While Theo Walcott is quick to acknowledge that Wenger is 'the boss', he sent what sounded like a slightly confrontational message to his manager after scoring the winning goal against Udinese on Tuesday night.

'I would like to put it out there that I would like to play up front,' he said.
'The boss has always promised me I will get a chance to play up front, so it's been six years and if I just keep on scoring and doing well, I'll maybe get a chance. I'm not demanding anything, but I'm giving the boss something to think about.'

Wenger is unlikely to be offended when Walcott is just showing a bit of ambition.

But how about the latest rantings from the assistant manager of Wales, who seems to think members of Wenger's carefully selected coaching staff are a bit thick.

'After six weeks of pre-season Manchester United and Arsenal hit a muscle injury crisis,' declared the outspoken Raymond Verheijen, the self-anointed world expert on 'conditioning for football', on his Twitter page.

'These clubs have fitness coaches, sport scientists and monitoring systems to avoid injuries but still it's a mess.

'Football coaches should be better educated. As long as football coaches do the wrong football exercises at the wrong time or in the wrong sequence these injury crises keep happening. But as long as people keep looking for excuses the problem will never be solved. Players deserve better!'

Never mind that Verheijen could not keep Gareth Bale fit for that rather important meeting between Wales and England last season.

He was essentially giving Wenger, as well as one or two others, both barrels.

From UEFA, too, there was criticism, although in their case concerning the bizarre misunderstanding over the use of a mobile phone during Tuesday night's match with Udinese.

But it still adds to what feels like open season for knocking one of the finest managers English, indeed European, football has seen - someone who deserves an awful lot more respect for his success, but, more important than that, his loyalty and his decency.

When Real Madrid came calling, Wenger said no and he has done so to countless other offers over the years, such is his attachment to the football club he has revitalised, modernised - hell, revolutionised, these past 15 years.

If you owned a football club and it was your hard-earned cash bankrolling the place, who would you want as your manager?

Who would you trust with your money and who would you trust to deliver something that actually excited and entertained you on a Saturday?

And delivered a few titles, one gained without losing a single game all season, along the way too.
He spends Arsenal's money like it's his own, has been campaigning for years against the 'financial doping' UEFA are now attempting to control with their new financial fair play rules, and is more responsible than anyone at Arsenal for the fact that the club, while competing in the Champions League every season, are solvent.

Not to mention the fact that they have been able to build The Emirates.

Since his arrival in 1996 the club's turnover has increased year on year and once those financial fair play rules start to take effect we might just see Arsenal rising to the top again.

In 1998 the club's turnover was £40.3million. In 2010 it was just shy of £221m.
In 1998 the profit before tax was £7m, compared with more than £55m last year.

Since Wenger's side last won a trophy six years ago, football in this country has gone through another major transformation.

It is no longer just about beating Manchester United because two new financial superpowers have emerged in Chelsea and Manchester City, making it that much harder to win trophies.

Right now, Arsenal cannot compete with the transfer fees and the wages these clubs pay and, because of that, it makes it much more difficult for Wenger to recruit the very best players.

Would it have been as easy to persuade a Thierry Henry or a Patrick Vieira to come to Arsenal in the current financial climate?

There has been a sense of frustration surrounding the club's apparent inactivity during this transfer window but Wenger first had to get as much as he possibly could for Cesc Fabregas and even then it is going to be paid in instalments with various add-ons.

Samir Nasri's imminent move to City has not yet been completed and it would be foolish to spend money that hasn't landed in the bank - especially when the bigger deals seem to be taking so long to go through this summer.

While doing some brilliant business over the years and making some truly wonderful discoveries, Wenger has always been careful and methodical in the transfer market.

Between 1996 and 2005, when winning trophies was not a problem, he moved on twice as many players as he brought in, with 51 players arriving and 105 leaving.
And how can that be?

Because the rest were brought through from the junior ranks.
As Arsenal said on Wednesday, that list of 51 players does not include 'players who progressed to professional terms while already affiliated to Arsenal'

The first player signed, in 1996, was the last out in 2005 - Vieira, bought for £3.5m and sold, when he was in decline, for £13.5m.

As a colleague quite rightly argued this week, it's all very well calling for his head but who comes in to replace him? Well, why would you want to replace him anyway?

Wenger is a brilliant manager and someone who will win again. His players do, at least, still appear to trust him.

'The boss knows what he is doing,' said Walcott.

'I'm sure he's got players coming in now.'

Gerard Houllier, a close friend of Wenger's and someone with a better understanding than most, echoed the sentiment.

'The fact is Arsene has not got the money until now,' said the former Liverpool and Aston Villa manager.

'But he always wants to have a wage bill the club can sustain financially and he always wants players with desire, intelligence and an ability to bond with the group.

'It is not easy at the moment. If you think he is probably looking for a forward or an offensive midfielder, the best ones just get bought up by the richest clubs. But Arsene has his ideas, I am certain of that.'

No doubt he does.