Kevin Whitcher
A sunny May afternoon, two teams with nothing to play for. Sure, West Brom could mathematically go down, but you can get odds of 1000-1 on them doing so. So in reality, they were safe. As for Arsenal, Everton’s defeat at home to Manchester City yesterday meant that the fourth place trophy was secured once again.
To think, there was a time in the season, when, looking ahead to this fixture, it could have been a nailbiter, with the title at stake. The atmosphere would have been one hell of a lot different if that had been the case. As it turned out, it was a meaningless canter, with nothing in the way of tension, except the possibility of Abou Diaby injuring himself warming up on the touchline. He didn’t appear to, although we await confirmation from the club. It was interesting that Aaron Ramsey played no part, presumably to give him a rest and avoid the risk of injury before the FA Cup Final. Would Arsenal’s season have turned out any differently if Ramsey had not missed over three months of football? Would the collapses at Liverpool and Chelsea, the spiritless performance at Stoke and Goodison Park (where Ramsey made his comeback late in the game with the result settled) have been avoided? Who knows, although given Ramsey’s contribution tends to be more on the attacking side, one doubts he would have made a difference at Anfield and Stamford Bridge where it was the desire to press the opposition early that led to those matches being settled in minutes.
So it is a case of so near, but yet so far. Arsenal could finish seven points short of glory, although they will have got close because of winning so many games against teams like West Brom, and at a time when they did mean something. It is a good habit, certainly, but the real debate for the summer is what Arsenal need to do to make the difference and push on, how they will address the areas where they fell short this season. The home form has been good in that they have only suffered one league defeat, although home draws ultimately cost the club ten points, mainly in games against teams that will finish in the top seven. So even with those disastrous away performances, more points at home could have made the difference. In reality, the odd draw will always be picked up. What Arsenal sides used to do when they were winning titles would win big games at the likes of Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.
The noises from the manager are that he is going to stick around and sign his new deal, and some claim that the deal was signed some time ago, but that the club are waiting for the right time to announce it.
There were protests about the 3% increase in ticket prices for next season before the game, and the only regret about this is that more fans did not join them. However, the audience at Arsenal matches nowadays is far different from the likes of those who used to gather outside the East Stand in Avenell Road when they were unhappy. We are customers now, not supporters, and the club are in the luxurious position of not needing to address the unhappiness of the disgruntled. If they make the decision to withdraw their funding – as many have – the club simply replace them with those who are happy to accept what is on offer. For this reason, the increase in ticket prices will now become a regular policy, even if the money will only sit in the bank. It is a case of prices going up because the club know they can get away with it, rather than because they need to. The money is there to be made, so why not take it? Custodians in the boardroom? Where exactly? It will be interesting to see what the organisations that have dialogue with the club – specifically the Arsenal Supporters Trust and AISA – do in the coming months to combat another set of price rises in the summer of 2015. Realistically, the club has to be embarrassed by some very negative PR, so these two movements will need to come up with a strategy if they claim to truly represent supporters. The Trust are slightly more pro-active on this front, although issuing statements (see here and here for examples) needs to be accompanied by something more imaginative in terms of garnering publicity and publicly embarrassing the club. Arsenal’s name needs to be dragged through the mud to prevent annual unjustified price increases, and all supporters groups – including the more vocal ones, and the supporters clubs, need to unite and co-ordinate tactics to ensure maximum publicity.
What is there to be said about the football match that took place yesterday? Nice set piece goal converted by Olivier Giroud. More set piece goals next season please, and a couple in the cup final would do just fine. Arsenal came close to scoring a couple more times through Ozil and Podolski, whilst West Brom did threaten occasionally, but the sheer lack of tension, along with the lack of actual converted opportunities, meant the game kind of petered out. Mathieu Flamini played the more dynamic central midfield role that is normally done by Aaron Ramsey, presumably because Mikel Arteta doesn’t have the energy, even though it is a role he used to undertake at Everton. A top quality central midfielder who can complement Ramsey is a key summer purchase as the manager obviously does not have the faith in Flamini’s discipline to carry out the role.
The most dramatic moment for this attendee was when I could not initially make out the wording of the chant ‘We want you to stay, Bacary Sagna, we want you to stay’ and thought it was Arsène Wenger’s name the RedSection were singing. The evidence of recent seasons suggests it will be a black day for the non-brainwashed sections of the Arsenal support who do not accept that Champions League participation equates to glory, when the continuation of Wenger’s tenure is confirmed. If you want a word to sum Arsenal FC up these days, stasis does it quite nicely. In a season when it looked like, finally, they could push on, the same old problems reared their ugly heads once February arrived. So we end up where we usually do, in terms of league position. Manchester United dropped out of the title race, to be replaced, at the business end of the campaign, by a team with lesser resources than Arsenal.
Bacary Sagna wants to leave as much as anything because, at this stage of his career, when he looks at the medals in his display cabinet, he can’t see any for finishing fourth. Like Van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy before him, he has grown tired of waiting for Arsenal to actually win something, although it is ironic that with the decision made (probably to follow Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri to Eastlands), the Gunners have progressed to the FA Cup Final.
Arsenal News Review ran a submission by a correspondent of Myles Palmer regarding a podcast interview former keeper Rami Shaaban gave in Sweden. Shaaban revealed that he was shocked that there was not any tactical analysis of the opposition prior to games (at least not mentioned to the players). Wenger simply showed them the team sheet and wished them good luck. After the game you would expect the manager to talk to the players about their performances and how they can improve. But he did not.
In the immortal words of Martin Tyler on another May 4th, “That sums it all up”. We await the announcement. It will either be in triumph after the FA Cup is won, or in a more subdued manner on the official website if it is lost, once Wenger has had the chance to disappear on holiday. At recent AGMs he has stated he will meet supporters at the end of the season to discuss the campaign and explain his decisions. He never does. Empty promises from a man of honour.
Changing tone, a bit of light relief before I finish, in regard to St Totteringham’s Day – If, in the summer of 1995 you’d bet your mate £10 Arsenal would finish higher than spurs, and then gone double or quits in every season since, he’d now owe you over £2.6 million.
Also, I have been asked to give a plug to the following event – a charity dinner for the Willow Foundation to be held in Edinburgh on 5th September. Full details can be seen here
The current issue of The Gooner will be on sale at Norwich away next weekend, and at Wembley on Wembley Way on FA Cup Final day. It can also be bought online here. It’s a 64 page special priced at £3 and includes an interview with Sol Campbell and special sections on the 10th anniversary of the Invincibles and Arsenal in the Cup Final.
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