Match Report | Match highlights | Wenger’s thoughts | Credits: Thể thao & Văn hóa
When Arsenal lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich around a year and a half ago, there were seemingly vindicating circumstances. Back then we had injuries, a patchy run of form and no one had any real confidence in our abilities anyway. The loss was contextualized and somewhat brushed away in the light of the club qualifying for the Round of 16 somewhat dramatically in Olympiacos.
Back then, I found those excuses to be poorly narrated denial-oriented propaganda from an Arsenal fanbase that was much less enlightened than it is today. And in many ways, it is interesting to compare the reliving and reaction of that defeat to yesterday night’s, which effectively ended Arsenal’s faint hopes in the Champions League.
I had no expectation before the game that Arsenal would make a good account of themselves at the Allianz Arena, and I don’t think I was alone in that. This would not have been the first time Arsenal would disappoint on a big occasion anyway. Arjen Robben’s goal – brilliant that it was – triggered the same-old-shit-again reaction that we’ve come to understand and accept by now.
But what stung about this match was that for a while – maybe half an hour? – it really felt like we might break the mediocrity cycle. In the moments before and after Alexis Sanchez equalized, Arsenal were finally looking like a team willing to give the European giants a fight. We weren’t hugely expansive nor dynamic, but we sure were spirited, and at the end of the day, that’s all Arsenal fans ask. I still wasn’t hugely confident of our chances at maintaining a good result, but at least I felt greater hope and belief due to the mental resolve we were showing.
It’s the hope that kills you, isn’t it? For yet again, Arsenal Football Club gave us an oasis of hope before revealing it to be a mirage. After conceding a sloppy Robert Lewandowski header following Laurent Koscielny’s injury, heads fell in domino fashion. Few looked genuinely aggrieved, fewer looked bothered, and in the end, the absence in mental focus gave us what deserved – a pasting.
Despite having big personalities like Mesut Ozil, Sanchez, Granit Xhaka, Koscielny and Hector Bellerin in our ranks, no one gave us a fighting chance, not even our own fans. And could you blame us? We’ve seen time and time again that the players are not the problem. We’ve had a good enough squad for the past 3-4 years and yet gotten hammered at Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and fucking Southampton. We’re past the point of blaming the players, something that was evident at the relatively tepid criticism on individual performances.
This was collective failure, not individual. Yes, it’s quite obvious that someone like Ozil was subpar and played his part in what was an embarrassing defeat, but he wasn’t alone in that. Xhaka and Francis Coquelin (who by the way, completed six passes in 75 minutes) were supposed to bully the midfield, yet lack of mental preparation saw them utterly intimidated by the occasion. The same went to Alex Iwobi, who despite his overall talent as a young footballer, didn’t do anything of note all day.
That scoreline ended any sort of feeble expectations Arsenal had of showing something respectable in this season. Another failed title ‘push’, another botched Round of 16, another League Cup exit – we may have a good run in the FA Cup, but let’s be honest, pretending that any serious team takes the Cup seriously is just as embarrassing as sixth placed Manchester United mocking us for Champions League failure.
And when you think about it, when was the last time we showed any genuine progress in a season? 2013-14 maybe, the year we considerably lifted the bar in the transfer bank, amassed 79 points and broke the trophy drought. Granted, there were wrongdoings that season and many would say we should have done better (myself included). However, it was yet much better than previous years, and a real platform to build on.
But have we? We retained the Cup in the following year and attracted Alexis Sanchez, but that seems to be it. Cumulative Premier League points have dropped over time, we keep stumbling on the same Champions League hurdle and fundamental problems from physical to psychological issues have persisted. Arsenal haven’t regressed but they haven’t progressed either, and at this rate, it’s obvious they’ll keep stumbling in the dark.
When you factor in how static our growth as a football club has been, it’s all the more uninspiring to look at Arsene Wenger give the shortest of press conferences and fumble over clichéd phrases like mental strength. It’s stinking of the same old shit sandwich we’ve been served over the years, the banal excuse we can never follow up on.
And look, there’s every chance Wenger doesn’t take post-game pressers as importantly as we do. He’s media-polished enough to say the right words and then say what he really wants to in the dressing room. But when you look at his ashen face in the wake of the trashing, he doesn’t seem like one who has the popular vote anymore.
We all know Wenger is complicit in this, but like Ozil, he cannot be scapegoated alone. This is a problem that goes up to the board, a cowardly and disunited support who allowed it to go this far, and an overall lack of hunger for success. It began in the mid-2000s when football became global, when Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry noticed the absence of ambition, when good money was thrown on Project Youth and when Wenger began appointing his own bosses.
Wenger’s time is up – sure – but he isn’t the only one who needs to be shown the door. Players, board members, backroom staff have disappointed this club as much as the manager has, and haven’t suffered the consequences. Ivan Gazidis’ recent appointments of Shad Forsythe and Andries Jonker may be hints that he is well-aware of the autonomy Wenger enjoys and wants to put in structures in place when he leaves. Even so, they’re not nearly enough.
In the months that follow, I don’t want London Colney to be dominated by the Arsene Wenger. I want talks of a Director of Football, talks of transfer committees. I want appointments of some clever backroom members, concrete plans to keep Alexis and Ozil, proposals to reduce ticket pricing. I want an Arsenal that thinks how to keep themselves post-Wenger winners.
Will Wenger decide to leave at the end of this season? I honestly cannot say. But regardless of what he thinks, it’s time for the board to make decisions for him. Wenger’s course is run – he’s finished, irrelevant as ice at the very top level. It’s the board still needs to account for life after him, and it’s imperative they get going.
You want your Arsenal back? Fine, but sacking Wenger won’t be the only step to recovery. It will only be the first.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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