Gunning for Wenger – Revolt in the stands & Robin van Persie's dissent puts under-pressure Arsenal manager back in the spotlight

COMMENT
By Wayne Veysey at Emirates Stadium

There has been a growing sense of anger and frustration among Arsenal’s followers during what can now only be termed the barren years.

It is plain to see when the team conspire to lose a match against less celebrated opponents, when the same mistakes keep being made on the pitch and when another transfer window passes without the addition of the ready-made world-class player the fans crave.  

But Sunday’s narrow defeat to Manchester United seemed to represent a kind of watershed for the club.

The supporters openly revolted against the decision-making of Arsene Wenger, the leader whose genius for a decade-and-a-half has been best summarised with the wonderfully simplistic and appropriate catchphrase: ‘Arsene knows’.

Not on Sunday he didn’t. Not according to the majority of the 60,000 souls who had paid their hard-earned cash to watch their team and would have a darn good moan if they felt like it.

When the No.15 flashed up on the fourth official’s board in the 74th minute to herald the departure of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a chorus of boos rang across Emirates Stadium. Fans were furious at the decision, especially with the game still on a knife edge.

A few minutes earlier, the gifted teenager had marked an auspicious full Premier League debut with a brilliant reverse pass to tee up Robin van Persie for the equaliser. The captain was none too happy. He looked over to the bench at the sight of Andrey Arshavin making last-second preparations and was captured by the TV cameras screaming an audible ‘No’. At the very least, it qualified as dissent, if not outright rebellion.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was cheered off the pitch for his impressive contribution on the flanks, where he had stood out as the most inventive of Arsenal’s attacking players, some achievement given that his total Premier League action before yesterday had amounted to 41 minutes.

His replacement was not so lucky. Arshavin was roundly booed as he trotted on, an ignominy for any Arsenal player, never mind one who will captain his country at this summer’s European Championships and who was widely regarded as a saviour in his early months at the club.

It was a horrible introduction for the little Russian but it soon got worse. Arshavin failed to properly track Antonio Valenica for the winning goal, which was gleefully banged in by Danny Welbeck.

Supporters already frustrated with Arshavin’s mere presence on the pitch were now seething. There were more jeers.

Disillusioned | Van Persie openly questioned Wenger's second-half substitution

Although they subsided as Arsenal chased the equaliser, the final whistle heralded a reaction almost unique in Wenger’s 16-year reign. Boos rang out, sustained and loud. Not in little pockets of the stadium, but everywhere across the vast arena.

The Frenchman looked around wearily, taking it all in. He appeared shocked, almost non-plussed. Chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘Spend some ******* money’ were venomous in tone.

TROUBLED TIMES
PLAYER RATING | DJOUROU
4.5	Got torn apart in the last 10 minutes of the opening half at right-back, a position he seldom looks comfortable in. Replaced by Yennaris at the break.
PLAYER RATING | ARSHAVIN
5.0	A horrible 15 minutes for the little Russian. Jeered by the crowd when he replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain and brushed aside far too easily by Valencia for United's second goal.
PLAYER RATING | WALCOTT
4.5	Veered between the woeful and plain average. His link-up play was desperate, frequently lost possession and wasted the one presentable chance that came his way.

The fans were not only angered by a third consecutive Premier League defeat, but what they viewed as the part the manager played in it.

To his credit, Wenger offered a credible defence of his actions. Although he might have antagonised some even further with his claim that 30 years in management and 50,000 substitutions protected him from having “to explain every single decision”, the Frenchman did spell out why he replaced one of Arsenal’s most effective players on the day with one whose body language verges on the disinterested.

“He [Oxlade-Chamberlain] had started to fatigue and stretch his calf,” said Wenger.

“He was sick during the week. You have an 18-year-old kid making his first Premier League start and a player who's captain of his country and they are querying the substitution? Let's be serious.”

Leaving aside the fact that Wenger is far better placed to understand a teenager’s physiology and physical capability than most, there was a more than a hint of arrogance to the Frenchman’s claims that his initial decision to prefer Oxlade-Chamberlain to Arshavin in the starting XI proved his judgement to be right in the first place and, just because fans were paying the most expensive season tickets in the Premier League, it did not mean they were right.

For Wenger, it goes further than a single tactical decision. Sure, Oxlade-Chamberlain did not look fatigued. Quite the opposite. He looked full of youthful vigour and energy.

Furthermore, the England Under-21 international, who spent most of the second-half on the left flank, is no left-back. He would have been barely better qualified to track back and take the ball off Valencia than Arshavin, even allowing for the Russian’s aversion to physical contact.

The problem for Wenger is that his decision-making is struggling to cope with the forensic scrutiny that accompanies such a prestigious and high-profile post.

The frustration has been building up for years in supporters who were spoiled by the Frenchman for so long. Oxlade-Chamberlain's substitution was merely a lightning conductor for the supporters' suffering.

We are three weeks into the window and the only sign of reinforcement to a squad whose injury list year after year is perpetually in double figures during the winter months is the club’s greatest ever player on a seven-week loan.

For all the romance of Thierry Henry’s wonderful comeback goal and the ecstasy of that evening two Mondays ago, he is simply not going to be at the club long enough to take them to this season’s Champions League final or book their passage to next season’s group stages.

Arsenal need high-calibre, permanent cover in the centre-forward, central midfield and full-back positions and, with a £50 million transfer kitty gathering dust, undoubtedly have the means to address these deficiencies.

But Wenger continues to back his current crop of players in the face of logic and common sense.

Increasingly, the supporters don’t understand his strategy and, neither, it seems, does his captain. However frustrated Van Persie might have felt at Oxlade-Chamberlain’s withdrawal, it does not bode well that he so openly questioned his manager’s decision.

Revolt in the stands. Revolt in the dressing room. Wenger is facing one of the most challenging spells of his Arsenal career.