9 Years later – Arsenal v Hull City MOTD preview

By on May 16, 2014

Later today, Arsenal will take on Hull City in the FA Cup final at Wembley. There seems to be a sense of “Do or Die” for Arsenal, who are looking to end their trophy drought 9 years on from their penalty-shootout win against Manchester United back in May, 2005. Ever since that ball left Patrick Viera’s boot and flew into the top corner back in 2005, Arsene Wenger’s men have only had their continuous qualification into the Champions League every year to use as any sort of a success story.

A club of Arsenal’s size and stature is way too big to have to fall back on qualifying for a competition they may never win as success, and they have to realize that the tradition of the club should not be to celebrate coming 4th every year in the Premier League, but to instead celebrate the tangible success of earning important silverware.

The last 9 years we all know have been a major disappointment for Arsenal and can’t have been helped by the severity of the criticism they come under from the British media – deserved or not.

Arsenal, no doubt will go into Saturday’s evening clash with Hull as huge favorites, but Wenger will know that Steve Bruce’s shrewd and intuitive coaching style will put his Arsenal side’s chances under threat. Arsenal’s trophy drought has more than over-shadowed the first half of Wenger’s tenure as the boss of the Gunners which included 4 FA Cups and 3 Premier League titles. And should Arsenal lose this game, the questions will no doubt start to come again about whether Wenger can in fact rejuvenate his former self that led him to so many ruthless victories, culminating in their famous invincible’s season right before the demise of their unprecedented success.

If Arsenal were to win this game, however, maybe Wenger can turn some of his critics, which include a lot of his own teams’ fans into believers again and could perhaps give them that sense of victory they’ve had to live without for the last 9 seasons. This game represents a huge opportunity for Arsene Wenger. It’s one of his biggest games as Arsenal manager and winning it will give himself the optimism he needs to push on from this and relieve obvious pressure for the coming seasons.

Some Arsenal fans will still look to Wenger’s decision not to purchase a striker in this years January transfer window, just as they were in the middle of their biggest and only title race since their last Premier League trophy in 2004. Arsenal fans will look at Wenger as being negative, stubborn and too self-involved to be manager still. Brining in Swedish veteran, Kim Kallstrom as the only signing was an obvious mistake. Wenger keeps admitting that he thinks Arsenal are ‘close’ to the top of the Premier League table but with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and even Manchester United all bound to strengthen in the summer, can Arsenal really afford to have another bad transfer window? Definitely not.

One thing that is certain is that Arsenal need to focus on later today against Hull, who themselves will be looking to end their season on a massive high considering their success of staying in the top flight for another season. Bruce will no doubt use his undeniable wit to try and use the pressure Arsenal will be under by implementing defensive techniques to try and frustrate his opposition.

If Arsenal win, it can mark a new era for the team…A successful period perhaps. If Arsenal lose, Arsene Wenger can expect the fiercest criticism he’s ever had to face in his career.

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