Don't blame the ref - Arsenal are simply not good enough anymore
By Avenell Dave
It would be easy and convenient to blame Mike Dean for Sunday's defeat against Manchester City.
I've long believed that for a simple foul in the box, unless it is violent, a caution and a penalty are punishment enough, but the letter of the law says that a player must be sent off if they are the last man and deny a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Dean is an unpleasant figure, a referee who basks in the limelight, who wants to be the main man when he should be anonymous. I read reports in The Times that he was impeccable but when so many decisions are inconsistent, it becomes a huge source of frustration.
We were being overrun way before Laurent Koscielny was sent off and I don't think we'd have even scraped a draw with 11v11.
We've shown too often this season that we can be pedestrian, that we don't pick up runners and for a sloth like James Milner to ghost in and have a free shot at goal was unforgiveable.
Our shape seems all wrong and while I'd love us to revert to 4-4-2, as someone said to me this morning, how do we accommodate Jack and Cazorla in that formation if we also have a ball winner?
It's a worry.
More of a worry, though, is how frustrated everyone is getting and how few of the team seem ready to fight.
If I was having a bad day and I had a colleague like Jack working his butt off, I'd want to follow suit.
It says much about the character of those around him that he shone so brightly. We know Jack is a star and we know he is supremely talented.
But how must he feel seeing others not showing the same fighting spirit? Much as he loves Arsenal, we can't take him for granted - look where that has got us in the past.
Typical of the malaise is Theo Walcott.
There's a lot of animosity twoards him because of the time it's taken for him to sign a new deal, the rumours that his latest deal is only for three years and that there are demands that he must play in the centre.
Virtually everyone around me wants him gone and while I think selling him or losing him would send out the wrong signals, there's a fine balance between retaining your best players and being held to ransom.
Can you imagine Thierry Henry or Ian Wright wandering around aimlessly as Theo did?
They'd have been chasing hard, running themselves into the ground to put the City defence under pressure and making a nuisance of themselves. Theo had fewer touches than Olivier Giroud had in a third of the time and that says it all.
Apart from against the very weakest teams, Walcott is simply not adept at playing as a single striker - he needs someone like Giroud beside him to feed off and if it was good enough for Henry to score most of his goals from out wide, why isn't that good enough for Theo?
But the malaise runs deeper than one player.
We're going backwards and while we have some decent players, we probably only have two world class performers (Jack and Santi) and regardless of Arsene Wenger saying that we will only buy special players, the sd truth is that too few of the current squad would be tapped up by our rivals and that says it all.
There is no sign of investment. We seem to limp from rehabilitating Abou Diaby to losing him and then being told he is like a new signing again and again. He is not a bad player but we simply cannot rely on him.
Yes, we made a bit of a stab at things in the second half on Sunday and if Giroud's header had gone in with a few minutes left, it would have been interesting to see how City coped.
For the first time I don't believe we will get a top four finish.
The squad is stretched and exhausted and we don't have good enough personnel to come in and rotate.
I'd love to see wholesale changes for the Swansea game because defeat against the Ch*vs at the weekend is unthinkable.
But can we afford to let the FA Cup go with so much rpessure on the team and indeed the club?
Even the optimists are now fed up. We've been patient for so long.
We can all see what's wrong.
If those in charge at the club cannot see that we need improvements and take the necessary action, move aside and let those who can make a difference have a chance to save the club before it limps into permanent mediocrity.
David Alexander
Reader Comments (7)
you are spot on
It would have taken a mountain to play with 10Men for 80 Minutes against City and win. Granted, we are not a very good team but I don't think City took their foot off the gas pedal, i think this team is still good but lacks energy and commitment.
Is it true that in the last 17 games that Dean referreed against us, we have won only once?
I fully agree with your assessment, and I'd like to add that Sunday's game was very similar to the Man U game. In both games you could see we going to lose in the first few minutes. There was no belief in the players... They had already lost before the a ball was kicked. We not only lack the class of players to compete with the top clubs, but we also lack the belief and fight...
PS. Why can we still not defend? We have great individuals in defense, but they play exactly like that - as individuals, we cannot defend as a team. This is a problem we've had now for about 4 or 5 years. Can nothing be done to sort it out?
The one I want gone quite honestly is Vermaelen, at least from the defence. He just let "sloth" Milner run in behind him, too concerned with the apparently unfortunate freekick decision - how many more times!? He simply isn't a good centre back and never has been. Get rid of him or stick him in midfield and get someone in who knows what they're doing! My vote goes for Mbiwa
Avenell Dave and Daily Arseblog best 2 articles of the day.
Why does Mr. Wenger make such a secret ref. the signing of TW Contract - what takes other clubs hours takes months for us - why are the fans not told.
As an aside if Mr. Usminov wants to help our club so much, could he not use some of his money as a sponsership deal from one of many acqusitions. maybe then he could have a seat on the board.
Marion
WENGER OUT !!!!!!!!
How many matches did we win with 10men in Henry Bergkamp era too many cos we had a really bad disciplinary record... In fact Braca laboured to break down 10 man Arsenal in 2006 CL final. ... Heck I thought playing with fewer players is a common training ground drill?
What if we had Ozil, CR7,Kedira, Cassilas, Kaka, Benzema, Modric, Higuain and Mourhino as Manager? Mouth Watering eh? Guess what all these "stars" are now 18 points adrift of Barca at the top. YES!! Real Madrid is worse that Arsenal this season!!! This is as surprising as seeing Darren Gibson dispose of Barry, Nasri, Kompany and Dzeko with six excellent touches controlling the ball with is chest, shin, inside and outside of both feet while the four Man city stars were left in a tangled heap (not quite) but close enough believe me!! What would help a team like Arsenal improve this term? More stars?? maybe.... until they also get used to the prevailing complacency and lack of urgency. Why do the Gunners choose to start some matches like they have no desire to be there and then try to salvage something in the last ten minutes?
Arsene needs to look at the Stats, we finished the first half of the season with 33 pts. If we finish the season with the same form then we finish fifth or sixth cos Chelsea Spurs and Everton feel they have the right too. And lets not think that WBA the Swans And LVpl are in it for laughs. How can we pick up 40+ points from the next 17(51pt.) fxtures?? We have to win 12 games 3 more than we did in the first half of the season!! Margin for error is down to only five games max and you are thinking Man U, Spurs Chelsea, Everton even Swansea....If those are the Marginal games, what about the Potential Banana Skins, Norwich Sunderland Stoke QPR & Harry!! I think if Chels Spurs and Evrt remain strong we would need more than 70 pts to make top four or else welcome to thursday Night football Arsenal vs. Gvarishbrashc Siullojkvd at 7:45pm With Wenger fielding a strong side. if we continue with this yoyo form we could still get into the CL with@ 58pts if the 5 or 6 teams around us suddenly lose form and capitulate dramatically, now howz that supposed to happen?? I say we ditch the FA Cup and CL coz if we advance in either of these cups we eventually get drawn with gate keepers Man U & trophy seeking RVP and Barca respectively, how realistic are these for your first cup in 7yrs? field a mixed side for Swansea who knows, they may have more cahonis than the first team and actually win the game. We look ahead to Chelsea and other games and our real trophy ...(choke) ...4th place