Have Gooners finally lost faith in Wenger?

THE booing of an Arsene Wenger substitution in Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester United could be a “watershed moment” in his relationship with supporters, according to one prominent Gunners fan.

Tim Stillman, who writes for the www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk website, admitted he could not remember ever hearing such a “savage” reaction to a Gunners manager’s decision than when Wenger replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin.

Such open dissent during yesterday’s Premier League game appeared to demonstrate confidence in Wenger had reached an all-time low after six-and-a-half years of near misses under his stewardship.

Stillman said: “It did feel like a kind of watershed moment, the amount of open mutiny from the support.

“The reaction was very, very savage from those within earshot of him and it was quite hard to watch.”

He added: “I certainly can’t remember a reaction where everybody seemed to share that exasperation.

“I consider myself a more placid supporter. I didn’t boo or react myself but I shared the exasperation.”

Stillman believes the jeering was about far more than star man Oxlade-Chamberlain being replaced by the unpopular Arshavin.

And he expressed concern that captain Robin van Persie also appeared to question his manager after being caught appearing to respond to the change with the word ‘no’.

“It is a worry,” Stillman said.

“The fact that he openly questioned it makes you think: ‘Is that because he didn’t have faith in the fact that the manager knew what he was doing?’”

Stillman insisted he is “pro-Wenger” but admitted he would not be against replacing the Frenchman at the end of the season should Arsenal fail to reach the Champions League.

“We’re basically the fourth-best resourced team in England so, for me, we should be finishing fourth,” he said. “Finishing outside the top four this year would be a failure. Whether I think he should be replaced at that point entirely depends on who’s available.”

Gunners goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has refused to criticise fans for booing Wenger’s decision to substitute Oxlade-Chamberlain in their defeat to Manchester United.

“They’re entitled to their opinion and they show it in the way they do,” said Szczesny. “That’s fine with me.”

That atmosphere hardly lifted at the final whistle, which signalled a third successive Barclays Premier League defeat for Arsenal who are now five points adrift of the top four.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Szczesny said.

“Obviously, fans expect us to do better than what we’ve been doing.

“All we can do is work hard, which we have been doing, and I’m positive the results will come sooner rather than later.”

Wenger has declared it would be a “disaster” if Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League and Szczesny was not about to argue with his manager.

“This club should be in the Champions League, year in, year out,” he said.

“So I understand the manager’s point, absolutely.

“I’m confident we will pick ourselves up, we’ll win games and we’ll get our position in the Champions League. So I’m not worried. I’m disappointed, obviously, but I’m still confident we can do it.”