A big game comes along - a clash of the titans, etc and the anticipation grows, the excitement mounts, etc. And what happens? A "promising" team (you know, one for the future) gets hammered by "a big team". This applied after the Champions League semi-final last April. It also applied after the visit of Chelski last April. It also applied after the visit of Chelski last November. It also applied after yesterday. Now I'm all for "learning lessons" but when is the manager going to do so? In less than nine months, we have been outclassed/walloped/destroyed (they all apply) on four occasions… at home! This is not about being on a steep learning curve - this is total and complete incompetence on behalf of the management and coaching staff.

The evidence? A goalkeeper who is patently not good enough (could have had Given or could go and get Akinfeev). A left back who does not know the basics and cannot defend. A right (and left) back who cannot handle half decent wingers and cut out crosses. A holding midfielder who cannot tackle. A captain who cannot lead.

And yet the manager is considered a genius for finishing third or fourth "on a shoestring". I can understand a manager refusing to buy available players who are not better than those he has at his disposal. I can understand a manager not buying players that he cannot afford. However, I do not understand why (or how) a manager with the funds provided by a 60,000 sell-out crowd can be allowed to go five years without a trophy and not have his position questioned. No doubt, the "Arsene knows" faction will drone on about a bright new tomorrow, etc. The fact of the matter is that we are talking about a club who should be winning/competing for the big trophies every season. We are not even competing.

Of course if 60,000 people are happy to turn up every season and watch 20 odd bullyings of lesser teams and accept a couple of tankings, then so be it. Unfortunately, this will continue whilst we retain a manager who is stubborn, arrogant and inflexible.

(Ed’s note – Just a quick note at this juncture to say that we’ve been flooded with submissions about the game last Sunday and that we are working through them at about four a day. So if your offering hasn’t appeared yet, hang on! I should not need to remind anyone, but just in case, we have an open church policy in terms of what we post, and that no one piece necessarily reflects the opinion of The Gooner, although I will take the flak for the content I post under my own name in the online editorials. Finally, if you can’t get enough here, there is always a piece on the weekend game by regular Gooner writer David Oudôt on Maxim’s Passions of the Prem page)