Ian Henry
(Ed’s note, there will be an editorial on Sunday’s game tomorrow (Tuesday). Until then, an offering from occasional contributor Ian Henry)
Six years ago, a shocking Arsenal performance (that 8-2 defeat at Man U) led to the astonishing acquisition spree that saw the BFG, Andre Santos, Yossi Benayoun, Park Chu-Yung and Mikel Arteta arrive in a blaze of something other than glory. The BFG has had his moments and Arteta went on to become one of the better captains Wenger has appointed, only to be allowed to join Man City’s coaching staff. I might be wrong but I think he still has a house in north London as I have seen him with his family around Hampstead. But I digress, apologies.
Six years after that shocker – actually that predictable mauling – at Old Trafford came another predictable shocker and mauling in the north-west, this time at Liverpool. It’s difficult to know where to start except to say that the one consistent thing about Wenger’s team selection this year is the utterly bemusing decision to start Ramsey and Xhaka as the central midfield pairing. These two have zero defensive discipline, with absolutely no understanding of how to protect the centre backs, let alone play a compact controlling game. I have lost count of how many goals we have conceded which flow directly from Xhaka giving the ball away, but along with death and taxes as certainties in life we can now add that Arsenal will concede at least once directly from Xhaka giving the ball away in each and every game; almost as certain is that Xhaka will get booked.
So, what happens now? Will Wenger recognise that his team selection, set-up and strategy has been wrong for all three games at the start of the season? Will he go out and back two holding midfielders to allow the team a semblance of a chance of controlling a game for the first twenty minutes for example? I doubt it.
Don’t let the win v Leicester fool you (the team led for all of 8 minutes of the 90, plus injury time), the defensive indiscipline and tactical naivete shown up so ruthlessly by Liverpool were clear on match day one. I can’t see Wenger changing at all (he hasn’t addressed the fundamental problems of the team for more than a decade so why should he now?) – he might buy one or two players, but even if he does, I have little faith that this will make any material difference. In any case, if you were Virgil van Dijk, Julian Draxler or Thomas Lemar why would you come to Arsenal, unless it was for the money? And if you were Shkodran Mustafi, you would surely take the first flight to Milan. And if you were Alexis Sanchez, if you can’t get the move you want to Manchester now, I’d take the rest of the year easy, enjoy the World Cup and wait for the mega pay cheque next year.
I don’t believe it matters who Arsenal sign or who they sell, either in the next few days or in January, or next summer. As long as Wenger remains in charge the same problems will remain unresolved. The question is how bad it will have to get before either the man himself gives up the ghost, the board finally press the panic button, or he really does lose the dressing room (personally I suspect he has but no one is prepared to break ranks, yet). All empires fail in the end, especially those run in a despotic manner and Arsenal is a despotic little empire, with a glorious past but no viable long term future under its current ruler.
From where I sit watching Arsenal these days (either on my sofa or in The Railway in West Hampstead rather than the west stand) it seems to me that it will likely have to get a lot worse before it will get any better. It’s just a matter of how quickly it gets worse. Bournemouth, Cologne, Chelsea, Doncaster, WBA and Bate Borisov in September: six games, four at home, two away. Arsenal need five wins at least (and a draw at Chelsea) to have any chance of a respectable season. What will the mad professor say if we can’t beat Bournemouth, Cologne, Doncaster and The Baggies at home? Because if Arsenal can’t win those four games, even Kroenke, Gazidis, Sir Chips and the rest of the board will surely have to admit they have backed the wrong horse, even if this comes several years too late.
One last thought, for those of you who want The Ox to stay: why would Chelsea or Liverpool meet Wenger’s asking price for him on the basis of his shop window performance at Anfield is beyond me.
