The Blame Game

I am just back from the United game, and have had time to collect my thoughts. But is there anything new to say?

From where I was sitting, that's the worst United side in my memory. di Maria, Rooney and de Gea I'd have, but you can stuff the rest of them into a cattle truck. Quite the worst bunch of defenders you could possibly imagine - and Fellaini a one-trick pony. So how did Arsenal contrive to lose against that lot?

Well, if you want to find outlandish and inconceivable ways to concede a goal, I beg you to look no further than United's first. A comedy of errors. And the second the standard 'pushing for an equaliser - breakaway' goal that everyone scores against Arsenal these days. But that's not even half the story.

You'll hear and read about what a wonderful game de Gea had. Well, I'd say that it was practically shot-stopping practice for him. Shot after shot hit straight down the middle of the goal. If Arsenal had gone in 3-0 up at half-time, I don't think that would have been an unfair reflection of their superiority and the number of decent chances they had. And whilst I heard in the wake of the previous two capitulations that it was down to the players, not the manager - that they couldn't organise themselves properly then - and they missed the chances today, I'll say this: 

1. If you want genuine quality, go out and spend proper money on it - Costa, Hazard etc. at Chelsea, Aguero, Silva and Toure at City, Angel di Maria... because if you expect the likes of Welbeck and Giroud, from the second tier of strikers, or world-renowned finishers (?) like Wilshere and Cazorla to do the trick for you you are going to be left sadly behind. I am sick to death of hearing 'I nearly signed Ronaldo/Messi/Drogba/Ibrahimovic/Suarez'. Nearly is what we've had for years now.

2.  If you want proper leaders, go and buy the right characters to do that job; to shout at their team-mates and organise them properly. Where are the Adams, Terry, Kompany etc. characters in the Arsenal squad?

3.  If you cannot recognise shortcomings in a squad when everyone else can, Murphy's Law says that those shortcomings will come back to bite you. Again, no defensive cover and no proper DM - for all that Arteta slaves away with every sinew and is an admirable footballer in every sense.

I'll put the lack of these players down to one common factor - the manager. Blame the players for capitulating, or for not finishing off poor opposition. But who bought them, and who sends them out onto the pitch?

I need add nothing else. Except that should we lose on Wednesday things are going to get very ugly indeed. For all he has done in the past, I'd at least wish to see M Wenger leave with his dignity intact in May.

Talking Heads

As my many thousands of followers (heh) would know, I don't post just for the sake of it; I like to have something different to say every time, and blogging too regularly or on a daily basis doesn't give me that scope. Goodness knows, it's hard enough for the experts. Those who know the track Psycho Killer by Talking Heads will recognise these lyrics: 'When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once; why say it again?' And so it is with me - if I have nothing new to add, I just won't write anything.

And that's why, despite the temptation to rattle off something angry after the capitulation at home to Anderlecht on Tuesday evening, I held myself back. I wanted to see the reaction - not in the Media and on Social Media, but from the club; from the manager and from the players. Essentially, to see the team that the managers chose for the next game, and how the players would react - that's the Swansea game that has just finished.

And we saw a little bit more of history repeating itself, did we not? Which is: a turgid first-half performance, then in the second half contriving a way of blowing a lead and throwing away more valuable points. The lack of confidence, proper leadership (on or off the pitch) and collective desire are patently obvious. And like many Arsenal fans, I am sick of going through the same emotions match after match. I can almost log them before the game starts...

1. Hope/anticipation of a more dynamic performance
2. The realisation that it's going to be unlikely
3. Watching forward progress, from players who like to play between the lines, consisting of not playing between the lines but continually passing the ball sideways
4. Boredom and resignation
5. A sudden burst of excitement, almost invariably involving Alexis Sanchez
6. The slow sink back into despair as the inevitable implosion occurs

OK, so there's a little bit of exaggeration here, but what I am sure we can all agree on is that the tactics hardly vary. And if it takes 70 minutes for the manager to make the necessary changes against Burnley that we saw needed taking after 10; if it takes blowing a 3-0 lead due to a lack of leadership and collective will - and nothing changing in the next match; and if it takes finding outrageous and embarrassing ways to blow comfortable-looking leads... If it takes all that, then harsh words need to be spoken in and around the training ground the next time the players meet up.

Because make no mistake, the season is over almost before it has started. We thought that Arsenal might kick on after the FA Cup Final, but the Premier League is already gone, we were never going to win the Champions League, we're even out of the Capital One Cup and all the mistakes made since that lovely sunny day in May are continually coming home to roost. Not having enough defenders. Not signing the big powerful defensive midfielder that even my mother knows Arsenal need (like the one who would have stopped the run for the equaliser). Not playing people in their correct positions. No real Plan B. Or going back further, maybe giving the manager his new contract?...

Don't get me wrong; I love Arsene Wenger for everything he has done for Arsenal Football Club, and I'd love him to stay. If he will change/adapt, that is. But as after all this time there's no way he is going to... well, I'm past the 'Who can possibly replace him?' stage.

Change the shape. Change some personnel. Change the formation. Try SOMETHING different. Acknowledgement now that we're short of defenders and need a DM is far too late, and it's 7 weeks until the next Window opens. By which time who can tell where Arsenal will sit in the Premier League table? Thank goodness that Manchester City are struggling for consistency, that Manchester United have even fewer defenders than we do, and that Liverpool and Spurs are in turmoil. It's the only saving grace for the moment because - as David Byrne of Talking Heads would almost certainly be saying if he were a Gooner - 'We're on the Road to Nowhere.'

Papering Over The Cracks

Yes, I know Arsenal won last night. But whilst the bare facts say one thing, deep down we have to admit that this was another sub-standard performance against a distinctly average side. I know we've got a load of injuries and you can try to excuse this and other recent performances if you want to. But... Arsenal were lacking in confidence, in pace, in drive, in aggression; all round, simply not good enough for a club with the ambitions it has (or rather, its supporters have - quite what the owner is happy to settle for, I'm really not quite sure). And as a result - bear with me please - this is going to be a bit of a rant.

I didn't see much of the Hull game - I was out of the country and couldn't get a feed on my iPad - but by all accounts it was much the same as last night; laboured, if I had to sum it up in one word.

So what's been going wrong at Arsenal Football Club, following the FA Cup win and the feel-good factor in engendered? I'll tackle it on three levels: 1) The Owner, 2) The Manager, 3) What happens on the pitch. 

Let's get straight into it:

1. Stan Kroenke, for all his massive wealth, is precisely the type of owner that supporters cannot abide. Distant (literally!); apparently uninterested in reaching the heights of competition to which a club like Arsenal should aspire; happy to merely see his investment grow and now happy to start taking money out of the club for 'services rendered'. He appears to know very little about 'soccer' itself, and leaves the running of the club to his appointees - all well and good in theory, but due to a vacuum at Board level, there appears to be a lack of drive towards anything apart from maintaining the status quo, and lining Stan's already well-filled pockets. Meaning that far too much power has been devolved to the Manager. Kroenke is known a Silent Stan for a reason; we have never heard what his ambitions for Arsenal Football Club are.

Looking around the higher echelons of the Premier League, who could one cite as a model Owner/Chairman from the fans' point of view? Let's rule out United and Spurs (whose respective regimes are frankly dysfunctional); and Manchester City, who have the sort of money that most people can not even imagine but whom FFP is frankly treating rather inequitably; plus Everton, who due to circumstances don't have the resources to break properly into the Top 4. That leaves Liverpool and (I'll whisper it...) Chelsea. 

Liverpool lost Luis Suarez in the summer, and their owners didn't hold back on spending money in an attempt to replace him. OK, they don't appear to have succeeded, but replacing a world class player never is (unless you have lots of others, and Liverpool aren't Real Madrid). I'd settle for owners who are prepared to give it a go like FSG.

Chelsea have in the past represented everything that made me cringe about modern football. Huge amounts of money to chuck around; a ruthless owner, not the slightest bit averse to changing Managers almost every season; attracting the sort of characters to play for the club that you wouldn't want your daughter anywhere near; a set of arrogant, unpleasant, thuggish fans (present company excepted!); a Manager so full of himself that I want to commit physical violence on him every time I see his smug face on TV or hear his voice on the radio. Yet, yet... Those 10 years of awful excess have moved Chelsea Football Club on from a mid-table club to a world powerhouse, with a fantastic side, a brilliant Manager, and due to astute transfer dealings a base from which they can now remain at the top indefinitely. 

Which Arsenal fan, today, wouldn't want an owner like Roman Abramovich? Kroenke has the money to do something similar - and if he is unwilling it would appear that Usmanov would happily step into that breach - yet Arsenal just chug along, achieving the bare minimum that their resources indicate they should.

Kroenke Out. There; I've said it.

2. People have been saying Wenger Out for years now. The fallow years, as a result of the move from Highbury and the simultaneous rise of first Chelsea, then Manchester City, have as time gone on dragged on a little too long. If Wenger has changed in that period, it has not been with the times; one just has to look at the size, power and pace of teams like Real and Athletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Chelsea and compare them to the current Arsenal squad to see the difference in their make-up. And it is clear, from where I am sitting, who has got it right and who has got it wrong.

Up to the middle of last season, I was a big apologist for Arsene Wenger. No longer. The FA Cup win merely papered over the cracks. It gave the regime the excuse to give him another three-year contract, and him to carry on in his not-so-merry way. Yet again this season the squad is just two or three players short of being really good, and yet again it will fall short. Despite the signing of the excellent Alexis Sanchez, there is plenty missing and if we can all see it, why can he not?

Yes, we again have the ready-made excuse of a long injury list. But that's all it is - an excuse. Even at full-strength, the squad is not quite good (yet again) enough to hit the summit. And lack of money is no longer an excuse. Where's the depth in defence? Where's the big defensive midfield enforcer on whom EVERY other top Manager insists? William Carvalho? - I'd settle for Steven N'Zonzi!

I wish I could understand the man's psyche. It's almost as if he is doing it deliberately; leaving the squad short as a ready-made excuse. Well, people aren't buying it any more.

Don't get me wrong; I love the man for what he helped the club achieve between 1998 and 2005 and will always be in awe of those great sides. But those days are long gone. And the worst thing about it is that when things are going badly on the pitch these days, he does not seem to have the capacity to change things, or to inspire his side to do things differently.

Which brings me on to...

3. When Arsenal (almost inevitably) fall a goal behind, I don't see any change in attitude. Last night - and by all accounts against Hull also - they carried on as before; with the only difference being that their confidence (already not high) dropped, thus making things more difficult. Where's the change of gear, of tactics, of pace? Even Guardiola says that Tiki Taka is dead.

Let's see a change to 4-4-2 - or at least a return to 4-2-3-1 and no more 4-1-4-1. Just... something less predictable. It's almost as if there is no planning; Wenger sees a shiny Ozil or Alexis bauble and feels he had better have it, with no thought as to what to do with it. And what would we do for Cesc Fabregas now! The shining jewel in Chelsea's crown...

This season, unless I am much mistaken, the Manager is not sure of his best side (even if he could put it out). How to accommodate Ozil and Sanchez is a problem he has not solved, and playing your most expensive player out of position simply cannot be the answer. Yes, he was badly out of form before his injury, but what came first; the chicken or the egg?

Make no mistake, Gibbs' sublime volley and a typical Podolski finish got Arsene Wenger out of jail yesterday; but bringing on Campbell, and then Podolski with just 7 minutes remaining, were no more than desperate throws of the dice.

Something has to change. What, or how, I do not know, and it doesn't help that Debuchy, Koscielny, Arteta, Ozil, Giroud and Rosicky are all injured, and Ramsey and Walcott only just coming back; but he is not making the best of what he has. Whilst a fully-fit squad might just about be able to challenge, he is to my mind making the wrong decisions, both before and during matches. 

Plus the Monreal centre-back experiment has to stop now. In the absence of the two Frenchmen, Chambers must play in the middle and Bellerin at right back. Play people in their natural positions, Arsene; not positions in which they are uncomfortable. You got us into this mess by not reinforcing the squad; now think more logically, please.

And as I have mentioned before - how about Jack and Aaron as the back two in a 4-2-3-1 - playing in the old Vieira/Petit manner that if one goes the other sits. At least they have more energy than either Arteta or Flamini, plus it frees up an extra spot further forward.

OK, I've said my piece. I could go on, but if you're still reading then I congratulate you! What is likely to change in the near future I do not know, but it's already abundantly clear that the best finish we can hope for in the Premier League is third, and that's merely because United and Liverpool are currently in such a mess. And third will NOT be an improvement; Arsenal were just 7 points off of the title last season, but I reckon we're going to be looking at more like 20 this season and that, my friends, it totally unacceptable.

Lessons we can learn from Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0

Lots of short points to make:

1. Chelsea's team is simply better than Arsenal's. They have better players from front to back, and individuals who can and do make the difference when needed. As we saw from Hazard, Fabregas and Costa today. How many of Arsenal's squad would make Chelsea's? Maybe 5? 

Arsenal's leading individuals are yet to produce - and I am convinced that Alexis will do so - or are currently not doing so - and I am amongst many others beginning to get extremely frustrated with Ozil, who if he hadn't spent £42m on him I'm convinced Wenger would drop.

2. We saw solid performances all over the pitch from Arsenal players today. 7+ out of 10 for Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Cazorla, Wilshere and Alexis. If they play like they did today in games against lesser opposition, the team can go on a real roll. 

However, I'd have to (generously) give Ozil no more than 2/10. He looks devoid of confidence, and gets worried off of the ball all too easily. I'm not willing to write off a guy who I've seen influence a Champions League Final and a World Cup Final, but something's not quite right, and it's not just because he's been played in a number of positions. M Wenger needs to sit him down and have a long chat with him. The look on Cazorla's face when his number went up said it all,

3.  Tactically, despite the result, M Wenger can use today as a blueprint for big games in the near future. The fact that Chelsea's defence is so solid, and that they have top individual players, meant that today things didn't work out, but the statistics show that they created few chances and despite a lack of cutting edge that was a vastly improved performance from Arsenal compared to many last year.

4. Chelsea have had an 8-year start on Arsenal spending massive amounts of money. Therefore, Arsenal may be up to 8 years behind catching up with them. We have to accept this, but Gazidis surely has to ensure that the manager spends all the money made available to him. The fact that there are glaring shortages of numbers in defence, and quality in defensive midfield; plus - currently - right up top need to be addressed over the next two transfer windows.

5. Following on from that, it must be noted that for all that he may be a loathsome individual, Chelsea's manager has done a superb job in assembling the squad he has done. Added to that, his pragmatic use of tactics to suit every situation is highly impressive, and he is rarely out-thought by opposition managers. Which makes his myriad character flaws all the more difficult to swallow as he is a top football man.

6.  Despite a much better performance from M Wenger today - the tactical switches, and of course the excellent dugout hand-off - I am simply no longer 100% convinced by him. He must do better in January - and I'm frankly sick of saying that window after window!

7.  Arsenal fans should have realised some time ago that we have no divine right to win every match we play - and that when we are beaten by a superior team we should acknowledge that. That was the case against Dortmund, and was the case again today. The areas that need to be addressed are glaringly obvious; over to you, M Wenger... or move over. 

However, Gooners, calm down - what did you really expect would happen today?

Pre-Chelsea; the culmination of a big week. Plus a plea to AW

It's been a mixed week so far for Arsenal fans. but with the potential to become a bad one. I can't envisage that any Arsenal fan is truly looking forward to this afternoon, with all its potential for embarrassment and disaster. But back to that shortly.

Let's start with Tottenham; a shabby performance and a disappointing result. They're really not very good; one can see what their new manager is trying to do with them, but their forward players have neither the work-rate to do the job he requires, nor the speed to hit on the break. In essence, they were gifted a goal due to a combination of some undue faffing about at the back (which we have seen before) and lack of ball-control and awareness from Flamini. From then on, one always suspected that pressure would lead to an equaliser - or more - but there was something distinctly uncoordinated about the way they set about things and a victory would have come about more by luck than judgement; disappointing, as they were there for the taking.

On to Galatasary; well, they weren't very good, were they? And deploying their best player - Wesley Schneider - in a deep-lying role negated much of his effectiveness. So whilst I am not going to knock the Welbeck hat-trick, nor the Sanchez goal which was set up by a pass of exquisite genius by Ozil, we should probably factor the quality of the opposition into any euphoria over the result. A good day at the office, which will hopefully bump up confidence for the task ahead.

Because - mark my words - Chelsea are as good as they come at the moment. Whilst their defensive organisation needs a little bit of work - and their manager will get to the bottom of that - going forward they look devastating. The additions of Fabregas (grrr...) and Costa have made a massive difference to a side that wasn't too shabby in any case. They addressed the issues they had early in the transfer window, and have looked comfortably the best side in the Premier League this season (amusing Lampard equaliser notwithstanding).

And this is a team which 'literally' (thanks, Jamie Redknapp) destroyed Arsenal at Stamford Bridge last season. Forget the case of mistaken identity - it was already 2-0 - because they tore Arsenal to shreds from the start. And if Wenger doesn't alter his tactics this afternoon, they may well - with Cesc pulling the strings and with a devastating centre-forward - do the same again.

So what to do, Arsene? Make things as difficult as possible for them, and use the pace our forward players possess to look to hit them on the break. Sit back, and invite them on. Well, that's what I'd do, because the current 'tactics' - allowing both full backs to go forward at the same time without the requisite cover - will be a recipe for suicide as I can see Mourinho looking to do exactly as he did last year and exploit the space they leave behind. Let's give him a problem, and see if he can sort it out.

So please, Arsene, don't ruin our week. Adapt to the threat you face. There's enough pace in the side to do them damage, so let's give ourselves a chance.

The Definition of Madness

Ok, so it's been a highly amusing weekend - particularly Sunday - but Schadenfreude, a good dose of hysterical laughter and a bit of pathos don't win you titles. Liverpool's struggles, Manchester United's pathetic excuse for a defence (perhaps they'd like to borrow some of ours?... no, wait - that would be tricky), Frank Lampard, and Tottenham being Tottenham; all great viewing etc., but we've still got it nagging away at us if we're Arsenal fans, have we not?

I decided to wait until after the Villa game to see if I could write something that wouldn't be the same as everyone else would be writing after Tuesday, and even though matters might look a bit brighter after a comfortable 3-0 win I still have a feeling that nothing has really changed. Because it's OK to thrash the also-rans of the Premier League, but it really doesn't answer the questions that need answering, and hasn't taken long for all the questioning of Arsene Wenger to start again. And these are the questions:

1. Why did he allow the Transfer Window (why the capital letters, you may ask? Blame Jim White) to close with only 6 defenders in the First Team squad? And one of those a rookie?
2. Why did he not buy a big, strong defensive midfielder?
3. Why has he been playing our most gifted footballer out of position?
4. And why continue with the gung-ho tactics that undid his teams again and again against the big clubs away from home last season? Is he blind, or merely stubborn beyond comprehension?

I couldn't bear to listen to the Sky Sports dissection of the Dortmund 'performance'. Not have I read anything about it on Blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc. or in the newspapers, or listened to Podcasts. I simply couldn't bear to; I knew what was going to be said. I knew that a) I couldn't fail to agree with it and b) that in circumstances like that it is becoming virtually impossible to back Wenger any more, for all he has done for Arsenal Football Club. It's OK to send your side out to go and express themselves when you've got Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira et al on your books, but that's an unrepeatable vintage, so tactics are probably required these days?

If you'll bear with me, I shall answer my own questions:
1. Inexcusable.
2. Incomprehensible.
3. Unbelievable.
4. All three of the above. Although, granted, 2 and 3 mean exactly the same thing, I think that you get my drift.

I have heard it said that the definition of Madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. In which case, Arsene Wenger is mad. For all that I love the man and all he has done for Arsenal, if he alone cannot see that he is repeating last year's mistakes then he needs a reality check. So at the risk of repeating what I am sure has been said and written since Tuesday evening...

Once more, away from home, a powerful side look to press high and overwhelm the Arsenal defence and midfield by giving them no to time to settle - go back to Liverpool, City, Chelsea last season for previous examples... and Klopp would have done his homework - but he seems to express a blithe indifference to these tactics. Arteta (surely unable to hack it now against top class opposition?) being harried by two or three men, the central defenders having attackers pressing right up against them; Wilshere and Ramsey unable to do anything constructive with the ball; the forwards finding it impossible to hold the ball up at all - yet he still allows the full backs to bomb on AT THE SAME TIME?!?

Irrespective of the injury to Debuchy and Chambers' illness, and irrespective of the relative form of certain players and the strange tweak in formation since last year (influenced by Low's playing of Ozil on the left wing during the World Cup, no doubt), the lack of pragmatism and lack of flexibility were there to be seen once more. Would Mourinho have set a side out like that? Of course not, and I doubt that the likes of Pulis or even Warnock would have done either. Last year, for the first time I can recall - and I sat all the way through the 8-2 OT debacle - I switched the TV off three times. And it took great restraint not to do it again on Tuesday.

So what's to be done about the myriad of things that are wrong - at least until January when Wenger surely must act? Here's my take:

1. Ozil is the most gifted player in the squad. He must be played in his best position, for all that may affect Jack Wilshere's role in the side.
2. Ramsey is badly out of form, and his decision-making is suffering as a result. I can understand that Wenger wants to keep him in the side, but the last time we saw Ramsey like this Wenger had a chat with him and got him going back to basics; doing the simple things first and then expanding his game as his confidence returned. He's an all-action player who doesn't hide, so how about this for something revolutionary... drop the struggling Arteta and play Ramsey and Wilshere (who did it for England two weeks ago, let us not forget) as the two in central/defensive midfield, and try to replicate the Vieira/Petit axis - one stays if the other pushes on.
3. Put Ozil in in front of a Ramsey/Wilshere axis, and play Alexis and Cazorla either side of Welbeck. Worth a go? I think so. Ramsey would be forced to go back to basics and show discipline, and he and Jack can look to feed a gifted front 4 as quickly as possible, playing between the lines. We can test this out against next weekend's limited opposition before the biggest test of the season.
4. Tell the full-backs that if one goes forward, the other stays back to give numbers/cover when attacks break down. Too often we see players running at speed through the Arsenal midfield, exposing just two men - one of whom I'm pretty sure that even I could outspeed!. A little pragmatism, please, seeing as there's quite enough fire power ahead.

If you're reading this, what do you think? And if you like the sound of it, please pass it on to AW. I'm sure you all have his mobile number. Because unless he changes things Chelsea will tear Arsenal apart again on October 5th; and how could we bear that?

No case for Arsene's Defence

OK; let's make this clear from the very start of this piece. Plenty of people are moaning that it's 'only' Danny Welbeck, but in my view he's a very good player who hasn't been given enough opportunities at his previous club in the past year or so - he got a reasonable amount of game time under Ferguson, after all - and he's a good addition to the squad who, judging by the way he plays, will fit the Arsenal system very well. He has pace, from what I can recall he makes intelligent runs, and he'll be almost straight into the side and with 4 months to establish himself as Arsenal's Number One Centre Forward. I've got no issues with the signing on that count.

However, plenty of questions still need to be answered about this Transfer Window from the Arsenal perspective (plus ca change!). Let's ask them:

1. Perfectly understandable that we wouldn't be in for Falcao. He is very expensive and coming back from serious injury - simply not Wenger's idea of fun - but did Arsenal get Welbeck purely on the back of the Falcao to United deal? Almost certainly. And if that's the case if looks - like the Ozil deal - to be a happy accident and not the result of any planning. Will he ever learn?

2. Quite a few strikers have moved in this Window. There is a case for saying that Arsenal were light on real class up top BEFORE the Giroud injury, so why has he again waited until past the 11th hour, only to have Welbeck fall fortuitously into his lap? Can he not see what we can see, and if not why not? 

3. This deal pushes Podolski and Campbell even further down the pecking order. So Arsenal are ridiculously top-heavy in attack with players who probably won't even make the bench once Walcott is back. Lack of planning, wouldn't you agree?

4. Other critical areas of the side have not been addressed fully. A team that let in 6 away at City and Chelsea, 5 at Liverpool, and three without reply at Everton last year is shorter in numbers in defence than it was last season, and still lacking the Matic-type figure that might just stop the lightning raids that exposed the defence last season. In defensive midfield, Arteta is a year older - and injured - and Flamini... well, recently-promoted Leicester exposed him on Sunday! Faffing about over Carvalho with all that money in the bank is surely self-defeating, and whilst Chelsea have much more money than Arsenal it's not as if we're paupers - they made everything they wanted to happen, happen, yet we haggled and then missed out. Explanation, please?

5. As for the defence... well, I have little problem with the quality of the individual parts (nobody's perfect), but there simply not enough of them. Despite the following criticism: Debuchy is still bedding in but is not, in my opinion, an upgrade on Sagna; Chambers is a callow youth, if extremely promising - we are an injury or suspension away from having him in central defence through lack of any other choice; Mertesacker, for all his excellent positioning, is very slow and can look incredibly clumsy; Koscielny is still prone to huge gaffes; Gibbs is injured almost 50% of the time; Monreal, whilst seemingly improved, is not great when people take him on. But even saying all that I can live with all their foibles... except that's it - 6 players (one often injured) for 4 places in 50+ high intensity matches. If that's the basis for challenging on every front, then I'm Louis van Gaal (a Dutchman - get it?!?).  Unless there's some free agent somewhere who he can draft in as cover (Titus Bramble is available, I understand...)?

And this final point is where I take real issue with Wenger. Too many in midfield and up front, but insufficient cover at the back. And that's no basis for a title challenge, no matter how anyone may try to dress it up. Last year he just about got away with it, but this was supposed to be the year that we were able to compete with the super-rich elite, and I just can't see it happening. The post-Wolrd Cup optimism has somewhat evaporated now.

Despite winning a trophy last season and signing a new contract on the back of that, I can see that Wenger's future will boil down to a) the decision not to re-sign Fabregas and b) trusting to luck with defensive injuries and suspensions. And the alternative is a new Manager for 2015-16, because AW may well be in the act of squandering the opportunity for which he has worked so hard for so long. I hope that I am wrong.

Oh, how the mighty are fallen!

Those of us supporters of other Premier League clubs who sat and watched - whilst laughing hysterically - at Manchester United's embarrassment last night will have had, if they dare admit to it, just a tiny iota of unease. Go on, tell me you didn't!?! Imagine, for a moment, that it was your club suffering that humiliation; we've all had them.

In my opinion (stated at the time of his retirement) people under-estimated the power and influence of Sir Alex Ferguson. It looks like I was even more right than I could have dreamed! When he was getting results, who was to argue? But Ferguson's incredible legacy should be tarnished by what he left behind. A lop-sided squad, with massive deficiencies left unattended - Scholes was never replaced and the defence was rickety at best - and the difficulties caused by the deflection of funds from their Transfer Kitty into the pockets of the Glazers caused a 'perfect storm' which only he could have dealt with/covered up - and that purely by the force of his character. 

Winning the league by 11 points in his final season should be regarded as one of his biggest successes, but poor David Moyes - whatever his manifold deficiencies - had an impossible act to follow as Ferguson took the glory, but left behind the proverbial 'poisoned chalice'. It was only going to end up one way, but the speed of the demise of the team (and with it the club) can surely not have been foreseen?

I think that we all knew that Manchester United would struggle post-Ferguson, but as it turns out all their chickens have come home to roost at the same time. An unthinkable 7th-placed finish last season, followed by the sense of panic - despite the hiring of van Gaal (and by the way, if he's a tactical genius I'm a concert pianist!) - that has ensued since which culminated in the 'double whammy' of the payment of that ridiculous fee for di Maria and the 4-0 defeat at the hands of the mighty Milton Keynes Dons in one day - can only mean another season of real struggle. For fans of other clubs, to see the arrogance and sense of entitlement of Manchester United fans replaced by shame, embarrassment and utter bewilderment is priceless and after all those years the rest of us should milk it - it's what football fandom is all about!

And mark my words, it could go on for years. Witness how long and how much money it took Liverpool to get back into the Champions League after they slipped out. Witness the '4th place is a trophy' message from Arsene Wenger every year, at which people snigger. Look at the money and effort thrown at breaking into that elite by Tottenham. Up against the sort of money that Manchester City and Chelsea - let's face it, recent interlopers into the Top Four - possess, only two places are left. And three - or four - into two clearly doesn't go.

Once you're in that elite, it gives you the power and prestige to stay in it. So for an Arsenal team shorn this evening of Ramsey, Arteta and Giroud the Besiktas game is an early-season Cup Final and it must be won at almost any cost. And then Wenger must go straight back into the transfer market, armed with a Champions League place/carrot to dangle at the players he wants.

But for all the suffering of fans of Manchester United (and those of West Ham United, Leicester City and Burnley too - and the rest of us can have a good laugh at their expense), we have just a little nagging doubt. 'There, but for the Grace of God, goes I'.

Having spent hundreds of hours posting my opinion on football and other matters of Life and Death on Facebook and Twitter, here comes my first genuine blog post...

It’s entitled “HIM – in THAT shirt!”

Or Cesc Fabregas in a Chelsea shirt - an Arsenal fan’s perspective

Here we go, then:

OK, so let’s go back three months. Why should Barcelona have wished to sell him? OK, he hadn’t exactly stood out (although his stats are pretty good), but that is in a side set up to ensure that Messi is fully effective. As Arsenal fans well know, he is a world-class player (although not at Messi’s level, but there again who is?). So put him in a side in which he can express himself and he will shine, as he did for Arsenal previously. I wouldn’t want anybody’s opinion of him to be clouded by his perceived ‘failure’ at Barcelona; however, make him the fulcrum of a team, sit back and watch...

We are given to understand that there was a buy-back clause in the deal Arsenal made with Barcelona. So why would Wenger not exercise it? Well... as I said a year ago, surely the signing of Ozil means no way back for Cesc (although I’d have taken him back like a shot), and so it has proved with the manager concluding that with Ozil and Ramsey in his side, there is now no place for him at the club. With a limited transfer budget, the priorities probably need to be elsewhere. However, I very much subscribe to the view expressed by @arseblog when he wrote in June 

‘It’s simple. Just buy him – if he’s available of course – and don’t let him go make another team better.’ 

What Arsenal fans are going to find difficult to accept is that as a result (apparently) of Wenger’s decision he has gone to Chelsea. Chelsea, let us not forget, are a club for whom he had previously expressed his disdain and whose manager he had spoken about with a good deal of animosity (I'm with him on both counts!). And, of course, he has made them better – so much better that they have quite rightly been installed as favourites for the Premier League (although the signing of Costa has obviously got something to do with that also).

So here’s my take on it. I don’t like Abramovich’s Chelsea or anything they stand for. I can’t stand Mourinho; he’s an arrogant boor. Cesc has gone down in my estimation because he has taken their money as opposed to sticking to previously-stated principles. My motto for this season is very much 'Anyone But Chelsea', so to see him playing so well (yes I know; it was ‘only’ Burnley) in that shirt for the first time earlier this week was exceedingly distressing.  And whilst I abhor Mourinho, I have to accept that he has a pretty good eye for a player...

So we shall just have to grin and bear it; and we’ve got Mesut Ozil. So whilst Fabregas was never going to get the sort of reception from Arsenal fans that the likes of Henry and Pires have received, if he’d signed for 'Anyone But Chelsea' that would have almost certainly been fine. But he’s now going to get the sort of reception reserved for the likes of Adebayor and Nasri. So can we get on with that, guys, but we then need to forget about him. We’ve got our own heroes to get behind. 

Cesc Fabregas, I used to love you, but now I feel nothing.