Arsenal: Hector Bellerin Exemplifying Largescale Problem

Arsenal’s problems area dime a dozen, but nothing seems fixable under the current scheme. And Hector Bellerin may well have accidentally played into that.

Arsenal has gone and done the same thing all over again. They collapsed in multiple major competitions against superior opposition and everyone is saying the same thing yet again. “We lacked fight,” “we have to want to win,” etc.

Hector Bellerin is speaking out too, and I don’t see that as a good thing. You won’t either.

I kept thinking of nicer ways to word the title, because there are few players that are as exciting as Bellerin. But there is no other way to look at it.

The problem that Arsenal has is complacency. So many of the players are just happy with the way things are. With living through the same old season over and over again. They want guaranteed playing time rather than having to fight for their spot and win for the team.

Guys like Alexis Sanchez are not okay with that and I would like to think there’s a few more. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Hector Bellerin is one of them.

Just the other day the Spaniard said that this team needed a bit of fight. They need to step up. Then he had this to say, via Arsenal.com, regarding if he wanted Arsene Wenger to stay:

“Of course. It’s as simple as that, especially for me. He’s the one who gave me my chance since day one. He’s played a big part in making me the player that I am, and there are loads of players in the dressing room who will be in the same position as me. We all back him and of course we want him to stay.”

First of all, let me point out that I am well aware that he was never going to say “Wenger Out” or anything crazy like that. I totally get that.

But it’s starting to sound like all Bellerin wants is the security that Wenger provides.

That security is part of the problem in and of itself. It’s that comfy security that lulls all these talented players into this sense of “yeah, this is good enough”.

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You have to shake things up. You have to invite a little chaos (to borrow a line from the Joker) to make people really step up and Wenger is simply not doing that.

And with crucial pieces like Bellerin dedicating their career to a manager, and pointing out that other people are the same way, the problem is getting even worse.

Plenty of players are grateful to the manager that gave them their first shot. I get why Bellerin is thankful to Wenger. But you can’t go your entire career playing for one man just because you know he has faith in you.

There is not a manager out there who wouldn’t have faith in Bellerin. Maybe he wouldn’t feel as secure, but making him earn the trust of a new manager, from scratch, would make him even better.

Again, this is part of the problem. So many of these players don’t need to step up any more than they already have. They know Wenger sees the best in them, so why get better? It’s what happened to Theo Walcott, what is happening to Alex Iwobi and what I pray is not going to happen to Bellerin.

Next: 5 Gunners That Can Restart Under Allegri

Wenger’s endless supply of faith isn’t the blessing it seems to be when guys aren’t motivated to impress beyond what they’ve done.

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