Kevin Whitcher
Arsenal finished yesterday’s match against Villa with a backline of Podolski – Ramsey – Mertesacker – Jenkinson. I have no idea of the likely fitness of Bacary Sagna or Kieran Gibbs for Wednesday’s match in Turkey, but I think it’s safe to assume that Koscielny will partner Mertesacker and hopefully Gibbs and Sagna will both be available.
However, the absence of Mikel Arteta is likely to be a huge handicap. It says something when the team falls apart defensively because of the absence of a player not even deemed good enough for international honours. That is the legacy of a lack of squad depth at a club that has something like £100 million of spare cash to play with. Full marks to Wilshere and Ramsey for effort against Villa, but errors made all over the field by Arsenal were the mark of a team that is going to struggle to get the results required for any kind of hope this season. Villa were dirty and niggly and there was certainly some very poor refereeing yesterday, but the Gunners simply failed to deal with the situation. There were not enough wise heads, and even those that should know better were guilty of some very poor play. Rosicky’s miss in the second half, firing over the bar when the game was still very much in the balance was almost criminal and Mertesacker allowing Delph a free shot to hit the post was worrying.
The decision to bring on Cazorla at half time but leave Podolski on the bench was mystifying, given the Spaniard’s trans-Atlantic flight in the build-up to this fixture. Surely Podolski could have offered more. The consequence was the error that led to Villa’s second penalty, with its knock on effects after Koscielny received a yellow card. On that note, Koscielny was foolish to commit the challenge that resulted in his second yellow moments later – another moment when a wiser head would have aided the team’s cause. It should be remembered that although the refereeing was poor, the situations that led to the two penalties were both a consequence of bad play by Arsenal in the build-up. Not dealing with Agbonlahor’s run led to the first penalty, which was fair enough in my book (and the keeper fortunate to only get a yellow). Villa should have finished the game with ten men as well, but this should not detract from the poverty of Arsenal’s overall display, even when they had a full complement on the field.
What concerns is that the home side, having scored an early goal, failed to really control a game they should have comfortably been able to. The good work that was done in terms of establishing some kind of platform to build on at the tail end of 2012/13 has been thrown out of the window in one fell swoop. The team look brittle again, and I am genuinely uncertain how things might go in Istanbul on Wednesday evening.
Naturally, the major topic now is the passing up of the opportunity to strengthen the squad long before now. Wenger will surely spend money before the end of the window in the supermarket sweep style of two years ago. But he will be forced to pay over the odds for players that he might not have been interested in at the start of the window. Surely better to have just paid over the odds for players the club did want two months ago? The manager needs to wake up and smell the coffee. He is still playing the same game he did two summers ago. Gary Cahill was available for £15 million. Wenger bid £4 million. Bolton as good as told him to go and procreate, and that was that. A few months later Cahill joined Chelsea and since then has picked up three trophies. Apparently, the Frenchman’s negotiation tactics have not changed. Open with an insulting offer.
There is no point in my calling for the manager’s head anymore. Regular readers will be well aware I think the club need to move on from Arsène Wenger and until they do, we will continue with the slow tortuous decline (and attendant managing of expectations) under a man who can no longer cut it in football today. He should have gone at the end of 2007-08 when his vision of beautiful football was exposed as one that would implode at the critical moments. If nothing else, the pair of Cup semi-final exits at the end of 2008-09 (Chelsea in the FA Cup and Manchester United in the Champions League) should have left no-one in any doubt that he had lost his mojo with the all too speedy break-up of the Invincibles. Here we are four years later and still in a rut.
The hope that remains is that Wenger is in the final year of his contract and that the board have enough bollocks to do the right thing and ensure he is not offered the opportunity to put supporters through another four years of underachievement. The club has a great financial platform to move forward now, but in today’s game, they do not have the right man to make the most of it.
The question was asked of me yesterday – would I trust this board to appoint a decent manager? Who knows? Jupp Heynkes isn’t doing much at the moment and could certainly steady the ship for a couple of seasons. What the team needs is decent preparation for matches. It should have been obvious Villa would be physical and test the referee, so mentally the players should have been prepared for this approach rather than looking shocked by it. It seems to me that they lost their focus far too easily and committed far too many mistakes.
Chris Hudson was interviewed by ArsenalFanTV after the game and gave it with both barrels (warning – industrial language). As a member of the Arsenal Supporters Trust he expressed his disappointment with their spokesman Tim Payton, who has been urging patience on his Twitter account during the summer. Tim will have an opportunity to respond when the first Gooner podcast of this season is recorded tomorrow evening, which we hope to have available within 24 hours. However, he himself tweeted in the hours after the match, “The owner, directors, chief executive and manager of Arsenal should all hang their heads in shame. Collectively culpable” and “Time for the guillotine?” No calls for patience anymore.
Certainly, the least the board can do, even if they are not about to resign, is act in the best interests of the club and start the rebuilding process immediately. They won’t do that, but for the sake of Arsenal’s future, the very least they should do is ensure this is the final season of Arsène Wenger. Maybe a Champions League exit and defeats to Fulham and Spurs might convince them it is better to act now rather than wait. Having played a single competitive fixture, many fans have already written off this season.
If you want me to finish on a positive, Manchester United lost their opening game last season. However, they had a decent squad and a manager who could prepare a team to get results. And Robin Van Persie. Didn’t he play for us once? Oh yes, and we failed to buy enough decent players to ensure his goals resulted in silverware. Wouldn’t pay a couple of million more for Xabi Alonso. Sound familiar?
This season’s first issue of The Gooner can be bought outside the stadium before the matches against Fenerbahce and Spurs. Also outside Fulham next Saturday. It can also be mailed to you if you wish to buy it online.
DIGITAL ISSUES
The Gooner is also available in digital form, through The Gooner App on iPhones and iPads, the Exactly App for Android devices and now Kindle Fire owners can also get their fix by searching the Amazon App Store for The Gooner.
You can also subscribe at www.exacteditions.com and read it through your internet browser as well as receiving a code which will enable you to access issues on all the above devices.
All digital subscriptions include access to our digital back issue library which dates back to August 2010.
