Arsenal, Arsenal, Wherefore Art Thou Arsenal

It seems like things are going from bad to worse for Arsenal at the moment as they’re on their worst run of results in 16 years. They have lost their last four games and their performances in those games seem to have got progressively worse. Any hope of redemption for this season depends on the Europa League, but it would take a brave man to bet on Arsenal against any team right now.

The latest embarrassment came away to Brighton on Sunday when they deserved everything they got from the game which was absolutely nothing. Petr Cech apologised for his part in the two goals after the game and while he was certainly culpable for both he wasn’t the only player who played a part in the defeat. As a defensive unit we are completely broken and our opponents look likely to score with almost every attack they mount against us.

How those players are going to raise their game to play away to a resurgent Milan on Thursday night is anyone’s guess and it’s something I just can’t see happening. The manager seems incapable of inspiring his players and of doing anything to change what’s happening on the pitch once a game starts. There is no doubting we have some genuine quality in the team, but he cannot harness that talent to perform as a team.

It seems the tactics and intricacies of the modern game have passed him by and he doesn’t even seem to realise it. We are too easy to take apart for any team no matter what level they seem to be at and we seem almost clueless in our own attempts to attack opponents. Despite all of this the manager still believes he can and will turn things around.

Of course it’s not all down to him and the players have to bear a large portion of the blame too. They are far better as individuals than the sum of their parts at the moment and there doesn’t seem to be a single one of them who’s willing to take responsibility on the pitch. We spent a lot of money in January to being Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in, but our midfielders seem either unwilling or incapable of playing to his strengths.

Besides the manager and players the board and Stan Kroneke in particular have an awful lot to answer for. They allowed the manager to renew his contract last summer when they had the opportunity to take the club in a new direction and they seem incapable of making the decision to part with him now. Kroneke has a history of turning his American sports franchises from winning teams into mediocre teams and it looks like Arsenal are heading the same way.

I would have thought a few weeks ago that maybe we could muddle through to the end of the season with Wenger in charge, but it has gotten so bad now that he has to go soon for the good of the club. I think we won’t see any change before the season ends though and even then I’m not sure it will happen. He has always said he has always seen his contracts out and I don’t doubt he will look to at least stay in the job until the summer of 2019.

I’ve supported Arsenal since before my fifth birthday in 1970 and I will always support them until the day I die. That doesn’t mean I will blindly support those in charge at the club when things go wrong and they are going very wrong right now. We are the sixth richest club in the world and we are struggling to finish sixth in our domestic league.

I don’t know where the Arsenal that Arsene Wenger built so beautifully has gone, but I do know that it has gone and he is not the man to rebuild it. I’m not sure who that man is, but that doesn’t mean we should blindly follow a man who is lost and who has lost all of his ability to affect the players. I hope a new manager will be able to find our Arsenal again, but the longer it goes before we appoint one the tougher it will be for that new man.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.