Decline and Fall

We all remember that fateful day when an Arsenal team woefully short of numbers and experience was thrashed 8-2 at Old Trafford.

In my opinion, Sunday's defeat was far worse than that. I sat through that entire game, but not Sunday's. There was simply no point in putting myself through it.

That match was 6 years ago, and whatever the reasons Arsene Wenger had on that day for fielding Jenkinson, Coquelin, Djourou and Traore, and having the likes of Chamakh, Lansbury, Miquel, Ozyakup and Sunu on the bench, at least that was some sort of excuse for the result. That was the year of the famous Supermarket Sweep, when The BFG, Arteta and Benayoun (along with, regrettably,  Andre Santos and Park Ju-Young...) joined the club just a few days later. And boy was that needed, following the mismanagement of the Fabregas and Nasri situations that summer.

This year, there really is no excuse. Nowhere to hide. The players available to him currently are a much more talented group than they were in 2011, but it is quite clear that no lessons have been learnt.

I'm not going to bore you all again with complaints about right backs playing at left wing back, wingers/wannabe central midfielders playing at right wing back, a left back featuring at centre half when three confirmed centre halves are either on the bench or not even in the squad, a midfield made up of two players without the discipline to shield the defence in any shape or form (against a side that likes to attack and counter attack with pace and numbers), a world class number 10 shunted out to the right wing, a new and exciting left wing back dropped to the bench, and the club's record signing sitting alongside him whilst the manager selects at centre forward a guy who couldn't hit a garage door from 6 feet! Let's not cover that again.

Let's not cover what I've been banging on about for years; the managers inability to take account of the opposition, to pick a suitable side or formation, or to motivate the players in any way at all. They were an utter shambles from the moment the whistle sounded. Yes, the players need to take a deal of responsibility also, but regrettably there's hardly a self-starter or a big enough personality amongst them. But who put that squad together?

Stoke was bad enough, and the rumblings started then - as they invariably do after any defeat. There were excuses and mitigating circumstances; the penalty that wasn't given and the goal that should have stood. But Liverpool was always going to be a massive step up from Stoke.

I talked last year about baffling team selections and substitutions, and a similarly baffling inability to tackle the weaknesses in the squad. If anything, it's worse this season. Utterly inexplicable and illogical. The shape and make-up of the side is all wrong. Where's the defensive midfielder that everybody except Arsene Wenger knows is critical to make any top level side successful? I don't know. Do you? If we can see it, why can Wenger not?

The old pros who panned the team have got it spot on. How can Gary Neville understand more about how it should feel to play for Arsenal than the current players themselves?

So let's get to the real crux of the matter. Which is the total mismanagement of the club from top to bottom. Negligence and complacency. All that has changed in the years since 2011 is the (admittedly not small achievement of) winning of three FA Cups. But what that has done is merely paper over the cracks, which started forming the moment the team moved to the new ground. The club has lost its identity; lost its soul. Finishing fifth may have been a Catalyst For Change, but the explosion has not been big enough by anybody's standards and heads must roll as a result.

Dropping out of the Champions League places is going to only be the start, based on what we have just witnessed. No wonder players won't sign new contracts. No wonder fringe players - comfortable on their inflated salaries - are in no rush to take a pay cut to go elsewhere and work harder. No wonder the better players are agitating to leave. No wonder the manager cannot attract new players; which half-decent footballer is going to sign for Arsenal this week?

I actually feel sorry for Alexis Sanchez. At least he ran about for a while on Sunday; until he saw the futility of it all. He deserves better. Ozil is somewhat maligned, in my opinion; he is not in the side to do the hard graft and the covering back (although some visible signs of effort to do a little of that would be appreciated). He is there to make the ball talk, but when he does, the players around him are unable to capitalise. The Ox can go - actually, it looks like he is going any moment now. I don't know what was worse yesterday; his lackadaisical performance or the fact that the manager, knowing he was about to leave, picked him in the first place. As for the others - Gibbs and Debuchy being the prime examples - if they won't go of their own volition I'd pay their contracts up and thereby free up spaces in the squad.

A massive clearout is needed, but it's much too late for that this summer. And who knows where Arsenal will finish this season (I reckon 7th, if they're lucky?) and what sort of quality of player the club will be able to attract as a reault?

I'm afraid that yesterday's performance - more than the result - indicates that Arsene Wenger is finished. A busted flush. Signing that new contract was an act of pure selfishness. And the Board that put it in front of him as just as culpable. He/they must go, for the sake of the future of the club. If they had any conscience or self-awareness, maybe they would...

If there's anybody who can look at himself in the mirror after that and say that Arsene Wenger is still the man for the job, that person is delusional. There can't be many left now. So if there's one good thing about what's just happened, at least it has united the fan base.

I'm done in, as are many Arsenal fans. FFS, it's not even September yet, and this week is going to be hell as the transfer window closes. Going to watch your team is supposed to be a joyful experience. But the immediate future is bleak, joyless and featureless. It's a long, long road back already.

Take That!

New season; thank goodness!

I know I should be leading with my delight that we've got off to a winning start, but there is of course a huge dollop of Got Out Of Jail involved. Leaving the result aside for the moment, I'd firstly like to visit where the club is at this moment.

The question that many, including myself, are asking, is why Ivan Gazidis' Catalyst For Change has led to, essentially, No Change Whatsoever. Minded of that, I sat watching the match with the old Take That hit, 'Everything Changes', running round my brain. 'Everything changes but you', they sang,... and that's precisely where we are - again!

Let's look at what's happened in the close season. Sign a prolific centre-forward? Tick. Sign a beast of a defender? Tick? Bring in a (psychotic) new coach in Jens Lehmann? Tick.

And then?...

Chelsea (didn't we laugh on Saturday afternoon?!?) have brought in three players at a cost of £130m - so stop whining, Conte and Chelsea fans everywhere - that's more money than 17 other Premier League clubs have spent. And they will now have to go in again. Manchester City have spent a fortune - did you see the meme going around a few weeks ago showing that they've spent more money on defence this year than 47 actual countries? And United - with Mourinho spouting his usual nonsense following the Neymar transfer about him being value for money, have of course spent a ridiculous amount as well. Spurs look like they may find themselves suffering from the same constraints as we did in the middle of a stadium move; good! Everton are on a spree designed to help them close the gap to the top. And Liverpool have spent a bit, but look like losing Coutinho, which will likely set them back considerably.

And Arsenal?... we sit and wait. For so much, which ought to have been put to bed weeks ago, to happen. For the likes of Gibbs, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Perez, Akpom, maybe Chambers, the currently long-term injured Joel Campbell and perhaps Wilshere (sobs uncontrollably) to be moved on. For mutual decisions to be made by the club and The Ox, Ozil and - critically - Alexis Sanchez. And for, on the back of that, another player or two to come in. A proper defensive midfielder is still required; Matic would have been perfect.

So the failure to qualify for the Champions League has in fact not been the Catalyst For Change that we were promised. The manager's vacillations continue, and we start the season under-cooked once more, and with no idea what's going on with some of our most important players. Totally unsatisfactory.

With Sanchez, I'm afraid that we've heard it all before. M Wenger made similar noises regarding van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri and even Adebayor. So I still reckon there's a good chance he'll go, for all the quotes from the manager about him staying. I hope I'm wrong, and I admire his stance for making the guy stick to his contract. And I frankly like the comments about players running down their contracts and playing for either a new one or a new club; except that unless others are going to get involved, then he's fighting a one-man, one-club crusade and we'll be letting players go for free whilst paying extortionate transfer fees for their replacements - unsustainable. Whilst Bosman was right to make that stand all those years ago, the power has simply gone too far the other way now.

As for the match... what did it tell us? What I saw is that nothing has really changed. We played some lovely stuff at times, went behind (of course) kept pushing as we generally do, and scored 4 lovely goals.

But at the other end the same old failings remain un-addressed. Zonal Marking? Please, please either get it coached properly or get rid of it, M Wenger; it's an absolute shambles. It doesn't matter who the personnel are - old or new - last year's problems have resurfaced in an identical manner. Utterly embarrassing.

And despite the change in formation - we're now apparently 11 for 12 since the switch to three centre-backs - our central midfield is still being sliced open on a regular basis. And if Leicester - clearly dangerous with the speedy Vardy in their ranks - can do it - what will better sides do? Somebody better than Coquelin and Elneny to sit, please, M Wenger. Xhaka plus Ramsey is too offensive (in the attacking sense of the word!) in my opinion. Jean-Michael Seri, anyone? I'd go back for Kondogbia, or even Steven N'zonzi, who I really like.

So much remains to be done. Catalyst For Change, or - as we've seen on social media - Catalyst For F*ck *ll?!?

Just going back to the other clubs we need to look out for, I think we saw from Spurs, United and City what we're going to see all season and for a long time to come; that for all the money now reaching the 'lesser' clubs, they're dredging around for the scraps after the big clubs have fed and the gap is going to continue to widen. Just how bad are West Ham, by the way?

Seeing Liverpool drop points late on was amusing, but the action at Stamford Bridge was absolutely tremendous. We can only hope that Chelsea have a similar season to the one they had the season before last. That will be a source of pleasure to many, unlikely as it is to actually happen.

Acid Tests for Arsenal come in visits to Liverpool and Chelsea in the next few weeks. We'll know more where we stand after the Transfer Window closes (please stay, Alexis) and after those two matches.

Early season optimism leads me to say Come On You Reds. But we still await the Change we were promised. Come on, Arsene; deliver!