Arsenal: Arsene Wenger’s hated January can solve his recurring problem

Arsene Wenger is putting on his regular January Grinch outfit as he denies any great moves for Arsenal in the winter. Despite the solution he could find.

There is a certain beauty in faith, especially in modern sports. Keeping faith in the players, the manager – that is something you don’t see every day and it is certainly to be valued. But with Arsenal, that faith has led to frustrations and a slew of unfulfilled ambitions over the past decade.

And now, Arsene Wenger is calling for more faith.

“We need just to stick together and fight as we can until the end of the season,” Wenger said, as quoted by the Metro. “I believe that we have to be faithful to the players we have at the moment.”

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Again, I will always admire Wenger for his undying trust and loyalty. That said, and I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite who is immediately contradicting myself, you can take that faith and loyalty too far.

For instance, Wenger has historically avoided the January window, opting to keep the faith, and numerous late season collapses have occurred. Numerous unfulfilled opportunities to capitalize on that faith.

Sooner or later, you think he would see the trend. Leaving a struggling collection of players together and hoping they can fight it out has never worked before. So why would it work now?

Investing in one, big player does not show a lack of faith. If anything, it shows more faith then just letting them be. Because in the end, that extra player is going to lift the team – and that player – higher than the faith had been able to. And the competition it puts on that player that you’ve kept faith in, well he is only going to get better. Or he is going to sink, which would have happened sooner or later anyway.

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Now, it has to be said what Wenger deployed his usual tactic of leaving the door cracked so that he could justify making a January signing (I won’t say or two, because he won’t). But his consistent repulsion of making changes midway through the season are baffling. Especially with the title so far out of reach.

All it would end up doing is giving whichever player we do sign in January a chance to gel with the team before the summer and preseason. Four to five useful months to be thrown into the thick of it, giving them a much stronger foundation to build off of come next year.

A strong foundation that, say, would spare Wenger from benching them inexplicably because they “aren’t ready” to be fully used in the Premier League.

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It’s counter-intuitive. And it’s maddening. But then again, such is the life of an Arsenal supporter.