Do you trust this board more than Wenger?

Milan 4 Arsenal 0

Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Having described Milan as ‘very beatable’ in my post yesterday afternoon, our dismal performance proved me totally wrong.

Judging by verdicts passed by supporters and media after the game, I was in a minority and quite a few people were not surprised by the defeat. They saw it as the very definition of chickens coming home to roost after years of continually selling players and picking inferior replacements.

I agree it turned out to be a match that, had it been played on a computer, you would have paused and pressed restart.

After an opening 10 minutes that was steady at worst, Sagna played a pass to nobody, seemed to shrug at Walcott who was only barely nearby and then showed zero interest in recovering the situation.

It was a precursor to 80 more minutes where the effort was lacking throughout the side, the invention was non-existent and the will to win was nowhere. To make matters worse, there can be no excuse in missing key players – Wilshere apart, this was as strong as it gets.

But our form over the past month has been reasonable and didn’t offer any suggestion we would put such an abject display, so you can argue it was a freak result.

Plus, let’s remember we’ve done better than other favoured sides to reach this far in the competition. Compared to Man U, for example, we had a far stronger group to contend with and did the job required so our European campaign has not been a total disaster.

But it doesn’t escape the fact that, season by season, our team is declining and our targets get lower and lower.

What happens next?
Looking back on my posts from the end of last season my view was that Wenger should have been replaced given the years of repeated mistakes, his unwillingness to consider new ideas and that more players were getting worse than getting better under his guidance.

In some ways, ignoring my fury at the Blackburn debacle, my verdict has soothed somewhat this season despite everyone else’s ire increasing as results have barely improved.

Doubtless another collapse like last season’s March meltdown might re-strengthen my resolve that Wenger should go.

But what has changed is my view of the board. While in the past I thought their aspirations were being held back by the untouchable Wenger, now they appear just as clueless and unwilling to stop the rot.

I do look forward to the day Wenger is replaced. If nothing else, it will make supporting Arsenal a lot more interesting than the all-too predictable season we currently go through. But when there are no obvious candidates to fill his shoes, and when we have an American owner who remains silent in the shadows, removing him would lead to hope rather than expectation that we’d improve.

I don’t trust the board’s judgement more than I trust Wenger’s so who is to say they would pick a better manager than the one we already have?

How to stop Arsene Wenger ever hiring you, by Dennis Bergkamp Esq / Milan thoughts

Oh, Dennis, what have you done?

My heart was trembling at the thought of you and Bouldie forming a mean, lean coaching double act if Pat Rice retires in the summer.

And then you go and say things like this to the Daily Telegraph:

“Sometimes you need more of a winning mentality than a passing mentality,” Bergkamp argues.

“I’m not sure Arsenal have enough of that in their players, when the attitude becomes more important than the ability just to pass the ball...

“…Sometimes I see their games and it’s always the same way of playing, a bit too predictable.”

Aaaargh!!! Yes, every sane supporter must agree with you what you’re saying but there is one man that runs the show round here and Arsene isn’t known for his love of dissenting voices.

Admittedly he also lauds the boss and the players as ‘fantastic’ but the headlines are out there now and I fear Dennis’ fate is sealed – we won’t be seeing him back at Ashburton Grove any time soon.

More’s the pity as he speaks real sense and we could do with some fresh thinking – the interview is heartily recommended.

Beware Milan’s jokers in the pack
I wish I had more time to preview tonight’s game. Having seen Milan’s last few games on TV they look very beatable.

But as any Milan fan would point out they have been missing half a team, including Kevin Prince Boateng and, for a match and a half after getting sent off, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Given Pato is not expected to return from injury and Robinho’s form is truly dreadful, these are the two that worry me. We could get sucked into a tedious stalemate only for one of them to come up with a touch of genius and make a difference.

Otherwise, let’s hope the boys believe in themselves. We’ve already helped knock out the German champions when no-one really expected us to – we can do the same to Italy’s finest.

A great response to a distasteful opener

Sunderland 1 Arsenal 2

The positive vibes continue to grow and a one-nil down, two-one up, injury time victory only makes things more encouraging. One team came to play football at the Stadium of Light yesterday and, while we couldn’t convert our domination of possession into clear-cut chances, Arsenal deserve real credit for not being thrown off course by conceding first.

Am I the only person to find Sunderland’s goal unsporting bordering on the shameful?

There was a debate in midweek on Radio 5 about the most sporting gesture people had ever seen on a football pitch and I struggled to think of any recent examples. Coming on a day dominated by the escalating Evra-Suarez enmity, the reaction of James McLean in exploiting Mertesacker’s obvious injury was – without wishing to go all Daily Mail – another, albeit smaller, example of behaviour typical in a sport that no longer values sportsmanship. Though having said that, had the tables been turned and we’d scored that goal I expect there would have been an outcry.

All three substitutions by Wenger were good decisions but the one that stood out was picking Ramsey to replace the BFG. Although you might think it was natural to start chasing the game having just gone a goal down, I thought he may have been tempted, with still 20 minutes to go, to bring on Gibbs in anticipation of the home side finding inspiration from taking the lead.

Instead, boldness paid off. We continued to take the game to Sunderland and, thanks to the invaluable contributions of the two other subs Arshavin and Henry, grabbed a very satisfying win.

Small margins
We live in a fickle world, of course, and had Sunderland come out of their shells and scored again I would no doubt have been bemoaning Ramsey’s arrival. And had Henry not managed to pop up with his goal, I would have been lamenting not taking more than a point from a match we dominated. But these are the fine margins we operate in and currently things are going our way.

This was the first of eight or nine tricky fixtures and we’ve started in the best possible way. Fourth spot remains achievable if we continue to build our confidence and avoid the kind of brain-freezes that cost us points at Swansea. You can’t escape the feeling the spirit that pushed us to victory yesterday remains brittle and one ‘devastating’ defeat could quickly lead to two, three or four.

But for now we are on an upward trajectory and the Milan game on Wednesday is one we can look forward to.

A chance to bask in the positives

Arsenal 7 Blackburn Rovers 1

There haven’t been many opportunities this season to sit back and enjoy the show when watching the Arsenal. Yesterday provided one thanks to as comprehensive a win as we’ve managed in years. So let’s cast off the pessimism for at least a day and focus on the good stuff.

The biggest positive (again) was the performance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

It’s dangerous to draw conclusions before he’s started even 10 games in an Arsenal shirt but he looks like a very special talent.

As well as his obvious pace and dribbling skill, it’s his awareness, decision-making and determination that have stood out.

His two finishes yesterday showed real maturity and at times, oddly, he reminded me of Wayne Rooney in his style – strong, well balanced and clever with the ball. Thankfully he doesn’t look to share the same personality.

I wasn’t in the mood to listen to Arsene when, after Substitutiongate, he reminded everyone that he was the one who signed the Ox.

But, since I’m feeling positive, now’s my chance to pay tribute to the boss’s willingness to invest heavily in youth when he thinks it’s worth it. If the Ox can reproduce the kind of performances he’s shown so far for months and seasons to come we’ll have quite a player on our hands.

Other positives yesterday included Coquelin who again impressed at right back, Van Persie (who won’t get overshadowed despite scoring a hat-trick very often) and Arteta who played at his Rolls Royce best. Even the goal we conceded wasn’t a bad one.

Rubbish bin bags
For no particular reason, but probably linked to the spurious stories about a bin bag protest and everyone’s continued anger at slipping to seventh in the league, over the last few days I’ve been feeling more sympathetic towards Wenger.

Things aren’t as bleak as our position in the table suggested. The comeback against Villa and decent performance against Bolton in midweek showed Wenger does have a talented squad which has a chance to make the top four if our best players stay fit and everyone shows the desire required.

Yesterday we demonstrated exactly what will be required. The movement off the ball was top class, the second and third goals were two of the best I can recall in recent seasons and we looked focused for the entire 90 minutes.

All of this comes with the huge caveat that it was against a Blackburn team that is rightly threatened by relegation, mired by boardroom weirdness and that played for 10 men for the majority of the match.

But the attitude we showed was refreshingly determined. Had Blackburn even tried to park the bus we would have just smashed in the windows, hacked out the handbrake and pushed it out of the way.