Kevin Whitcher
The only difference between this performance and those against Norwich, Manchester United and Aston Villa this season is that it took place at home. Other than that, the same ingredients were there. A lack of commitment, cohesion and imagination to outwit the opposition, all performed with a lack of urgency that indicated the players didn’t really care that much.
This is what you get when a few things combine. The culture of complacency is one. The lack of fresh ideas is another. Allowing the club’s best players to leave and replacing them with those of lesser quality is a third. Sending out the message that third place is an achievement rather than a failure is a fourth. Not utilizing all the money available to strengthen the playing squad is a fifth. Using the money you do spend inefficiently is a final one that will do for now. There are plenty of other problems, for which both the majority owner, the board of directors and the manager are culpable.
I suppose the only chink of light we have to cling onto is the admittedly remote possibility that Arsene Wenger will not be offered a contract extension if the decline continues. Fourth place is of course still possible to achieve and one can only imagine the signing of Huntelaar and Pepe Reina in January, as has been widely speculated, will improve things. But at the moment, believing Arsenal will finish fifth or lower is entirely plausible, as they are playing some very mediocre football and the truly impressive performances this season have been few and far between. In truth, the club probably need to buy six players rather than two in January, with both defence and midfield crying out for improvement.
The Black Scarf March in protest at the board and the direction the club is taking was well attended. I would say there were at least 1000 people on it. It was quite openly stated that this was not to be an anti-Wenger march and a couple of attempts to start such chants were quickly nipped in the bud. Ultimately, the board, in theory, are the ones who decide if the manager is doing a good enough job for his £7.75 million a year, so if they are making the decision that they are happy with what he is delivering, then they are fair cop for any abuse. However, Arsenal isn’t as simple as that. Wenger has filled a power vacuum that has made him effectively unsackable, so I suspect the only way he can be removed is if, before the contract is extended, his life is made untenable by the majority of supporters. And too many of them will not accept that the manager is too old and stubborn to change his ways. Or they just can’t bring themselves to make things turn ugly.
Swansea, featuring a lot of names I am very unfamiliar with, gave Arsenal a lesson in possession football on their own turf, and the 2-0 scoreline flattered the home side. Well played to them and their manager Michael Laudrup. Quite how Arsenal’s elaborate scouting system failed to pick up Michu is something that needs investigating. Wenger’s team were simply woeful.
There is no point in wasting further words on the performance. The only thing I am unclear about is why so many Gooners believe Arsene Wenger is the man to halt a decline he is responsible for. There is an article in the new issue of The Gooner by Bernard Dowling stating that in any organization, when someone has been employed for a long time, their performance can start to dip. Effectively, they go stale. This is what has happened with the current Arsenal manager. It is my belief that, even with this group of players, another manager could get more out of them, through changing things and re-invigorating the team. There were hopes that Steve Bould’s promotion might be the change that would turn fortunes around, but it hasn’t happened, and who knows why that is. The long and short of it is simple. It can’t go on and people need to start making their feelings known inside the stadium as well as out, and realize that it is not only the board that are the problem.
There are still people out there who believe that Arsene knows best. Surely, their number has to be dwindling this season. Is there an argument for his retention? Sometimes in life, change is needed. Perhaps it might not to be too late to salvage this season if it were made now and a new manager able to spend in January. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen though and we’ll see a good few more matches like this before we can kiss goodbye to this wretched season.
A new issue of The Gooner went on sale yesterday and will be available at the West Brom game next weekend. It can also be bought online here. There is also an e-version of the issue available to read on your ipad/tablet/iphone/android. The app is free and you can download the first few pages of each issue as a taster before deciding whether or not to purchase the whole thing.
