www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/8714472/Alan-Hansen-it-is-already-make-or-break-time-for-Arsenal-and-Arsene-Wenger.html


Barely two weeks into the season, and it is make
or break for Arsenal. Lose to Udinese on
Wednesday, lose to Manchester United four days
later, fail to spend a substantial sum of money
bolstering the squad and it could all be over. Arsenal, and Arsène Wenger, have no option. The only way to survive is to get results and get
players. If those results do not come, Arsenal are out of
the Champions League this season and they are
facing the apocalyptic scenario of not even
qualifying for the competition next year. They would stand on one point out of a possible
nine and, while it is too much to say a team can
win the Premier League or a space in Europe in
the first month of the season, they can certainly
lose one. Arsenal, though, are playing for even greater
stakes than those. Think back to Feb 27 this year. Arsenal were
about to face Birmingham in the Carling Cup final.
That week, they were playing Barcelona in the
last 16 of the Champions League. They might not have been favourites but, as they
showed in their 2-1 first-leg victory at the
Emirates Stadium, they definitely had a genuine
chance of progressing. They were well-placed to
win the Premier League, they were still in the FA
Cup. They were fighting on four fronts. What Arsenal will be able to expect on Feb 27
next year will be determined in the next few
days. If they are ejected from the Champions
League, if they fail to beat United, if Wenger does
not strengthen the squad, then the best they can
hope for is to still be in one or both of the cup competitions. That is scant consolation. It is impossible to think that, should that be the
case, Arsenal’s fans will remain with Wenger.
And when you have achieved as much as he has
achieved, you have to wonder whether there
will come a point where he is being slaughtered
in the stands and in the press, where players, supporters and staff are all disenchanted and he
just decides it is no longer worth it. If that is to be avoided, Wenger has to rectify the
glaring weaknesses in his squad. He has to inject
some leadership into his team. Robin van Persie is
a hugely-gifted striker, an enormously-talented
player. But a centre forward cannot be a captain.
Wenger has a captain ready and waiting to go:
Thomas Vermaelen. Step one is to hand him the
armband. Step two is to spend. And spend big. Arsenal need a central midfielder. They need a
central defender. So far Wenger has added Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain, a pacy, promising winger
from Southampton. That is not what his side
needs. They need more destruction than creation. It is no good trying to promote from within.
Wenger has done so superbly in the past but, as
we saw with Emmanuel Frimpong against
Liverpool, it is a very different proposition
bringing a youngster into a team who are
struggling, surrounded by doubts and consumed by fear, than it is giving a prospect a chance in a
side which is firing on all cylinders. Instead, his only choice is to find ready-made
reinforcements, and the only way to do that is
buy them in. But while everyone is quick to
praise his genius in balancing the books at
Arsenal for 15 years, it now seems as though he
is not spending simply because he does not want to spend. Great managers must be single-minded,
they must be convinced that their way is the
right way. That trait is not nearly so important as
pragmatism, though. Managers can only fail if
they are not realistic. Even if it has brought
endless success in the past, if your way is no
longer bearing fruit, you have to identify the
weaknesses and solve the problems. You can be unlucky for 18 months, or for two
years. Arsenal have not won a trophy for six
seasons. That is not accident. That is poor design. What makes Wenger’s stubborn refusal to use
the funds at his disposal to strengthen his squad
frustrating is that his truly successful sides all
possessed the characteristics Arsenal are so
transparently lacking. Patrick Vieira, Thierry
Henry, Tony Adams and the rest all had the power and the size, as well as the ability and the
intelligence, that Arsenal no longer have. Wenger does not need to rip up his philosophy.
He just needs to watch videos of his teams from
10 years ago. He has been unfortunate to lose his captain, Cesc
Fabregas, to his boyhood club and potentially his
next most creative player in Samir Nasri, too. But
that happens. It happens to everyone. Now Arsenal need a lift,
both from a new signing and from results. One
will not suffice. They have to move on, off the
pitch and on it.