(Blog) Apathy

So this (all those empty seats) is what it has come to. What would have been one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the season, played out in front of an almost two thirds empty stadium. And it was, of course, a total mis-match.

After the humiliating performance and result last Sunday at Wembley, the last team that Arsenal needed to be coming up against was the same opposition, but such are the vagaries of the fixture list. It would have been hard enough against Manchester City even if Arsenal were firing on all cylinders, but they've barely got any properly oiled working parts at the moment and it's all frankly rather embarrassing; and also rather sad.

I've been thinking about writing a new post for the past few weeks, but I've been suffering from Blog Apathy - I frankly haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm to write. For all the madness of the January transfer window; and even after the pitiful defeats at Swansea, Tottenham and the three successive defeats of the past week, I hadn't been sufficiently motivated; until this morning.

Arsenal's WDL record in 13 matches so far in 2018 reads DLDLWWLWLWLLL, and includes no less than 7 matches which have been frankly shambolic. In fact, apart from the rearguard action at Stamford Bridge and a decent performance in the return leg, and two fairly scintillating first halves against extremely poor Palace and Everton sides, form has been utterly woeful. The team have hit new low after new low, and if asked to choose I'd put Ostersunds at home at the very bottom of the pile.

So last night - leaving aside the gulf in quality between the sides which has been so apparent in the last two games - around 25,000 Arsenal fans appear to have gone down with that same viral disease of apathy. There were maybe 30,000 people in the crowd last night - and let's not forget that despite the weather the City end was almost full! - yet the club had the audacity to announce a crowd of 58,420 (based on tickets sold, so 25,000 season ticket holders even had no takers on the Ticket Exchange). Against Manchester City, for goodness sake!

One or two friends of mine have been saying since 2010 that it was time for a new Manager, and it has taken the rest of us time to catch up with that way of thinking. I think that I came to that conclusion four or five seasons ago - FA Cup wins notwithstanding. The Wenger Out trickle has become a flood, and the dam finally burst over the past few days. I'd be surprised if 5% of Arsenal fans don't realise that change is essential.

But there really isn't much to say that I haven't said before, or that other people haven't said over the past few hours (days/weeks/months). Although I think that it's best summed up by this from Gunnerblog last night on Twitter: 'If you asked me to imagine the saddest possible expression of Arsene's demise, I would probably have said a half-empty stadium bearing witness to his lifeless team being battered by a side playing the kind of football he was once renowned for.'

We've been over the reasons for the state of the club and the team countless times. We all know how it has come to this, and that it is inexcusable negligence from both the Manager and the Board. We also know that there is no way that Wenger can possibly be in charge next season. He can no longer do anything for these - his - players; and most of them aren't good enough anyway.

Others are advocating that the Club should make an announcement to that effect as soon as possible, so that he can be remembered for the great things that the team achieved under him and for the legend that he will always be. I am in total agreement with that idea. Whilst the legend has tarnished over the past few years, Arsene will be more remembered in the future for the great things done in his name than what is going on now. Let's cling to that, and try to change the atmosphere by making these last few months a celebration and not a wake.

It was 20 years ago today that Fred Done paid out on Manchester United winning the league, so far were they ahead of Arsenal at that point. And then the Wenger legend began as Arsenal won 10 matches in a row (including that never to be forgotten 1-0 win at OT) to overtake them and win Arsene's first title (and then double). Unfortunately, he has now taken the team full circle and back to where he found it. It's fair to say that almost every one of the current squad are literally not fit to lace the boots of the Wenger sides of 1998-2004.

Despite the stadium move, and all it promised, this is the saddest thing of all. Fan expectations have been built up and dashed, year after year after year. For all that other supporters claim that we behave as if we are 'entitled', I feel that the promises on the back of the stadium move gave us that sense of entitlement. We're not Sunderland fans, or Leeds fans, or Leyton Orient fans thank goodness; you have to feel sorry for them (alright, perhaps not Leeds fans!). But something better change, and change is very much in the (freezing) air.

I'll just leave you with one highly amusing possibility. Statistically unlikely as it may be, if Tottenham finish 4th, and any of United, Liverpool or Chelsea finish 5th but win the Champions League and Arsenal win the Europa League, Tottenham will be playing in the Europa League next year and Arsenal in the Champions League. It's a million to one shot, but what else have we got to cling to?

Cut Adrift

So, in a week and on a day when pretty much all the Arsenal news has been bad, Arsenal fans had something to celebrate; well, sort of. Schadenfreude; taking pleasure in somebody else's misfortune. Yes, Manchester City lost a game. The legend of The Invincibles lives on.

Of course, there's a downside to even that. Liverpool's win meant that Arsenal are now stranded in 6th place, 5 points behind Tottenham, and a further three behind the our other supposed challengers for a Top 4 spot. That last phrase - Top 4 spot - I typed with a giant dollop of irony - the way the team are playing we should be grateful to already have 39 points in the bag and it will take a massive turnaround in fortune to get back into that particular race.

So after Sunday, where are Arsenal? Let's start with Bournemouth; and it might sound like a long-playing record. An uninspired away performance against an inferior side that led to an all too familiar defeat. From a winning position. With recent faults repeated and contributing to the defeat.

But were we surprised? Not really. Without the soon to depart Alexis Sanchez - and frankly who can blame him for wanting to leave for a club with a bit of ambition? - and the injured Ozil (who doesn't deserve to have to play with most of the current squad) we were left with Jack Wilshere to drive the team on. And with due respect to Jack, for all his qualities, he isn't ever going to be World Class now. Expecting the likes of Welbeck and Iwobi to provide the service to Lacazette - and it's difficult not to feel sorry for the poor guy, to be honest; he looked miserable throughout - is optimistic to say the least, and with Ramsey barely back and Xhaka possessing little pace (either in legs or brain) there's no other inspiration in the side at all.

On top of which, the Manager appears to no longer be able to set out or motivate the side to do anything different. Yet he comes out at the end of the game with a comment about making 'mistakes we should not have made'. 

Really? So he's never seen Cech mis-judge a cross across the front of his area, or a side vulnerable in the early moments after a change of defensive shape, or more pointedly he's never seen Xhaka fail to track back ( I can think of three occasions this season without giving it more than two seconds' thought)? And there's the problem; for all his abilities on the ball, Granit Xhaka is not a defensive midfielder. Xhaka doesn't have those instincts and Arsene Wenger is incapable of coaching them into him. He seems to believe that Arsenal - contrary to literally every other current side I can think of - don't need a defensive midfielder (and even let go the closest we had in Coquelin).

And this is what's damning about that. Only a few days ago Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who we must remember turned down the £60,000 (50%) a week extra offered by Arsenal to go to Liverpool, said in an interview:

'The biggest thing I've had to learn is how this Manager likes to stop situations at source. I was in certain habits and certain things became second nature to me and in football it is all about instinct. You train and train a certain thing so when you are in that situation you don't think about it. It might just be a simple trigger when something happens and the defence passes to the deepest midfielder and the ball is slightly behind him. That's your cue to go and press. At your previous club you might not even look into that.' I repeat 'At your previous club you might not even look into that.'

This is poor on two huge counts. Firstly, that Wenger doesn't coach what is second nature to every single other side, and secondly that this is precisely what happens when Xhaka receives the ball in that very situation. Utterly infuriating.

So we have a squad where a new goalkeeper is going to be required very soon. If not two. An indefinable defensive system with a hotch-potch of players who the Manager can't work out how to employ. A midfield without the key component of an out-and-out defensive man. And a dysfunctional forward line. With a Manager who these days seems incapable of improving players; indeed, many are going backwards. He continually plays people out of position. And there is a pervading lack of confidence throughout the squad. 

Koscielny, Kolasinac, Monreal, Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud are either injured or on their way back from injury, and there is contract/transfer speculation about Debuchy, Walcott, Giroud, Welbeck, and then Wilshere, Ozil and Alexis. Bloody hell; it's literally all falling apart!

So where to apportion blame? Well, we can point every finger we like at the Manager - and we probably should - but the inertia at Board level has been the catalyst for the mess that the club is in. It's certainly a 'catalyst for change', Ivan. Just the wrong sort! Wenger should have gone last summer, or after any of the recent FA Cup wins. He could have got out whilst the going was relatively good. 

In one world that Stan Kroenke inhabits - NFL - it's firing season; for far less than Wenger is guilty of. And if Stan thought that Wenger and the wonderful Arsenal Board of Directors could enable him to carry on milking his Cash Cow, how wrong has this season proved to be! £40m lost due to failure to qualify for the Champions League and another £40m down next season, up to £100m down on possible transfer fees for Ozil and Sanchez; and that's just for starters. Unsustainable.

Inevitably, lots of names are being linked with Arsenal at the moment, and that's understandable. The team is badly in need of injections of fresh blood. But if I were on Arsenal's radar I'd be asking why join Arsenal at this moment, what system am I going to be coming into, who else is coming and who will be in charge next season? Imponderable on all counts.

I tell you what this feels like. It feels like the end of George Graham's time in charge. A side that has lost its shape and character, and a Manager who has run out of ideas. So who is going to be Wenger's Chris Kiwomya, or his Glen Helder? As it happens, those last George Graham years are when I got my first season ticket; and that's got me thinking, I can tell you! I am sad to report that going to games is becoming quite a chore. Maybe I'll spark it up this week by joining the protest march?

Let's heed lessons from the past here. Far from competing with Bayern Munich - really, Ivan? - the club is in freefall. Lessons have not been learnt - apart from being a shining example of how not to do it. I think that we're a long way from becoming another Leeds United or Sunderland, but it's a long, long way back from here.

The only thing is; the squad is not totally devoid of talent. Not by any means. What it needs is a new man to deliver a different message, and to shake things up. It's started already, around Wenger, with Mislintat and soon with Sanllehi, but I truly believe that the way things are going the Manager's legacy will be forever tarnished and he should leave with whatever shred of dignity he has left. Things can, as it stands, only get worse.

Full Circle

A lot has happened since my last blog post, the week before the Spurs game. To my loyal fans, I apologise for the delay. lol. And I'd like to apologise for having expressed so little faith in the team prior to that result. Although to put that in context Arsenal have taken just 6 points out of 21 against the rest of the Top 6 this season; a typically poor showing; so my point essentially holds. These clubs are pulling away from an inert Arsenal.

Now, some might accuse me of only posting when something goes wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth; plenty has gone wrong in the intervening period. However, Sunday was a nadir and possibly a watershed - or at least it might be if the owner of the club displayed any interest in its welfare!

This is of course what I'm talking about. The FA Cup debacle in Nottingham on Sunday.

I and many Arsenal fans have been losing the faith for weeks/months/years now, and after Sunday I've taken some time  to think about where the club are right now, compared to when the Manager arrived, 21 years ago (and counting). I am afraid that I have reached the conclusion that he has now taken the club full circle - a big upward swing culminating in two doubles and an unbeaten season, full of flowing, devastating, beautiful football, followed (for all that 'blame' can be pointed at the stadium move and at the influx of 'dirty' money) by an inexorable decline, now gathering pace, which has taken the club back to where it started - and to make things worse moving in the wrong direction.

I'm not talking about where the club is physically, or even financially. Apart from the sentimental loss of Highbury, Arsenal are better off than they were in 1996. In a much bigger stadium, with more money than could have been envisaged, and with a beautiful training facility to boot. I'm talking about its ability to compete with its competitors, and the negligence at Management and Board level that has led to inertia and the team's tumble out of real contention. And this in a competitive climate which shows no less than 5 serious domestic rivals - in those days there was just the one massively dominant force in the Ferguson-led Manchester United - and that gap was breached for a while. It's going to be so much harder now.

Compare the current squad to that of 1996-7. Then, Arsenal had its famous Back 4 in place, the likes of Bergkamp, Platt and Merson to back up Ian Wright up front, but a deficiency in central midfield which Wenger filled very quickly with Patrick Vieira. Nicolas Anelka was bought to eventually  replace Wright, and in the next close season Petit and Overmars arrived, followed soon after by Henry, Ljungberg and Pires (amongst others). Glorious days ensued, helped by Wenger's knowledge at that time of the untapped French market. We all remember what followed, starting the following season by winning The Double, but do you really need a history lesson? What was clear, however, was that the team and club were moving forward. How many of the current squad would get into the 2002 or 2004 side, let alone the 1996-7 tram that Wenger inherited?

And so to today. A squad which, whilst incredibly talented on paper, is riddled by injuries, psychological defects and contract issues from back to front. Nowhere in the squad can anything be said to be settled or organised, and this is backed up by increasingly muddled tactical thinking and planning, with no discernible 'plan' for the rest of the season and beyond. It is only by dint of the amount of latent talent in the group that the team finds itself (just about) around the top echelon of domestic football, but the fall out of the Champions League will be seen to be a disaster for the club; and on current form how can the team break back into the Top 4? Because all over the field there are issues. 

At goalkeeper, the squad possesses a formerly great keeper coming to the end of his career, another international who patently doesn't want to be at the club, and two callow youths - one currently out on loan in Spain but not getting any playing time.

Defensively, the team is a laughing stock. Whether in a 3, 4 or 5 there is dysfunction. Bellerin has no credible back-up, the left back/left wing back position is confused, our best central defender is playing on one ankle and is clearly in decline, backed up by a pot-pourri of either reckless, slow, or young central defenders bereft of confidence. Wenger doesn't know how to set them up, and clearly isn't letting his assistant coach them.

In front of them in central midfield Xhaka is continually exposed - and it's not really his fault. He never was, is not and never will be a mobile, energetic defensive midfielder, but that's the role into which he has been thrust. And the opposition pick on him continually as the most deep-lying midfielder. 

Alongside him, Ramsey and Wilshere are talented but fragile, and Elneny and Coquelin (the latter on the verge of being sold, after only a year ago having been given a long-term £100k a week contract; such muddled thinking and a ridiculous amount of money to pay such a limited player) are not of the required quality. The biggest and most glaring squad deficiency since the departure of Vieira has been the lack of a 'beast' in central midfield; looking back, the Fabregas/Flamini combination is probably the best the team has had since then; followed by Cazorla/Coquelin - a combination stumbled upon by Wenger. Yet year after year it is not addressed. And Santi; how we miss you :-(

Out wide and up front it's an absolute mess. Ozil and Sanchez - world-class individuals - in the last 6 months of their contracts. Words absolutely fail me! Around them, Lacazette must wonder what he has come into, and whilst Giroud is limited but useful, suffering unfairly by comparison to Henry and van Persie. And I despair when I see the likes of Iwobi, Welbeck and Walcott on the field.

On top of all this, injuries are once more hurting the squad in a big way. For all the lack of organisation and tactics (apart from the well-known sideways, sideways, sideways, back, back, sideways, sideways, attempted one-two and trot lazily back when the ball is invariably lost) there is enough talent in the squad to get results. Yet Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ramsey and Giroud are all likely to miss out this week, Ozil's knee is risky and Sanchez's mind is clearly elsewhere. Other top clubs - perhaps Manchester United excepted - don't have these regular problems.

In short, the team is in turmoil and needs a focus and direction clearly now beyond Arsene Wenger. The squad needs a massive overhaul and the club faces years in the wilderness - with, lest we forget, no less that 5 more attractive destinations than Islington for incoming talent to the Premier League. For all the 'signings' of Mislintat and Sanllehi to the backroom staff are welcome, their arrival could conceivably be too late, as a result of the prevarication of Kroenke and his Board, and the latent power that Wenger wields at the club. I, amongst more and more fans, am extremely concerned - yet I'll still be at Stamford Bridge tonight - such a glutton for punishment! Meanwhile, Kroenke will feel that he has more important things to worry about as The Los Angeles Rams were eliminated from the NFL playoffs at the weekend. 

Two things to add. Firstly, the dichotomy which means that those people who have most berated the Manager for 'only winning 3 FA Cups' in the past 4 years are the most upset by the Forest defeat. I can't make any sense of that. Except to say that there was absolutely no excuse for taking the risk of putting the likes of Akpom, Da Silva and Osei-Tutu (I have actually never heard of him) on the bench and completely resting the likes of Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette and Wilshere. That's a lack of foresight and clear thinking (alongside a good dollop of arrogance) that is hard to take.

Secondly, I'll leave you with this from Ivan Gazidis in 2011:

To use the vernacular: 'Nuff said!

Deception and Deflection; and Piers Morgan!

As the North London Derby races into view, it's quickly time for me to reflect on recent matches and the massive one to follow. And to make a point about Piers Morgan.

We've had an international break. Whilst this tends to cloud the memory - I find deliberately blotting it out also helps! - Arsenal's last three matches deserve a brief reprise:

A quick recap on Swansea, October 28th: a truly dire first half performance somewhat retrieved by 10 minutes of urgency, when Arsenal first equalised and then took a narrow lead, followed by a sense of holding on to what they had. Hardly a dominant show, and questions need to be asked yet again about team preparation. Now, I have no idea how much attention the Manager pays to 'lesser' opposition, or if he merely expects his team's supposed superior class to tell in the end, but it seems to me that we're seeing a pattern here. It takes half an hour for the team to get a grip on how the other side are set up and playing (by which time they may well be behind), and only then do they manage to adjust - and I think the players do it, as I see nothing from the bench to help them - and do the necessary. That first half was one of the worst 45 minutes I'd seen put together by an Arsenal side in a while. Despite there being many recent examples of other horror shows...

Talking of horror shows, I'll move on to Red Star Belgrade. I remember standing on the sparsely-populated terraces at Highbury at Christmas 1983, watching Arsenal play Birmingham City. The Arsenal side included such legends as Colin Hill, David Cork and Raphael Meade. The game is memorable only for Charlie Nicholas' first home goal for the club (a penalty). I recall the first half being so bad - additionally it was bloody cold! - that I and my friend Anthony deliberately waited until the players came out for the second half before then going to buy hot drinks.

This, I'm afraid, was worse. I'd have had more enjoyment sitting at home in an ice bath, counting my bathroom tiles. Compounded by watching Arsenal's newest bright young thing, Reiss Nelson, played totally out of position at right wing back whilst his rightful spot in the line-up was taken by the totally innocuous Theo Walcott. Frustration heaped upon frustration, but the Manager had at least made 10 changes in preparation for Manchester City. So we hoped (against hope)...

And witnessed the football equivalent of a massacre.

And so I move on to discussing Deception and Deflection, the title of this piece. I seriously have no idea what game Arsene Wenger was watching, judging by his post-match interview, but if City had won 8-2 it would have been no shock. The gulf in class was gargantuan, as Arsenal chased shadows for pretty much the entire 90 minutes. Yes, the penalty may have been a bit soft (no, it WAS a penalty), and yes, David Silva was offside, but City missed a myriad of chances (alongside two great saves from Cech) and probably had at least two more gears they could have engaged if required. To attempt to deflect blame onto a supposedly diving Sterling and the officials, as Wenger tried to do, was massively dishonest and disingenuous.

With the thing that hurts the most being that Arsenal used to dominate like that not too long ago. The move to The Emirates was intended to move the team up to that level, was it not? Well, we saw the chickens come firmly home to roost in that shambolic 3-1 defeat. The diametrically opposed directions that the two clubs are taking was packaged up in those 90 minutes.

And here's something that many have missed: Wenger drafted Coquelin into the team, and so to a man we thought: 'Ah; sensible planning - an extra body in midfield. Perhaps he'll use him to sit on De Bruyne and cut off the main supply line.' But no, he plays him in the middle of the back three - leaving a proper centre-back on the bench I should add - and leaving Ramsey and Xhaka outnumbered and overrun.

And it's worth chucking in that Wenger had experimented with a defensive midfielder in that position on a handful of occasions in pre-season and earlier in the season. But the man he'd used, Elneny, was sat on the bench. Clearly, this was just the sort of thing to experiment with when coming up against Aguero, Sane, Sterling, Silva and De Bruyne?!? This is the latest in a long list of completely illogical tactical decisions taken by the coach (lest we forget playing Bellerin at left wing back in order to accommodate The Ox at right wing back at Liverpool - to whom the latter was abut to be transferred -  just a few weeks ago) once regarded as the best in the world - but now not even the best in a 5 mile radius of his home ground.

And so we move on to...

Never do I recall being more fearful of ignominy and embarrassment than I do about this match. Tottenham are another club moving rapidly in precisely the opposite direction to Arsenal. With a vibrant young side and an impressive young Manager who coaches them properly, all that really remains for them to do is actually win a trophy - and that surely won't be long in coming. When I think about the match-up, it terrifies me, as I believe that Tottenham are superior all over the pitch. I genuinely don't see weaknesses, whereas I see weakness all over the pitch in the Arsenal side.

I hope that I am proved wrong, and that Arsenal can compete with Tottenham, but I am prepared for a hammering and for the atmosphere at the ground to be as poisonous as can possibly be imagined. And if it gets really bad, where will that leave the Manager (let alone the squad)? With sudden talk about possibly selling Ozil and Sanchez in January, we can with that kiss any hope of Top 4 goodbye. And when I say Top 4 I mean fourth - the top three places are already reserved.

And so to Piers Morgan. Now, he polarises opinion on pretty much everything, but he has his beliefs and he believes in calling a spade a bloody shovel if that's what he has to do. It's worth watching his tete-a-tete with Sir Alan Sugar on Sky Sports News, because for all that he speaks in headlines I believe that he is spot on in what he says. We all used to love Arsene Wenger and what he did for the club and its fans. But that was then, and this is now. I hope for the sake of the club and its supporters that my gut feeling about the NLD is wrong, and that the infamous 'mental strength' can show through, but I suspect that Saturday lunchtime might just be a giant watershed in the history of Arsenal Football Club. And maybe that will finally open Stan Kroenke's eyes to what needs to be done.

Literally, another disaster

I went to my first away game for many a year yesterday. My brother, here from Australia for a short while, got us tickets in the Graham Taylor Stand, and there we were - a genteel walk from the shopping centre to the ground and with little or no security in evidence on entry - surrounded by families and lots of friendly people. I actually found myself next to two genuine 'tourists', who ate and video'd their way through the first half and then left at half time - it's not just at our place that this happens, clearly.

Here's my brother, really deep undercover... and we were very well behaved throughout. No, honestly.

Our seats were at ground level and not far from the halfway line, so I got a really good feel of Arsenal's performance and attitude. And it stunk! I remarked very early on that we needed to work harder and get stuck in, but it was all too predictable as we swung the ball from left to right, with no penetration and no running between the lines. Xhaka swung 40 yard balls to the wings, but to no effect whatsoever; it might look pretty, but that's all it was. Lacazette looked frustrated and was rarely found, his short, sharp runs ignored. We didn't have a single effort on goal until Elneny shot over from long range after almost half an hour. And whilst it was easy on the eye, if predictable, the issue was that it was typically ineffective as Arsenal created literally nothing until they scored - from a corner, would you believe?!? - and could easily have been behind by then in any case as Watford clearly appeared to 'want it' more. Time after time I watched the Arsenal wing backs bomb on and get caught out of position, having to scramble back and occasionally not bothering to do so. Iwobi was our best player - for what it's worth - up to half time and we were fortunate to go in leading 1-0. Nonetheless, for the 10 minutes or so after the goal the team looked confident and started getting properly on top, and we were optimistic about going on to win. I was hoping to get to see some creativity from Wilshere at some point - the sort of creativity and ability to transition play that Xhaka cannot bring - but we were denied that. The team performance was crying out for it.

I'm not sure what happened at half time in the away dressing room (I guess the usual relaxed complacency often exhibited against so-called 'lesser' sides), but Arsenal were second best throughout the entire second 45 minutes - despite the occasional sporadic moment when class shone through and only Gomes - and Ozil's awful finish - kept Watford in range. But these moments were few and far between and with their substitutions Watford pushed Arsenal further and further back. Yes, OK; the penalty was dubious and there was perhaps an element of offside to the winner, but it was nothing less than they deserved, and equally nothing more than Arsenal deserved. The manager's substitutions again made little sense, and he appeared once again unable to rouse the players from their inertia and into 'work mode'.

But this is nothing that anybody who saw the game on television wouldn't have seen anyway. it was just 50 times worse being there to see it in the flesh. And this is, of course, utterly symptomatic of the state that the team - and frankly the club - are in. That appalling performance against Liverpool masked and partly forgotten as the team put together a short unbeaten run against largely inferior opposition, a series of fortunate clean sheets racked up, and some sort of hope that another corner has been turned. All laid to waste by a typically lazy and complacent performance in a match that the fans are entitled to expect the team to win. Yes, Sanchez and Ramsey were missing, but we should really expect the team to have enough without them to win a game such as this. But without the drive that Sanchez gives the side, Arsenal are nothing more than a mid-table team these days, and a battle for 4th is the very most that we can expect for the rest of the season.

So how did we get into this state? How did expectations sink so low? Well, I think we've covered this before; the regime has stagnated from the very top down, with those people with the power to do something about it either blind to it, or simply riddled with self-interest. If it were the former, we'd be entitled to be annoyed; after all, WE can see what the problems are. But I feel that it's just as much the latter. 'I'm all right, Jack' is the attitude.

Just here, I'm going to go a bit Book Club. Bear with me: 

Unlike Voltaire's Candide, who finally realises that contrary to his preconceived beliefs all is not 'for the best' in 'the best of all possible worlds', Arsenal fans know where this is going to end up; which is back in the doldrums of the majority of the  70s, 80s and 90s, to which there is literally no excuse for returning bearing in mind the riches available to the club. Whatever ills befall the eponymous 'hero' of the novel, he tries to remain optimistic that it'll all be alright in the end. Unfortunately, the parallels end somewhere, because even Candide rebels against his master Pangloss who continues throughout to state that 'I still hold to my original opinions because, after all, I'm a philosopher, and it wouldn't be proper of me to recant, since... pre-established harmony is the most beautiful thing in the world'.

If one draws a parallel with Candide, one could say that some fans reached the end game a lot quicker than others and the continued protests are a way of desperately trying to 'cultivate our own garden', and those who continue to believe in the current regime, like Pangloss, are becoming fewer and fewer with every embarrassing performance and defeat.  For Pangloss, read Kroenke/Wenger. They will drag the club into relative destitution as all the main characters in the novel ended. But were they happy? Actually, NO, they bloody well weren't!

Unfortunately, whilst a novelist can influence the plot of his own book, we can do little about it apart from reading on whilst all the time knowing the ending. To a large extent, we Arsenal fans are mere impotent bystanders. Every new defeat makes me sadder and more frustrated; I love my club and always will, and I cannot bear to watch the inexorable and unnecessary slide it is in. It's not too late, provided that the owner finally gets to grip with the fact that the club is not in 'the best of all possible worlds' - as it was 12-15 years ago. Or. preferably, buggers off before we end up the victims of the football equivalent of banishment, earthquake, rape, torture, the pox and finally utter disillusion. In the short term, goodness knows what Manchester City are going to do to this team in a few weeks time; probably everything in the previous sentence!

A New Reality?

Ladies and gentlemen - may I introduce to you Public Enemy Number 1; the Hicks/Gillette of Arsenal Football Club.

I'll come back to our 'friend' later. However, having digested the aftermath of the Liverpool debacle, and the Transfer Window shenanigans, I've got a few other points to make; this is going to be a long one, I'm afraid. Please gird your loins and read on:

The State of the Squad - and the way it is being utilised. I add this because there are questions to be answered all over the pitch.

At goalkeeper, whatever the plan was changed midway through the Window. Ospina was expected to leave, but he now stays and Martinez heads out on loan. Cech of course remains first choice.
Muddled thinking.

At right-back, rumours abound that Bellerin may have asked to leave at some point over the summer. At least he can go back to playing at right back now! Cover appears to be Chambers - another with whom the thinking was muddled - he was originally told he could leave, but then despite offers in excess of £20m in the last day or two of the Window, he stays. But of course he's a centre-back, not a right back (remember what happened to him against Swansea a few years ago, and what playing out there did to Djourou). Alternatively, never fear, Matthieu Debuchy is still at the club!!!
At left back, there's a choice of Monreal or Kolasinac. Although both have been used as makeshift centre-backs in the first three matches with Bellerin on their flank. And the Serb was inexplicably dropped against Liverpool? Good luck to Kieran Gibbs at West Brom, by the way.
At centre-back, questions abound. If fit, Koscielny plays. Around him, there is Mustafi (who apparently also asked to leave), Holding (whose confidence must have taken a knock over the past few weeks), Mertesacker (apparently as far away from the team as he was for almost all of last season), the two left backs (???) and the aforementioned Chambers; Gabriel having been sold.
Again, confusion reigns in every position. At least we know, now that The Ox has gone (£40m; thanks very much!), that Bellerin will be back in his proper position. And we know that Kos will start. As for the rest, who knows? I'm not even convinced that we're going to see the 3-5-2 again, and that the manager has ever been truly convinced by it. So it's impossible to predict the other 2/3 positions.
Bemusing.

In midfield lies the most glaring of omissions; the lack of a top-class man to shield the defence that was exposed time and time again at Anfield. Leaving aside the manager's total lack of clarity or acknowledgment of the threat likely to be posed on that particular day by the opposition, the fact that the matter was not addressed at all (again) during the Window is negligent in the extreme. Both Elneny and Coquelin can do a job there, but not to the required standard perhaps - although it's difficult to tell with Elneny because clearly Wenger isn't impressed (for what it's worth, I'd start him against Bournemouth; but what do I know?). Alongside him, I'm sure that he'll stick with Xhaka, despite his series of errors which have cost the side three goals so far this season. To be fair, if he's got nobody to pass to then he's going to be under pressure, and there's been little acknowledgment of the pressure he is often under when he receives the ball from his centre-backs. And I'd stick with Xhaka too, considering the alternatives. Which are: Coquelin; who one cannot partner with Elneny unless one is hell-bent on merely defending, Ramsey; who I'm sorry is NOT a central midfielder, Wilshere; who isn't fit enough, or the injured Cazorla. I'll say this yet again; this is an area of glaring omission and is inexcusable.
Negligent and utterly befuddling.

Up top, it's just as confusing. I still wake up at night in a cold sweat, trying to work out the thinking behind leaving Lacazette on the bench at Anfield. He simply must start. After that, nothing is clear or obvious. The Sanchez position must be addressed. One presumes that Ozil will play - he always does - and thereafter the question of Welbeck, Giroud or even Walcott needs to be addressed. Oh, and then there's Ramsey to consider...
Ideally, I'd pick Sanchez, Lacazette, Ozil; but this isn't anything close to an ideal situation. And there's more muddled thinking here. Does he play Ozil or Ramsey in the No 10 role, and two up top? Who are the best choices for the wide positions?
Confusing.

So here's the issue. There's no discernable plan. The squad seems to have been chucked together. The formation of choice isn't clear. Too many pegs don't fit into the holes. I defy 50 Arsenal fans sitting in a room together to agree on the best XI. We can't work it out, and clearly nor can the manager. Sure, inferior sides will often be beaten merely by the amount of sheer talent on the field, but that doesn't win you titles. Look around at Arsenal's (supposed) rivals, and it's easy to see the way they play and who drops into the required roles. Not Arsenal; not by a long chalk! The issue is that I can pretty much name Mourinho's preferred XI. And Conte's. And Pochettino's. Maybe not Guardiola's, though.

Add the manager's well-known stubborn streak, and the perverse decisions will no doubt continue. Over the past few years, one has at least been able to see some logic in many of the team selections and substitutions, despite mostly disagreeing with them. This year, I think that we're all at a loss to see any sense in quite a lot of what's been going on - especially in the last game.

And then there's the matter of the current state of mind of around half the squad, and the manager's ability to deal with them and assuage their doubts. From what I can see it's easier to name those players who DON'T have doubts at the moment, but those of most concern to me are Sanchez, Ozil, Bellerin, Mustafi and Xhaka.

I could talk about other stuff in more detail. Sanchez and Thomas Lemar. The much-maligned Ozil. What ever is going on with Mertesacker. Monreal and centre-back. Steve Bould. And more. But for the moment I think I'll stick to our friend Mr Kroenke.

I'll start with this graphic:

If the bare facts don't even speak for themselves, consider this.

Arsenal have won three FA Cups in the past 4 years. That much we, of course, know. The team have not mounted a serious challenge for the title or the Champions League since Kroenke's takeover. He bought a majority shareholding, but aside from that has not injected a single dime into the club.

Kroenke bought Colorado Rapids in 2004. They won the MLS Cup in 2010; however, they currently stink!

Kroenke bought Colorado Avalanche in 2000 and they won the Stanley Cup in 2001; it is fair to say that they did this on the back of what the previous regime had put into place. In the past 5 years, they made the play-offs just once and lost in the first round. They currently stink!

He purchased the Denver Nuggets in 2000 as well. Mirroring Arsenal's Champions League performances, they have lost in the first round of the play-offs in a total of 9 seasons since then, but did reach a single Division Final as well. They failed to make the play-offs in the past 4 seasons, and currently - yes, you've guessed it - stink!

Kroenke's Rams ownership is a tale of deceit. He bought the club in 2009, breaking US Sports cross-franchise rules hands down in the process, and was only allowed to go through with the purchase when he transferred ownership of all his other franchises - nominally at least - to his son, Josh. Having as part of the deal agreed to ensure that the club continued to develop and maintain their stadium, Kroenke failed to do so and, having run it down appallingly and played St Luis off against Los Angeles, used that clause to revoke use of the stadium and apply to re-locate the team to LA. St Louis was left with a $300m dollar bill to cover in outstanding payments, and Kroenke persuaded LA to build a new stadium for the Rams. Kroenke is so loathed in St Louis these days that most English Soccer fans now support Tottenham Hotspur in protest. He has - mirroring what he has done with Arsenal - not invested a dime of his own money in the Rams. They are currently one of the very worst teams in the NFL.

So here we have a man who is clearly not in it for anything but the money. US professional sport is a closed shop, with no relegation, and the money therefore just keeps rolling in. Therefore, he uses the same 'self-sustaining model' with these teams that Arsenal use. That maintains the cash flow and generates profit, but the teams have been performing appallingly in the past 4-5 years. All of them.

The warning signs for Arsenal are clear. In Europe , the ownership landscape has changed completely. Clubs are now owned by actual countries! Those with ambition are investing in a manner never before seen whilst Kroenke, who along with Wenger and Gazidis professes to being desperate for titles, does not do so. His current personal wealth is estimated at $7.5bn; so it's not as if he'll miss a few hundred million. In the meantime, the club managed to turn a profit - for goodness' sake! - in the Window.

It was Kroenke - happy with the financial status quo - who persuaded a reluctant Wenger to stay on. He - and a rapidly-shrinking minority of the fan base - have contributed to the mess the team is currently in. In many ways, I feel sorry for Wenger; he has misguidedly hung on for what he perceives as the good of the club, but has been badly advised and has been left behind by his peers over the past 10 years. But I don't feel sorry for Kroenke and the abuse he suffers - with more on its way. Not ever.

It is clear from this that there is no hope for Arsenal at the highest level whilst Mr Kroenke owns the majority shareholding in the club. Like Hicks and Gillette at Liverpool, he must go. Let's hound him out, like Liverpool fans (and the press) did. Goodness knows how, though.

Otherwise, Arsenal will indeed experience Villas-Boas' famous 'negative spiral'.

Public Enemy Number One. 

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.