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ARSENAL fans in Bahrain are still smarting from the club’s 8-2 thrashing by Manchester United but are looking forward to the resumption of Premier League football this weekend so that they can put the misery of the result behind them.
The London side have only taken one point from three games this season and conceded eight goals for the first time since 1896 in the embarrassing reverse at Old Trafford.
Watching the match live on TV was a painful experience for Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain’s Paul Shipwright who has been professionally associated with the club for 10 years.
“I watched the Man Utd game with a group of friends – including some Utd fans! I felt very disappointed, because although my expectations were low, I did not expect Arsenal to capitulate so easily and lose so heavily,” said Shipwright who lives in Saar.
“My feelings of disappointment were mirrored exactly by all my Arsenal supporting friends, but with the upside that we felt that the result would shock the club into taking some action in the transfer market, which it has.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he also felt humiliated by the crushing defeat. For the coach it was a performance, or lack of one, that proved the folly of his summer of transfer inaction. Beset by injuries, suspensions and the sales of star players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Wenger was under pressure to sign reinforcements last week.
The club completed a flurry of transfer-deadline swoops. Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta moved from Everton and Wenger also acquired Germany defender Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen, Brazil left back Andre Santos from Fenerbahce and South Korea striker and captain Park Chu-young moved from AS Monaco on permanent deals while Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun joined from Chelsea on a season-long loan.
A former Arsenal youth team player, Shipwright now holds a dual role, director of Arsenal Soccer Schools throughout the Middle East and North Africa, as well as retaining a consultancy brief for Arsenal Schools worldwide.
He remains loyal to Wenger, saying: “There is no doubt that Arsene should stay. He has built the club from bottom up and we have a training ground, a stadium and other facilities which are second to none.
“Arsenal compete in the biggest competitions in world football – the Premiership and Champions League – where the best players and teams play. Only one team can win these competitions and it is not a fair playing field in terms of resources available.
“Arsene runs Arsenal profitably, while some of his competition have unlimited resources. One hopes that the UEFA financial fair play plan will go some way to address this issue.
“Arsene also has one of the best scouting networks in football, so is able to sign good young players from around the world before other teams.
“In terms of criticising Arsene for concentrating on his youth policy, I think that there is some justification to the complaints. While Arsenal have to develop their own talent, and have a fantastic record of doing so – in this squad we have Wilshere, Gibbs and Frimpong who have all been at the club since they were nine-years-old – but youth needs to be bolstered with experience and this is where I believe Arsenal have fallen short.
“The win against Udinese which qualified the team for the group stages of the Champions League was huge as it meant that some quality players like Arteta, Mertesacker and Santos have now joined and will hopefully settle in quickly, bringing experience and quality.
“Our next game is against Swansea at home on Saturday, so a win before going to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League is vital.”
