I don’t really know what to say. I don’t think there’s anything that I can say that would either soothe my own soul when it comes to Arsenal, or offer any words of consolation or positivity to you, because I have none for myself.
Arsenal Football Club looks like it’s on its knees at the moment. It looks like a sad, flailing, returned from retirement boxer, wildly swinging at its opponents in the hope of making a connection. Occasional it does connect with a half decent left hook, but for every one of those that lands, five or six are returned without reply.
It’s just sad. You want to remember said boxer for their contribution in their heyday: graceful, driven, successful. But all you’re left with at the moment is this old man who time has moved on from the spotlight.
But the old man doesn’t want to move on from it. He still craves it. Is desperate to continue to bask in it, because in his head he’s still that young boxer who could take on the world.
Not any more he can’t.
And not any more an Arsène Wenger team can. People can blame an abysmal referee if they like, but that is simply covering up the car crash that is this teams mentality right now. They’re shipping goals like it’s going out of fashion. Their heads are dropping at the slightest hint of adversity that needs overcoming. They’re bottling every shot they get at redemption.
Defensively we’re a horror show. No Koscielny, no party, and when he’s being sent off for what I undedstand is a red card at the end of the day – despite the incompetence of first showing a yellow – it was obvious that even the ‘glorious failure’ was too much for this team right now.
Alexis is the only person you would imagine would be capable of dragging this team out of its funk. He’s checking out in the summer.
The whole team is ponderous and out of ideas. There is no game plan. No structure. No belief. We’ve been talking about Wenger and the need for him to go, but I’m starting to wonder if a new guys needs to grab a broom and start sweeping, because surely there’s only so much a new man can do?
Last night there seemed to be some initial fight, but that quickly evaporated in the second half and unsurprisingly, quickly became a farce. Players unable to retain the ball, buggering up the basics of defending, looking like a collective of boys lost at sea without a paddle or compass.
It’s embarrassing. We’re a laughing stock. Both domestically and abroad. We’re the case study of what not to do when you’re a big club: great balance sheet, shocking trophy haul, no major ambition to take it to the next level.
Did you see that Jake Humphrey interview last week? According to Arsène “The next level is the next level”. Yep, but what does that mean? He even couldn’t give a simple answer to the question. But that’s because he has no answers. Hasn’t done for some time.
This team don’t play for him. They haven’t done for a while. They have been sleepwalking through the season since December. And it’s now more obvious than it’s ever been. But what’s more obvious is that right now, on this form, we’re going to see a slide of which we will have never have seen in Arsène’s reign. Just look at some of the fixtures still to come. West Brom away. Man City at home. Stoke, Southampton and The Totts away. United and Everton at home. How many of those games does it look like we can win between now and May? Two maybe?
I can’t see an end to this level of weariness in this Arsenal team. They look rudderless and they look forlorn. Oh how we joked about AVB’s ‘negative spiral’, but we’re so far in to it we’re boreing a whole in to the earths core.
Plus points? Maybe Lucas Perez might get a go at this rate? Maybe we’ll see more of Welbeck? That’s all I’ve got right now. The board won’t yank that new deal from under the nose of Arsène and as such, his ink on that contract would be the final insult to this season; a clear indication of stagnation of a football team and club and a manager who doesn’t have enough self awareness to understand that he is not the man for the job any more.
Please, just make this all stop, let’s just fast forward to the summer and make all of this go away. We all need a break from this relentless mediocrity.
Sorry, that’s me for the day, I can’t be bothered to do any more talking about Arsenal.
Nothing will change, nothing ever does so who cares.
Vote with your feet – don’t make them richer…
The only thing in a negative spiral is a few of the fans and some blog writers,I just checked we are in a CL challenging position, the FA cup, have some very good players and an experienced board and manager,if some people cant manage there expectations then thats not the clubs fault, it is they who are in the depths of negativity
I just checked how many “top English sides” were left in European competition and it did not look good for fans of many teams, guessing if your standards of “negative spiral” apply the suicide rate is going to be pretty high up and down the country.
Good luck on your sad and morose mood.