Last nights
defeat at the stadium of light effectively ended another season’s quest for a
trophy and the truth of the matter is that it wasn't that much of a surprise.
The Arsenal of today is a team that wins a few draws a few and loses a few. A
team that are inclined to hamper any consistency with bouts of incompetence. A
team that lacks desire. There is something wrong at Arsenal football club and I
for one don't know what that something is. Without any insider information you
can only judge things on results and performances and neither of these things
have constant for a worryingly long time.
Is it about quality or capability or is it about something less tangible?
We faced a similar set of circumstances in 2004. Thwarted in the Champions league by Chelsea bested in the FA cup by Man Utd we then welcomed Liverpool who promptly went ahead in the game. The arsenal vintage 04 won the day and fulfilled it's destiny.
We face part three of that set of circumstances when we host Tottenham. A win is a significant moment in our quest for a European spot but one can't help feeling that the current vintage may be found wanting.
Perhaps former nemesis Roy Keane summed things up on ITVs coverage of last nights game when he said;
"You're on about trying to do well for your manager and once again they're letting him down,This is probably the worst Arsenal team I've seen in all my time of watching football."
"They've been sloppy, which led to the goal, there has been no focus to their passing. It's been slow it's been sideways, it's been backwards.”
Hard to disagree;
we have seen the Invincibles become the Imponderables and although ‘crisis’ is
a word bandied about far too often our beloved club needs to take stock and
action.
Comment from John T
ReplyDeleteThe home game against Spuds will determine AWs fate. Spurs being a better team than Sunderland and have the ambition and drive to make next Sunday a bloody gooner disaster. If as many expect we get turned over there is almost certain to be a back lash from the supporters who will have to consider parting with £1300 for another season of this crap. What form this takes we cant predict but there is probably at least 50,000 Gooners very angry at what has happened to the back bone of the side that AW inherited and which won us many trophies, and which he has replaced with so many spineless losers. Just seeing SquealAtcha stand up from his position on the bench must have drained any little bit of fight from players, gooners, and football audiences across the world. This man has ERROR as well as loser written all over him, and cost the same as Cahill, and several other CBs with a proven record in the Premier League. But yesterday's fiasco started before kick off with the selection of Plappianski, which was a clear two finger message to gooners.
With Arry about to move on this summer, Spuds will be on the look out for a successor, as most likely will Chelski, and since we know Murhino is looking for a London Club perhaps a campaign to bring a winner to the club may be a positive step.
But someone must soon come in and appoint a sales person to start a programme of visits to the Championship, and lower divisions with two for one offers to get rid of the vast majority of loanees, and those who are not good enough to get loan placements.
The ideal time is now, a new brush for the spring cleaning, as Pat Rice has seen enough too and is off at the end of the season.
RVP too will want to achieve something too, and just as gooners respected Liam Brady's decision to look for a team with ambition, no one will blame RVP if he too has enough, which may tempt the few remaining decent players to look around as well.
Other gooners are preparing to get shot of their Season tickets, but if that is to happen it should be done in aplanned way, not individuals walking away quietly, but thousands of us making a huge bloody noise.
However, we remain Goonerish
John T
the signifigance of the Sp*rs game is two fold; It's a six pointer in our search for a CL spot regardless of it being Sp*rs (like the Liverpool and Newcastle games coinung up).
ReplyDeletethe second thing is that, regardless of whether we admit to it or not most of us can't stomach losing to Sp*rs particularly at home.
I believe that the battle for fourth (reading that back is somewhat depressing!) is between Arsenal & Chelsea and ECL qualification has real meaning in terms of being an attractive destination for quality players.
Had the TH14/Vieira/DB10/Bobby/Sol/gilberto team ended up for a season outside the ECL I think we would have said "Oh, shit. We'll make sure this doesn't happen again, we'll be back next season, let's go on and win the Europa" more tellingly, I think the players would have said the same thing.
wellyousaythat
I do agree -Get rid of season tickets on masse It has to be done or the club/board will take no notice.
ReplyDeleteI saw another "one for the future" play for Barnet last Sat.A Swiss u18 CH and captain .Had the positional sense of the average Ryman Div 5 player -useless.I cannot even remember his name !
David C