Arsenal players starting to turn on Arsene Wenger
These are troubling times at Arsenal
The idea that Arsenal fans are being highly critical of manager Arsene Wenger certainly isn’t news. Many Gunner fans have been calling for the Frenchman’s head for years. The fact that some of the club’s most veteran players are questioning Wenger publicly however, is a very recent occurrence.
The most recent critic of Wenger is defender Laurent Koscielny. The French veteran openly questioned his manager’s team selection in the aftermath of this weekend’s loss to Chelsea. In particular, Wenger surprised many by electing to start Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott on the right side of his formation. Many expected to see Gabriel and Danny Welbeck get those starting nods instead.
Koscielny went on to comment on how difficult it will be for Arsenal to catch the Blues in the Premier League title race. This weekend’s defeat left the Gunners 12 points behind Antonio Conte’s squad at the top of England’s top division.
On their own, these comments aren’t anything to really concern Arsenal fans. After all, nothing Koscielny said was all that inflammatory. Questioning Wenger’s team selection wasn’t a a great choice, but it certainly didn’t qualify as strong criticism.
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The trouble with comments like these from a level-headed player like Koscielny, is that it can cause less mature players to feel like they should express themselves in the press too. His very mild criticism of his manager could give way to other teammates really taking aim at Wenger. It will be curious to see if the squad closes their ranks or really begins to speak out more in the aftermath of Koscielny’s comments.
Given some of the personalities on the squad, I’d be on the lookout for more criticism soon. Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez might certainly choose to criticize Wenger in an effort to get better contract offers from the club. Each claims to want to stay in North London, but neither has signed a new deal to commit their long term future to the club.
All in all, it’s a potentially volatile time for Arsenal. Fortunately, they play host to Hull this weekend and a victory against the Premier League peons should help calm things down. If they don’t play well against the Tigers, then cries for Wenger’s dismissal could grow deafening at The Emirates.