The sight of Arsene Wenger yet again kicking water bottles in frustration at yet another weak display of the “mental strength” with which he constantly reiterates his young players are supposedly and abundantly endowed, leaves open the question, just why are Arsenal experiencing yet another end-of-season meltdown?

Certainly the technical flair and ability of the players are not in question, and many Arsenal supporters would agree that on paper the squad has sufficient capabilities within it to have won the Premiership – and perhaps, if decisions had gone a little more their way in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League encounter with Barcelona (the ludicrous sending off of Robin van Persie being the most significant) – then they may well have prevailed over the mighty Barca at Camp Nou (indeed with only 10 minutes to go and down to 10 men Nicklas Bendtner still had a golden opportunity to put the Gunners through) and may have ended up facing Manchester United in an all English Champions League final at Wembley.

The true potential of this squad was demonstrated perfectly by the defeats of footballing giants Barcelona and Manchester United, but dismal displays after that 1-0 victory against Manchester United, with defeats against Stoke City, Aston Villa and an inglorious draw in their season’s finale against Fulham may have left the Arsenal faithful with the words ‘same old, same old’ ringing in their ears. The polite version of their response to this to manager Arsene Wenger at the end of the match at Craven Cottage was to implore him in the strongest possible terms to “spend more money”. So why, given that the club is arguably the most solvent in the Premier League; that the board constantly reiterate that funds are available to Arsene Wenger for player purchases; and that fees generated by the sales of Emmanual Adebayor and Kolo Toure to the premier league’s big spenders, Manchester City, that exceeded £40 million, appear to be largely unspent, has Wenger remained stubbornly averse to dusting off the club’s chequebook and committing serious funds to acquiring proven and experienced players to cover the glaringly obvious weaknesses in the first team squad.

The stock answer for the past three to four years can be summed up in two words “Project Youth”. In theory this policy of acquiring and nurtering younger players through the academy /youth set-ups is highly laudable anyway in that it enabled the club to be far less dependent on making expensive acquisitions (and so in many ways offers a model that ought to be adopted by cash strapped clubs in general) and was a perfect strategy to meet the budgetary strictures the club faced by the move to their new stadium at Ashburton Grove. However, now almost 5 years into the move to their new home and with the stadium debt a very manageable £20 million per year this central excuse – the adherence to Project Youth - for not investing in established and proven players to augment the best of the younger players is beginning to look untenable. With unceasing pressure from the fans for silverware, and an increasing body of them openly questioning the competence of both Wenger and the board, a significant response is now called for in the summer transfer window.

This then is Wenger’s challenge: to utilise the undeniably available funds to make strategic investments in recognised match-winning player,s who will effectively cover the gaps in the weaknesses in the current squad and provide the necessary experience to underpin the squad’s talented but inexpreienced youngsters, in order to prevent yet another late season collapse. So will he now pursue this policy - or is it that since the departure of talismans Patrick Viera, Denis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, Wenger has simply lost his way or, worse still, lost his nerve? Finding replacements for these let alone for Juan Antonio Reyes, Mathieu Flamini and Robert Pires would always be a ‘big ask’ – especially when the funds it seems were previously unavailable,and just at the point when their replacements needed to be found, and rapidly.

Perhaps Wenger hasn’t just been kicking bottles in apparent frustration; perhaps this plays out as a symbol, on a far more profound level – that Wenger has, quite literally, lost his bottle – that with yet more also-ran performances his young players are forcing him to engage with his deepest apprehensions? By sticking stubbornly with “Project Youth”, when the evidence has been mounting since the end of last season that this could not ultimately deliver the big prizes so cherished by the loyal fan base, and with frequent mystifying failures to address the very obvious failures in the squad over the past two transfer windows, has Wenger merely created an elaborate smoke-screen behind which to hide his own deep lack of faith in himself – that is, a fear of being unable to re-build a team once more made up of a blend of seasoned, experienced, proven match-winners and young, gifted flair players. And, more tellingly, is this lack of self-belief unconsciously translating to the squad now largely made up of young, inexperienced players, who look up to him as their mentor, if not even as a father figure - hence their collapses when the pressure is really on them (and Wenger)? Is his constant re-iteration of their ‘mental strength’ really a ritual attempt at self-affirmation? – Is Wenger really telling himself on a regular basis ‘to get a grip’?

Arsene Wenger is undoubtedly the greatest ever Arsenal manager to date. The delivery of 11 trophies, including two FA Cup and Premier league ‘doubles’, and the unrivalled achievement of ‘the Invincibles’ squad of 2003-2004, is undeniable testimony to that and is a contribution that will remain embedded as a glorious chapter in the history of club. But trading on past glories can only take anyone so far. In the face of intensified competition from established and emerging Premier League rivals – Manchester City being the most obvious newcomer, and with a resurgent Liverpool threatening to reimpose themselves once more amongst the ‘big four’- the task of living up to past glories would be highly daunting to all but the most resolute, the most committed, and the most steel-nerved individual . He certainly possess the first two attributes – but does Arsene Wenger genuinely have the bottle to re-build a new, powerful, unit worthy of emerging from the shadows of ‘The Invincibles’ or will he continue to disguise his fear of failure by adhering unremittingly to “Project Youth”? The transfer window over the next three months will be highly revealing of the real Arsene Wenger.