Kevin Whitcher
So the season of lurching from one mini-crisis to another continues, along with Arsenal’s inconsistency. Three clean sheets in a row, a definite and marked improvement in defensive discipline, and then this. All because of the absence of Laurent Koscielny? We’ll never know, but it would be sad to think that an injury to one player equals a defensive collapse of the proportions witnessed in the first half at Stoke. The lack of options at the club meant a start for Hector Bellerin, who was unfortunately out of his depth. It would be churlish to blame Emiliano Martinez for any of the Stoke goals, and in fairness, I doubt Wojciech Szczesny would have done any better. It was the organisation, determination and focus in front of the keeper that were lacking.
It wasn’t just the backline at fault. For the most part, Stoke were stronger and showed greater desire in the physical battle all over the pitch, winning headers and 50-50s, even when seemingly outnumbered. It was all a little too familiar, with Arsenal having won just the once in the nine occasions on which an Arsène Wenger-led team has travelled to Stoke.
There was a sense of this being the Little and Large show, with Peter Crouch and Bojan Krkic highly prominent in Stoke’s superiority. There were three former Barcelona players on the pitch, but it was the home side’s representative that had the best game. Stoke can still play to their physically strengths when required, but under Mark Hughes, there is more football, and at times, they actually looked as good on the ball as Arsenal. Certainly, Gunners fans would have been purring at the quality of the Potters’ second goal if a player in a yellow shirt had scored it.
There is no point in dissecting the three conceded goals. In summary, Arsenal either failed to win their challenges, did not even make them or were simply not in position to even attempt them. Insert your own joke about Arsenal, Count Dracula and the dislike of crosses. It was a salient reminder of too many defensive horrorshows since the team moved stadium, decided they could get by without much in the way of experience and lost their mojo. There was a glimmer of optimism that the manager had addressed the concerns at the back, leading to the three recent shutouts. It was another in a long line of false dawns where Arsenal are concerned. We’ve been enduring them for several seasons now.
The visitors did create going forward. Giroud should have scored in the first half to make it 1-1, whilst Alexis hit the post when he had done all the hard work in the second. With a goal that Stoke thought made it 4-0 rightly chalked off, Arsenal rallied after Podolski came on for Giroud. Flamini won a penalty and two quick goals got them back in the game. However, the sending off of Chambers made the completion of the comeback that much more difficult, and by the end of the game, only the most blinkered Gooner would argue that a Stoke win was not the right result.
Still, that does not excuse Charlie Adam’s assault on Alexis’ face on the blind side of the referee, somehow missed by the linesman, which shows an element of the Stoke that got their reputation under Tony Pulis still survives. That was not shown on Match of the Day as it didn’t suit the agenda. But they did point out the statistic that the Arsenal defence won a solitary tackle in the 90 minutes, which tells its own story. Yet, the manager claimed that ‘The spirit of the team is fantastic’ in his post-match BBC interview, although for most of it, he tellingly avoided eye contact with his questioner, as he knew the real truth of the matter. His players did not show up, and apparently, he rarely left the bench to rally them. There is very little in the way of backbone at the club these days. This is Arsenal FC, Jim… but not as we knew it.
On that note, it was a good day for Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2003-04, in that Chelsea – looking fairly imperious so far this season – were beaten at Newcastle, Jose Mourinho’s particular bogey ground. But as far as the title this season is concerned, the very slight chink of light given the Gunners before kick off was not taken advantage of. I don’t think anyone truly believed there would still be a title challenge this season, but the performance at the Britannia was as good a final nail in the coffin as anyone would require. Arsenal have won six out of 15 league matches this season.
They can still finish fourth, achieving the objective the board sets the manager, so all’s hunky dory there. The problem for fans is that their ambitions are related to the winning of trophies, not the balance books. So this will continue until enough of them have the courage to speak out and start informing Arsenal’s board that their objectives are not good enough, and that they need to recruit a manager who can deliver the silverware a club of Arsenal stature and financial firepower should be capable of achieving.
The players did not look very interested in winning a football match yesterday. A very sad state of affairs. Arsenal will rely on Liverpool, Spurs and Everton having worse seasons, and Southampton running out of steam so they can get the treasured fourth spot. Frankly, that doesn’t excite me as much as it might a Tottenham fan, but then again, should our expectations be any higher than those of Spurs supporters? Maybe we are living in Paradise after all, but I am just not seeing it. For me, football is about winning things, or at the very least occasionally exceeding expectations, some idea of genuine progress. The FA Cup last May was a joy, however fortuitous, but it looks like a long wait until another such day. And when all is said and done, it was the first trophy in nine seasons.
Arsene Wenger states that Arsenal will win the title by 2017, conveniently, when his current deal expires - a ridiculous claim in the light of the season so far. Until then, there will be more days like this. Assuming he agrees to go in 2017, at least there is something, in the distant future to look forward to, assuming when he moves upstairs he does not have any influence in the selection or operating methods of the next manager. Until then, the purgatory continues.
The winners of the competition to win copies of ‘Little Bit Silverware’ books we ran on Friday are as follows - Johan Slotte, Stanwell; Ellis King, St Austell; Joseph Dunphy, Easkey, Ireland; Matt Cotton, London E14 & Kabir Olatinwo, Ontario, Canada. The publishers will send the prizes out to you.
Also, a quick reminder for my co-author Alex Fynn, who will be doing a book signing session for our most recent publication, Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories at Waterstones bookshop in the Spires shopping centre in Barnet, from 12 noon today (Sunday 7th December). Go along to meet the great man and get your books signed and personalized.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
The new issue of The Gooner with free 2015 Art of Arsenal calendar can be bought online here. It will also be on sale outside the stadium for the coming home matches v Newcastle and QPR.
DIGITAL ISSUES
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Further Reading
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here. Use the promo code ‘Gooner’ to get 10% off the publisher’s price of £8.99.
