Kevin Holdridge's Blog

I’ve never until today been to an Arsenal away match where the supporters have failed to get behind the team. Hush and occasional booing at the Emirates is one thing, but the away fans are usually highly energetic and supportive (yes, even  for Bendtner). I think that sums up  the state of  feeling. Stubborn failures to strengthen the squad and to attend to weaknesses in defensive play and set pieces (both defending and taking) make Groundhog Day look new and exciting. The Prof’s standard pronouncements about  team spirit and youth have become stale and unconvincing. The club fails to spend, fails to deliver, but is happy to put up next year’s tickets by 6%. At least we can be sure of holding on to  the number one position for most expensive tickets if not  for anything else.

Mind you, the players (with the exception of Wilshere) were even more lukewarm and unenthusiastic than the support.  At Stoke, the tunnel opens in the corner by the away fans. Despite that proximity, there was no eye contact or acknowledgement from most of the players at the start, interval or end of the match. It was as if they knew the Wengerball experiment had come to an unsatisfactory end and, as passive (but highly paid) victims,  they could only wait impotentlyand demoralised to see what comes next. That’s pretty much how they played, too.

Today’s performance was dire.  The Stoke fans had a field day chanting “boring” as we tippy-tap passed around to no effect. As has been the case  for a couple of seasons at least now, we pass because nobody has any idea what to do when  the opposition defend in numbers. It’s not even pretty most of the time. I can’t remember the last match where I saw Arsenal consistently play beautifully and creatively with a view to scoring. Hell, I’d settle for seeing even one player getting in the box ready to receive a cross.

Today we again also fell into the trap of confusing strength with petulance.  Instead of demonstrating toughness and focus, immature fouls by Bendtner and Wilshere, amongst others, just showed our lack of it. I can forgive Wilshere for now as he’s a young lad and does at least seem passionate about the team and winning. But, the lack of team leadership on the pitch means that agression and frustration are poorly directed and managed instead of being used as a positive.

The Prof defends the  team by saying that coming in the top four is an achievement, a vindication even. Well, maybe that would be true if we were Fulham, Bolton, or Sunderland. But we’re not. At present, Arsenal is one of the biggest and richest clubs in the league.  Our aim should be to strive to dominate the top four, not to cling on to it. In that context, scraping fourth and getting into the Champions League via the qualifying rounds are not indicators of success.

I can live without trophies so long as I see entertaining football and the management and players – to whose astronomical wages I contribute a large part of my income – giving their all. Not getting either trophies or performance at present.

Here’ s hoping for some serious attention to the problems during the summer.