Arsene Wenger has been great for Arsenal since being appointed 18 years ago but his time is up.
Two wins out of eight and 11 points behind unbeaten Chelsea already is not where the Gunners should be.
Saturday’s scrambled 2-2 draw against a modest team like Hull City showed off all the current team’s fallibilities. Yes, there are injuries to key players, but the root of the problem is Wenger himself and he should walk away now for the good of the club.
Transfer policy
It hasn’t been right for several years but this summer’s policy was probably the worst since Wenger was appointed.
How can he let Thomas Vermaelen leave and not have a replacement lined up? Nacho Monreal had to play as a central defender against Hull because Laurent Koscielny is injured and Calum Chambers suspended.
But it didn’t take a genius to work out that such a scenario would happen sooner rather than later when there are only three senior central defenders on the books.
And why wasn’t a defensive midfielder signed when that was clearly an area that needed strengthening? Mathieu Flamini is not the player he was a decade ago.
Poor tactics
Wenger has his way of playing and will not change it if the Gunners are playing Chelsea or Burnley.
He is so pig-headed that he will not adapt and intransigence is his middle name.
Arsenal – who you can follow on blue square – won’t win the Premier League title this season that much is already clear. That means that it is now 11 years since the last success, which is far too long.
Out of date
Football has moved on since 2004 but Wenger hasn’t. Monaco are said to want the 64-year-old and it may be best for all concerned if he does indeed head to the south of France.
It almost makes you wish that Arsenal hadn’t won the FA Cup in May, as surely if Hull had won at Wembley Wenger would have gone in the summer.