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Same old, same old - interview
Monday, 2nd Mar 2015 22:22 by Clive Whittingham

Ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Loftus Road on Wednesday we caught up with Gunners fan and regular LFW contributor David Hatchard to find out if this season is going to turn out like so many others in the red corner of North London.

Standard Arsenal season of pushing for fourth while showing a soft underbelly at places like Stoke and Southampton — another frustrating campaign?

DH: Yes, it certainly is looking rather familiar which does start to get a tad frustrating when it happens year after year. Having said that, I don't want to sound like Arsenal are having such a terrible time because there are plenty of other clubs who would love to be finishing third or fourth every season and winning the FA Cup - albeit we have only done that once in the last nine seasons.

What are you actually short of to stage a proper title challenge, or is that simply not the club’s aim?

DH: I do think it is the club's aim but I think the board is very satisfied as long as we obtain Champions League qualification. There are a number of reasons why we have not quite got to the level where we can challenge. I'm sure everyone has heard these reasons all before whether it be the injuries to key players, lack of a plan B or the team lacking the right balance. One thing is for certain and that is that we are still not finding the consistency required to challenge for the title.

We do seem to have a squad loaded with attacking midfielders and forwards and have not had enough quality defenders for a number of seasons now. As for a plan B, it seemed like we finally found one last month when we beat Man City, however, that style of play seems to have confused the players because they don't know when they should be playing their normal A game or whether to go for the plan B style of defending in numbers and then counter attacking. Maybe that shows that all the ingredients are already there to challenge at the top, we just need to be clearer on tactics we are using for each game. Whether Arsene Wenger is the man to choose the right tactics is up for debate amongst Arsenal fans.

Is it Wenger in or Wenger out at the moment? You presumably expect him to be in charge next season?

DH: He will definitely see out his contract. I suspect he may go after that. I am interested to see what will happen after he goes. Would we suddenly find that Wenger has not actually been that far from winning the title and it just needed a bit of tinkering or will we suddenly be missing out on the top four positions?

Jack Wilshere, plenty of injuries, plenty of headlines, is he drifting? Would he make your starting 11 if everybody was fit? What do you make of his situation?

DH: It is odd that only two years ago I was saying that he was probably our most important player and yet right now he wouldn't make my first 11. He certainly has had plenty of injuries which has slowed his progress - in fact you could say he has gone backwards in his development. He needs a bit of luck with his fitness, and then he needs a run in the team because yes at the moment he does seem to be drifting. He was once branded the future of the England team. At the moment I'm not convinced he would get in the team.

Who have been the stand out performers?

DH: Alexis Sanchez has been the one who has had the biggest headlines but there are others who have had good seasons but again the consistency has not been there for many of the players. Santi Cazorla has been wonderful in certain matches and then quite poor in the next. Olivier Giroud has scored plenty of goals considering he has been injured much of the season and then he can have the sort of game he did against Monaco which is very disappointing. Francis Coquelin has played well since his return from Charlton but he has been exposed a number of times because of the indiscipline of the other more forward minded midfielders.

What are the fans’ short, medium and long term aims for the club? What are the club’s short, medium and long term aims for the club?

DH: The short, medium and long term aims for the fans are all the same: win trophies. Or at least challenge for the league title and Champions League. The club's aims are clearly to continue qualifying for the Champions League. Anything extra like an FA Cup win is a welcome bonus. I think they want to win the league and Champions League at some point in the future but it would require a lot more investment for that to happen. I don't think the board is ready for that on the scale that is needed to win in Europe. For now they are just happy to be in it.

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TacticalR added 22:41 - Mar 2
Thanks to David.

You sound a bit cagey about whether Wenger should be there or not, and we always like to know if a man is in the AKB camp. Interesting some of the stand out performers that you mention...I don't know what happened to Giroud against Monaco, but I think he's a good player.
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