Arsene Wenger tells his critics “judge me in May, not each week”

Their seems to be a pattern emerging. Every time Arsenal have lost this season, articles appear in the press calling for Arsene Wenger’s dismissal, with suggestions on what he needs to do to put things right. Win, and it’s a different story, if any at all. That’s the fickle business of football journalism, though.

The Gunners are odds-on at 4/7 with Coral for a top four finish this season, and have never failed to accomplish this at the very least under Wenger’s reign.

Inevitably, following the underwhelming 3-2 defeat at the Britannia Stadium last time out, criticism was served up in spades, prompting a small proportion of travelling fans to abuse the long-serving manager. Asked whether this has had an effect on him, Arsenal’s manager was insistent.

“No, not at all,” Wenger said. “We have to cope with that. We are professional footballers. It is part of our job. You cannot always look for excuses. We are down. Everyone feels it. You have to respond in a strong way. You cannot guarantee you will never lose a game and many teams can lose at Stoke. You have to be realistic as well.

“The response after defeat is always important. Everyone is disappointed after that result but the Premier League is difficult and we want to be judged at the end of the season,” he continued.

“We want to be judged then, not after every single game. It is normal that emotion is very, very high but let’s get our stability back defensively and we will see at the end of the season where we are.”

It is believed that Wenger probably will strengthen in January and has been linked with a number of players; however, they first need to get the belief back that they seemed to missing against Stoke City. The Champions League may offer a nice distraction, and the chance to establish further credibility in Europe. They are, however, 33/1 outsiders to win the competition.