ruled offside.
By the time we played Liverpool, we were unrecognizable. Totally played off the park, no player put in a decent shift. It didn’t help that Wenger put his best players on the bench and started AOC and Sanchez, players that wanted out of the club. I can only assume it was a play to show them their importance to the team. Whatever Wenger’s reasons were, it massively backfired and it is safe to say that the current mood at the club is downbeat. It doesn’t help that players who are committed to the cause have to play with Sanchez, the contract rebel.
So in summary, we can finally put the summer transfer window behind us and look to the future. There are rumours that Wenger plans to have crisis talks with the whole squad after the international break and I am extremely happy about that together with Wenger’s recent statements about not giving up on the title have filled me with hope. Now is the time to refocus as we are in sixteenth position which is not very ideal if we want to challenge for the title.
Any player who does not want to player for Arsenal (I’m talking to you Sanchez, Bellerin, and Mustafi) needs to say so now or let other players who want to play for the club take their place. Like Wenger and Ozil said, the fans and legends need to get behind their team. There is no room for negativity at this time.
We have a winnable game against Bournemouth at home coming up and this is the game that should raise our confidence and help us start climbing up the table.
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