Arsenal had a nice chance to move within three points of
Leicester with what should have been an easy home fixture against 16th
place Swansea, made even easier, in theory, when the away side made six changes
from their last game, preparing for a relegation-battle against Norwich this
weekend. And the Gunners started brightly, cruising to a 1-0 lead when Joel
Campbell finished smartly across goal as he fell backwards on an excellent pass
from Sanchez in the 15th minute. The Gunners had plenty of chances
to extend that lead, but each went wanting, with Sanchez (in particular)
guilty, missing four quality chances across the two halves. Giroud missed two
sitters himself, including pounding a free ball from eight-yards out into the
goal post when he could have easily cushioned it to either side of the keeper
in the second half. In the 32nd minute, they were made to pay for
that continued profligacy, as a clear foul on Ozil was missed and the Gunners
defense shut off for a moment, allowing Wayne Routledge to run through them and
finish smartly to the left of Cech. Arsenal had more chances before halftime,
but as has become their habit, they scorned one after another like a heartless
beauty her suitors, and ended the half in parity.
The second half saw a number of changes from Swansea, whose
interim manager for the game, Alan Curtis, actually changed his formation three
times across the game in a positive sign of his future potential. The third
shift did the job, as Arsenal found it harder to find any space behind the
Swans defense and began giving away possession far too easily, or simply meandering
on the ball without any ideas how to get through. Ironically, a year after a
strong run for a Gunner’s side that had seemed to find an identity (playing
more defensive and on the counter in big games and with attacking flair against
the lesser sides), they now seem like a team without a plan, looking around at
each other to avoid taking the blame that each player on the pitch, with the general
exception of Ozil, Koscielny and Cech, should claim. Unfortunately, it was a
less than stellar performance from Cech himself Wednesday, as he seemed a
little slow in coming out for the opening goal and then failed to punch away
the Sigurdsson cross that Williams then bundled in to the net in the second
half winner.
Cech was not alone in performing below his best, of course.
Giroud has now gone nine games without scoring after a promising start to the
season, his worst run as a Gunner. Sanchez has been abject, not scoring in a league
game since October, and seemingly so drained of confidence he is becoming a hindrance
to the offensive flow of the game. Mertesacker and Gabriel are not a good
pairing, and the Brazilian, in particular, looks like a lost puppy at the
moment, dispelling the sense he was ready to supplant the German World Cup
winner in short order. Coquelin was better than his teammates, but often left
to fend alone because of Ramsey, who keeps flying forward and leaving the
defense exposed, a tendency that is hard to understand, given his own inability
to find the scoring touch of a few seasons back. Ramsey, in fact, is playing as
badly as he has in some time, missing easy passes, going sideways rather than
forward, running less than he did in the past, and failing to cover on the
defensive end far too often. One can feel Ozil’s frustration rising as he looks
around the pitch at players performing far below their best, including Walcott,
who besides the equalizer against Leicester, has been more invisible than a
cloaked Harry Potter on the pitch. And even Bellerin and Monreal seemed below par
in the the last two games, missing the mark with wayward crosses and failing to
overlap with their usual precision. The reality, though, is no one is stepping
up to get the team’s engine going again, and the lack of goals coupled with a
more porous defense mean they are chasing shadows in trying to beat any team.
On the heels of a deflating 2-0 defeat to Barcelona at the
Emirates and the pathetic 3-2 capitulation to Manchester United’s worst team in
decades, this was a game the Gunners had to win, but they seemed to have no
energy or will to even chase it after falling behind 2-1. And this is the main
reason I believe it is time for Wenger to finally depart. This title was there
for the taking and it is predominantly Wenger’s failure to make the right
signings, the right tactical choices, employ the right formations, the right
selections and the right substitutions that is at the heart of the 12 years of
failure that followed those wonderful first eight years in charge. But more
than any of those well-trodden critiques is the most damning one for any coach
or manager in any sport at any level. The great coaches get the best out of
their players, they make their players better, they fill them with belief and
they get them to perform when the pressure is on. Wenger seems to be the
opposite, a Frenchman who looks like his country in the two World Wars,
unwilling or unable to muster the force of will to find a winning formula. The
absence of leadership off the pitch is down to him, as is the lack of on the
pitch leadership from the players he has chosen to sign and groom over the
intervening years.
Wenger has been a model of consistency, leading his team to
the Top 4 in every year in charge, to the Round of 16 for almost as long and
keeping them near the top even as they moved stadiums and their budget shrunk.
He has cultivated the talents of a lot of raw and promising youngsters and has
a better trophy haul then most of the managers plying their trade in the league
today. And yet it is fair to consider the failures alongside the successes, and
beyond the two FA Cups and rather meaningless Community Shields in the past two
years, the Gunners have clearly underperformed ever since the Invincibles
completed their run with the 2005 FA Cup and 2006 Champions League Final loss.
That team was disbanded and every subsequently composed squad has fallen short
of expectations and of the chances afforded them. As a quick rundown of the profligacy
in the face of opportunity: 2007 when they lost in the FA cup, Champions League
and League Cup Final in an eight-day span that dismantled a promising season,
2008 when they blew a five-point lead in February, were crushed by United in
the FA Cup and ended up in third place, 2010 when they blew a decent 2-2 first
leg draw with Barcelona on the way to a torrid run-in with four points from their
last five league game and another third place finish, the run in 2011 when they
blew a first-leg lead against Barcelona, threw away the League Cup final
against Birmingham (who were later relegated) and dropped down the table again
and 2014, when a terrible start to the season saw them all but gift the title
to Chelsea even before the Boxing Day 0-0 draw.
The run this season seemed to start immediately after the emboldening
2-1 win over Manchester City on December 21. This was two weeks after the
excellent 3-0 win at Olympiakos that got them through to the knockout stage of
the Champions League and an easy 2-0 win at Aston Villa. Right after becoming
the de facto title favorites, they put in one of their worst displays of the
season, losing 4-0 at Southampton (with a little help from terrible
officiating). They did win their next three games, but then blew a 3-2 lead at
Anfield at the death settling for a 3-3 draw, then only earning a point at
Stoke and against Southampton (failing to score in both games), with a victory
over Burnley in the FA Cup and yet another red card and loss at Chelsea in
between. They did win two on the bounce next, beating Bournemouth and winning
the game that many thought would turn things around, nipping Leicester with
almost the last kick of the game, with Danny Welbeck the unlikely hero. Since
then, they had yet another uninspiring 0-0 draw, this time with Hull in the FA
Cup, the deflating 2-0 loss to Barca, where they blew chances and then
supplicated in the last 20 minutes, and then the most recent losses to depleted
United and Swansea squads. They are less solid on the road than in recent years
and substantially worse at home, on a run of two wins, two losses and two draws
in their last six in all competitions.
This is the first three-game losing streak for Arsenal since
2010, one of the many seasons that disappeared in a poor second half run that
almost saw them fall out of the Champions League position. If they fail to win
Saturday at White Hart Lane, one can look back at dropping all six points to
Chelsea, three to United’s youth team, three to West Ham, four at Liverpool
and, most bizarrely, five against Southampton along the road to abject failure.
But really it has been a season of inconsistency, where the highlights –
including a 2-0 win over Bayern, a 3-0 home victory over United, the 3-0 road
win at Olympiakos and the 2-1 victory over City – are really the only great
games they have played all season. After winning the “calendar title” in both
2013 and 2015 (the most points over the January to December stretch), they have
seemingly lost their identity completely. They now seem a bunch of players
thrown together on the pitch, trying to use their exceptional technical skills
to beat opponents without a clear game plan or any unity of purpose. The
aforementioned lack of leadership is clear and no one seems able to restore the
confidence of Walcott, Sanchez, Ramsey or the oft-injured Ox, belying Wenger’s
earlier success with cultivating young talent.
In the end, this could be the season that finally sees
Wenger head toward the exit door. He will leave on his own terms and an
unlikely title charge could still be in the cards if they find a way to win on
Saturday. Everything indicates the obverse, though, even as the Spurs dropped
three points themselves on Wednesday. Wenger must look to the past to find
inspiration for how to inspire his players. If he doesn’t, this might be the
final straw for a fan base that has been far too forgiving for a manager who
gave us glory and then year after year of consternation.
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