Shame on fans who turned on Kalou

AS the half-time whistle sounded on Saturday, the guy next to me was singing “we’re going down with the Arsenal”.

I’d like to tell you it was tongue in cheek but sadly he was serious. There was a disgruntled air around the stadium, the crowd unimpressed by the home display. This followed on from some frankly embarrassing barracking of Kalou, who was subbed on 35 minutes.

I am probably the Ivorian’s harshest critic but I have never booed him, nor have I cheered when he has been substituted. I thought it was all shameful. He was poor, but there were a number of players below par and it could have been one of half a dozen who were called ashore so swiftly. It will be difficult for the player to come back from such a public display of no-confidence.

Of course it may be the last time he turns out for the club should we believe the rumoured latest offer for Modric — Kalou, Benayoun plus bundles of cash. Tottenham are claiming that any deal is off following our acquisition of Mata, which seems an odd thing to say as they are two different types of players.

Today may be D-Day as Benayoun tweeted on Saturday that his future would be revealed by Wednesday. I would be disappointed to see Yossi go as I thought he looked bright in pre-season and feel he was never given a chance at Chelsea — and typically, just when he seems to be fit, it looks like we are offloading him to one of our fiercest rivals! Funnily enough, Kalou doesn’t strike me as a Tottenham/Rednapp type player and I can’t wish him well if he goes to “them.” I have cursed him under my breath more times than I care to remember, but I don’t think he ever put in less than 100% and seemed a personable individual and a good professional. I just don’t think he was ever consistent enough for us, yet his medal haul will tell a different story — wherever he ends up, I’m sure he will make us pay for our lack of belief in him.

If Saturday confirmed one thing it was that our midfield need a serious overhaul and on paper, Mata and Modric seem exactly the kind of players we need — but in reality every player you buy is a risk and until they play regularly you don’t know how they will fit in with the rest of the team, with the tactics or even on a personal level. Most players invariably need time to adjust (unless your name is Aguero) and this is often a difficult period as instant success is not only expected, but demanded from various factions of the footballing fraternity.

Fans are probably the worst, expecting new players to single-handedly turn the fortunes of their club and as AVB pointed out, it’s these vocal fans who pile the pressure onto the players. The anxiety was palpable on Saturday until the final whistle, when relieved bravado took over. And as for the media, woe betide the player who doesn’t hit the ground running — especially if he went for big money. The press will break down every move, highlight every deficiency, and gleefully publish the damning stats in ever increasing sized fonts.

Then there are the money men, agents, sponsors and so on.

This stipulation for immediate success extends to new managers — the amount of people already questioning AVB and claiming that nothing has changed from last season — well of course not much has changed — it’s still the same team!! At least our new man can make a tactical substitution and make it early enough to count and perhaps with the latest additions we can improve and develop to better reflect what I imagine the manager is trying to do.

With a young manager and young players such as Lukaku, Mata, McEachran, Piazon, Courtois etc we could be building a dynasty of the future — one that could have the longevity of the United team which dominated under Ferguson. This is finally looking like a long-term plan and that means a transition period at some point.

We should be excited. I know I am.