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    •  June 23, 2016

    Arsenal are no longer a big club

    June 23, 2016
    dan-eyre
    Subscriber
    dan-eyre
    Subscriber

    Most Arsenal fans will be disappointed to read the news that Jamie Vardy signed a new deal with Leicester City, despite so many reports suggesting he had all but agreed a move to the Emirates.

    The current England forward has snubbed the chance to play under the great Arsene Wenger, and won’t be playing for the once golden Premier League winners. Did you know that? They once went the whole season unbeaten. I don’t think they still talk about it now, though, some 12 years later.

    Arsenal fans have been having their own Brexit fight themselves. Wenger: remain or leave? An argument that has been going on for a couple of years, and has been heating up over the last season or so. And whilst we all hate to agree with Piers Morgan, frankly this shouldn’t be a debate, and this rejection from the former Fleetwood Town forward should be the final straw.

    They may have come 2nd last season, much to the pain of Tottenham supporters, but at no point did they offer a serious title charge over the majority of the campaign. The Gunners are a club that have fallen drastically off the pace of a title-winning side, but without realising their decline. It’s now just sad to watch these fans in denial that they are still a top club. With Wenger in charge, they aren’t going to be lifting that trophy again, and each season they keep him opens the door for more rivals to skip ahead.

    Even though they finished ahead of Spurs, who would you actually want to join? A club that is on the rise, climbing the table with a manager wanted by a number of top European sides, or Arsenal, living in the past year after year, led by a man who stubbornly ignores the cries from supporters in the transfer window and who arrogantly believes his one and only style of football can beat any team in the world without a need to change tactics. Yeah, you might get an FA Cup medal, but moving to the Emirates will mean you still won’t win the Premier League, will still get knocked out early in the knockout stages of the Champions League, and you’ll still ignore the fact you need to defend against teams and protect your back four.

    Every year, we get to the last 16 of the Champions League, and we know the Gunners will struggle for wins this month. This is where they get knocked out, and this is where they drop league points and fall adrift. Every single season. The famous Albert Einstein quote sums up Wenger’s last 10 or so years with the club:

    “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

    But this summer, all their competitors are set to upgrade. United have Mourinho, City signed Guardiola, Spurs will attract names with their new Champions League status and Chelsea are going for change with Conte, a risk that could be a home-run or a strikeout. And with West Ham building and Liverpool getting a full pre-season with Klopp, the chasing pack are closing in on the motionless Arsenal. This was the summer for change; this was Arsenal’s chance to actually improve for once.

    Jamie Vardy doesn’t want to go to a club that’s sat still in the fastest changing league in the world. He doesn’t want to join a club that have the blueprints to fall short every year. Arsenal fans have made it clear they don’t want a stable 2nd or 3rd finish come May. The squad is missing the strength and backbone that was so apparent during their title years. But it’s not been missing the last season or two, but more like for the last decade. And still their ignorant Frenchman refuses to change.

    Wenger is outdated. Either he’s so ignorant he refuses to change his tactics, which means he’ll never win the Champions League and never win enough games against the big clubs to be top of the league. Or he’s so stubborn he still thinks it’s good enough to win every game no matter the quality of opposition, even when every season it’s proved that’s not going to happen. He’s the grandparent who can’t operate their new phone, who doesn’t understand how the internet works because he cant keep up with change.

    With Wenger in charge, nobody in the league are scared of Arsenal. They aren’t a threat, they aren’t challengers, and they certainly aren’t a top club anymore.

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