Arsenal fans have been going stir crazy after their loss to Bradford on Tuesday night. But recent history and a look at Manchester United shows Gooners may not want to hit the panic button.
Could you imagine if Arsenal failed to get past the group stages of the Champions League this season? There would be hysteria among the club’s support – One of who even burned the shirt after their loss to Bradford two evenings ago.
Back in 2005 United did just that, as they did last season, but if you go back to 2006, you will find a humiliating League Cup defeat in their archive too.
The game was against Southend, with United going down 1-0 thanks to a Freddy Eastwood strike. At least Arsenal lost on the lottery of penalties.
It wasn’t like Sir Alex Ferguson sent out a side of inexperienced youngsters at Southend that night either. United’s line-up included internationals Gabriel Heinze, John O’Shea, Mikael Silvestre, Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Even they could not stop United crashing out. The lesson for Arsenal to take here, is simply to dust themselves off and move on.
United did just that, they didn’t dwell on the loss to a side battling relegation in the Championship.
They moved on and went onto win the Premier League that same season, their first title victory in four seasons. One year later they were Champions League winners.
There was no sacking of the manager, any hysteria was contained, when it quite easily could have swelled considering their lack of title success and European struggles a year earlier.
What the Red Devils did do, is go out and spend big the following summer.
In the summer of 2007 United went out and bought Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Tevez. Not all of those have exactly panned out long-term, but in the short-term they each played a role in United’s following trophy successes including that 2008 Champions League Final.
Everybody knows Arsenal need to show their ambition off the field, and sign important players who can add to the squad and help challenge for trophies if not this year, then next season.
Next month brings a chance to do that, but whether extreme measures such as sacking the manager are needed, we aren’t so sure.
image: © birdies-perch
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
