Arsene Wenger is a broken man and so is his project – Arsenal must now address their glaring flaws

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By Greg Stobart at The Reebok Stadium

With his final assault of the season on an unsuspecting water bottle, Arsene Wenger‘s energy was spent.

The Arsenal boss had just watched Tamir Cohen head Bolton to a 2-1 win over his side with a last-minute winner, the final blow to the Gunners’ title challenge.

In a sun-drenched Reebok Stadium on Sunday, Wenger was tempestuous throughout, his eyes shallow and his nerves frayed as he stalked his technical area. He kicked the turf, stretched his arms, he ranted and he raved, he picked fights with the fourth official, he bellowed at the on-pitch referee – but all that emotion was knocked out of him by Cohen’s late winner.

Never has he looked as flat as he did in the aftermath of this defeat, in which Arsenal once again displayed their beautiful football but also their obvious flaws as they conceded two goals from set-pieces.

Wenger has constantly talked up his team, hailing their tremendous mentality as fighters, men prepared to fight to the last drop of blood.

But it is Arsenal’s run-in that has been bloody. Bloody awful. Facing what Wenger admitted was their easiest end to the season for many years, the Londoners picked up just two points from three games in a week, extending their miserable run of form to one win in their last nine outings.

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Arsenal should be right on Manchester United’s tails given the fixtures they had, instead they are nine points adrift, all but out of the title race as their barren run without a trophy extends to six years. If Wenger had the stuffing knocked out of him, so did many of the 6,000 travelling fans – but none were surprised by Arsenal’s utterly predictable defeat.

“Blame me, not the players,” implored Wenger after the game. Don’t worry, Arsene, that’s what we are doing.

Why did you not buy the commanding central defender everybody knew you needed?

Why did you not dip into that £40 million transfer kitty to sign a top-level goalkeeper?

Why rely so heavily on youth when great sides need experienced winners?

Why defend so poorly from set-pieces?

The ‘defensive frailty’ Wenger lamented after the game has been evident for years, the lack of mental strength in this side clear for all to see long before February’s gut-wrenching League Cup final defeat to Birmingham.

“If you can convince me that my principles are wrong then I’m ready to change,” he challenged journalists on Sunday. “When you don’t win, you are questioned on your principles.”

Well, as he says himself, the numbers are the numbers. It is six years since Arsenal won a trophy, and in four of the last five seasons the Gunners’ points-per-game tally has been lower from March to May than it was from August to February.

Arsenal probably won’t even finish second this season, with Chelsea overtaking them this weekend. The last time Wenger’s side were runners-up was in 2005 – they aren’t even regular challengers, they are perennial also-rans.

It’s all well and good thrashing teams 6-0 in August, but it is the last three months of the season that really matter, that decides when medals are won and lost. Arsenal were challenging for four trophies at one point, they will finish with nothing.

Arsenal fans are sick of it, with the numbers calling for Wenger to step aside growing by the day, resentful that they have to pay the most expensive ticket prices in the country to watch a group of kids learn the hard way.

Project Wenger has repeatedly failed to deliver and fans will hope that Stan Kroenke’s takeover will chivvy the 61-year-old into finally addressing the flaws in his squad this summer.

For too long, Wenger has been able to do no wrong in the Arsenal boardroom, for too long directors have been kept sweet by the fact his reluctance to spend in the transfer market means greater annual profits in the accounts.

The anticipated departure of captain Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona could act as the catalyst for the reconstructive work that Arsenal need to become a winning side rather than a pretty side.

Arsenal are not far off, the frustration for the fans has been that it is glaringly obvious what they need. Thomas Vermaelen’s injury problems this season have been unlucky, but do not excuse the failure to sign a centre-half. Gary Cahill was man of the match yesterday, producing the kind of towering, no-holds-barred performance that Arsenal have been missing from their defenders.

Most of the Arsenal squad are also inexperienced, they don’t have the history of winning trophies. Wenger needs to accept that signing a player over the age of 30 is not a bad thing, especially if they can add a genuine winning mentality and big-game attitude to the squad.

Arsenal don’t have to completely trade their style for results, they don’t have to become pragmatic. With a few simple steps, though, their pretty football can become winning football.

For Wenger’s own sake, changes must be made at Arsenal to a philosophy that simply has not worked.

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