Arsene Wenger must answer these 10 key questions after Arsenal's awful start to the season, defensive woes and lack of transfer spending

New season, same old Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has taken his side into battle undercooked and underfunded – heard that one before? - and Liverpool pounced on Sunday with a thrilling 4-3 victory at The Emirates.

The loudest noise during the game might not have resulted from any of the home side’s goals, but in the collective slapping of nearly 60,000 palms on foreheads as the Gunners’ all-too familiar weaknesses were laid bare by Jurgen Klopp’s dynamic outfit.

Arsene Wenger feels the heat during Arsenal's 4-3 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday

Arsene Wenger feels the heat during Arsenal's 4-3 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday

The boos and jeers from the home supporters would certainly have been ringing in Wenger’s ears after Sadio Mane hit the visitors’ fourth goal. They have seen this all before – so have we all – and it leaves Arsenal in the sadly familiar position of trailing most of their title rivals by three points after just one game.


They have sat and watched in anguish over the summer amid Wenger’s refusal to spend big in the transfer market while the likes of Manchester United splash out; they have seen the warning signs with the mounting defensive injury crisis and failure to boost their attacking firepower; and they knew what was coming.

These are the 10 key questions that those Arsenal fans will want Wenger to answer now.

 

1 - Why were you ‘not ready’?

Due to their exertions at Euro 2016, Arsenal were missing Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny for the game against Liverpool - three huge losses for any side. But it was Wenger’s bizarre statement that the entire team are ‘not ready physically’ that will upset supporters more. Just one week earlier, after beating Manchester City in Gothenburg, Wenger said: ‘Physically we look ready.’ And so they should be – most of the squad have had plenty of time to recover from the summer’s international tournaments. If they are not ready, it is down to Wenger.

2 - Why do you still not know when you’ll be ready?

Even more worrying than Wenger’s claim that his team were not yet fit enough to compete in the Premier League was his startling admission that he does not know when they will be. ‘When will we be ready? I don’t know,’ said Wenger. ‘We have to be ready next week because we go to Leicester.’ And there is the point: the fixture list handed Arsenal a fiendish start to the season with Liverpool followed up by a visit to the reigning champions. Wenger knew he had to have to men firing on all cylinders from the very start, but he seems to have stumbled into the new campaign in a daze.

Alexis Sanchez (right) and Aaron Ramsey reflect on a nightmare start to the new season

Alexis Sanchez (right) and Aaron Ramsey reflect on a nightmare start to the new season

3 - Why has this happened again?

Arsenal defeated at home on their opening day of the season. Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before. This year it was Liverpool’s turn to take advantage of Arsenal’s summer hangover, 12 months ago it was West Ham and three years ago it was Aston Villa. This is a worrying trend for Wenger but he seems not to have learned his lesson from those previous defeats. Arsenal have battled back from those shocks to finish second and fourth. But the fear this time is that their rivals are moving ahead at such a pace that, finally, Arsenal will be left behind.

ARSENAL'S INJURIES 

Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) - no return date set

Alex Iwobi (thigh) - no return date set

Jack Wilshere (knee) - 20 August

Gabriel (ankle) - 15 October

Carl Jenkinson (knee) - November 2016

Per Mertesacker (knee) - January 2017

Danny Welbeck (knee) - February 2017

Total: 7 

Advertisement

4 - Why do you suffer so many injuries?

Although the team that lost to Liverpool lacked some big names it was still packed with talent. Alexis Sanchez, Mohamed Elneny and Theo Walcott all started, while Granit Xhaka and Santi Cazorla provided heavyweight support from the bench. But even Arsenal’s squad will struggle with the number of injuries now afflicting them – Alex Iwobi and Aaron Ramsey both hobbled out of Sunday’s defeat, taking the total of crocks to seven. Gabriel, Jack Wilshere, Per Mertesacker, Danny Welbeck and Carl Jenkinson are all on the treatment table, with only Wilshere known to be back soon. That total puts Arsenal behind only West Ham among Premier League teams in terms of first-team players out injured. Liverpool have five ongoing injuries but the other title contenders are well behind: Chelsea and Manchester City have three each, Manchester United two and Tottenham not even one.

5 - Why have you not signed a new top-class defender?

The area of the team hit hardest by the injury jinx – and that’s what Wenger puts it down to, luck, not any issue with his medical department – has been the defence, with Calum Chambers and Rob Holding deployed as a hastily-assembled central-defensive partnership against Liverpool. With a combined age of just 41 and only Chambers’ limited top-flight experience between them, it was not surprising that Liverpool ran riot. Wenger has had all summer to add reinforcements, yet has failed to do so. Even without the latest injuries, surely a world-class defender is needed to play alongside Laurent Koscielny, with Per Mertesacker and Gabriel never truly convincing. Germany and Valencia’s Skhodran Mustafi has been lined up for £30million, but why hasn’t Wenger rushed through the deal? Is he even good enough? And by the time he signs will it already be too late?

Rob Holding (left) and Calum Chambers are an inexperienced pair in central defence

Rob Holding (left) and Calum Chambers are an inexperienced pair in central defence

6 - Why have you not signed a new top-class striker?

There are problems at the other end of the pitch too – and these are also no secret. Last season Arsenal scored 65 goals – the same number as West Ham, who finished seventh. Tellingly, that was also six goals fewer than in the previous season. Statistics aside, however, it was all too clear that Olivier Giroud was not the world-beating striker Arsenal so desperately need to help end their 12-year title drought. Yet Wenger has still not addressed this gaping hole in his squad. Alexandre Lacazette is wanted but Wenger is refusing to go anywhere near Lyon’s£60million valuation – possibly with good reason because he couldn’t get into a France squad featuring Giroud. That left Wenger forced to use Sanchez up front against Liverpool. The team scored three but Sanchez did not shine in a role he rarely succeeds in. How many would Arsenal have scored if they had a proper striker on the pitch?

7 - Why is Theo Walcott taking the penalties?

The Gunners would have had at least one more, you feel, had a truly deadly marksman taken the first-half penalty missed by Theo Walcott. It was heartening to see the man again cruelly dumped by England back in the team with confidence restored – he won the penalty himself and took his subsequent goal very well – but a penalty-taker surely he is not. Walcott’s body language never inspired confidence and his effort was far too close to Simon Mignolet, who saved with ease. Who knows how the game would have turned out had that gone in. Wenger has the power to nominate a penalty taker, and he should use it wisely.

Theo Walcott (right) sees his penalty saved by Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet 

Theo Walcott (right) sees his penalty saved by Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet 

8 - How much money have you got to spend?

If Wenger does finally take the plunge and augment the likes of Walcott – who he has restored to the right wing – with a new striker, how much will he spend? ’If we find the right candidates, we will spend the big money,’ Wenger said back in July to leave fans salivating. Yet just days later chief executive Ivan Gazidis appeared to contradict Wenger. ‘We can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market,’ he said. ‘We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money to splurge on transfer fees than we do.’ So who is telling the truth – or at least whose version is closer to the truth? Arsenal have splashed out £40m on Ozil and £35m on Sanchez in the past, but only tend to make one big signing per season. With Xhaka already in the bag for £34m, that will worry some supporters despite the noises over Mustafi and Lacazette.

ARSENAL'S NEXT FIXTURES

20 August: Leicester vs Arsenal

27 August: Watford vs Arsenal

10 September: Arsenal vs Southampton

13/14 September: Champions League group stage matchday 1

17 September: Hull vs Arsenal 

Advertisement

9 - Has Steve Bould made your defence better?

With four goals shipped on day one, the priority for Wenger is plugging the leaks at the back. While Chambers and Holding shoulder the majority of the defensive burden that will be tough, but who better to whip them into shape than Steve Bould? The legendary former Gunners’ defender, now Wenger’s assistant, is a defensive mastermind but there have long been questions over his working relationship with the Frenchman and how much influence he has over the back four. Having been in the job since Pat Rice’s retirement in 2012, Bould has had time to make his mark and the 36 goals conceded last season was the joint second-best record in the Premier League. But it will be a true test of his coaching skills to get such an inexperienced back line in shape for the big tests ahead.

An irate fans shouts in the stands while Steve Bould (bottom row, second left) turns to look

An irate fans shouts in the stands while Steve Bould (bottom row, second left) turns to look

10 - Do you have an exit plan for leaving Arsenal?

Finally, there is the question that continues to hang over Arsenal and grows ever more important – and more widely asked – with each year that passes without winning the Premier League trophy. At 66 years of age, the great Frenchman cannot have long left in management (although some will say he ran out of time a long time ago). Both Wenger and Gazidis still refuse to talk publicly about the prospect of a change in management but their hands will be forced if there are too many repeats of the protests that marred last April’s home win over Norwich. That demonstration ended in something of a whimper but the boos were deafening again on Sunday and will only intensify if results fail to improve. Does Wenger have the energy to take on his own fans as well as Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte et al?