I realise that it is one of the unwritten laws of football that Managers do not publicly criticise their players. I also recognise that Arsene Wenger was trying to take some positives out of the game to keep the mood high within the team. However, there is another group of people involved with The Arsenal – the fans – and at some point they need to be considered. Frankly, I found Arsene Wenger’s comments after the CSKA Moscow home game to be condescending at best and insulting at worst. Arsene should have given us a bit more credit for our understanding of the game, and shown a bit more respect to our feelings and commitment.

I realise that he might well have given the team a rollicking in the dressing room, but there comes a point when the needs of the fans become important. We need to know that he sees the faults that we see, that he recognises the frustration that we felt last night. The players are happy to receive the money and the plaudits, they should be men enough to receive a public criticism, which they deserved. For Arsene to come out with those platitudes was a bad misreading of the situation.

To excuse the appalling misses by saying that the pressure was building on the players after they had missed the first couple is a pathetic excuse. I would have got a rollicking by my team mates in my Sunday League team if I had missed some of those chances – and I wasn’t any good! We are contributing a lot of money every match so these players can earn more in a week than most of us earn in a year. We have many of the best players in the League; some of whom would appear in the “best in Europe” and “best in the World” lists; yet, poor diddums, they were not able to use their, alleged, super skills because they were worried that they might miss. Rosicky is already a shoe-in for miss of the season; not because of pressure but because of incompetence. Why he did not use his left foot only he will know.

Of course the passing and movement was fantastic; in the words of Carly Simon, “nobody does it better” but, as we have found out too many times already this season, that is not enough if we want to win matches as well. Or perhaps Arsene is not as bothered about winning as he says? The aesthetic is more important than the practical? Perhaps his comment about it being our “best performance ever in the Champions League” says it all about our inability to finish teams off. If he had said the passing and movement was the “best ever in the Champions League” he would have had a valid point, and possibly received a high level of support. To put the overall performance in that category is wrong and, I am afraid, somewhat worrying. The ability to shoot accurately is as much a part of the overall performance as the ability to pass accurately. We had over 20 shots, the vast majority of which were off target – not what I would call a good performance, yet alone the greatest ever!

Of course, in football parlance, it was “just one of those games”; and that is an accurate statement. However, we have now had five “of those games” already this season. But now it makes sense. If Arsene’s words are to be taken at face value, performance is ONLY about passing and moving, shooting (and by extension, scoring) has nothing to do with it.

We could be top of the Premiership, if only we could shoot. In the drawn games with Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Everton, and the defeat to Manchester City we totally outplayed all of them. The statistics were overwhelming; possession, shots, corners, etc. Overwhelming in all respects apart from one MINOR aspect – goal scoring. We have dropped nine points already in the league; not because we have been outplayed, nobody has done that, but because we cannot shoot and score. But now it makes sense. It does not matter, because Arsene does not bother with scoring and shooting, only with passing and moving. No doubt those four games in which we dropped points were our “best performances in the premiership ever”.

We will not be in contention for the title if we continue to drop points at this rate, through no one’s fault but our own. Of course opponents will try to defend against us, because they know they cannot beat us if it is down to a pure football match, but we are supposed to have an astute tactician and coach in Arsene and some great players to overcome this. Yet, they have failed to deliver wins in five games we have dominated. Of course every team has the odd “one of those days”; but to have had so many of them so early does not augur well for the rest of the season. We have had five; I do not think Chelsea and ManUre have had one yet. Another unwritten law of football is that to win the league you have to win games when playing badly – winning ugly; we do not seem able to do that, compared to Chelsea and ManUre. However, we seem to have come up with a worrying alternative – dropping points beautifully.

Getting back to my starting point, Arsene should have come out for the interview and said three things. Firstly, he should have recognised the quality of the passing and movement, which was great. Secondly, he should have publicly accused his players of appalling finishing and promised to sort out this failing on the lawns of London Colney. Thirdly, he should have recognised that good passing and movement is not enough, it needs the end product of goals. The players are not only letting themselves down by this inability to finish, they are letting the fans down; and we have a right to be recognised and appreciated as well.

Let me finish with a fairy story. Once upon a time there was a team in another part of North London who hardly ever won anything; the odd cup but never the League. They said it did not really matter that they did not have any trophies because they played such a beautiful game, and everybody in football admired their skill. That was reward enough. How we all laughed at them.

Déjà vu I can do without!