Ahead of the Boxing Day trip to Arsenal, we caught up with Gunners regular Dave Hatchard to find out how the latest pursuit of fourth place is progressing.
Assess Arsenal's season so far ...
DH: To sum up in one word, I would say disappointing. That said, it has by no means been a disaster. We are through once again to the knock-out stages of the Champions League and are only four points off fourth place in the league. Considering two of the teams above us are West Ham and Southampton, it would be a surprise to find them above us by the end of the season and so there has to be some confidence that we can obtain our usual top four position. We shall have to wait and see though.
What is the most frustrating thing about Arsenal's current situation?
DH: There has been no consistency in our performances and we are yet to go on good winning run which we normally do at some point every season. It has not been helped by the ridiculous amount of injuries and although I know most clubs always seem to be complaining about their injuries it does get very frustrating when we seem to have at least ten players out at any point in time every year. Having said that, I do find it equally frustrating and highly avoidable that we have so few fit defenders available. It seemed quite obvious that we would require more than six defenders at the club before the season started. We have so many midfielders and forwards and yet so few defenders.
Wenger in or Wenger out? And why?
DH: Although I do think Wenger has made some mistakes, I am not one of the growing number of Arsenal fans who think he should be sacked. I think a lot of clubs would love to have Wenger as their manager and who would we get instead anyway? Most of the top managers have jobs already so if we were to oust Wenger we should make sure we have a good replacement ready to fill his shoes straight away. I still think it will be completely up to Wenger when he leaves and I suspect he may retire at the end of his current contract which is in two and half years. Plenty of time to start planning who we want as the next manager. We certainly don't want to find ourselves in the same position Man Utd have been in.
If he were to leave, who would you want to replace him? Who do you think you'd get?
DH: The managers mentioned in the press have been Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Both are proven managers but I'm unsure if they would come to Arsenal. I think Guardiola could easily go to another top European club whilst Klopp is struggling this season with Dortmund but who knows what situations they will be in when Wenger does finally leave. Personally I quite like Roberto Martinez and think his style of football would suit Arsenal. Who knows though, Wenger will probably go and stay another ten years and hand over the reigns to Thierry Henry for all I know.
Is it realistic, given that three of your competitors have mega-spending power, to expect Arsenal to compete with them for league titles?
DH: It is never going to be easy and I would certainly not expect Arsenal to win every season but I do think it is reasonable to at least compete with them for league titles. To be completely out of the title race after ten games is very disappointing as I said before. Arsenal do have more spending power than most teams and spent a lot of money over the summer so to be out of the title race so early compared to last season is not acceptable to a lot of people. Expectation amongst the fans was at a much higher level after winning the FA Cup and leading the league for a long time last season. Adding the fact that we signed a world class player in Alexis Sanchez in the summer, things were looking up.
Who or what do you need in January? Who or what do you think you'll get?
DH: Every season I talk to you about this it seems to be the same things that we need. Additional numbers in defence is an absolute must. I think that has been Wenger's biggest mistake this season to only have six defenders in the first team squad especially when you consider our injury record over the last few seasons. We have found ourselves in a highly predictable situation having, at times, only two or three defenders available which has forced us to use players horribly out of position. With Laurent Koscielny looking like he may have a more serious injury, a centre back in particular is needed. The other position that needs bolstering has been mentioned a lot in the media and that is a defensive midfielder. I doubt Wenger will be able to find the defensive midfielder he wants in January but I would be very surprised if he makes the same mistake he made in the summer by not signing another defender.
We usually ask for short, medium and long term aims for the club at this point, but is that just keeping finishing fourth every year?
DH: I think that is the minimum requirement every season. Now that financial restraints are less having paid for the stadium it should mean we don't have to sell our best player each summer like we have had to do in the recent past. This should enable us to build a better team and hence have a better shot at winning trophies. I'm hoping that winning trophies is the board's short, medium and long term aims otherwise paying the most expensive tickets in the country starts to be a bit hard to stomach.
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