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?