Kevin Whitcher
Before the match, Freddie Ljungberg said about 16th placed opponents Brighton: “They try to play out, defend well and they look very organized”. If his opposite number Graham Potter (who oversaw another Thursday night 2-1 victory at the Emirates as manager of Ostersunds in 2018) had been asked the same question about Arsenal, he’d have had to stop after the first five words.
What we are witnessing now is the culmination of years of complacency – specifically at board level. The extent of the club’s ambitions since the stadium move have been financial. Get in the Champions League and continue feeding at the money trough. Fourth place is good enough, titles not compulsory. So things were allowed to roll along as long as the club were achieving a top four finish, even if they never credibly competed for top spot at the business end of the season. That sense of complacency, in which nobody was under threat as long as the targets were being met, ran through the club from top to bottom, and people took their eye off the ball. Hence players were bought who were not good enough and were paid far too much. Hence winning big matches against the sides also competing for the top spots did not become important enough to rectify the evident defensive issues (as can be seen from a string of humiliating results against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool going back to 2009).
Fast forward to 2019 and the club have reaped what they have sown. It’s been a long time coming, but there are some who could see this as far back as 2008 when the draw at Birmingham shocked a relatively young squad sufficiently enough to make it so obviously apparent that too many experienced players had been moved on too quickly in the name of project youth. Arsenal played some exciting football, but did not have enough experience of overcoming setbacks. The personnel have changed since, but a habit of quickly recovering from a bad result has never been developed. It was hoped that the arrival of Unai Emery would change things. Sadly, it didn’t work out. Wrong man, wrong league, wrong tactics. So now we are left with a situation where things look even worse than they did in the last season of Arsene. A poorly performing, but highly financially rewarded group of players, unable to grasp the basics of discipline and organization.
In fairness to Freddie Ljungberg, no-one can be expected to turn this around quickly. The new manager bounce we were hoping for with the dismissal of Emery lasted until Norwich opened the scoring last weekend. But the game at Carrow Road identified familiar problems of defensive incapability, and these were merely confirmed yesterday evening. Brighton had plenty of chances and could have scored more than the two they needed to take the three points. Ljunbgerg has been appointed for the short term and the media were reporting before the game yesterday that the process of speaking to Emery’s potential full-time successors is under way. For financial reasons, it seems the club want to deal with free agents with Pochettino and Allegri the two names put forward.
Whoever does come in can write off this season as far as the Premier League is concerned. As far as any hopes of making next season’s Champions League go, all eggs are now firmly in the Europa League basket. What the club need to do is appoint someone who can improve players defensively, and organize a team to play as a unit rather than a rudderless rabble. As many of Arsene Wenger’s backroom staff were given the chop in an attempt to get shot of the culture of complacency 18 months ago, so there will have to be a turnover of players. Many of the current squad simply aren’t up to the task ahead, including some of the higher paid experienced ones. Money-wise, the club will have to shop very smart, as well as work hard to get the best out of their Academy options.
I was intrigued to read a report stating that Atletico Madrid were not happy with their start to the season, six points off top place, having spent heavily last summer. Granted, his English is probably non-existent, but Diego Simeone is exactly what Arsenal need at this point in time. Mauricio Pochettino used a translator when he came to Southampton and got his message across. Simeone’s sheer passion does not need translation. But that’s pie in the sky. Not going to happen. If he goes anywhere it will be to Italy.
Anyway, back to reality, and it’s a question of whether Allegri or Pochettino would fancy the task of the huge job awaiting the next permanent head coach at Arsenal. Ideally, they would come in over the weekend, but the club don’t move that quickly. West Ham away looks like a tricky game, but football being football, don’t rule out an away win. The Hammers can be as poor as Arsenal on their day, so that one’s a real toss-up. Standard Liege away next week sees the Belgian side needing to beat their visitors by five clear goals. I know things are bad at the moment, but you really cannot foresee that. However, if Ljungberg remains in charge over the Christmas period, the club will remain in close contact with the relegation zone. That isn’t a criticism of Freddie, who in truth has been handed a thankless task, it’s a reality. If Arsenal are going to get anything from the five matches that begin with Man City at home, they need to focus on not losing as their starting point. That approach hasn’t happened at the club since the 2005 FA Cup Final, after which Arsene Wenger vowed his team would never play such tactics again.
This morning, the club feels like a rudderless, slowly sinking ship. Giving Freddie the job of interim head coach is like telling a cabin boy to take over the steering of the Titanic after it's hit the iceberg. Even with a full pre-season, I think the job at hand is beyond someone of Ljungberg’s experience, although at least the fans understand this and will not go after him.
Ultimately, it’s the board that have brought this situation upon us, through years of allowing the rot to gradually spread, refusing to see the obvious signs that things were not going to improve. I asked Arsene Wenger at the shareholders AGM a few years ago (maybe 2011, I can’t recall) exactly what the plan was to improve the defence after the club had conceded too many goals the previous season. He responded by saying you can’t go to a supermarket and buy good centre backs off the shelf. I know that the club looked at Virgil Van Dijk when he was at Celtic but decided they didn’t need him. Even the likes of Jonny Evans and Gary Cahill are better than the current options – and the latter was available on a free transfer last summer. The players are out there. And even if Arsenal are not signing them, they are not even working on the ones they are bringing in.
When Arsenal belatedly decided to give Arsene Wenger his cards, my hope was that by the 2020/21 season the club would be able to mount a credible challenge for the Premier League title. Two seasons and five transfer windows to make the necessary changes and get completely shot of the culture of complacency that had led to the club failing to make the Champions League for two seasons running. Sadly, there isn’t going to be a title challenge next season. Arsenal’s first job is to solidify their foundations and stop the rot. Forget winning trophies, this team need to learn how to win football matches again.
I’ll finish with mention of an email exchange I just had with a long-term supporter – watching Arsenal since the 1960s. I wrote, “If the decline is allowed to continue, this could be terminal - at least in our lifetimes. Think Leeds. It could happen and you can't rule it out completely on current form.” People think Arsenal cannot be relegated. This season they are celebrating 100 years in the top flight of English football. The people running the club need to act fast to make sure that sequence continues. Arsenal have taken four points from their last seven league games, against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Leicester, Southampton, Norwich and Brighton. And now the games are about to get tougher. I look forward to the next video interview on arsenal.com from the owner’s son (who was at least in attendance at the game yesterday evening to witness the horrorshow).
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