What has happened to Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger – Is he destroying his legacy?

Despite a late comeback against Leicester on the first day of the new Premier League season, Arsenal have had a dreadful start to the new campaign.

The Gunners have lost two consecutive away games to Stoke and Liverpool and recent news suggests a number of key players could be leaving the club before the transfer window closes.

Former England defender Danny Mills believes the French manager, who signed a new two year deal at the end of last season, is putting his entire legacy at risk this season. “It’s like that boxer having one too many fights and it going wrong”, he said, speaking to ‘Sky Sports’.

“If this is a really bad season, and they finish seventh or eighth, and don’t win anything, then that’s what Arsene will be remembered for.

“My worry would be that it destroys his legacy and everything he has achieved. It will be soured and his legacy will be tarnished.”

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright is in agreement with a large part of the Arsenal faithful and believes Wenger should leave the club. He has described Arsenal current situation as an “absolute nightmare” and questioned the 67-year-old’s ability to motivate the team.

Wright said, “do I think he should go? I’d like him to go because I do not believe now he can motivate the players. It’s for himself and for his own sanity.

“It’s an absolute nightmare – where does he go from here? That team has not played for Wenger for years.”

Perhaps the most shocking fact is Wenger’s reluctance to engage in confrontation. He had every right to unleash hell after the shocking performance at Anfield on Sunday, but instead turned a blind eye and retreated into the international break.

Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis

The two men above Arsene Wenger are also not popular figures among the Gunners fanbase, with many criticising the silent approach the board take when the club is in such turmoil.

‘Sportsmail’ columnist Chris Sutton has branded Kroenke as a ‘joke’ and has questioned the board’s decision to hand Wenger a new two-year deal.

‘[Ivan] Gazidis is keeping him in a job. Kroenke is keeping him in a job. They have to stand up and sack him’, he told ‘BBC’.

Many other pundits have summed up the feeling around the Emirates on social media.

Transfer Policy

Arsenal have less than three days to save their season, but all the focus is on selling players, key players.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Shkodran Mustafi are on the verge of leaving the club and Wenger has next to no time to replace them.

If Mustafi does leave for Inter Milan, that will leave a first choice centre-back pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker. Does that sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same pair that have failed to form a solid back line over the last five years leading to season after season of failed Premier League title challenges.

It must be said that positive business was done earlier in the window, but why spend £52m on a world-class striker to leave him on the bench in the biggest game of the season so far? Alexandre Lacazette missed out on the starting XI because he was in an adaption phase, according to Wenger.

Arsenal’s ‘British Core’. Well, that went well