ARSENAL 2014

A winning habit?

The calendar year girdles two seasons the first of which saw us leading the field for what seemed an age and ended with an FA cup victory after going two goals down at Wembley. Victory was also achieved in the Charity Shield/Community Shield or whatever it's called these days to start this season on a positive note. The acquisition of Alexis Sanchez gave Arsenal supporters optimism and after seeing Campbell in the flesh at the World Cup it seemed that we had a decent striker on our hands, and at that same world Cup we saw three of our own lift the big one. It was noticeable that we had a summer without speculation regarding the departure of our better players: could this be because no one wants them?

Although Vermaelan's form had been patchy his departure along with the loss of Sagna made it clear that we needed to purchase some defensive reinforcements to add to the promising Callum Chambers and Mathieu Debussy-clear it seems, to all but the manager who loaned out Carl Jenkinson and seemingly took the view that we can make do at mend at Centre Half.

The big move of the summer should have involved us. Cesc Fabregas' time was up at Barca and as we had a buy back clause, his return to the fold seemed an obvious decision: not so, Arsene felt that he was surplus to requirements and he opted for the Blue of that mob from West London.

With some renewed belief following our attainment of that elusive trophy we started the new season, well, badly. The worst start in years was the statistic that rang loudest.

We end the year sixth in the league having already lost 4 and drawn six and still not having beaten the so called 'rivals'. A safe passage to the knock out stages of the Champions League and a favourable draw against Monaco has to be seen as an achievement but one wonders if this squad is capable of moving forward without additions in January.

The division between supporters is as pronounced as it's ever been and the sticking point is clearly the Manager and his future at the club. This sticking point will remain stuck for some time as Arsene has a three year contract in his back pocket and whatever your view he will remain our manager until the end of this season at the very least.

I for one see Mr Wenger's tenure as a cul-de-sac and we remain down that dead end until such time as there is a change. The thing for me is that many seemed to have comfortably adapted to mediocrity and as such expectation has been recalibrated accordingly. For now we have little choice but to see where the season takes us and try to enjoy the ride and in this most mediocre of Premier League Seasons full of mediocre teams, with some of the players we do have we may just achieve something after all we have now got players who know how to win a trophy and that surely counts for something.