Is this progress? Are Arsenal moving forward? Where are we heading? Well, judged on the two games played in the past 4 days, the answers are No, No, and F*ck Knows.
A bandwagon that appeared to be moving inexorably forwards just a few weeks ago hit a brick wall at Anfield, and in two further visits to Lancashire has started slipping backwards at pace. I'll try to analyse the reasons why it's all gone Pete Tong again, and I suspect that it's for any or all of the reasons below. And before anyone accuses me of plagiarism below, I am perfectly capable of making up my own mind based on what I witness; I actively avoid match reports and social media before I write these posts.
So let's get the excuses and conspiracy theories out of the way first: three visits to Lancashire - three incomprehensible VAR calls. Mane on Tomiyasu. Maguire on Tomiyasu. And now Godfrey on... Tomiyasu (not sure why he's the perma-victim here, by the way).
For me, this is the worst of the three. A stamp on an opponent's head, whilst he's actually off of the playing area, not deemed worthy of either card or VAR review. If this isn't what VAR is for, I don't know what is! For me, that's a straight red. Every. Single. Time.
On the other hand, Arsenal benefitted from two extremely marginal - but correct according to the Laws - VAR calls, or the score line would have been much worse!
From an Arsenal-supporting point of view they were both a relief - neither looked offside in real time - but this game illustrated everything that's wrong with VAR. The system disallowed two goals that would have stood at any time up to three years ago, yet failed to deal with a blatant assault.
But as I say; excuses... because here, much more than Manchester United on Thursday, was a team bereft of confidence and belief, and ripe for the taking. And Arsenal let them off the hook, from minute one.
In fact, if we look back on the entire season, I reckon that Arsenal have played consistently well for maybe an hour in total - and most of that was at home to T*ttenham. The rest has been sterile and predictable, and broken up by moments of brilliance from mainly Saka, ESR and, recently, Martinelli. The older players - the supposed leaders - have not delivered at all. Aubameyang looks shot of confidence and is way off his peak. Lacazette was totally invisible last night. And Partey has now sunk from disappointing to downright poor. The current league position is propped up by victories over Burnley, Norwich, Watford and Newcastle. Something is badly wrong.
And so to the game, which I'll try not to dwell on too much as there's much to discuss regarding root causes etc. Great to see Tierney back, for all that Tavares has done a more than decent job in his absence. Surprising to see Xhaka so soon; especially as he had barely trained. Not surprised to see Auba dropped; although I wouldn't have done it. And no ESR - and that was bad news.
And so the game started. And it was truly awful. Everton looked bereft of confidence, and Arsenal looked bereft of everything! If there was a plan, I couldn't discern it. The only Arsenal moment of note in the first 20 minutes was a 'shot' from Partey that may have actually gone into orbit.
The next piece of reportable action was Godfrey's assault on Tomiyasu. And make no mistake, he knew exactly where the full back's face was; because he glanced down to see. And you could see the stud mark on the Japanese's chin once he'd got back to his feet. And the trouble is if you let this sort of thing go then you're giving license for it to continue not just in this game, but until it's finally dealt with (I was going to say stamped on) by the authorities - as it surely needs to be.
Now, I'm not going back on that old conspiracy hobbyhorse, but this was another example of an actual assault on an Arsenal player resulting in no action from the officials. Yet we don't have to cast our minds back further than last season to remember the ludicrous red card for David Luiz against Wolves... anyway, we have to believe that it's incompetence and nothing else, because otherwise we're in Jude Bellingham territory.
And then finally some actual action as we approached half time. First, Richarlison's first disallowed goal. A beautifully crafted dead ball delivery from Townsend, a sumptuous glancing header, and... his arm and perhaps shoulder were offside. Harsh; but then again it was Richarlison - key member of the Premier League Snide XI. So it probably served him right.
And then, with their very first shot - I'm simply not including Partey's earlier effort - Arsenal took the lead. Via the traditional route of a low Tierney cross from close to the goal line, Odegaard notched his second of the week with a tidy finish. A half-time lead that Arsenal frankly did not deserve.
And so to a second half that Arsenal actually started quite well. Without having any shots, I grant you, but controlling the ball reasonably well. Well, with the notable exception of Richarlison's second disallowed goal, which was really harsh on him (please refer to my previous comment about his snideness). But he was very unlucky there... millimetres...
And then Arsenal sort of declared with 25 minutes to go - more poor game management to add to last Thursday's. Tierney - looking understandably tired - came off. But Xhaka was left on, despite looking even more leaden-legged than usual - but just as leaden-legged as one might have expected. And - surprise surprise - Everton started to get back into the game. Benitez's change - Gomes for Townsend - was more effective, as it allowed the beast of a player that is Abdoulaye Doucoure to work further upfield.
And then to an incomprehensible change by Arteta. Nketiah; not Aubameyang, and not Pepe, for the hamstrung (let's hope it's only a tweak) Martinelli. To play on the left wing. I'll come back to this soon.
And so to the inevitable equaliser. Arsenal had started to attempt to really waste time, but far too early - and the goal was made by the best player on the pitch (the ever-dangerous Demarai Gray) and poetically scored by my friend Richarlison. Gray's shot crashed off the crossbar onto the head of the Brazilian, whose clever header gave Ramsdale no chance. And this time he most definitely was not offside.
And suddenly Arsenal woke up again. Why they'd nodded off I simply cannot fathom. Saka, dangerous whenever he had the ball - which wasn't often enough - was suddenly more involved. Odegaard had two decent chances, but dallied too long on the ball for both. Nketiah missed an absolute sitter.
And then, in the second minute of 6 extra, Gray's most decisive moment of the evening; cutting in from the left past both Tomiyasu and White (who could possibly have done better) before unleashing a howitzer off the far post and into the net. A terrific goal, and precisely what Arsenal deserved I'm afraid.
And there was still enough time for Auba - finally on the pitch - to do what he's been doing recently; unable to hit the target from 12 yards with Pickford sprawling. Last kick of the game... and my tv was immediately switched off.
So... what has gone wrong over the past three weeks? On reflection, I'm not sure how much had been going right beforehand, now that I look back. Comfortable victories over Villa and Leicester were perhaps a reflection of how poorly those teams were performing at the time, not of Arsenal's improvement. Or, if they had indicated improvement, that's all been lost over the past week.
Arteta has argued that the players aren't following instructions. But the instructions haven't always been clear, there's been too much 'umbrella football' again, game management has become really poor - you simply can't take the lead twice in successive away games and go home with zero points - and team selection and substitutions have on the whole been terrible.
I will accept that with an inexperienced set of players that instructions won't always be followed in the heat of battle, but it's up to the manager and his lieutenants to sort that out and that's clearly not been happening. There has been a catalogue of repeated errors - of the sort I have referred to previously - the 'they'll never have thought that I'd do this' type of decisions.
I'll pinpoint the selection of Elneny at OT, and of leaving Xhaka on the field at Goodison, as simply wrong decisions. What will Lokonga and Maitland-Niles have made of that? Then there's the decision to bring on Nketiah - who has just refused a new contract and is clearly on his way out - in front of Pepe and Aubameyang. What's the hell is going on with Pepe? And is this the way to treat one's captain, who is still the best centre forward in the squad despite the recent catalogue of inexplicable misses?
And if the game management has been going badly, then either the instructions are wrong, or they aren't getting across to the players. Either way, there's only one person at fault for that.
And finally, back to Thomas Partey... he must surely come out of the side now. His confidence looks shot. He should be leading, if not vocally then by example, but whilst he occasionally makes the difficult look really easy he often makes the simple look really difficult. Somebody needs to have a word; and it'd have to be the manager. But can we have any faith that he can do that when he's messed up so badly with Auba; and Pepe; and Lokonga; and possibly with Tierney.
I was really hoping that we'd turned a corner. But that no longer looks the case. And all the good managers have jobs now... He'll have to muddle through Christmas with the forward line he has, but he needs to start to rotate elsewhere now as the games start to come think and fast. And for me he must buy a forward in January. The team needs a lift. Auba's confidence needs a boost, Lacazette had an awful game last night, Nketiah's selection is incomprehensible, and Balogun must head out on loan for the second half of the season because he's not ready for the Premier League. I'm not saying that Arsenal cannot still finish fourth, but whatever's been lost over the past few weeks has to be found again - and quickly.
And so to Southampton at home at the weekend. United had only one win in 9 before we played them. Everton zero in 8. Southampton have had none in 4 - please, Arsenal, don't be every other team's reset button!
#ArtetaOut is trending again. I can't say that I'm surprised. I'll keep the faith if you will...
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