Kevin Whitcher
It’s sad that it has been allowed to come to this. Year on year, Arsenal have slowly slipped in quality. They were good enough, we believed, to win the title in 2008, but lacked the ‘mental strength’ (to quote Arsene Wenger) and the defensive knowhow when the pressure was on, to see the job through. Since then, humiliation after humiliation has been suffered to such an extent that they are no longer a surprise. But surely, the elimination of an almost full-strength side by a team three divisions below must rank as the worst of many disgraceful performances overseen by Arsene Wenger during the past five seasons.
Ivan Gazidis is scheduled to meet supporters for a Christmas drink on Wednesday evening at the stadium. I wonder if he will develop a cold between now and then? If he has the balls to face the paying punters, then surely he has the bollocks to take the cold hard decision that it is time for the club to move on and recruit a new manager. Because enough is enough and there is no way back for this team now, not under the current coaching regime – one which is solely about Arsene Wenger’s methods with no delegation. And they are failing if your criteria for success is challenging regularly for trophies.
Arsenal did not register an attempt on target for 70 minutes. Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey were woeful in particular, but only Jack Wilshere really came out with any credit from the starting eleven. Thomas Vermaelen struggled against lower league forwards. Zonal marking once again led to the concession of a goal from a set piece. The club need to rebuild, with a manager that will take no prisoners and start pulling up players for poor performances, assess the squad ruthlessly and get very busy in the transfer market. A new name could be brought in to start the rebuilding job in time for the Monday night visit to Reading. And trust me, major surgery is required because of the way the squad has been allowed to slip in standard.
In 1992, Arsenal lost to Wrexham, but in all honesty, were the victim of some atrocious officiating that afternoon in Wales. No such excuses this time. Arsenal were eliminated fair and square by a team that expended more energy and demonstrated superior resolve. Technique isn’t everything, although half the Gunners’ line up lacked even that.
The starting eleven – with only Coquelin not an established first team regular – indicated how seriously Arsene Wenger now regards the need for an actual trophy to be won. But the line-up was not good enough, in spite of, one suspects, some individual players earning more in a week than many of the Bradford players do in a year. And what that means is that the current Arsenal squad simply isn’t good enough. Let’s face it, individually, there are some decent enough players. But as a collective they are incapable of beating a League 2 side in 120 minutes. And that is down to the manager.
Ivan Gazidis told supporters at a Q&A event in May 2011 that, in terms of the decision of his future, the manager was answerable to supporters. He then backtracked and said actually it was the board. We can’t keep pretending any more. If it is just about revenue, and Wenger can achieve profits by selling the club’s better players, then come out and say so. But if trophies are the genuine priority, it has to be time to move on. Six years is long enough. Wenger would have been slung out on his ear by a Roman Abramovich for picking the team he did in the Carling Cup Final in 2007. What a heinous piece of self-indulgence that was. And you know what, going on trophy count since, that would have been the right decision to make.
AKBs ask who could you possibly get to replace him? For £7.75 million a year, which is what Wenger is getting now, the answer to that is pretty much anyone you care to name. Pep Guardiola isn’t doing much at the moment, for one. Knows a thing or two about winning trophies and getting highly paid players to work their socks off to win the ball. And there are many talented managers who can organize and motivate far better than Arsene Wenger as the performances of their teams demonstrate.
The cry for a change of manager is not a knee-jerk reaction. I have been asking for it for a long time now. But Bradford away, surely, with the team picked and their lack of ability to break down a League 2 defence, has to be the final straw. Seriously, what will it take to force the board to do the right thing for football reasons? Oh, I forgot, there aren’t any football men on the board any more. What it will take for Arsene Wenger to get the chop is for profits to fall. Well, no fears there. If Theo can be sold in January, and Jack can follow next summer, the healthy balance sheets will remain. In the words of former Spurs manager Keith Burkinshaw, there used to be a football club over there. If there still was, Arsene Wenger would have been shown the door long ago…
The current issue of The Gooner will be on sale outside the away sections at the games v Reading and Wigan. 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.
