Post-Apocalyptic
Monday, 20 February 12, 01:42 AM · Comments (2)
Morning all, having had to tackle a rather unpleasant bit of illness over the weekend my consideration of all matters Arsenal is only just getting up to speed. Our exit from the FA Cup at the
weekend capped a miserable week for us in which any chance of us winning a trophy this season went emphatically out the window.
Trophies, I have to say, were always a bit of a side issue for me this season. From the word go the challenge for us has been to stay in the top four after a summer which thoroughly disrupted our preparation and saw our best player leave the club. As well as that we saw the club failing to bring in reinforcement which was badly needed, preferring instead to do its business in a rush at the end of the transfer window, preferring to wait under all circumstances for the confirmed sale of Samir Nasri before budgeting transfer expenditure earning us the worst start to a league season I can remember.
Throughout the season I've not had a lot of patience with people harping back to the summer. After all it's done and the only way to move is forward but at this stage that shambles in the summer cannot be ignored as a major contributing factor to what has happened in our season. There are other factors too it has to be said (injuries immediately spring to mind and cannot be dismissed. Any squad in the league would struggle with problems comparable to what we've had this season), but the way we prepared for this season was poor and although we established some good form from October onwards or thereabouts, I'm not sure we ever looked like having enough to get among the very top teams in the league.
Now without wishing to be too pessimistic we look like we're on the start of an ill-timed and costly slide. One can't help but remember the fortnight in which it all went wrong last season. I can't help but feel that where last season it went wrong following the Carling Cup final, this season it might well be that you simply replace "Carling Cup final defeat" with "AC Milan in the San Siro defeat". I'd love to be wrong but I do fear that that result is going to lead to everything else in our season falling apart as well.
The truly frustrating thing about that is that there's no need for that to be the case. There's no need for one defeat to cause everything to unravel for us but somehow I just sense that it might. It's a particularly bitter pill for me because I have really believed in the greater maturity and character of this season's Arsenal team compared to last but right now I can't remember when my faith in the team has been lower.
The Sunderland result doesn't mean a lot to me I have to say, relatively speaking at least. I'm not happy to go out of the FA Cup but I can live with it. The AC Milan match is what is sticking in my mind still because in 15 years or whatever it is in Champions League football I simply can't remember us playing so badly. It was the worst performance I have ever seen from us in Europe, I feel quite comfortable saying that and that the team could perform like that in such a big game is frankly staggering. And the question has to be, how can our club fix its problems when it has a team that is capable of producing what we saw against Sunderland?
So what remedy then? What can be done to improve our situation? I know that some might think that there is no remedy and we are simply doomed to fade away out of the top four but taking that attitude just doesn't help, even among fans. The fact is that we may well not accomplish our goal of Champions League qualification this season. We're in fourth now but for how long? We're there on goals scored at the moment, a precarious lead over Chelsea to say the least. This Sunday we face Spurs at home (it would just have to be, wouldn't it?). A real tough game, a real test of character right when I think we're in a place where that's going to be very difficult to handle.
But even then, even if we drop out of the top four and we stay out of it for the rest of the season, how can we move forward? In some ways dropping out of the top four might force the club (and I mean the club, not just the manager) to realise the way things have been working for the last year or two has got to change, and I'm not just talking about transfers.
I'm not going to suggest that losing Champions League football could in any way work in our favour, we all know what it's worth to a club. But perhaps it is the case that at Arsenal, now matter what else was or was not being accomplished, the fact that we are in that competition every year means the status quo is being maintained. It's like the old historical adage says (and being a history student and future history teacher I really should be able to tell you who said it and when), nobody rebels on a full stomach. Nobody is going to feel the need to shake things up radically whilst that stream of revenue is still flowing.
Whatever else dropping out of the top four would do, it would hit the club right where it hates to be hit - the wallet. And the balance sheet would have to suffer not just from lost TV revenue, but if the club wanted that money back it would also involve transfer expenditure and investment in change. Has the club got that in them? I hope we don't have to find out. I really do hope that the manager can pick this team up off the floor again and deliver some results with them as (and I think this is important to note) only he can.
Arsene Wenger is not an idiot. He is stubborn and that has cost him in the past but he sees the failings of this team. It is rather to his credit that he refuses to say anything negative about his players or his club in public but if I were him I'd be livid in my work each and every day. The club is not giving him the resources or the support to get done what needs to be done in my opinion. I refuse to believe that Arsene Wenger didn't want to bring another player or two in in January, I refuse to believe he believed the way the club did business in the summer was right. He is doing what he's always done - the very best he can with what he's got. Previously we might have believed that a lack of transfer activity was as much his fault as anyone elses but I don't think that any more. I think there is a club behind him that simply won't change whilst things remain comfortable financially, and that when you stop to think about it is a very grim assessment indeed.
Sorry it's all been a bit stream of conciousness this morning, but it's that kind of week for us really, where frustrations rise to the surface. Let's see if we can't perhaps get a little more cheerful before the weekend.
Trophies, I have to say, were always a bit of a side issue for me this season. From the word go the challenge for us has been to stay in the top four after a summer which thoroughly disrupted our preparation and saw our best player leave the club. As well as that we saw the club failing to bring in reinforcement which was badly needed, preferring instead to do its business in a rush at the end of the transfer window, preferring to wait under all circumstances for the confirmed sale of Samir Nasri before budgeting transfer expenditure earning us the worst start to a league season I can remember.
Throughout the season I've not had a lot of patience with people harping back to the summer. After all it's done and the only way to move is forward but at this stage that shambles in the summer cannot be ignored as a major contributing factor to what has happened in our season. There are other factors too it has to be said (injuries immediately spring to mind and cannot be dismissed. Any squad in the league would struggle with problems comparable to what we've had this season), but the way we prepared for this season was poor and although we established some good form from October onwards or thereabouts, I'm not sure we ever looked like having enough to get among the very top teams in the league.
Now without wishing to be too pessimistic we look like we're on the start of an ill-timed and costly slide. One can't help but remember the fortnight in which it all went wrong last season. I can't help but feel that where last season it went wrong following the Carling Cup final, this season it might well be that you simply replace "Carling Cup final defeat" with "AC Milan in the San Siro defeat". I'd love to be wrong but I do fear that that result is going to lead to everything else in our season falling apart as well.
The truly frustrating thing about that is that there's no need for that to be the case. There's no need for one defeat to cause everything to unravel for us but somehow I just sense that it might. It's a particularly bitter pill for me because I have really believed in the greater maturity and character of this season's Arsenal team compared to last but right now I can't remember when my faith in the team has been lower.
The Sunderland result doesn't mean a lot to me I have to say, relatively speaking at least. I'm not happy to go out of the FA Cup but I can live with it. The AC Milan match is what is sticking in my mind still because in 15 years or whatever it is in Champions League football I simply can't remember us playing so badly. It was the worst performance I have ever seen from us in Europe, I feel quite comfortable saying that and that the team could perform like that in such a big game is frankly staggering. And the question has to be, how can our club fix its problems when it has a team that is capable of producing what we saw against Sunderland?
So what remedy then? What can be done to improve our situation? I know that some might think that there is no remedy and we are simply doomed to fade away out of the top four but taking that attitude just doesn't help, even among fans. The fact is that we may well not accomplish our goal of Champions League qualification this season. We're in fourth now but for how long? We're there on goals scored at the moment, a precarious lead over Chelsea to say the least. This Sunday we face Spurs at home (it would just have to be, wouldn't it?). A real tough game, a real test of character right when I think we're in a place where that's going to be very difficult to handle.
But even then, even if we drop out of the top four and we stay out of it for the rest of the season, how can we move forward? In some ways dropping out of the top four might force the club (and I mean the club, not just the manager) to realise the way things have been working for the last year or two has got to change, and I'm not just talking about transfers.
I'm not going to suggest that losing Champions League football could in any way work in our favour, we all know what it's worth to a club. But perhaps it is the case that at Arsenal, now matter what else was or was not being accomplished, the fact that we are in that competition every year means the status quo is being maintained. It's like the old historical adage says (and being a history student and future history teacher I really should be able to tell you who said it and when), nobody rebels on a full stomach. Nobody is going to feel the need to shake things up radically whilst that stream of revenue is still flowing.
Whatever else dropping out of the top four would do, it would hit the club right where it hates to be hit - the wallet. And the balance sheet would have to suffer not just from lost TV revenue, but if the club wanted that money back it would also involve transfer expenditure and investment in change. Has the club got that in them? I hope we don't have to find out. I really do hope that the manager can pick this team up off the floor again and deliver some results with them as (and I think this is important to note) only he can.
Arsene Wenger is not an idiot. He is stubborn and that has cost him in the past but he sees the failings of this team. It is rather to his credit that he refuses to say anything negative about his players or his club in public but if I were him I'd be livid in my work each and every day. The club is not giving him the resources or the support to get done what needs to be done in my opinion. I refuse to believe that Arsene Wenger didn't want to bring another player or two in in January, I refuse to believe he believed the way the club did business in the summer was right. He is doing what he's always done - the very best he can with what he's got. Previously we might have believed that a lack of transfer activity was as much his fault as anyone elses but I don't think that any more. I think there is a club behind him that simply won't change whilst things remain comfortable financially, and that when you stop to think about it is a very grim assessment indeed.
Sorry it's all been a bit stream of conciousness this morning, but it's that kind of week for us really, where frustrations rise to the surface. Let's see if we can't perhaps get a little more cheerful before the weekend.
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Posted by lepermessiah998
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lepermessiah998
Birmingham, GB
An Arsenal blog by some bloke calling himself Leper Messiah
2 Comments · Add yours
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I really feel for you, being sick with all that going on! Agree with most of what you've said here, and I like how intelligently and interestingly you write.