Arsenal’s trifecta of despair

Last season I wrote, in January to be exact, that this was a team, a manager (and board), and a fan base at a crossroads Fast forward to a year later and well, here we are again. Yes, my friends it’s our own Arsenal Groundhog’s day.

At that point last January we had just come off another loss to Manchester United (same geographic area, different color) and then, just like today, the questions are very much similar, except now they are more intensified. I was gutted by our poor January now and I am gutted now. As I wrote last year:

I’m gutted. I don’t think there is any other way I can explain how I feel after today. Actually it’s not just today it’s this whole season and in particular the last 3 weeks. Given how the season started out and the solid and focused work this entire team put in to get back to competing for the top 4 again, to have it all pissed away in these last 3 games absolutely is the worst feeling any supporter can have.

At this point last season we were talking about the rising disquiet among supporters but bravely saying we’ll be back because we are supporters and we come back because that’s what we do – we support our team. We get angry with them. We piss and moan about them but they are our team. And we get awfully defensive when idiot pundits, plastic supporters or non-supporters rip into us because they are our team.

I am of the mind now that many may not come back – not in the foreseeable future. Things have gotten worse than they were last year and even given the poor performances all around the league, Arsenal’s are especially poor for a team with its supposed stature.. The club collectively, the fans, the team, and the manager (as well as the board) are once again at a critical juncture of this season and the near future.

The need for action is glaringly obvious.  And the cry for action is deafening. It is this loud, this angry and this frustrated because it’s pent up frustration of the last few years of behavior (by the club). Behavior that can be best put as ignorant of the issues facing the club. Moments of hope are fleeting as consistently poor performances and poor decisions outweigh any good achieved.

Here we are once again in a January fixed in another rut. Last season we were told it would be silly to drop points without a left back – because we had all of them injured. We were also told we were short up front and would need help.  As we know, all that happened was Thierry Henry was brought back – nothing else. And while Titi’s return made us all feel good and things turned for the good in February, all that was achieved last season,  merely painted over the cracks.

And now, pnce again we’re being told that if players of “exceptional quality” can be found we’ll dip into the market. It’s hard to believe right now that there aren’t any players better out there that are better than the bulk of the XI we have on the pitch or 6 on the bench.

Supporters will criticize. If you pay for a ticket, support the club through their many other revenue streams and do the many things you can do to support the club, you deserve to have a voice. And the criticisms are loud and clear. How much louder those criticisms WILL get is anyone’s guess? The displeasure being voiced by a wide swath of Arsenal supporters  should be loud and clear to anyone involved in the on field product.

The manager and the board should make no mistake, the criticism is wholly directed at them both EQUALLY.  Whether its sky rocketing ticket prices for a sub-standard product or poor decisions with regard to team make up, tactics and overall structure, neither the manager or the people  who run the show should feel they escape criticism. (Brief diversion – criticism yes, abuse no. I’ve seen people call for Wenger to be killed, shot, hung, castrated and even Arsenal supporters calling him “that French Paedo C**t” – criticize but don’t abuse – ever.)

Rome if you will is burning.  Should Arsenal fall out of the FA Cup in the replay against Swansea and/or lose at Stamford Bridge (a distinct possibility) the response to those events will be downright volatile.  Last year, Gooners wanted to give Wenger the chance to see this out – to right the ship and steer the team into a solid finish. But where there was once a prevailing sense of goodwill, patience has run out. The frustration of the season is out there in full bore and for everyone to see. It won’t take much more to see a full blown eruption of hatred directed at the club leadership if things continue on on as they are.

Let’s be real for a moment – it is the worse it has been.

We have a trifecta of despair winding through Arsenal at the moment. We have the lack of vision and leadership by the board, a manager too stubborn and set in his ways to critically assess the misfortunes of his team, and players who in the new modern era of football lack the accountability to step up and take action when called for.

The Board

We’ve talked about the board ad nauseum. The fact that the poor performance yesterday was on the back of the whole £62 pound brouhaha only made their role in our misfortunes more evident. And while the argument of ticket prices can’t only be placed at Arsenal’s doorstep it is strongly relevant,  when it is paying for the inconsistent dross that tries to live up the red and white heritage.

We have dueling billionaires on the club and no one seems capable or willing to do the right things necessary to try and return this club to greatness. We’ve applauded the financial sense in a time of monetary madness but financial sense shouldn’t be a singular train of thought in sport, where the end-result isn’t the bottom line of a ledger but how much you win.

The board need a leader. Someone to smack their heads together and either ship the pocket liners out or bang some common sense into their heads about what running a SPORTS ORGANIZATION is all about. It’s not BT or AT&T or a major banking firm where the bottom  line is the only thing.  But our club has lost its sense of itself and those that had that sense have either been pushed aside or sadly have passed away.

The gamble that was the move to the Emirates was a noble one and as much as I adored Highbury, its history, its tradition, and the stories that could be told, the the reason behind our move was sound. However, it hasn’t been as we were told and now without a doubt we are for the most part a shell of what we were and what we had hoped to be.

Leadership and vision if it were there would clearly tell us that the move was necessary for us to compete in the new environment looming even back then. It was clear we had people on the board then who saw what was coming. If the current crop of board members and owners had leadership and vision they would’ve told us the truth – “we will try and be competitive but this move will cause us temporary hurt for long-term gain.” I couldn’t have argued with that. Nor do I think many others would’ve.

Leadership would hold a manager’s toes to the fire for a consistent and growing lack of underachievement. Wenger is clearly a man who answers to no one and that is a failure by a board who is supposed to be running the show. Total power corrupts totally. Wenger is not a meglomanic but he clearly runs unchecked and that cannot be allowed to happen no matter how great the manager is.

The Manager

Not a week now goes by that there isn’t a blog, a TV piece or newspaper article on the issues related to Arsene Wenger. We focused in on him last week.  We don’t need to go back over all that again but what we want to pose to the readers is this –

QUESTION: Remove all the transfer nonsense, how much money he has to spend, ticket prices, Arse-speak, remove all that silliness and just focus in on the job he has done this season, is he doing his job successfully as a manager? I.E. – Is he getting the best out of the resources he has?

Now staunch defenders of Wenger will nuance their answer by saying you can’t do it without looking at the total picture of all 16 years at Arsenal. There is some truth to that but we have to look at the now. And the now is not good. It is not good in any way, stretch or form. And he has to be held accountable for that.

I still (and I know people disagree) contend that there are some very talented players on this team and he has either flogged them by being overly reliant on them thus hampering their ability to play at optimal levels or he simply is unable to unlock their true potential.

The most worrying part about Wenger, it is growing increasingly clear, except him and maybe the board, that the game has passed him by. Wenger was good for an era where players were accountable to each other and the team. The players he was blessed with up until 2008 (for the most part) took care to ensure they were all focused in one goal, winning at Arsenal. This allowed Wenger to focus  on his strengths getting the best out of these players by being their father figure and helping them achieve when maybe others didn’t see the achievement in them.

Fast forward to today and professional footballers are devoid of any semblance of accountability to each other or to the team they play for. They are more worried about their Bentley, their WAG, their next big pay day whether it’s at the current club or the one with the big wallet. Wenger not being an authoritarian kind of figure is not one who is going to force that accountability on them because its not his style. Fergie is a master of change as times change but he has been and always will be the demonstrative head of his teams and he forces accountability on everyone.  It is why I think that even when United are blessed with their poorest teams they achieve – because he drives them to it.

We all have our styles and one is not better than another. But Wenger’s clearly doesn’t seem  to suit this era of football. Players love him of that there is no doubt. And that could be the problem. He is everyone’s mate/father-figure. And while that’s good to a point, it doesn’t help when you need to absolutely beat the living crap out of players for crap performances (hopefully you all know I am not talking about actually beating them).

Sadly, there is nothing to be done right now. A caretaker would do nothing to improve the club in my opinion there are too many faults. And it’s still possible Wenger could will the team on to at least get 4^th.  But if that happens and it’s a big if right now, we can’t and shouldn’t ignore what has happened for a better part of this season.

The Players

This group is often left untouched when it comes to criticism. But like the manager and the board they too bear responsibility for their actions.

For the better part of season now they simply have shown a lack of heart or desire. There are parts of each match that are beyond their control. The one thing that is in their control is their approach to the match itself.

Against, Bradford, the 2^nd Southampton match, Schalke and both Swansea matches we seemed disinterested like we would rather take a stroll through the park than play a match. Last season we could fall back on a plethora of injuries as to why we were struggling. For the most part this season,  we have been relatively healthy, except for players whom we really don’t depend on.

In my opinion only one player really escapes any criticism, jack Wilshere. On Sunday he tried as well he could to muster himself and the team. But its hard in this era of the self-centered player. They don’t follow except their own drum. Jack has been likened to a throwback and he is. He is of the mold of Adams, Keown Dixon and the others we often praise and hold up as examples of “the proto-typical Arsenal player.” Jack is the only one who senses the mantle that has been thrust upon him and has taken it. Sadly no one else seems to have done that.

The modern footballer can only be bothered in my opinion if it matters to them indivividually. At Arsenal they aren’t really challenged. They are paid well, so where is the incentive for them to actually be accountable. But still, at the base of every professional sports player should be will to succeed. Why that hasn’t kicked in is an enigma to me. Sure the manager has something to do with it but so do the players.

You simply cannot step on to a pitch and assume that you will win. You also cannot come out and wait until the 70^th minute before you show any signs of hunger. A game is 90 minutes and while it does require one to pace themselves, the desire and hunger to achieve something should be consistent from the tweet of the first whistle.

Players cannot expect things from the club and not perform in return. Theo Walcott, who I want to stay at the club still has a lot to learn about being a pro and part of that is not disappearing when the chips are down as he did yesterday. He is likely to become the best paid player at the club soon. He has to now perform like it on a consistent basis.

The players need to step up and make a good accounting of themselves.  Last season after the January loss to United, Robin van Persie and Szczesny reportedly read the team the riot act. Slowly, the team started to turn it around and it culminated in overcoming a 13 point deficit to overcome Spurs and qualify for the Champion’s League.  This is what needs to happen NOW and the players need respond to it.

Alot of change rests within the power of the manager for sure, but the board needs to help him and the players need to step up or shut up. Some of the change needed cannot happen until the summer but some of it can happen now. We know the minimum expectations for the club – Champion’s League football. That minimum seems very much at risk right now. And look at the implications if the team should miss out on that tournament next season.

• Difficulty in attracting talent without the access to football’s biggest stage. You only need look at Liverpool for the effects of that. Sure they got Suarez but part of that was because he had a reputation for a bad attitude, but Pool also have gone into the English market and signed mediocre talent because they are not attractive to other major European players. This could be case for Arsenal should the miss out on the UCL, and
• Difficulty in developing new commercial deals. Again you only need at what Adidas had to say when they decided against re-upping with Liverpool. They said they would not sign on the deal Liverpool wanted because the style of football they played was not consistent with the big money deal they wanted. Sure, Liverpool got big money from Boston-based Warrior sports but let’s be honest it is a company that has links to the Liverpool ownership.

These things and many more stand to be lost if the club doesn’t do something. The  squad needs an attitude adjustment and further jettisoning of the players who remain and constantly underperform. Additionally, players who can’t be sold and are talented but aren’t performing need to be held accountable by finding their playing time reduced.

I don’t want Wenger to go out like this. I want Wenger to wake up. I want Wenger to realize he is not bigger than Arsenal. Unfortunately I believe he thinks he is. I believe that he thinks he made this club what it is right now and we should all respect him and shut up about it. Unfortunately we have shut up for 8 years. We are all hoping and praying Wenger, the board and the players see the light but the product on the field is showing us that is unlikely any time soon.

This is an important time for Arsenal. We (all of us with a vested stake n the club) need to remember what it was like back in the halcyon days of that weren’t that long ago. We need to get back to when we delighted in making Fergie squirm, Spurs fans irate and the rest of EPL quake at the thought of playing Arsenal. Alas, right now Fergie shrugs us off, Spurs fans laugh at us and the rest of the EPL feels pretty good at going at us – the perfect Trifecta of Despair.

 A Quick Word About Mike Dean

I am no conspiracy theorist but when you look at the fact that in 17 Arsenal matches Mike Dean has officiated in, the Gunners have only won once. You really have to wonder what the man is doing.

Frankly, I am torn on the Koscielny red. While it’s not clear that Dzeko had a “clear cut scoring opportunity” Dean seems to think he had. When you look at the kind foul, it’s something we see week in and week out and I can’t remember ever seeing it called a red. A foul? Yes. A penalty? Yes. A yellow? Yes. A red? Not that I can remember.  My overall criticism is that Dean within 9 minutes inserted himself into the outcome of the match by pulling the red.

I’ve got no problems issuing the PK or even a yellow at 9 minutes in. But to brandish a red this early on influenced the match to the point that any valid analysis of the match can’t happen.

But it wasn’t just that red. It was a lot of decisions Dean made that seemed circumspect. The foul leading to the free kick for the first goal was suspect and certainly the red on Vincent Kompany looked especially harsh. On replay it looked to be a good solid tackle.  Dean may have made the choice there to even things up but that’s not his role. His role is to let the match play out and control overly aggressive play (via yellows or reds if its overly aggressive.)

It was clear throughout the match to me at least that Dean loves the attention of being the ref. He gesticulates and mouthes off back to the players when they mouth off to him. And in the end when a ref starts wearing bright yellow boots you have to ask yourself what the . . .

Until next time . . . Stay Goonerish!

15 Comments

1. 

   Kiwi

   16 January, 13 at 01:10

   It’s hard to get too worked up about Arsenal these days. Some of us have been feeling underwhelmed for several years….so as Vibe infers the current uproar has a sense of the deniers waking up and smelling the rot from the long-dead roses.

   I feel a bit for the current squad. They’re the Johnny-come-lately’s coping the accumulated flack and frustration that has been due to the clubs leadership (manager, MD and board) for several years. The current team has been shed of all its superstars and cobbled together with alarming haste and asked to go out and do what no other Arsenal side has done since 2005 – win something. Does that sound fair? Of course not. The whole project has flumped in a sorry mess. Over the last 2 off-seasons we’ve watched 5 first teamers which represented the teams glamour and shape leave. The manner in which their exits were managed was utterly ridiculous. Cast your mind back to the off-season before last, the long drawn-out sales followed by the literal last minute mass signings with Wenger not even present at the club but polishing his ego giving a lecture. Pathetic. Add to that the bevy of failures that litter our books and can’t be shifted. Everywhere you look you see disappointment – from the sale of Van Persie to Manchester United to the case of mismanagement of Arshavin to the retarded situation of Theodore Walcott’s elevation as a ‘must sign’.

   The latest words coming from the dishonest Wenger are the inference that over recent years he couldn’t spend but now he can. I believe neither.

   Back to the squad. I think they’re a victim of a number of things. First they’re a team trying to gel too quickly. But they’re also cursed in the way Arsenal teams have been for 10 years. There’s too little respect for the art of defence and too little power and thrust to impose its will in the EPL. Add to that the squad littered with deadwood, the crocks and washed-ups – meaning the backup is not there. Wenger’s always been slow to move players on – always. So, for me, the current team is no worse than some others in the wilderness years.

   Wenger’s all washed up. He’s got the look of a dead man walking. Someone should put him (and us all) out of our misery. Sport is for fun, a distraction from the grind and harsher realities of life, Arsenal need to put the fun back in to the club. A season slog for 4th place with no days of glory aren’t fun.

   Wenger displays the human trait of superimposing his views on to the club and its supporters. You can get away with that when you’re on the up, when you’re successful, but not when you fail to deliver. He has failed to see the intrinsic importance of winning, being a winner. He dismissed it as unimportant. And yet, now we hear a belated and weak call to win the FA cup. Why now? Why after 7 long years? Has he changed his views and grasped anew the importance of the tournament and winning to give the club grounds for hope? No way, it’s like his double-talk about transfers just before the window opens. He is not committed to the FA cup as a strategy and more than he is to major transfers, he just wants to play the crowd and release a bit of built-up pressure. Once the valve is opened and the level of discomfort deflates he comes back with his true thoughts – be it the importance of CL qualification or the need to retain current players and only recruit super quality. It’s all spin, the guy is not in tune with the support.

   Reply
   • 

     arteta3sheds

     17 January, 13 at 08:49

     Kiwi, don’t get it twisted Wenger has always wanted to win, don’t believe the hype. Fourth spot being the goal and more important than the FA Cup is something a somewhat wiley manager says when he wants to deflect from the fact that he is not winning anything. It is a kind of psychology that Wenger uses. It serves the purpose of telling the players you are not a bunch of useless so and sos that cannot win anything because 4th spot is a virtual trophy and more important than th FA Cup. It tells the fans that the club has achieved something, it also serves the purpose of helping Wenger himself believe that he has achieved something especially as he is aware of the significance of CL qualification to our debt reduction time scale.

     Just it has taken him longer than the average human being to realise that the fourth spot line doesn’t hold weight anymore and people are beginnning to find it patronising. It was acceptable to many people when he first uttered the line. Yes qualification to the CL was more important than the FA Cup but only for a period of time especially when we all believed that our move to the new stadium depended on it. Arsene has now realised that our team is not good enough to win the EPL ofr the CL therfore he has to look at the lowly FA Cup and League Cup to get some gratification.

     Yes it is all spin Kiwi so why should anyone expect honesty from spin. It is trying to keep players confident, full of self belief, fans appreciative of the little that the team have achieved (4th spot) and the board (his employers) happy with the financial stability despite the fact he is not being really successful. All the transfer talk or non talk is again spin usually to stop other clubs trying to get more out of us or us getting more from our sales. Either way the lies are generally made to benefit the club in someway.

     I for one would agree that Arsenal was too slow to move certain players on, but we should admit Arsene’ patience has reaped benefits too… well kind off. Look at RvP you would have got shot of him a long time ago, not even 4th place last year without him. Despite RvPs disloyalty, i think he was worth keeping. Theo Walcott, I would have got rid of him a longtime ago. Having seen his vast improvement over the last couple of seasons or so I think that he is now an important part of our squad and is indeed worthy of the elevation to a ‘must sign’ player.

     As for Wenger not being in tune with the support. That is inevitable, there are so much different opinions amongst the support, he cannot be in tune with everyone, he needs to be in tune with himself and his employers first and foremost. But saying that he been somewhat in tune in the fact he bought the experienced players that the support were crying out for and he has now belatedly put emphasis on winning any trophy to appease the support.

     There are many aspects of our Manager’s personality and conduct that we may not like but know this: He loves Arsenal (more than his ego) and no matter how many poor decisions he may make (none of us here can claim we have never made poor decsions) he deserves to be treated with respect.

     Reply
2. 

   vibe4arsenal

   15 January, 13 at 19:12

   Heh. Too funny. Some of us were referring to Groundhogs Day back in the AA days. Way back when LDE (and others) were arguing with us to the point that Groundhog’s Day became a played out cliche we agreed we wouldn’t use anymore. I’d say we’ve come full circle, but it’s more like another lap at this point.

   Doesn’t appear much of anyone still thinks Arsene Knows Best. Which, I suppose, demonstrates the Doomers were Realists all along.

   Reply
   • 

     arteta3sheds

     17 January, 13 at 08:06

     Dude stop deceiving yourself you are no realist. You are a certified Doom Monger. Your re-emergance when the chips are down is testament to that. You are a sorry excuse for an Arsenal supporter. Why don’t you go and follow the NFL like your mentor and god Fred. Full of negativity and bile. Arsenal would rather have 1 LDE than have three of the likes of you.

     It is a good thing that you cannot get to the stadium too often because the negative energy would be too much for our playing staff to bear. Honestly I wonder if all that Heavy Metal you listened to you has turned into a morbid Goth or a you are just plain old depressed.

     Either way you are just so effing annoying.

     Reply
     • 

       vibe4arsenal

       19 January, 13 at 00:54

       I haven’t gone anywhere. And the chips have been down for a years now. Fact is, contrary to what you’d like to spin, I’ve posted less and less the *worse* things have gotten, as there’s nothing to say that most us haven’t said over and over again.

       You on the other hand have disappeared for long stretches at a time. Reappearing most often when things were good. But you haven’t been able to find that spot in awhile. And since you couldn’t resist sharing the latest clever iteration of your handle, here we are again.

       Truth is, artie. This is a small group. Everyone here knows who has come and gone. And who said what. You’ve been wrong all along. Wrong about Arsenal. Wrong about Wenger. Now wrong about me. That’s your trifecta of despair to live with.

       Reply
       • 

         SPECTRUM

         21 January, 13 at 06:33

         Yeah, you tell him, vibe4arsenal. To arteta3sheds reality is “negativity and bile.” A.K.B.’s like him refuse to face the truth that we’re a club on the road to nowhere, without a map.He says ” you’re annoying.” Well he is worse than annoying. It’s a losers attitude like his that allow Wenger to think he’s doing a good job, and that nothing needs to change. It reinforces his ego further.

         It’s incredible that despite all the evidence mounting ( almost daily ), people like him still support failure rather than embrace change, and a chance to realise our potential with a new fresh manager with original ideas. The sort of manager Wenger USED to be.

         ” In Arsene we rust.”

         Reply
3. 

   stag133

   15 January, 13 at 16:50

   QPR sign M’Vila for 8 Mill.
   I guess he was just too rich for us… way to watch and do f*ck all Arsene-al.

   If you didn’t like M’Vila, how about Capoue … well, he’s about to sign for Everton.

   Un-believable.
   what negligence… there are people at the Arsenal FC that should absolutely be embarrased.

   Reply
4. 

   arteta3sheds

   15 January, 13 at 11:39

   A good summary of our issues DAG I agree with most of it. Not too sure why you call it a ‘trifecta’ though, a tri something, yes, but trifecta?!

   However, I don’t think the board can be blamed for anything more than the ticket prices. I think that Arsene has had money at his disposal for the last three years at least but has chosen to be prudent on how he spends it. The prudence may well be over the top but I do not know the individual deals he has tried to make and the prices people have quoted him. No one wants to be made a mug out of in the transfer market and Arsene guards Arsenals resources with what he feels is due diligence. I might agree he should break the bank somewhat for that ‘special’ player, but Arsene knows more about, and cares more about the clubs finances than the average supporter.

   With a man like that at the helm it is not in the best interest of the board to complain. I would doubt if one or two of them have not encouraged him to spend the money that they have given him over the years, but at the end of the day what do they know about players and markets? If he fails to qualify for the CL then we should expect the board to respond and be more firm with the direction they give him (not saying they will though).

   Most supporters do not care about the finances and only want success; Arsene is trying and probably failing to find the right balance. But maybe the right balance only allows us to achive little more than a domestic cup and CL qualification. We must not forget the fact that the Man City’s, Chelsea’s and ManUs will be able to outspend us at the present time. So we should not think it is our God given right to be winning the CL or EPL in the present climate. Nevertheless I think we should be doing better than we are.

   I do not agree that the manager is “too stubborn and set in his ways to critically assess the misfortunes of his team”, he is maybe a little more stubborn than most but he is not too set in his ways to critically assess his team…. eventually ;-) . The question is does he have the tools to address the deficiencies? Right now, apparently not.

   But you have to give him some credit in that he is more flexible than we all previously thought, just a little slow to give up on his vision (not always a bad thing). I refer to the youth policy that I for one described as risky and idealistic. That father figure mentality you refer to is one of the methods I believe he felt could keep the team together with. As you suggest that method may be wasted on many a modern day footballer, but I think it was that relationship that kept Cesc with us so long. But without short term success, as predicted, the vision fell apart. Nevertheless, Arsene recognised this and filled holes in the squad as well as appeased fans desire by bringing in older recognised and experienced players. Unfortunately the fans were not appeased (will they ever be?) and our team, which is in double transition after the sale of RvP and Song have not delivered.

   “I believe that he thinks he made this club what it is right now and we should all respect him and shut up about it.” Neither of us know him personally but I do not get the impression he is that arrogant. Obviously, as the manager he is the one who the responsibility ultimately lies with. As such he can has the right to wither regard or disregard any information or advice that is offered to him. It is likely that as some people agree with him, others disagree. Those who disagree may deem his refusal to acknowledge their requests or address their concerns in the way they see fit as a ‘shut up’ and ‘respect me as the manager’ as arrogance, I think that is just managers prerogative. But of course he know he has been instrumental in putting the club where it is today, and he is right, doesn’t mean he is arrogant enough to believe he is bigger than the club. I think all he does is what he believes is ultimately in the interest of the club. However being human he gets it wrong some of the times, selling RVP to ManU being the biggest of those wrongs in recent history in my mind although I do understand why he done it, in retrospect it was and is a major blunder.

   Reply
5. 

   stag133

   15 January, 13 at 05:59

   DAG. The article is 100% spot on.

   The red on Koscielny, was definitely justified. How can you wrap your arms around a player in the box, and bring him down like an NFL linebacker, and NOT expect a red card…
   it wasn’t even questionable…

   I was very interested to see if at that point, when Sneezy saved the penalty, if we could somehow muster a determined dogged fight, and grind out a 0-0 draw. It would have taken a massive defensive effort and a lot of hard work and running.
   We didn’t have the desire in team, and there was no chance we’d hold out for a draw even.

   If you have a RVP in the team, you might even be able to steal a win, with a moment of sheer brilliance. When you don’t have that type of player in your team, you have NO CHANCE.

   We are half way through January, with the worst Arsenal team in recent memory, and it appears the club are going to do absolutely nothing to address the teams glaring issues.
   It’s been this way for about 5 years running… and yet there are still many who defend Wenger, and the way the board do business…

   As long as those folks keep showing up 60,000 strong every week… nothing will ever change at the Arsenal Football Club… that is a stone cold lock.

   Reply
6. 

   Caribkid

   15 January, 13 at 05:48

   “And now, once again we’re being told that if players of “exceptional quality” can be found we’ll dip into the market.”

   If we can’t find players with more “exceptional quality” than Park, Chamakh, Denilson, Bendtner, Squilacci, Walcott, Coquelin, Santos, etc at reasonable prices then we should hire Pardew to manage our team. Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Cayabe, Gutierrez, Coloccini, Marveaux, Anita, Bebouchy, Santon, Krul and Tiote are solid players picked up at cut rate prices who could contribute to our current squad, with Ben Arfa, Ba, Coloccini, Krul and Debouchy being potential first team starters.

   The problem is that AW has become increasingly schizophrenic and his various alter egos don’t remember what the others have said. It’s become increasingly embarrassing to listen to his press conferences and squad updates.

   Reply
7. 

   Defensive Dysfunction

   15 January, 13 at 00:07

   How many times, and for how many years have we been embarrassed and frustrated as Arsene Wenger has presided over some of the most ridiculously chaotic and confused defending, full of so many schoolboy errors, and so obviously un-drilled and un-coached? Is this a problem of transfer money?? Defensive organization and teamwork DO NOT cost bags of money. The price is simply a manager and a coach who can teach them.
   It’s such an obvious problem that the only conclusion I can draw is that Wenger doesn’t have a clue how to fix it.

   Reply
8. 

   s j litttle

   14 January, 13 at 22:59

   It is time for action. The Board is a disgrac With the departure of Dein and Fitzman the football drive has gone. Wenger has become so arrogant he is unable to the fans were willing to give him the chance to come back but now are just tired and sick to listening to his half lies and insults.

   Reply
9. 

   Arsenalred

   14 January, 13 at 21:54

   I truly wonder how bad things will have to get before we see some real protest, if some one shouts any disaffection they are looked at with hatred, instead we are like a load of lemmings moving slowly towards the edge of the cliff with Arsene beckoning us forward with his weekly contradictory statements . Agree with article entirely . On Dean did you see the way he stood in front of our keeper when the penalty was being taken trying to INTIMIDATE him what was that all about

   Reply
10. 

    Gautam

    14 January, 13 at 21:06

    There can be no excuses for the red. Koz made a professional foul by having minimal desire to get the ball…you might remember some tackles where even innocuous professional fouls outside the box have been immediately yellowed. This one was right in front of the goal. Remember Flecther’s red for an (honest, attempted) tackle on Fabregas in the champions league semi-final a few years back? There was no hulabaloo about that. Koz was being stupid and he was suitably punished.

    Reply
11. 

    Colm Odonnell

    14 January, 13 at 20:33

    One match must be totally boycotted this January,by all Arsenal fans.Then the board might sit up and take notice.If the club wont take action ,then the fans must.

    Reply