Bismillahi..
Nobody was expecting Arsenal to overturn the 5-1 defeat against Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening. Not Arsene Wenger, not the players and certainly not the fed-up fans who marched through north London before kick-off demanding the Frenchman "get out" of their club.
Go back even further and you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who thought Arsenal would win the tie in the first place. And that’s the problem.
Arsenal never surprise anyone, never excite, never fail to disappoint. They qualify for the Champions League through their league placing and get eliminated from the Champions League before the quarter-finals. Groundhog year.
Put yourself in the shoes of those fans who partook in the march and ask yourself: What is there to live for as an Arsenal supporter? These nights when the battle is over and you’ve already lost? Nights like Saturday when you hope that your club can put some distance between themselves and Liverpool in the race for the top four but when deep down you actually know you'll lose?
Arsene Wenger initially had not only an excuse but a legitimate reason for a club the size of Arsenal underperforming through the past 10 years or so. To keep them in the Champions League - year after year - with a debt that size on the Emirates Stadium is one of the great feats of modern club management. Every year he watched players depart, for money and for trophies, but could always rationalise the exits through financial necessity.
The likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie left the house Wenger built to win titles elsewhere. Arsenal fans in their heart of hearts knew that their own club could not sustain a title challenge and - whatever the resentment they felt at their exits – they knew a Manchester City or a Manchester United were always closer to winning the league than they were.
Almhanduillahi...
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