Akinlolu Dairo 
I had thought I would not have to do this till the end of the season - probably sitting down over drinks with friends and engaging in a heated argument with a spud, a blue or a red over where the turning point of the season occurred, but I don't think I would survive that long. I'd most likely burst an artery before then and be unable to write any piece at all, before or after.
Oh, what I would give to know what exactly is going through AW's mind. Is he confused? Has he gone senile? Is he tired of football? Has he been on the same job for too long? Does he need a vacation? Does he want a pay rise? A million and one reasons have been given by both sides of the divide, AKBs, AMGs (both sound like acronyms for some World War III nuclear warheads) but the reality we have on the ground is that he's the manager today and something has terribly gone wrong.
From the substitution of AOC on that fateful Sunday to his adamant refusal to sign any full-backs, one cannot but wonder. One thing I kept pointing out on that Sunday was that two sins were committed, but the greater of the two was not that AOC was taken off, but that the once-famed Russian Assassin came on! I would have picked Benayoun ahead of him even in my grave. A team that used to reek of quality and creativity, whether we were winning or not, now celebrates mediocrity as the order of the day.
There is only so much RVP can do and I hope we end up not being pennywise but pound-foolish as the refusal to spend on quality, and the usual lack of trophies, will see the team lose its only world-class player at the end of the season - no Champions League place, so we won't look attractive to any player worth his salt. We lose everything. Everything! I shudder to think of that team without RVP. A bunch of players who can take the ball from their half to the edge of the opposition 18-yard box and either blast it wide or get dispossessed. It's actually amazing how Arsenal struggle to get 1-0 victories nowadays. We just want to score a goal, sit back and hope to hit on the counter.
Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott are the worst culprits this season. The former is not worth cleaning Fabregas' boots when he was 20 and my, my, my, Theo. I cringe anytime I hear reports he wants to play through the centre. Centre of where exactly? I plead to know. That lad cannot play through the centre of Shaqueel van Persie’s school team. I would pick NB52 any day, any time, even on the wings. It's that bad. His movements, annoying crosses, perennial misses show a total lack of footballing intelligence. I see no reason why both would be starters in any Premier League team. I haven’t seen anything creative from Ramsey in recent times other than those meaningless flicks that grant possession to the opposition. The intelligent forward passes have become a thing of the past in this team.
Moments of magic are few and far in between. Even those exciting interchanges of passes right before that defence-splitting killer pass is executed look to have come to an end. Those splendid build-ups, the accurate long balls that drop right on the striker’s in-step, the things that make Arsenal Arsenal look to have been lost. How can we boast of the league’s top striker and not be in the top four? Absolutely ridiculous.
I'm calmer now.
AW has to decide whether to be a father or a manager. A manager creates competition amongst his team. Picks the best out of them to represent the team. A manager anticipates which players will or might leave his team at the end of the season and proactively executes his fall-back option. A manager takes those hard decisions of leaving non-performing players on the bench to get them to up their game. A manager develops unpredictable tactical approaches to games to give the opposition something different to worry about (See Guardiola's genius at work in the Copa del Rey first leg against Madrid). I'm actually tired of hearing players leave the club and describe how much of a father figure he's been to them. His blind loyalty to Arshavin, like a father who's trying to get his son off coke, is becoming worrisome. The Board being a clog in his wheel is not tenable anymore. If the Board doesn't do what you want, humbly resign like O'Neill did at Villa and let the heat be focused on the board.
I would be sad to see Wenger go, but things need to change, and change very fast. It would be great with him at the helm but things really need to change.
The problem is not that we are not winning, it's that we are not winning and we are actually playing badly. Walcott, Gervinho, Ramsey, Arteta, Song all need to wake up and join the party, the party for eleven where only one player is actually in attendance.
Forever a Gunner.....
