Wenger has to win... or buy
Arsenal boss has only two options left to prevent all-out mutiny
LEICESTER v ARSENAL
(Tomorrow, 12.30am, Singtel TV 102 & StarHub TV Ch 227)
The obvious problem with booing is it's contagious. Just ask Arsene Wenger.
The Arsenal manager endured an orchestra of outrage after the first game, a sustained chorus of catcalls for just one defeat.
But the angry outburst wasn't the work of a mindless minority. It was a reflection of widespread frustration.
Things will only get worse if Arsenal lose at Leicester tomorrow morning (Singapore time), so much worse.
In just the second week of the season, Wenger's options are remarkably straightforward. Win big against the Foxes or spend big next week.
He has no choice. The mood is mutinous.
Those broken records, stuck on a loop and repeating those familiar lines - same old Arsenal, same old skinflints, same impatient supporters - are really not paying attention.
It's the same old Arsenal in a very different new season.
Wenger lives in a warped EPL reality where Crystal Palace not only have £27 million ($47.25m) to lavish on one player, but they have thrown it all on Christian Benteke. Clubs are raiding piggy banks not to buy silverware, but to merely survive.
And yet Wenger still believes he can win with outdated weaponry. He stands proudly with his sword and shield, facing a machine gun turret.
On the eve of an encounter between the top two sides of last season, Wenger insisted he was willing to invest heavily, as long there was value for money.
He's shopping in the English Premier League, not a pasar malam.
RIP-OFF
Value for money, if it ever really existed, disappeared just after those inflated TV revenues were announced, essentially telling every agent in world football that the EPL was primed for a great rip-off.
Benteke's laughable buy is further proof that if EPL club owners want an equally risky return on their cash, they might be better off just burning it.
This is nothing new. The only twist in a familiar narrative is every club are expected to lavish huge sums now, with the obvious exceptions of Hull and Arsenal.
Apart from strengthening their ranks, Leicester also managed to tweak Wenger's nose by convincing Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to sign long-term contracts.
Both men were Arsenal targets. Both believed in a brighter future at Leicester, a decision that Gunners fans have interpreted as a lack of boardroom ambition at their own club.
Chelsea couldn't offer Champions League football, but N'Golo Kante still joined.
And still, Wenger procrastinates. He mocks the madness of an inflated transfer market and hints, rather condescendingly, that an "intelligent" approach works better for him, as it always has in the past.
Apart from the obvious dig at other free-spenders, the "intelligent" claim was poorly timed, considering there was nothing particularly clever about the 4-3 home defeat by Liverpool.
Wenger rested his Euro 2016 finalist Laurent Koscielny, but played Aaron Ramsey, who went out of the semi-final stage just a few days earlier.
Against Liverpool, Arsenal's inexperienced, makeshift back four imploded and Ramsey picked up a hamstring injury, which may rule him out for up to a month.
The strange decision to pair Calum Chambers with Rob Holding achieved little beyond chipping away at brittle self-confidence.
Poor Holding, who often resembled a pinball flipper as Liverpool's forwards bounced around him, deserved a better introduction to life in the EPL.
He's likely to give way to Koscielny as Wenger brings back fellow Euro 2016 participants Mesut Oezil and Olivier Giroud.
If Wenger insists that the squad boast sufficient depth, then it's reasonable to expect the Gunners to beat a side they defeated twice last season.
But Leicester are at full strength. Arsenal are not. More importantly, they haven't lost their first two league games since the inaugural EPL season back in 1992.
Two defeats in two games do not constitute a crisis. This is a more of a muddled mess, a mess almost entirely of Wenger's making.
So he either succeeds at Leicester or he succeeds in the transfer market next week. He can't have it both ways.
Arsenal fans will make that point loud and clear at the final whistle.
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