By Boris Mellor
August 25 2011

There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.Julius Caesar Act IV, scene 3,

At 8:30 pm Wednesday night the vultures were circling, licking their pencils and no doubt writing doom laden stories for the future of Wenger and Arsenal if they failed to qualify for the CL. Mere facts would not stop them writing stories about Arsenal’s pending financial ruin, or the idea that players would no longer come to Arsenal.

Gazides has made it clear that Arsenal would not be financially struck down by failure to qualify. Liverpool failed to qualify but have still signed quality players. Nonetheless it is important to qualify as Wenger put it for footballing reasons. Players, and most fans, want to see their team play the best.

Yet that desire to play the best was hanging by a thread on 59 minutes as Di Natale stepped up to take a penalty that would have put Udinese 2-1 on aggregate. If he had scored Arsenal might have been rocked on their heels and fallen apart. Fate or fortune could have turned against Arsenal, but Szczesny made a wonder save and fortune swung back in favour of the Gunners.

Of course it wasn’t just luck, fans often claim that Wenger doesn’t make substitutions on time, that he always waits until the 70^th minute. But Wenger was decisive and substituted Frimpong with Rosicky on the 46 th minute, it was a bold and decisive substitution that saw Arsenal become more positive. Rosicky might not be able to score in a bordello but he can be good at foreplay. The midfield immediately became more effective and dynamic.

It also meant that Song had more freedom to sweep up, and Ramsey became more definite, Gervinho’s runs became more incisive as did RvPs foray’ s down the middle. The change had already led to RvPs goal, after Udinese failed to score the penalty Arsenal knocked harder and harder at their door, on 69 minutes the Gunners finished the job with Walcott’s 69 minute goal. Arsenal were through it was all over for Udinese and Gunners everywhere celebrated the victory.

Wenger had stayed the hands of his critics, and it was his actions that changed the Gunners fortunes:

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
(Julius Caesar, 1.2.146), Cassius to Brutus

The attitude of the press is not a matter of conspiracy, but rather that they sense weakness in Arsene and his squad, and there is nothing they like more than kicking a man when he is down. This weakness is not imagined it is real, this is the weakest squad in Wenger’s history.

Last year with an allegedly stronger squad Arsenal scraped qualification in the weakest group in the C, losing away at Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga. Failure to win a very weak group meant getting Barcelona immediately in the knockout stage and that was the end of that.

Thus it’s hardly a conspiracy that the press and bookies do not fancy our chances in a group that includes Marseilles. Olympiacos and Dortmund, I have to admit that I don’t rate our chances too highly either. Last night was a great victory, but the fact that Arsenal fans, including myself, were so elated at beating a weak Italian side, demonstrates how far Arsenal have fallen since the heady days of 2004.

Wenger must buy

Wenger and his team had reached the high tide, but it is no time for complacency, to repeat the quote above:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,

If Wenger was to believe that last night means his squad is good enough then I believe he will miss the tide and will spend this season and possibly many more in the shallows and misery. It is time to seize the high tide and buy some quality players. Now Arsenal have qualified, and have at least £60 million in transfer fees in the coffers it is time to take bold action. There is no excuse. If Wenger fails the fault will be in himself not the stars.