Good luck to Bouldy and the boys in the first leg tonight. Hoping for a 1989 re-run – “To Emmanuel-Thomas, charging through the midifeld! Emmanuel-Thomas, it’s up for grabs nowwwwww!!!! Emmanuel-Thomas: right at the end!” Given the extra syllables he would obviously have to charge through the midfield slightly slower than Mickey.

Maybe he should be the next boss?

Henry Winter put it neatly suggesting that anyone suggesting Arsene should go ought to watch a video of The Houston-Rioch Years…

Our average league finish in the 4 years before Wenger arrived was something like 8th. We had no God-given right to finish higher in the league than the likes of say Leeds, Newcastle or even Spurs – Wenger has taken a club with a 38,000 seater stadium and has got it into the Champions League for 12 years in a row. To put that in context, Leeds got virtually that number in to watch a play-off semi-final in League One this season.

Football has changed immeasurably since Abramovich, and Ferguson and Manchester United are the only ones to have adapted successfully. We simply don’t have the finances of United, but Wenger’s ensured we have a stadium which will eventually allow us to compete (or at least hang on United’s coat-tails) financially. There will be some short term pain as with any investment. Deal with it. Some clubs have gone 40 years without a trophy, let alone 4.

I love Arsenal and I hate it when we lose and I share the frustration of fellow supporters with certain decisions that Wenger makes. But it is not Wenger’s fault that to ENSURE you will win the league RIGHT NOW you need a first team made up of £20-30 million players and a bench stuffed with £10-30 million ones. Our finances mean we can’t do that, and instead have to create our own £30 million pound players ala Fabregas. Of course guys like Nasri are not the finished article yet – if they were we’d not be able to afford them.

All this means we require monumental luck with injuries to seriously compete, as we simply cannot afford the benches of the other clubs. Ivanovic is Chelsea’s 4th choice centre-back and we lost to them missing Almunia, Gallas, Clichy, Rosicky, Eduardo, and Arshavin. We simply haven’t had the luck we need since January 2008. I can’t believe how much people get on Bendtner’s back for one. He is a fine squad players who have been forced to play beyond the amount that is reasonable for his development because of our rotten luck with injuries. Bendtner is our 4th choice striker – can you even name Chelsea and Liverpool’s 3rd choice? He has had to play more games than anyone would have liked and responded pretty well in my opinion. Who knows what he could do if he didn’t hear his “supporters” groaning everytime it’s announced he’s going to come on.

Furthermore, the attention Wenger’s paid to the youth set-up, and the way everyone performs throughout the club, rather than just the first team, means that on Friday the first generation of young players who’ve only ever been schooled under Wenger will be playing the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final, having won the Academy league last week. I don’t pretend that all these players will be Champions League winners in 2 years time, but it points to a club going in the right direction, rather than one in crisis as some hysterical sections of the Arsenal support would believe.

Sorry for the essay, but the amount of negativity surrounding this season has really got to me. I hope we can get a couple of good additions to the squad this summer – real leaders, regardless of age or nationality – that Rosicky and Eduardo will be back to their best, that we get a full season out of a fully-fit and rested Arshavin and Fabregas, and that players like Song, Bendtner, Gibbs and Walcott can continue to develop the way they have this season. If we as supporters play our own role as the 12th man as well then there is no reason why we can’t have another decent season, despite the fact that we’re effectively playing with our hands tied behind our backs.

Secondly, Guillem Balague is a complete idiot, tool and a smelly smiling c*nt. He is pro madrid and pro liverpool but the biggest problem with him is that he is green with Jealousy over the fact for the last decade arsenal and barca have been playing the most beautiful football which has ten times better than madrid and liverpool. He cant stand it and watch his views on the two clubs, he nevers misses speaking in negative terms for the two. I understand him hyping up the chance of real getting wenger but for u blogs to actually give him some credit !! Have you listened to him on the times podcast on the episode after the 1-1 draw with liverpool at home in the champions league last season (the one with the penalty that wasnt given against kuyt on hleb) u will get all the proof there.