How does this stupid, incompetent coach have an eternal hold on his job? Arsenal under Arsene Wenger are now like the drunk embarrassing themselves pissing their own boots.
The same old story time and time again. How is this not akin to Jose Mourinho’s situation where the side stops responding? Except, Chelsea got rid of him midway and have regained their momentum. Manuel Pellegrini is getting the boot despite taking his team to the Champions League semi-finals, the furthest they have gone. Jurgen Klopp has instilled a do or die belief in Liverpool all on display against Dortmund. Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs playing their best football without any signs of capitulation, will surpass Arsenal for the first time in the Premier League era. Slaven Bilic is behind West Ham’s charge to their new digs at the Olympic Stadium. And Claudio Ranieri is building on Nigel Pearson’s legacy to Leicester stunning the world with their first league coronation all done on a budget which should make Wenger’s head swim. All around the league there are unmistakable signs of rejuvenation and optimism. And what do Arsenal have to look forward to? Arsene Wenger, who presumably signs off on the toilet paper deliveries too at the Emirates. No one else dare move a finger.
Wenger is never short of an opinion, whether it is about Kevin Friend, Gianni Infantino, or financial doping. He only lacks solutions to what really ails Arsenal. Remember this is the coach who’s eye rolling reasoning for giving up cheap set pieces when William Gallas and Kolo Toure were the centre halves was down to their lack of “inches”. Does it take a genius to figure out Theo Walcott’s arrested development? Or that the Ox is going nowhere? Both have a supreme belief in their propensity to go flying into a thicket of defenders and lose the ball. The first one is now a decade into the club, the other has had five years. Can anyone with any confidence say what they have added on since their move from Southampton? Or the sight of Bellerin, Gabriel, and Koscielny coming off second best against Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha, and Conor Wickham today. Like they did against Andy Carroll and West Ham just a week ago. Or that Arsenal keep stroking the ball around the final third in this haze of analysis paralysis because everyone is so afraid of having a go till they actually walk the ball into goal. Arsenal had 53000 touches of the ball with one goal to show, while Palace had 53 and scored a goal. Oezil created 8 scoring chances but none were converted. He should in reality have had at least another dozen assists this season which is why it won’t surprise if he does agitate to move to another club in the summer.
Every player is bled out of individualism due to this overarching need for the collective. Everything that Arsenal do becomes so entirely predictable. You can park the bus, bully them off the ball, rope and dope into launching a stunning counterattack. You needn’t even be ruthless nowadays because the Gunners are like a horror movie genre, clueless characters wandering into a creaking, forlorn house and getting their heads lopped off in an eternal loop. A victim of their own bad habits. What is especially frustrating is Arsenal working so hard to craft their goals, all undone in one head spinning instant. When does a goal lose value? When you score against Arsenal.
Wenger went on record yesterday saying the Gunners really shouldn’t look forward to too much summer transfer business. Before everyone starts their teeth gnashing, I actually agree, this side does not need any more players. Which is why we should pay attention to what Wenger really said:
“First of all, we are not behind Spurs yet,” he said. “Anyway, Tottenham have been 18 years behind us and they’ve survived. So let’s be realistic.”
There is nothing left to fight for with such pusillanimous rationalizations. That is what Wenger has reduced his coaching career to, a grab bag of clockwork, mealy mouthed rationalizations. This is what hollows out a side, the loss of any expectations. A collective sapping of pride and honour. Historicity be damned. A shrug and “hey, we have our own stadium, Champions League football, how dare you fans complain?” This is a coach who took Mesut Oezil to task when he administered his reality check, for telling the truth. This is also a coach who doesn’t get it and frankly has not for a considerable time now. And when you challenge him, resorts to Donald Trump style narcissism. But it’s not just him, the club’s moribund board members regularly hides behind smugness and complacency. Peter Hill Wood, Arsenal’s late chairman brushed aside criticism of the club’s continued lack of achievement with “it’s not as if we’ve been relegated.”
What Arsenal needs is to transfer a whole new belief system. And there are some ambitious, tactically astute, pragmatic, and youth oriented coaches right here in the Premier League and elsewhere who could do that. We can’t keep living off fumes. Remember, it will only get harder next season.
Here is a report on Arsenal vs Crystal Palace, if you need details and not a rant.