Yesterday afternoons match against Manchester City was always going to be tough, no question about it. However, we, being Arsenal, decided to make the test just that little bit harder by conceding a goal within the opening two minutes. For those of you new to The Arsenal, welcome. This is how it goes. Yesterday was just another crystal clear illustration, of just how far this once great football club has declined under the stewardship of KSE.
Being an Arsenal supporter right now is genuinely hard work, don’t get me wrong, we’ve had some great times over the years & supporters of other clubs would jump at the chance to have had three FA Cup successes in recent years & be playing European football. I guess it’s all relative to your situation, just like anything in your day to day walk of life. The strangest thing about supporting your club is, no matter how bad it is, no matter who you’re playing, you still hold on to this glimmer of hope (all be it naively), that you might just turn up today. I had that before yesterday, Citeh hadn’t been playing like they usually do so far this season & we were at home, not that this really changes anything for us anymore it appears, so maybe, just maybe, we might nick something.
Usually before a “big” game I feel nervous, which is quite normal. Yesterday however, in spite of the usual glimmer of hope floating around my tiny Arsenal brain, I wasn’t nervous, just fearful. Fearful of what Citeh team will turn up, because if the top quality one we have all become accustomed to under Pep arrived, we were doomed & I really did fear the worst. We are a team so bereft of anything it hurts. There’s nothing, no desire, no togetherness, no work ethic, no consequences & no passion. There isn’t even any personal pride on show. Nobody cares anymore & it’s crucifying to watch. It’s just painful to sit & watch your once great club falter, falter at every single given opportunity it can & worse still, not seem to give a single ounce of care as to why & how it’s gotten to this point.
I’m not going to cover the game in today’s blog because there isn’t much point, I’ve written this next line a few times over the past few months but, you’ve seen it before & you know exactly how the game went. There’s just nothing on show from us during games other than quick flashes in 10-15 minute spells here & there. Yesterday we didn’t have a spell, we had one shot on target & that came within the first 60 seconds. That tells you everything you need to know about how the match went. At half time it was 0-3 & let’s be honest, if Citeh were generally arsed with the second half, it could’ve been whatever they wanted really. I couldn’t help but think Pep has told them to take it easy, Christmas is here & games are coming thick & fast! To try & lighten the mood for myself, I thought Pep had told them to take the foot off the gas a little to make Arteta’s future job a little easier… jokes aside, Arteta cut a very concerned figure on the Citeh bench throughout. You cannot help but read into that, even more so now theres been some pictures of some of our executive team leaving his house coming out in the press today.
Speaking of Arteta, many, as I’m sure most of you are experiencing as Arsenal fans, are asking for your opinion on the next Arsenal manager. Who should it be etc etc… it’s a tough one to answer because when you look at us collectively at the moment, it’s a huge job to take on, I can’t even call it a project at this stage. My personal opinion would be to get some experience. The reason why is simple, I just don’t think, as a club, we are in a position to take a risk with an unknown quantity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll back whoever they put in 100%, like most, but I just think we need some severe steadying. We need someone who truly knows what they are doing. As we now know, manager changes are frequent, we won’t get another Wenger/Ferguson tenure ever again in the Premier League unfortunately. The old romantic days of football are long dead & buried sadly, so seeing a manger do 3-5 years will become the norm for us now as well. For that reason, I would personally put Ancelotti in place, experience. I love the idea of Arteta, but I really do feel the club isn’t in that luxurious position to take that risk at this moment in time. As always, if I’m wrong & get proven so, I would absolutely love it. Like I said, it’s just an opinion.
One word that’s heavily resurfaced itself to the forefront of my mind once again is relegation. It’s a seriously scary thought & I’ve been mentioning it for a while now, we are in free fall. The win over West Ham just lightly papered over those cracks for a few days. I’ve always wondered what it would be like for a massive club to get relegated, I just never even considered that it might be our beloved club flirting with the possibility. When speaking about it with colleagues & friends, most will point you in the direction of Leeds Utd, of course I know their story, I’m old enough to be familiar with it all. Leeds were league champions in 1992, Champions League semi finalists in 2001 & relegated the season we went unbeaten in 2003/04. Thirteen seasons, that’s how quickly times can change & remember, they haven’t come back up once since they went down. We won the league fifteen years ago, so at this stage, look at where we are, who we are & what we represent. I’m panicked, not just quietly anymore, openly. I’m openly panicked & if the people running this club aren’t, we face a very very tough reality in 2020. I hope to god it doesn’t come to that.
Next up is Everton away in the early kick off on Saturday, another team who have had this manger bounce thing that keeps being spoken about, that everyone seems to get, bar us. It seems we might have some clarity by then as to what is going on with the Head Coach position, only time will tell. Like most of you the hope has diminished, I expect nothing, but the good old naivety will come flooding back in come Saturday evening & I will set myself up for further disappointment.
Until then gooners.
The Arse 