The Arsenal Post-Mortem Begins - Where it Went Wrong

The end of the season had brought about mixed feelings among Arsenal fans. While there is relief at a painful season coming to an end, a long summer of no football and transfer rumours is now underway.

Craven Cottage was ringing with chants from the Arsenal fans urging Wenger to spend money while at the same time there was a continuous 10 minutes of, “We love you Arsenal”, that left the Fulham fans bemused.

When Arsene Wenger emerged from the Fulham tunnel and jogged across to the dugout, chants of, “One Arsene Wenger”, was voiced by the Gooners. Althought faith in Wenger’s ability remains within the core support at Arsenal, there is a demand for a change in the club’s philosophy!




So what really has gone wrong in North London? The move to the Emirates Stadium has proved a financial master class considering the state of many clubs around the country. Yet, the trophies have come almost as rare as yellow cards for Barcelona players for simulation.

Despite 6 trophyless seasons, the real problems started in 2007 when David Dein departed the club. The Champions League Final and Carling Cup Final in 2006 and 2007 respectively were settled largely due to tactical flaws and at the time, Wenger was still accountable to Dein regarding the teams progress. However, since his departure, the Arsenal fans have only been “treated” to one final appearance.

Dein’s departure, on the back of some serious disagreements with the rest of the board members, was a pivotal moment in Arsenal’s history and the start of a series of board room mis-management by Chairman Peter Hill-Wood.

It is no secret that David Dein ran the show in North London for a while and had major influence on Wenger’s transfer targets. At one point, it even seemed no transfer was beyond Arsenal’s reach as Sol Campbell was convinced to move across North London to sign for Arsenal while rejecting big money offers from Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Such was Dein’s visionary characteristics, he consistently identified opportunities for Arsenal to move forward and compete along with Europe’s Elite Clubs.

Dein’s replacement was former MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis. At a crucial time when everyone at the club from boardroom members to stewards were working hard to complete a smooth transition to the new stadium, the higher powers at Arsenal decided to appoint a man with no relevant experience in the Premier League and has worked on the side of the Atlantic where rugby is played with padded protection and is called football.

Since his arrival, Gazidis seems to have largely concentrated his efforts on the ‘Arsenalisation’ of the stadium that has no doubt kept a small section at the Emirates happy while this season’s tour of China has been added to a long list of mistakes made by the club.

More worrying for Arsenal fans is that key transfer targets Wenger has identified returned no results. Xabi Alonso was not signed due to the Arsenal board refusing to meet the initial £14m demanded by Liverpool before Real Madrid swooped in the following season for the Spanish International’s signature.

Further errors have included the failure recruit Pepe Reina, Gary Cahill, Mark Schwarzer and Gokhan Inler, all of whom did not sign due to breakdown in transfer fee negotiations.

The fans are reassured every summer that cash is available to Wenger. Yet, despite cash in the region of £30m-£40m, the club refused to pay £3m asking price for Schwarzer.

Hill-Wood was rather outspoken on the issue with Mark Schwarzer and I wonder whether or not Wenger has been in complete control of how cash is spent. For a manager that spent £10.5 million for Thierry Henry, and £2m for Jens Lehmann, would an extra £1m to address a goalkeeping issue he has identified be regarded as paying over the odds? Or are we to believe that Wenger has become a very bad manager in a short space of time?

If Wenger is masking the problems at boardroom level as his own shortcomings, he will have to face the criticism levelled by those branded by Hill-Wood as “Silly”. Wenger must address the tactical mistakes he has made this season, especially the constant need to play Nasri out wide – a decision that backfired in the final following Rosicky’s below-par performance.

A very long summer awaits and over the next few weeks, I will look at every position in depth and the players that will help this Arsenal side move forward.

A Tale of 3 Enemies

On a sun drenched afternoon in North London, 3 highly unpopular figures among the 60,000 crowd at Ashburton Grove marched off the field. They were wearing neither the red of Arsenal nor the black of Manchester United.

Referee Chris Foy and his assistants were jeered off the pitch as the 3D Cameras captures some very poor refereeing. A clear handball by Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic was waved away leaving the faithful at the Clock End stunned along with the Manchester United fans who breathed a sigh of relief.

My seat at the Emirates was directly in line with the position assistant referee Andy Garratt at the moment the incident occurred. Strangely, other than Mr. Garratt, everyone around me including the Manchester United fans, managed to spot Vidic’s hand flying out to deny van Persie a goal scoring opportunity from Walcott’s cross.

It was far from the only mistake within the first 45 minutes that Foy and his assistants were responsible. Challenges from Vidic and Fabio went unpunished while Foy managed to also get himself in the way of 3 Arsenal passes within the first half.

Manchester United also had grounds for complaint in second half for a penalty denied to Michael Owen. It was a big call at that stage of the game as Ferguson pointed out rather cynically in his post-match interview. To suggest his side do not get the big decisions is insane. United have got lucky many a times this season and if Fergie really believes his side are hard done by then perhaps he would join me in the away travels when Dowd done fantastically in Newcastle, or mysterious 4 minutes of added time post Liverpool game. Maybe Ferguson would like to replay the reverse fixture at Old Trafford in the winter when Ferdinand got away with a kung-fu kick on Sagna and Howard Webb pointing to the spot for an alleged "deliberate handball".



Decisions have not been kind to us for a long time now. Atleast not as kind as the blue side of London had yesterday as Chelsea watched Sunday's game eagerly. Arsenal played the better football and the result reflected the quality of football played by two giants of the English League.

The likes of van Persie, Walcott, Nasri, Wilshere, Ramsey, Arshavin and Fabregas pose a better attacking unit than Manchester United have. However, along with a solid defence, Manchester United has something that Wenger cannot teach his talented squad; a winning mentality and a battling quality that only champions possess.

Since February, results have not gone Arsenal’s way and the Carling Cup Final was arguably the most important game in the clubs recent history. Sections of the footballing world write off the importance of the League cup but forget that it is this competition that can push players to an extra level with a positive mental preparation for a final sprint to the finish.

Great players of the past, the likes of Adams, Roy Keane, Vieira and Hansen have all said that to do it the first time is the most difficult. Had we won that game against Birmingham, Sunday’s game would’ve been far from a meaningless game for Arsenal.

Wenger said before the game “90% Manchester United will win the title. They have been efficient offensively and defensively”.

And despite criticism and shortcomings in certain areas, United have used the efficiency and mental strength from past seasons to place themselves in the driving seat this season.

Samir Nasri said in the Arsenal match day programme “For me the difference between the sides is that we always try to play good football, while Manchester [United] are not scared to drop back, wait for their opponent and play on the counter. They are used to playing like that and we are not - that’s the big difference. We are used to playing our football and always try to score one more goal than the opponent. It’s difficult to change that approach just game by game, maybe that’s what we need to add next year”

It’s a valid point made by Nasri who produced an impressive first half performance before being substituted due to a hamstring scare.

The afternoon however belonged to the young Welshman Aaron Ramsey, who ironically snubbed a move to Old Trafford for red and white of Arsenal. He described his performance as, “the happiest day since I broke my leg”.

A year after the horrific tackle at Stoke City, Ramsey produced a magnificent display to cap his comeback from the double leg fracture with a goal. His work rate from kick off made it very difficult for the United midfielders and Ji-Sung Park was the culprit for failing to track Ramsey’s run as the Welshman latched on to van Persie’s cut back to score what proved to be the winner as Park was left watching
The win was justified as Manchester United looked far from champions and out of ideas while the Gunners were out to enjoy their football for the remainder of the season. A strange season continues to unfold and the only thing that is certain is that the title race is still on!