Arsenal Crash Out of FA Cup 0-1

After a decent start to the season, if one allows for four dropped points as the new squad learned to play together in the first two scoreless draws, things started to slowly unravel after the 2-1 loss to Chelsea at home. The Gunners were up and down after that with a number of troubling results including ceding a 2-0 lead against Fulham, a nil-nil draw with Aston Villa, blowing a one-goal lead against Everton and then, after a decent run of games, the startling losses to Bradford in the League Cup and then terrible start after the New Year. One thing that has been clear throughout much of the season is that the squad does not play as well at Emirates as Arsenal fans are used to. They appear, at times, nervous and unless they are blowing teams away, as they've done a few times like against Southampton and Spurs, they are clearly vulnerable to error on both sides of the pitch. So going into a game that was really a must win for a manager who could be canned, Wenger was sure to pick a strong team, right?

Of course not. Wenger has become increasingly defiant and stubborn in recent years, as if he is trying to prove the pundits, the fans and maybe his own ex-players wrong by doing it "his way." For one, he refuses to spend money that appears to be at his disposal to sign players, even when he himself highlights the need (like he has the last two windows). If a player shows any sign of disrespect for him, they are gone (no one has really talked about the fact RVP might have been willing to stay after the three signings that preceded his departure -- and what of the inexplicable Song sale). He lets his best players go after adamantly telling us they won't and then claims he has found able replacements who are of equal quality (when this just isn't the case). He rarely changes tactics, or prepares for his opponents like most other coaches do -- believing that his team and tactics are good enough without variation. And he has been understaffing his team in the FA and Carling/League Cup for many years now. So even though the Gunners are approaching eight years without a trophy, he still feels the need to prove his strategy works. 

And for the third time this season in a big game, it didn't. It started with a final group stage match against Olympiakos when Arsenal still had a chance to win the group (and thus avoid the almost sure loss they will suffer to Bayern; at least until a later round). Then came the calamitous loss at Bradford to boot us out of the League Cup, when we were but three victories from getting off the snide. In that game, he started a relatively strong team, but inexplicably started with Gervinho at Center Forward again, a strategy that had only worked a few times early in the season. 

And so a home game against a relegated Blackburn team that we beat 6-1 at home last season resulted in the worst FA Cup loss in Wenger's long reign. He had never lost to a team from a lower division until this season. Now he's done it twice, costing us two chances at silverware. The reality is we still should have won with the subs Wenger chose. We dominated possession, had an astounding 26 shots, with 12 on target, 16 corners to 2 and 54 percent of possession officially (though some have it at closer to 70 percent). We had a number of clear opportunities including another flub by Gervinho right before halftime one on one with Blackburn goalie Jake Kean. Chances abound offered but not taken until Wenger had seen enough and brought on the three stars who sat on the bench -- Walcott, Cazorla and Wilshire. Instead of having an immediate impact in a positive way, Walcott was liable along with Vermaelen, Sczcesny and Sagna in allowing Blackburn to forge forward on one of their few foray's of the afternoon and, with a lucky scuffed shot, take the lead they would hold until the end of the game). At the whistle, the Gunners looked stunned and Wenger like a man who knows his time at the helm might finally be coming to an end.

Some Arsenal fans will again relieve Wenger of blame for this loss, but who else should we put it on? The board is the most obvious answer, but that rings hollow to me. Arsenal are one of the richest teams in football and do seem to be siphoning profits out for the owners at the expense of the team, but it appears Wenger has money he just refuses to spend. It is Wenger that has been unable to sign some of his top targets (including Mata, who was a few million pounds away from coming, Hazard, Vertonghen, Mirallas, et al). It is Wenger that has signed a number of duds over the past several years that are finally coming off the payroll (or out on loan). It's Wenger who has overseen the loss of his top players, partially because of his absurdly socialist payroll system -- as well as the trophy drought. It's Wenger who has made one misstep after another in important games the past few  seasons, including what I believe was the final straw to RVP -- pulling Ox out for the little Russian who can't in a crucial game versus hated Man United. It was Wenger who helped give the title to first City and now United the past two seasons. And it is Wenger who refuses to listen to anyone, continuing to defy critics as the team's performance becomes increasingly laughable.   

So I can understand resting many of your starters in the game to prepare for Bayern's visit Tuesday. But why the top four offensive players on the team? Not only did Walcott, Cazorla and Wilshere sit, but a resurrgent Ramsey and dangerous Podolski as well. So you have two players just back from injury -- in Diaby and Rosicky (who has had no time on the pitch) -- the young Coquelin, Gervinho back after a busy ACN and the underperforming Ox. And so Arsenal dominated possession without creating that many chances and blowing those they had. Yes Blackburn goalie King had a great game, with a number of important saves, but Arsenal looked flat and nervous at home yet again. And what is a coaches' job if not to motivate his players and ensure they are confident going into big games. I get the sense the opposite is the case at Arsenal. Wenger has created an environment of losing at the club where the players forced effort to win important games actually backfires as they play nervous and without the free flowing style they show when less is on the line. We saw it in the final of the Carling Cup two years ago around this time, in the second leg of the Barcelona tie that same year, in the run in the past several years when key mistakes early or late cost them points, in the away first leg against AC Milan last season and in both the Capital One and now FA Cup this season. With the exception of the Man City draw early in the season, this team has not played well in the key matchups, showing their defensive frailties and ineptitude at putting the ball in the net against Chelsea, Man United, Man City in the return last month and even lowly Liverpool. 

When the chips are down, it appears this team tends to fold. Yes there was the stunning fightback against Reading in the Carling Cup, but there has been fewer late game heroics this season than in any I can remember. We just don't have the striker or forward who can come off the bench late and score important goals. And so we draw games 0-0 or 1-1, lose games 1-0 or 2-1 and then rue the chances we missed and the mistakes that cost us. And that was the case yesterday as well. The hope is this time the club will wake up and realize it is time for Wenger to go. He has simply lost the script after years of success and can't seem to find the magic touch to make anything truly positive happen (except the bottom line for the owners). Rumors have David Moyes lining up as a possible successor -- a guy hungry for silverware after 10 barren but impressive years at the pecuniary Everton. But even if the board is willing to give Wenger one more year, shouldn't he have the decency to step aside? I hope so. I have always loved the Frenchman not only for winning trophies but making Arsenal play among the most stylish football in the world. But that just isn't the case any longer and is not enough for a team of Arsenal's historical standing.