Kevin Whitcher
Arsenal have played 13 away Premier League matches so far this season, and only won three. Amongst the teams they have failed to beat are Bournemouth, West Brom, West Ham, Southampton, Watford and Stoke. Swansea, bottom of the Premier League going into last night’s game can now be added to that list. West Ham are currently 10th in the division, the rest are in the bottom half and include all three of the teams currently sitting in the relegation spots, which Arsenal’s hosts yesterday evening moved out of with their 3-1 victory over a woeful Gunners team. In their last five Premier League fixtures, Wenger’s side have won five points from the 15 available.
What is significant is that this was more or less the same line-up that beat Chelsea last midweek to make the League Cup Final. Cech replaced Ospina in goal, and Jack Wilshere did not travel to Wales due to illness, meaning Aaron Ramsey came in. And yet the contrast in the level of performance was notable. A group of players that looked far more committed last Wednesday were generally impotent in attack and ragged when they lost possession.
Let’s start with a message that Doktor Schneide sent me on hearing the manager talking up his team post-Sanchez’ departure after the win against Chelsea, which seems kind of apt this morning.
Wenger’s comments on the team having more ‘clarity’ and being ‘more focussed’ after losing one of our precious few (only?) world class players made me think of a would-be pep talk by Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army:
Mainwaring: ‘Right men, as you’re all no doubt aware, our strategic victory at Dunkirk has rather unfortunately left the country without any anti-tank guns…’
Fraser: ‘Or tanks.’
Mainwaring: ‘Yes, thank you Fraser. Er, we’ve also lost most of our anti-aircraft weapons…’
Wilson: ‘And airplanes, Sir.’
‘Do you mind, Wilson? I’m trying to encourage the men. Er… oh yes – and the majority of our soldiers returning from France had to leave their weapons behind. Now I’m sure you all agree, that if Hitler and his mob were to turn up on our shores, we would give them a bloody nose due to our new found clarity and clear focus. Jones – give the men a pitch fork each, we’re taking up positions on the promenade.’
If Manchester City win this evening, Arsenal will be 26 points adrift of the leaders. I am guessing here, but I suspect the last time such a gap existed between Arsenal and the top team was back in 1994-95. It’s a surefire sign of further decline. Reputedly, bad boy Alexis Sanchez was disrupting the team spirit and his departure would see a newly invigorated Gunners. Well, Sanchez did not travel to Bournemouth. Arsenal thrived at home – against Palace and Chelsea, but it seems that on the road, the absence of the Chilean makes no difference. Perhaps, dare I suggest it, the weakness might be in the dugout? In terms of preparing the team for this type of match against a deep defence that will counter-attack rather than come out and give their visitors space to play in. A caller to TalkSport last night opined, “If Wenger coached a fish it would drown”. Certainly, defensively, the team were a shambles on a wet Tuesday night in Wales, all of the goals too easy.
Arsenal looked shaky before they took the lead, a Ramsey block preventing a goal from a ball across the area that should never have been allowed in the first instance. There were at least three other very decent opportunities for the home side. However against the run of play, a sublime Ozil cross to find Monreal gave cause for optimism as the visitors went one up. It didn’t last long. Ozil, under pressure in his own half, gave the ball away and seconds later it was in the back of the net as Sam Clucas ran into the penalty area with Granit Xhaka doing a passable imitation of a lamppost as the midfielder levelled the scores.
The second half saw the introduction on 60 minutes of Mkhitaryan for Elneny as the manager decided he could do without his defensive midfielder in pursuit of victory. It didn't quite work out. Less than a minute later, the home team went ahead thanks to a howler from Petr Cech, miskicking a clearance straight to Ayew who slotted the ball home. Arsenal failed to seriously threaten Lukas Fabianski’s goal, an offside Mkhitaryan heading a simple chance straight to the keeper, but the linesman’s flag made it academic. In the 86th minute, the game was over as Monreal made a hash of a clearance, allowing Ayew to waltz past Mustafi and tee up Clucas for his second. 3-1 was a fair reflection of the chances in the game. Swansea could certainly have had more.
After the match, the manager said, “When you make mistakes, there’s not always a rational explanation behind it, apart from the fact that maybe it highlights a whole lack of quality concentration that we didn’t have tonight.” But whose job is it to make certain the players are focussed?
Anyway, it’s another nail in the coffin. I have come to the stage now where I actually do not care too much about these defeats. I get a perverse kind of pleasure from seeing Arsene Wenger’s hubris punctured. A man who displays nothing in the way of humility, who never takes any responsibility for his team’s failings, who is stubborn and disrespectful about the people who pay his wages. ‘Judge Me In May’ is one of his mantras, but when the guilty verdict is passed, what happens? Arsene goes on holiday and starts preparing for another season.
Oh well, there is no question this is his final contract. The only thing to be resolved is whether the club drag out his tenure beyond this season. And what the point of that would be I cannot fathom. Loyalty? That would be seriously misguided. The rebuild job needs to start now. My guess is that by the start of the 2020-21 season you might only see a couple of the players that started last night still at the club. Wholesale change awaits, and is badly needed. The sooner the people who are supposed to be running Arsenal get on with it, the better. Arsenal have become a standing joke in the power circles of European football. Time to restore some pride by making the necessary, long overdue changes. And that starts with a past-it, clinging on for his £8 million a year manager.
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