Arsenal can only manage to finish in top four

The Barclays English Premier League is only one match old yet no team came into the season in such fine form as the Gunners even their biggest doubters were intimidated into believing that Arsene Wenger’s ‘boys’ had finally matured into real men. Every team that Arsenal faced in their pre-season tour was in for a thorough beating – and with the acquisition of Petr Cech – everybody thought that Arsenal had finally got the right kind of sticky hands to solve their goalkeeping problems. Indeed, they were the only team in Europe that managed to lift three trophies before the season began. They won the Barclays Asia Trophy, the Emirates Cup, and Wenger even managed to beat Jose Mourinho for the first time in history, to lift the FA Community Shield. But alas, as the saying goes – Arsenal will always be Arsenal-a reminder which came too soon. No sooner had the season began than Arsenal was offered a major reality check. In their first Premier League fixture last week, West Ham hammered Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium. The manner of their beating reminded everyone what Arsenal really is – a club that is always nearly there. Even their supposedly excellent acquisition, Cech, was plainly at fault for each goal, and suddenly he now looks out of sorts – probably the reason why the pragmatic Mourinho found no problem in offloading him to a supposed rival. Now, once again like we’ve been too accustomed, it’s more probable that the militaristic Gunners will attack social media with their “Wenger Out” placards, until a few games towards the end of the season when they will be too happy to finish inside the top four. To Arsenal fans, the saying “once bitten twice shy” simply does not apply. Like Sir Charlton said, Mourinho lacks class Before the sad reality of David Moyes happened to Manchester United, there was one manager who was doing everything in his power to succeed Sir Alex Fergusson. That manager is none other than Jose Mourinho. In his efforts, Mourinho said every good word he could find in the dictionary about Sir Alex Ferguson, and even when his own club then, Real Madrid dumped United out of the Champions League in 2013, he claimed that “the best team lost.” However, by then, his mannerisms had not been forgotten by one of Manchester United’s legendary influencers – Sir Bobby Charlton. It is said that Charlton advised the United Board against hiring the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ despite his strong CV, simply because, he hasn’t the class to manage such a great club. Now last weekend, Mourinho removed all doubt. He hit the lowest of all lows when he verbally and openly attacked his medical team for apparently being “naïve”. Mourinho being a sour loser is an open secret - but picking on the only female team doctor in the Premier League – Eva Carneiro – and blaming her for causing an earthquake is by all standards an attack below the belt. Regardless of his historic trophy howl, Mourinho’s inability to keep his foul words stapled inside his mouth is a sign that probably Sir Charlton was right. Mourinho simply doesn’t have the class required to handle the pressure of managing a big club for a long period of time. mugishaivan@yahoo.com

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Arsenal can only manage to finish in top four