Can you support Arsenal and accept another trophyless season?

By Avenell Dave

I've been supporting Arsenal a long time.

This is the fifth decade that I have been a fan and of course, I still love going every week.

I feel elated when we win, numb when we draw and distraught when we lose. But whatever happens, I love it.

I love Arsenal.

We've drawn our last three Premier League games - that's three points out of a possible nine and leaves us way out of the picture as far as the title is concerned.

Would I rather we'd won one and lost two? Absolutely not.

But I'm becoming more bemused about the apoplectic reaction of fans when we don't win games.

The key issues seem to be ticket prices; injury-prone players such as Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky; and wage drains such as Maraoune Chamakh and Sebastien Squillaci.

The club have finally spoken of the tight rein they have had on spending in order to pay of the stadium debt before interest rates rise again and Arsene Wenger has made it clear that he was limited in his spending.

Chamakh, let's not forget, had a fine start to his Arsenal career and did not cost us a transfer fee, which is why his wages are notably bigger, while Squallaci arrived at the end of a transfer window where we had not planned as well as we should have done and he held out for money above what he was undoubtably worth.

It's going to take another season or two to get the squad that we need to be able to properly compete, to rotate without fear of losing games as regularly as we have been doing in recent seasons.

Players like Diaby, for all his world class talent, are a luxury we simply cannot afford. Wenger needs to realise this, but then I said the same about RvP and look how good he was for us in his final 18 months at the club.

We drew at Everton last night, and I don't think there's a better word to describe the game than 'intensity' that Wenger used afterwards.

It was a war without the nasty tackles. We looked good in patches, we stood firm in others when City, M*nure, T*tt*nh*m and the Ch*vs have all lost there recently.

Only the Ch*vs and City  have lost fewer games than Arsenal and while we're a long way off the top, we've also played eight away games.

Of course, we have to start turning draws into wins, but with a dead rubber in the Champions League in Greece next week, the key performers can get the midweek rest that they need if they're not to succumb to serious injury.

I get accused of all sorts of things on here and Twitter.

Of being a Wenger apologist, deluded and far worse.

But much as defeats leave me sore and sad, I don't follow Arsenal to feel miserable and don't think we have a divine right to win trophies just because we had a good run when Wenger first arrived.

Le Boss has shown over the past seven years that with limited resources and having to sell his top talent, he has still made a side who are consistent, even if not trophy winners.

I can think of 85 or more clubs who can only dream of swapping places with us.

We all want to see silverware. We're all desperate for it.

But if we go another decade or more without winning a title or a cup, it won't stop me loving the club. 

Arsenal should not be afraid at Goodison, whatever the calendar says!

By Avenell Dave

An evening match at Goodison Park is not something Arsenal should relish and there are plenty of threats to be wary of if we're to come away with three points.

Given the fickle nature of football fandom and in particular the demands of Arsenal supporters at the moment, nothing but a win will do, despite the fine form the Toffees are in.

Should we be concerned that three of the players who should currently be first names on the team sheet are absent from the latest Arsenal calendar.

Bacary Sagna, who complained in the summer about departures of leading players, and Theo Walcot, whose contract situation continues to frustrate, are not in the calendar while Andre Santos is. But it's important to realise that Laurent Koscielny is another missing from the 12 month calendar.

While it's easy to read too much into it, their absences are a concern but it wouldn't be a surprise if they were to leave, would it? 

It's less than ideal and symptomatic of the challenge we have to get players to commit to the club in the long term.

Walcott has been indifferent for years and it's ridiculous that as soon as he hits form, he gets the opportunity to walk away from the club.

Just as with RvP, few Addicts expect Theo to stay and I think we'd all be shocked if there was an announcement that he will remain at the club. Let's hope so.

While Carl Jenkinson has come on leaps and bounds and looks to be a fine player, do we really want to see Bac who has consistently been the best right back in the Premier league? I don't think so.

The Board have to be assertive and do what it takes to sign these players up.

We've seen with Chamakh that the alternative is to sign players on hig salaries who are out of contract and if it doesn't work, we're lumbered. At least in the cases of Bac and Theo, we know they can perform.

I was fascinated to read this week that Wesley Sneijder and Fernando Llorente have not played for their clubs much this season while they're in disupte over contracts.

Inter want Sneijder to sign a longer contract on reduced terms to counter an overly generous deal he signed when money was more readily available while Llorente is not being played until he signs a new deal and as Bilbao have shown in the past, they don't do cut price deals even when a player is in the last year of his contract.

We can't afford to be so assertive, but maybe we should take a stand against contract rebels to ensure we don't come across as pushovers any more.

And those who think David Dein would never have allowed it to happen should remember that he oversaw the C@a$hley Cole contract debacle.

It's great to see that Jack Wilshere may sign a new deal. I hope it's as long as possible and that he's given the captaincy soon. We need his fire.

As for tonight's game, I suspect Walcott will come back in and he certainly adds something to the team. 

I would give Lukas Podolski a rest because he was ineffectual against Villa and for all his shortcomings, Gervinho can make a nuisance of himself.

Everton are on a roll and in Baines, Fellaini and Jelavic, they have players who can hurt us.

Let's hope the defence stands firm once again - we can win this!

Addict XI

Szczesny

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs

Wilshere Cazorla Arteta

Walcott Giroud Gervinho

Should Wenger have rotated against Villa - and big board admission

By Avenell Dave

One things that I've always been proud of as an Arsenal fan is the conduct of our supporters.

On the whole, we're intelligent, considered individuals, or so I thought.

We know that we don't have a divine right to win trophies. We may be frustrated with ticket prices (and some, sadly fall for the 'highest priced ticket' claims by media which don't account for the seven extra games we get each season) but I'd like to think most Arsenal fans worthy of the name understand that without a sugar daddy, we have to balance the books until the new commercial deals come into place.

That started last week with a £30m a year deal with Emirates - and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis spoke well about the fact that Arsene Wenger has kept the club competitive in difficult curcumstances.

If it was not an admission that Le Boss has had the financial constraints that come with building a half billion pound stadium in the heart of our capital city imposed on him, it wasn't far off.

So to see some of our own 'fans' lambasting our most successful manager after a draw against a Villa team fighting for their lives in awful conditions is nothing short of a disgrace.

Whatever we think of other clubs and other managers - and there are plenty who provoke ire and irritation - come out with accusations about being a paedophile should not be part of football fandom.

It underlines the fact that Twitter and other media have given a voice to the lowest common demoniator of human life - idiots who probably frequent Jeremy Kyle or other such shows that show human life at its worst. They ought to be ashamed, grow up and show respect and a modicum of maturity.

We weren't great against Villa - no one is trying to say that.

A victory would have suggested that we actually do have a squad capable of winning games even when top players are not included.

A draw? Well, less than ideal against a team at the wrong end of the table and fighting for their lives.

Yes, the hosts hit the bar but it was also a great save from Wojciech Szczesny and a clean sheet is something to be pleased about.

Laurent Koscielny had a couple of chances that, had one of them gone in, would have given us a well earned win and Aaron Ramsey, whose treatment by some of the afore-mentioned neanderthals is nothing short of a disgrace, forced a good save from the Villa keeper and was at the heart of trying to make things happen.

Wenger got a lot of criticism for not starting with Jack Wilshere and for withdrawing Olivier Giroud when we were pushing for a goal.

But Jack is only just back from almost a year and a half out of the game and it came to light that he had an ankle knock.

Given Wenger's preference for throwing on forwards when the game is in the balance,  Giroud was tiring, dropping deeper and looked prone to get injured.

Wenger will know that he needs another striker at least (notwithstanding Thierry Henry's possible short term return) and being able to call on another goalscorer may well have tipped a turgid game in our favour.

Everton awaits and with the Toffees doing well, I'm sure Wenger's Saturday selection had the visit to Goodison in mind.

Yet again, one of the biggest winners of the day was Theo Walcott. His pace and form may have made a difference.

Let's hope we use some of the Emirates funds to give him what he wants.