Wenger’s tale of woe goes on

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 2

That’s the increasingly doom-laden message emanating from certain sections of the Arsenal support and defeat to Liverpool on Saturday heightened the sense of impending failure this season threatens to bring.

Make no mistake, Arsene Wenger is hurtling head first into a perfect storm, with tumultuous events off the field exacerbated by events on it. Nothing can go right for Arsenal at the moment — Emmanuel Frimpong’s red card against Kenny Dalglish’s men swiftly followed Gervinho’s on the opening day, the captain has done a runner and on Saturday, even one of their own player scored against them.

The hunger for trophies at the club has now stretched to a famine and you have to wonder, as the discontent becomes more audible, whether Wenger has the stomach for a fight. He’s even felt compelled to tell people he won’t quit the club. Has he taken the team as far as he can?

With Emirates boos still ringing in his ears, Wenger said: “I always feel under pressure and it’s not more than usual at the moment. The result was very harsh on us — the sending off changed the game.

“You can understand the fans are unhappy.

“There is no chance I’ll walk away and I will try and give the best for the club. But at the start of the season to lose is very disappointing.”

The next few days, with a Champions League qualifier against Udinese in Italy and a trip to Manchester United to come, could shape Arsenal’s season even at this embryonic stage.

And Wenger knows it.

“Wednesday night is massive for us and then we play Manchester United. As soon as you lose a game, people will say there’s a hangover and that there’s a more negative environment — that’s why it’s important to win,” he added.

His forlorn players lacked fight on Saturday. They looked flat and devoid of spark, despite the surprising inclusion of Samir Nasri, who could be the next to pack his bags, although Wenger was coy on his future following reports of a breakdown in talks with Manchester City.

There was an air of resignation about Wenger’s side when Aaron Ramsey unfortunately diverted rookie defender Ignasi Miquel’s clearance into his own net with 10 minutes to go. Despite Nasri’s relative liveliness, this is the Arsenal we have come to expect — lacking authority, with a mistake lurking behind the corner.

Selling Nasri along with Cesc Fabregas amounts to Wenger walking along Holloway Road waving a white flag and if he fails to add to his squad in these coming days as the transfer window creaks to a close, you have to wonder how the supporters will react.

A significant number of them had already vacated their seats before the denouement on Saturday.

But Liverpool march on. A expensive array of arrivals this summer has heightened expectations at Anfield and having won away at Arsenal for the first time in 11 years, Kenny Dalglish and his army of supporters will believe they can usurp Wenger’s men in the fight for a top-four finish this season.

In the immediate future, though, Dalglish will have to get the best out of Andy Carroll; a lumbering presence in the Liverpool attack that looked much more fluid once he was withdrawn for Luis Suarez.

“We had a hell of a good sub to bring on in Suarez,” Dalglish said.

“The only thing that was lacking was a goal so we tried something a bit different. Maybe he was a bit tired last week [against Sunderland] and perhaps I shouldn’t have started him. We will have to manage him the best we can. I think overall we deserved to win.”

How Wenger wished he could bring on a player of Suarez’s calibre. He introduced Nicklas Bendtner late on. And he could only watch in abject jealously as Suarez tucked home a second in added time. In mitigation, Arsenal had Frimpong sent off in the second half but for 90 minutes they were second best.

It is so much rosier at Liverpool. This time last year, they were 17th after a 3-0 battering by Manchester City, the poisonous Hicks and Gillett regime was crippling the club and — like Arsenal now have with Nasri — they had a player who seemingly didn’t want to be at the club in Fernando Torres.

Dalglish has dispatched the Spaniard and brought stability to the club and Liverpool fans trust him at a time you sense the Arsenal supporters’ faith in their manager is waning.

“A victory always helps belief,” Dalglish added. “If you’re losing, you’ve got to get through it. Sometimes you go through phases when it goes better than other times but Arsenal are a fantastic club. They’ve had better times than they have had recently.”

The mantra of ‘Arsene Knows’ has not been repeated with much fervour in recent months as Wenger’s authority, vision and principles have been questioned — and the voices of discontent will only get louder if the craved reinforcements don’t arrive. Arsene knows? Arsene woes.

ARSENAL: Szczesny 7; Koscielny 5, Vermaelen 8, Jenkinson 7, Sagna 7; Frimpong 6, Ramsey 6, Nasri 7; Arshavin 4, Walcott 5, Van Persie 6.

Subs: Miquel 6 for Koscielny (inj. 15), Lansbury 5 for Arshavin (71), Bendtner 5 for Walcott (80).

LIVERPOOL: Reina 6; Kelly 6, Carragher 7, Agger 6, Jose Enrique 7; Lucas 7, Henderson 5, Adam 7, Downing 7; Kuyt 7, Carroll 5.

Subs: Meireles 6 for Kuyt (70), Suarez 8 for Carroll (70).

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire) 6.