An apology to Arsene Wenger

I've been meaning to write this post the past week, but work schedule etc has hampered that. If truth be told, I haven't had the motivation to write about the Arsenal pre the Tottenham, and I don't know whether that makes me a bad supporter or not, but I really hate being negative.

Thankfully, due to current form, I have nothing to be negative about. And that is down to one man, Arsene Wenger. Humble pie time, and I hold my hands up and admit I started to question him after the Sunderland defeat in the FA Cup. I thought he lost his aura amongst the players, that like the last previous seasons, he fails to motivate the players when it really matters. Well, he has proved me completely wrong. And I couldn't be more delighted for him. Barring the last 5 years, I've grown up supporting Arsenal during a time when it was easy to. We won a lot of trophies, and played absolute outstanding football. The man behind all of that: Arsene Wenger.

Unlike others, I'm happy to admit I'm wrong. I don't know why I questioned him, I've long been a huge huge fan of his and although I still feel this will be his last contract with us, he has earned the time to have a few bad periods. Just where would we be without him? Who else is competing with the megabucks of City and Chelsea with just a fraction of the money. The others, who like Wenger are very stubborn, will use last Summer as a stick to beat him with. He's gone on record to say it was a nightmare of a summer, losing two huge players, but what he has done since then is remarkable. During January I think we had something like 32 full backs injured, which understandably contributed to our wobble in form. He stood by his injured players, hoping we would cope without them. We didn't. Should he have got in a couple of full backs? Well, no. During January I wasn't part of the clamour for him signing a defender. I didn't think we were desperate for a Wayne Bridge-esque signing. As it happened, we had to make do with makeshift defenders playing out of position. Since then, we have seen Kieran Gibbs and Bacary Sagna come back to some sterling form. What would happen to those guys if we signed another defender? It would of been an unnecessary use of money in my opinion.

I fear Arsene Wenger does not get enough praise. It's bemusing to read/hear in the media how the Arsenal fans have lost patience with the manager. That's a minority. And it's the fans who think we have a divine right to win everything in our path. Well we don't, football isn't like that. You can't really put a price on what Arsene has brought to this football club.

I will always remember this season. Maybe for all the wrong reasons, but there have been some great moments too. The season of comebacks. And Arsene Wenger has had a brilliant comeback. 2-0 down against Tottenham, we managed to go into halftime drawing 2-2. That first half Theo Walcott had a shocker. Many calls were for him to be taken off. Wenger persisted. And Theo produced a devastating second half performance. We won 5-2 that game by the way.

So to Arsene Wenger, I am sorry. I never should have questioned you, and nor should any other Arsenal fans. With one or two quality signings next season, along with keeping star players, there is absolutely no reason why we can't challenge for the title.

And Arsene Wenger is the man to mastermind that challenge.