Arsene Wenger, the pundit is sure the £100m mark for a player transfer will be “easy to reach” but as a coach he sounds clueless as to when Arsenal will score their next goal. In fact when it comes to the stuttering Gunners he sounds clean out of prescriptions.
Which is quintessential Wenger. He can foresee 20 years into the future of the sport. However when it comes to Arsenal, he’s still desperately leveraging Mathieu Flamini into midfied alongside Aaron Ramsey, the two players suspiciously flirting with DSM II type disorders. Flamini in the Chelsea match was found more times kissing distance from Courtois than anchoring midfield in a complete abnegation of protecting the back four. Having recently watched Band of Brothers and The Pacific, you would never trust Flam and Ramsey to hold the line. They’re the ones you sent out search parties for and got killed in the process. Meanwhile, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain are prime examples of arrested development. 10 years is a long time for the jury’s out but that is Walcott in a nutshell. He’s never really matured and the Ox seems to be following him to the same destructive levels of nihilism. Yet, Walcott endures to run exasperatingly straight into defenders ad nauseam without seeking open space. The Ox does all the spadework without any end product. It’s as rote as Arsenal losing to Chelsea despite the coaching changes.
The Gunners have gone from a +2 at the top of the league standings at the turn of the new year and are now trailing Leicester, Man City, and Spurs. Their margin for error has gone from very slight to almost none. This season represents their best chance at a title. But you would never know with the display of soul sapping lack of self belief evident in the last three matches. They’re crying out for an intervention but instead of receiving the nuts and bolts, Wenger gives a roadmap to future ticketing prices and transfer fees. It’s increasingly becoming the only way we can take him seriously which maybe why he does it in the first place.