The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

With apologies for completely overdoing a metaphor, here's my latest piece...

Can you hear that sound? The sound of squawking; of the chickens coming home to roost. Because the dream is over for another season.

Like turkeys dreaming of Christmas we had hoped, following the win over Leicester, that perhaps Arsenal could get away with it. That maybe, by some good fortune, Arteta had stumbled on the answer. But it is quite clear that this is simply not the case. We also had hope that perhaps some cracks were starting to show up in Liverpool. But as it turns out, Leicester are terrible, and the fact that it took 80 minutes to break them down turns out to be more indicative of where Arsenal are at the moment. And Liverpool can now absolutely relax. It's done. 

Crack the eggshell open, and what we're left with is no joke (or yolk, even) at all. A paltry (poultry, one might almost say) performance on Saturday, with little or nothing of merit on show; Arsenal's chances of a trophy this season have flown the coop. And I'm afraid that I, along with many others, am going to have to roast the club over the situation. Stuff the powers that be within the club hierarchy for chickening out of their responsibilities. 

Anyway, that's quite enough of that... 

I ought to have calmed down by now, shouldn't I? BUT Saturday was abysmal. From almost the moment the game kicked off there felt like there was a lack of energy and purpose in the team. Why that was, only those in or close to the team can answer, but the motivation should have been there, with Liverpool having dropped points in the week and having to go to The Etihad the day after. It was no surprise to see Merino start in place of Sterling, but I guess we were all a little surprised - although probably not that concerned - to see Califiori in for MLS. 

Whilst Arsenal dominated early on, they had little or nothing to show for it. West Ham, to be fair, were extremely well organised - specifically doubling up on Nwaneri - and sat in the type of low block that Arsenal have often found difficult to penetrate over the years. A couple of beautiful 'kills' of floated balls out to his wing by Nwaneri got the crowd going somewhat, but there was little or nothing about which to get excited. Nwaneri himself left the game early; Arteta blamed it on fatigue, but I suspect a calf injury. Odegaard was poor once more; he has not been the player he was since he got injured, and looks worn down by the responsibility he feels to carry the creative side of the team in the absence of Saka. Rice bizarrely seemed overwhelmed by being up against his old club. Partey; quiet. Trossard; more down than up. Merino; not at the levels he needed to be - although I can excuse him that in his unfamiliar role. Califiori; is he really a left back? Sterling… well…

I'll come back to low blocks soon...

It took Arsenal 22 minutes to have a shot on target; the rest either going wide or, more often being blocked by the massed ranks of defenders. Califiori's effort was straight at Areola, however. And, whilst dominating possession, the home team had frankly very little of note to show for it. Indeed, by the end of the game they'd had 21 shots, but only two of them made Areola work. No shots on target after a Trossard effort in the 63rd minute, in fact. A lack of guile, of energy, of urgency were laid bare in front of our eyes. In short, the paucity of all three ingredients had been masked by Nwaneri's performance, and Merino's 15 minute cameo, at the King Power. But we had chosen to believe, hadn’t we? - and it's the hope that kills. In this game the team hit the basement, with not one single player having anything over a 5/10 game. And that's of great concern with so much of the season left.

Now, those who read my last piece would have possibly been drawn into the narrative that everything was going to be OK; because that was what we all wanted to believe. But, having seen and digested what was put in front of me on Saturday I have very quickly changed my mind. I suspect that many will have done the same. And I reiterate; there is no coming back from this.

And so West Ham sat and waited for their opportunity to break. And got it late in the first half when they broke up play 20 yards from goal. The ball reached Wan-Bissaka on the right, and he was allowed to drive for fully 60 yards without being challenged as Califiori, struggling to keep up with him, instead chose to shepherd him wide. The cross came in, nonetheless, and between them Gabriel and Rice then contrived to leave it to each other to deal with; leaving them as mere spectators as Bowen's diving header beat the helpless Raya easily. Rice had tracked Bowen for all but the last 5 yards, when he inexplicably let the forward run off his back into empty space. It's worth noting that Arsenal had had an earlier warning of this very tactic when Bowen failed to connect properly with a Wan-Bissaka cross that had followed another lung-busting drive.

I, for one, put my head in my hands. I could already see no way back. I reminded myself of all the times this season when I had sat in my seat shouting at Arsenal players to not let opposition runners travel long distances with the ball. It happens in almost every home game, and this time they paid the price.

And so to low blocks... and a point made on commentary during the City/Liverpool game yesterday. Now, City absolutely dominated possession; but rarely looked like doing anything with it. It looked to me that Liverpool were comfortable throughout - and especially after they'd gone ahead. They held City at bay comfortably. And when did Liverpool look at their most dangerous? At the very moment when they won the ball back... 

It feels to me like the age of possession being key is coming to an end. It worked for Barcelona for years. It has worked for Manchester City. Both sides would stifle the opposition to death. Arteta is a Guardiola disciple, and has seen at first hand how keeping possession worked out for them in their glory years. But these days - and I've felt it coming and have alluded to it more than once - the buzzword is 'transition'; it's what you do with the ball in the moments straight after you win it back. It's how you expose the opposition by turning them round. The arch-exponent of this tactic was, of course, Jose Mourinho.

We've seen Arsenal's struggles with low blocks over the years. It's often painful to watch, as the ball gets moved from side to side and back again, whilst diligent defenders do their job. Umbrella football; boring as hell. And so it was on Saturday, as neither of the most creative players in the side, Odegaard and  - and forgive me for heaping pressure on a 17-year-old - Nwaneri could do enough in those congested areas right on the edge of the penalty area. West Ham doubled up on Nwaneri. And blocked shot after shot after shot. They also had - in Kudus and Bowen - two dangerous forwards who are capable of damaging any opposition. And it worked. 

Why did it work? And why is Arsenal's season as good as over? Because the team have been stripped of pretty much every attacking outlet they have. And how this has come about is something I want to examine. And to be brutally honest, I put it down to negligence at Management/Board level.

Yes, Arsenal have suffered some injuries this season. Odegaard missing throughout the autumn. Saka for the past two months, with no sign of a return. Jesus out for the best part of a year. Martinelli for over a month. On top of that, losing Havertz for the season has been a hammer blow. All these injuries in the top half of the pitch, following a summer when everyone knew that the club had left themselves short by failing to buy; whilst at the same time letting ESR, Vieira, Nketiah and Nelson leave. With the only replacement forward being the abject disaster that Raheem Sterling has been (the fact that they had used up both of their permitted PL loans on the ageing goalkeeper Neto, and Sterling, only made life even more difficult as the likes of Rashford and Evan Ferguson were immediately unobtainable last month). 

Yes, they had gone in for Sesko early in the summer; but when they couldn't get him failed to revert to a second or third choice. To top that by failing to act in January is frankly inexcusable. And it has taken just two matches for the negligence to be laid bare. So how do you feel? Is it easier to come to terms with matters 10 weeks before the end of the season, or do you prefer to cling to hope - against hope - until the final day? All I know is that the club have taken it out of our hands.

Other clubs have loads of injuries. Bournemouth, Spurs and Manchester United being the three that spring easiest to mind. But the former are coping well with it, and Spurs' season is about to take a turn for the better as players begin to return. I see little or no hope for a diabolical Man Utd squad; but I digress... Some may argue that Arsenal are in second place DESPITE all the injuries; but second is not first and it looks to me that the decision-makers have washed their hands of this season. It makes me wonder if we should too; perhaps we should treat the club with the same disdain with which we have been treated.

Compare and contrast to Liverpool, the team they are (or were) vainly chasing. Yes, Liverpool appear to have had all the luck with injuries - and other things (like getting to face a Haaland-less City this week), but that's irrelevant - but they have Salah, Gakpo, Diaz, Jota, Curtis Jones and even Darwin Nunez to call on up top. Add Szoboszlai and MacAllister to the mix. Harvey Elliott barely gets a kick. 

Thus Slot has been able to manage the load on his most important players. Keeping Salah fit has obviously been crucial. But against that Arteta has been over-playing Saka for years now; keeping him on until the end in long-won league and Champions League matches, and using him in the Carabao Cup and other dead cup ties when he had no need to. Arteta had singularly failed to do a comparative job, and the decimation - no wait; decimation literally means losing 10 per cent of your forces; but this has been considerably more than that! - of his forward line is down to him. And to the Board for not supplying back-ups.

Before I go on I just want to cover the latest sending-off. Poor MLS had a yellow upgraded to red by VAR, and having seen it I can understand why. Arsenal have had misfortune (to say the least) with red cards already this season, as we all know. Rice vs Brighton - later rescinded. Trossard at City - again rescinded. Saliba's harshly and unnecessarily upgraded at Bournemouth. MLS's previous red at Wolves - laughable. But this one? It doesn't look good. He certainly brought Kudus down. But... he had received an arm to the head a split second prior to the tackle. And I would frankly doubt that even the most gifted of footballers are going to pop more than 5 or 6 shots into even an unguarded net at full speed from fully 50 yards out. Thankfully, I understand that yellow cards upgraded to red by VAR only suffer a single match ban. But going down to 10 men was the absolute final nail in the coffin on Saturday; not even the welcome return of Ben White could cheer us up sufficiently.

Now onto West Ham's supporters. I'm not sure what kind of mentality would cause them to gleefully sing: 'Second again - allez allez' at our stadium. These are supporters of a club who never had a team finish higher than third in any top division, for goodness sake! Still, as long as they - and their small-time mentality - had a good time... I also can't get my head round attempts at taunting me by one or  two Spurs fans this week? I think it's because an Arsenal defeat is such a rare thing (it may not be by the time May comes around) that people like to make an event out of it.

What have Arsenal got to play for now? Assuming that they are capable of scoring any goals in the remaining matches, they need to ensure Champions League football for next season. At my most pessimistic, I can see them slipping away, and battling out for 4th or 5th with Chelsea and Villa if they're not careful. As for the Champions League itself, PSV suddenly looks like a much bigger obstacle that it did before the weekend. After that, should they negotiate that obstacle safely, it's one of the Madrid sides. And that'll be the end. 

It's a question of hanging in until first Martinelli, and second Saka, come back into the side. I said last week that I suspected that watching Arsenal was going to be hard work for the rest of the season. It now feels like hard labour. But I will do it; because despite all the criticism I love my club. Let's get behind them, because getting on their backs will only do harm. Fingers crossed, and COYG!