Pathetic Gunners embarrassed again

Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal

Arsenal’s performance away to Liverpool on Sunday was simply disastrous. This was not the assessment of any football pundit or fan sat in the stadium watching their team capitulate, this was Arsene Wenger’s description of what he had just seen.

From the very first minute to the very last, Wenger’s side were an embarrassment to the club, the shirt, the fans and their manager. Yet at no point did we see Wenger or any of his backroom staff, get up from the dug out to castigate the players.

In fact such was the despicable nature of the performance that those same players admitted afterwards that it was not good enough. Players such as Ozil and Ramsey even apologised to the fans, however at no point did we see one single Arsenal player shouting at his colleagues, demanding more from them. On one occasion, Koscielny made a clearance as Oxlade-Chamberlain failed to chase back a Liverpool player, but the Frenchman just turned around and got himself ready to defend the ensuing corner rather than berate his teammate for his lack of effort. At half time these same players and backroom staff had a period of 15 minutes to collectively sort out the mess that had unfolded during the first period, yet despite the substitution of Ramsey, being replaced by Coquelin, Arsenal produced the same exact performance as in the first half.

At the end of the game it was clear that Arsenal Football Club has lurched into a crisis but there was much debate as to where the blame should lie for such a debacle that has been allowed to continue for the best part of a decade. There were those that blamed the board for a lack of funds which Wenger is allowed to splurge on new signings and those that rightly castigated the players and declared that they were letting the manager down. Yet it is difficult to look past Wenger himself as the main culprit. Suggestions of a lack of money to spend in the transfer window should fall on deaf ears. Wenger has had money to spend in recent years and has spent record sums on the likes of Ozil and most recently Lacazette. The manager spent almost £100 million on new signings last summer but the same flaws still exist in his side and of those signings Mustafi is likely to move to Inter Milan before the transfer window closes and Xhaka has been average at best. The problem is not a lack of funds being made available but the manager’s inability to identify the squad’s shortcomings and recruit players to those positions. It has been ten years of Arsenal fans waiting for their manager to sign a defensive midfielder, but he has simply refused to do so every transfer window and the team has suffered the same failings year on year as a result.

Those that lay the blame squarely at the players do of course have a point. The manager can only do so much and once the players are on the pitch it is their responsibility to fight for the shirt, put a shift in and execute the manager’s instructions. However, if they do not do this then it is the manager’s responsibility to move those players out of the club. The performance against Liverpool was not a one off, it is something that has been seen by Arsenal fans time and time again over the last five years. Humiliation has been endured by Gunners fans at Man United, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea with one reporter pointing out that in total it has happened on twenty occasions in that time period. Once is maybe excusable and can be attributed to a bad day at the office but twenty is simply a joke and the manager must be held accountable.

Wenger’s decision making has also been extremely questionable of late. Against Liverpool he decided to have record signing Lacazette on the bench alongside Olivier Giroud, deploying Welbeck upfront instead. Why sign Lacazette, who has looked sharp since the start of the season, and then not start him in the biggest game of the season so far? Why start Welbeck up front when he missed so many chances against Stoke? Only the manager can answer these questions, but the fact Arsenal failed to register a single shot on target should speak volumes. It wasn’t just up front that baffling decisions were being made, it was across the entire team. Oxlade-Chamberlain rejected a new contract in the build up to the game and informed the club of his desire to move, yet he was still selected in the starting line-up. His presence at right wing back meant Bellerin was selected out of position at left wing back, all when Arsenal had Kolasinac on the bench. Surely Oxlade-Chamberlain should have been removed from the match day squad entirely and Bellerin and Kolasinac deployed in the wing back roles?

Wenger made selection errors even in the deep lying midfield positions. Against Stoke Xhaka and Ramsey were caught out time and time again, leaving the defence exposed, but Wenger didn’t change a thing. With the naturally more defensive minded Coquelin on the bench, Wenger saw Xhaka and Ramsey repeat the same errors as in the previous week. In the first minutes of the game Ramsey was already pushing himself so far forward that he was occupying the striker position and Xhaka was never too far behind. It must be noted that if a player such as Ramsey is being instructed by the manager to push forward at every occasion rather than sit back in the deep lying midfield role to protect the defence, then the Welshman is only following instructions and once again Wenger should be held accountable. Even after the introduction of Coquelin at half time the Frenchman was also seen bombing forward at times, suggesting that it is the manager who is enforcing this tactic to the detriment of his team.

It was no surprise that Liverpool tore Arsenal apart, with each goal a comedy of errors from the Gunners that left everyone associated with the club hanging their heads in shame. For the first goal, one of the defensive midfielders, Ramsey was busy on the other side of the pitch talking to Oxlade-Chamberlain, both with their backs to the ball, while Xhaka’s poor pass was intercepted and Liverpool sprung forward. Firminho probably couldn’t believe just how much space Arsenal’s three central defenders afforded him right in the middle of the six yard box as he headed the ball home. Liverpool’s second came on the counter attack as an Arsenal attack broke down and with Ramsey in the opposition penalty area, Xhaka, as he did against Stoke, went chasing after the ball, rather than taking a few steps back. The Swiss international duly took himself out of the game as the ball was passed beyond him and with the defence exposed, Mane was allowed to cut inside and slot the ball into the far corner of the net.

The third was again scored on the counter attack as an Arsenal corner was cleared towards Bellerin, who decided to take a touch but was dispossessed by Mohammad Salah. As Bellerin was the last defender, stood inside the Liverpool half, Salah had the whole half in which to run through on goal unchallenged, before sliding the ball past Cech. Daniel Sturridge scored the fourth with an unopposed header at the back post to seal a truly abysmal afternoon for the Gunners. 

The most frustrating thing for Arsenal fans is that we have been here before. The media were surprised that those who had spent their precious time and money to travel to Liverpool didn’t voice their anger and frustration in the same manner as had happened during parts of last season, yet it many ways this is even more of an indictment of the club. The fans have grown weary of seeing the same performances, the same mistakes being repeated year on year. There haven’t been any significant changes at the club during the summer so why should we expect anything to have changed on the pitch? With this weariness there is now an apathy amongst the fan base which in many ways is more dangerous and more damning for the future of this club than any vociferous fan protest. There is now an acceptance that nothing will change and that the club we all love will simply be allowed to drift further and further away from where it should be.