This is all a bit familiar, really.
Domestic troubles including a defeat at a League
struggler, coupled with European woes against beatable sides. Another poor
performance from the Board at the Arsenal AGM and most recently, further
humiliation at Old Trafford against our old rivals Manchester United. Yep,
we’ve been here before and it isn’t pretty.
Whilst Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against United might look
like a close encounter on paper, in reality it was anything but as the home
side ran us ragged with goals from you know who and Patrice Evra, which in the
end was all they needed to take the points.
The stats all speak for themselves, and when you get your
first shot on target in stoppage time you know it hasn’t been a good day in the
office at all. Santi Cazorla’s last gasp strike then gave the fantastic
travelling supporters something to cheer about, but it was all too little too
late. And in the cold light of day, something we absolutely didn’t deserve as
the team were well short of the standard we expect from Arsenal Football Club.
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| Another very poor performance from TV5. |
So where did it all go wrong? Why did a team featuring
fuckwits like Tom Cleverley so utterly and easily outplay us? Serious questions
need to be asked of this side we have right now, and in particular the Manager
who is persisting on sticking with a tried and tested formation that is so
predictable, and just not working.
Now tactics aren’t my thing, so I’m not going to sit here
and write endlessly about what a professional football manager should be doing.
I’m not qualified for that, and I’m fairly confident you won’t be either. But
still, it doesn’t take much to realise when something’s not working. Especially
when a two-man central midfield featuring the aforementioned fuckwit has a
field day against a midfield trio including two International footballers, and
another of the same level with exceptionally good hair.
You’re always going to struggle if you continue to pick a
central midfielder to play out wide, and again there was little to no threat
coming from our right hand side with Aaron Ramsey starting there. I’m a big
Ramsey fan, but his skills aren’t utilised in that position, and he’s been a
passenger playing out there for the past few games. I know we’ve got injury
problems in that area. That Theo Walcott hasn’t signed a new deal. But are we
really so unadaptable that we can’t try something different, given the options
available? Maybe try and surprise the opposition a bit?
Sir Alex Ferguson has perfected picking a side that can
regularly put Arsenal to the sword, because he knows exactly how we’ll shape up
and play. Because it’s the same way we do every other game. Tactically,
Ferguson has got Wenger beat every single day of the week.
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| A disgruntled Wenger. |
I saw someone tweet yesterday after the game that now it’s
legitimate to ask serious questions of the Manager, and I agree. That’s not a
‘Wenger Out’ cry, but it’s clear that there are issues at the club on and off
the field and we’re miles short of where we want to be. I love Wenger. There are
no words to describe everything he has done for the club to put us where we are
today, but sentiment alone shouldn’t be the reason to turn a blind eye to the
growing lack of achievement we’re experiencing. Obviously there are complicated
issues above him too, with the Board and Owner of the company, sorry, club operating
in a manner that is reaping us with fine financial reward, but you don’t win
anything for your bottom line being in the black.
In truth, we’re no match for Man United anymore. We’re not
title contenders, nor are we a serious challenger for European glory either.
That’s a stark realisation, and an unfortunate actuality of where we find
ourselves at right now.
It’s amazing how quickly it’s all changed, too. After the
Man Citeh game earlier this season, we were praised as having a squad capable
of finally winning something. And now barely a month on, we’ve endured our
worst start to the Premier League season under Wenger, and it’s another slog to
see if the same squad can finish in the top four. It’s frustrating, because the
foundations are there for us to have a real go at challenging. We’re just
consistently inconsistent, and so tactically predictable it makes us there for
the taking.
Back to yesterday, and it’s a struggle to think of any
real positives that have come out of it. Per Mertesacker was the only player
who actually had a good game in my opinion. But the left side of our defence is
a total shambles, with Andre Santos all over the place, and there aren’t enough
adjectives to describe how poor Thomas Vermaelen’s form is right now. Any other
player would get dropped, and with last seasons stand out defender Laurent
Koscielny watching from the bench, you have to hope that Wenger will have the
balls to make the right call and drop the captain for the good of the side.
No arguments with Jack Wilshere’s red card, and any
attempts to blame the referee (despite what an abundant twat that he is) are
incredibly far fetched in my view. We were always going to concede a penalty,
and given Wayne Rooney ballsed it up there’s no real need to get worked up by
that I don’t think. Having already mentioned Ramsey, Lukas Podolski was equally
as ineffective on the left without having a real excuse, and his form is
beginning to become a bit of a worry too. Rooney nullified the threat from
Mikel Arteta, which pretty much killed us, and with nothing coming from either
flank it was tough to expect too much from Olivier Giroud, who did hit the post
and at least worked the keeper in stoppage time (when he probably should’ve
scored but fuck it).
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| Wilshere heads for his early bath, as Wenger looks on. |
All in all, a pretty depressing day. And again we find
ourselves in a position of needing to respond positively and quickly, with a
big European game against Schalke midweek before hosting Fulham next weekend.
A point in Germany wouldn’t be a poor result, so four points has to be the
minimum from these two matches otherwise the pressure will mount further.
It’s certainly true that you don’t win anything in
November, but you can definitely lose a hell of a lot and unless something
changes we could find ourselves out of Europe and miles back in our chase for
the third trophy (fourth place) before Christmas.
Whilst there’s no quick fix with our off the field issues,
there needs to be one on it, and it’s over to the coaching staff and players to
sort themselves out. It’s becoming pretty unhealthy to support Arsenal at
present, and we can only hope there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
How long the tunnel is though, is another question.
Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild
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