Arsene Wenger is an Arsenal legend, there’s no doubt about that.
The Frenchman revolutionised English football during his time at Arsenal, and Wenger is considered among the best managers ever.
However, towards the end of Wenger’s time at Arsenal, things started to turn a bit sour.
Indeed, as Arsenal consistently finished fourth in the Premier League, struggling to make that next step to become title contenders again, fans began to turn on Wenger, and, eventually, he left the club in 2018 under something of a dark cloud.
Speaking on Off The Ball, Theo Walcott has been discussing Wenger’s departure from Arsenal, and he says that the gaffer should probably have left the club in 2017 after his last FA Cup win.
Theo Walcott says when Arsene Wenger should’ve left Arsenal
Walcott spoke about Wenger’s departure from the Emirates.
The winger said that he thought Wenger was going to leave sooner than he did, claiming that the 2017 FA Cup win would’ve been the perfect time for Wenger to call it a day.
“That next guy is going to be hard. But yeah, it felt right for him to move. I did feel like he was going to move earlier, to be honest,” Walcott said.
“I really did. Cause I felt like after the FA Cup, when he won it, I thought this was probably the, that was a really nice time to really just say, look, I’ve taken the club as far as I can, but he just loves the game and he loves Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, doesn’t he? I always think of Arsenal and I think of Arsenal, you know?”
Arsene Wenger’s final games for Arsenal
Walcott says that Wenger should’ve gone out on top after the 2017 FA Cup win, and that would’ve been a nice way to round things off for the Frenchman.
Unfortunately, Wenger decided to stay for an extra season, and he ultimately went out with a whimper rather than a bang.
Indeed, Wenger’s Arsenal departure was announced on April 20, 2018, and Arsenal still had plenty to play for in the final weeks of the season.
The Gunners were still in the Europa League at that point, and they had a handful of Premier League games left too.
However, Arsenal didn’t step up and deliver for their manager in those final weeks of the season.
| Arsenal’s record after Arsene Wenger departure was announced | |
| Games | 7 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Losses | 3 |
Arsenal were eliminated from the Europa League in the semi-finals that year, while they limped towards the end of the Premier League season too, losing games to the likes of Leicester City and Manchester United towards the end of the campaign.
The final weeks of the Wenger era showcased exactly why fans started to get fed up of the Arsenal boss.
