Arsène’s credit is good for another few seasons

IT WOULD’VE been some consolation if we could’ve pooped the Old Trafford party on Saturday. On the pitch, we seemed mainly intent on leaving some decidedly masculine reminders of our age range on Patrice Evra’s shins!

Yet fearing the sort of rout that ended Igor Stepanovs’ Arsenal career some seasons back, the majority of us were just grateful to see the Gunners salvage some pride.

Nevertheless I was disappointed that we were so toothless in the final third. Nasri failed to have the sort of significant impact he’d had in the reverse fixture and it certainly wasn’t Arshavin’s most influential encounter to date. Even our subs failed to offer the expected impetus up front, with Theo no less anonymous against O’Shea, than he was against Evra a couple of weeks back and despite his alleged huge ego, Bendtner didn’t appear to have the balls to take the United defence on.

If I owned an Arsenal share, I’d be forced to flog this investment just about now, in order to be able to afford our season ticket renewals. But I was fortunate to be able to attend a shareholders Q&A session last week, with our esteemed leader, as proxy for a pal of mine.

Both here and in the build-up to the match at Old Trafford, Arsène pointed our attention to the fact that the Gunners are only three goals short of the 67 scored by Saturday’s champions, using this as evidence to contend that we are no less potent than United going forward and that it’s the goals conceded that has cost us most dear.

However I’ve always retained a healthy distrust of statistics, whereas I worry that Monsieur Wenger will spend his summer focusing on our 21 game unbeaten run and other more meaningless benchmarks, like Manuel Almunia’s eight-game clean-sheet record at our place, to the point where he might convince himself that the Gunners weren’t that far short of the mark.

In truth, the only really telling number is the potential 15 to 21 point gulf between us and the title-winners.

It feels as if we’ve been moaning about our defensive lack of composure and our vulnerability at set-pieces, since the demise of the fab back five. However, Alex Song’s assured display as Kolo’s centre-back partner on Saturday was something of a broadside for the Hangeland bandwagon – even if this was United at their most unambitious. Yet the important difference being that in the past we’ve invariably been able to compensate for defensive errors, with the calibre of players up front, capable of conjuring a rabbit out of the hat when most required.

Some might point to Adebayor’s poor return of only 10 league goals, but he notched up 24 last season and I’m convinced it can’t be a coincidence that we’ve been starved of silverware ever since Henry, the club’s most prolific striker ever, was able to rely on the likes of Ljungberg and Pires to shoulder some of the goalscoring burden, with both banging in 15-odd from midfield. Whereas this season, we’ve only had 6 each from Nasri and Arshavin (4 at Anfield) to add to Van Persie and Bendtner’s meagre nine goal tallies.

Perhaps it would’ve been a different story, if our diminutive Russian had started the season and not been cup-tied in Europe. Hopefully in future Andrey (and perhaps A.N. Others?) might offer that single inspirational moment, which could’ve made all the difference in our abysmal Jan/Feb streak of goalless games.

Hopefully the inevitable rumours linking our manager with Real Madrid might shock some sense into those misguided Gooners who’ve lost patience with Le Prof. While other clubs have buckled under the burden of debt from new stadiums, I can’t honestly see Wenger walking away, just as he comes within touching distance of an opportunity to realise his vision.

What’s more, as far as I’m concerned, Arsène’s credit is good for at least another couple of seasons. Compared to the vast majority of clubs, it’s hardly as if we’re exactly suffering, while watching this work in progress. I only have to imagine the delight on the faces of our rivals, the day Wenger eventually departs, to remind myself quite how fortunate we are to have him.

On our day, we are a match for absolutely anyone. But to grind out three points against the “park the bus” tactics of the lesser lights, or to triumph in adversity, we need to discover some real backbone of our own.