“Not good enough.”

Three words used often by football fans to describe aspects of the club they support. They’re used in relation to certain players, performances, the manager, the board, the price of a pint and a pie, how their club handles various communications, pretty much anything they’ve got the hump with for one reason or another.

It’s rare enough that you hear from a manager or a player though. Yesterday Mikel Arteta said just that about this Arsenal team’s performance against Bolton. Speaking after the game, he said:

This result is not good enough. We have got the players and the quality to have a better result. It is going to be tough to finish in the top four but it depends on us.

And he was particularly scathing about the finishing:

You are not going to get 15 chances to win a football game and nowadays when you get it, especially away from home, you have to take it.

Therein lies the frustration for many. If we weren’t creating chances that’s one thing, but making them and missing them is another thing entirely. Per Mertesacker said much the same, but in a slightly more diplomatic fashion:

I think there is a lot of room for improvement. We have a very good side and good potential but we have to be good on the pitch. At the moment we don’t use all our opportunities.

The lack of efficiency must be driving him mad. But going back to Arteta, he’s right. ‘Not good enough’ sums things up right now. One win in our last six league games really can’t be considered anything other than abysmal for a team trying to get into the top four. And let’s be realistic about this – we know the gap to Chelsea is only four points right now, but it’s what we’ll need overall that needs to be looked at.

The points total of the team that finished 4th in the last four seasons were: 10-11: 68pts – 09-10: 70pts – 08-09: 72pts – 07-08: 76pts. Arsenal have 37 points with 15 games to go. Assuming it ends up around the 70 point mark again that means we’ve got to win a lot of games, and go on one hell of a run, between now and the end of the season.

It means that we can’t afford to spurn chances like we did against Bolton, it means we can’t concede silly goals like we did against Fulham or Swansea, it means that our margin for error, slim as it was to begin with because of our start to the season, is miniscule because of the way we channeled a traditional November into the month of January. Between now and the end of the season we’ve got Sp*rs, Newcastle, Man City and Chelsea all at home, plus Liverpool away.

We’ve played 12 league games away this season and lost 50% of them. Of our 15 remaining league games 7 are away from home. Which is to say that we need to see a huge improvement on what’s been served up thus far. And it’s not impossible by any means. We’ve seen Arsenal teams go on winning streaks and long unbeaten runs before, but we shouldn’t be blind to size of the task ahead of us this season. It is a firefight the likes of which we haven’t experienced for a long, long time. Even the lasagne season it just felt like we were destined for the top four despite it going to the final day, this time, not so much.

This is the team that Arsene built and sadly it’s been found wanting. Yet amidst talk of protests of sackcloth and ashes, I wanted to touch on one thing. For me, Arsene Wenger is absolutely and 100% open to criticism for the state of the team and the decisions he’s made. I doubt that anybody, whether they’re a fervent supporter of the manager or not, can be happy with the way things are going.

What he does not deserve is some of the abuse that’s leveled at him. I know things are amplified online and some people say things via a keyboard they’d never let pass their lips, but I personally find it a bit disheartening to hear Arsenal fans refer to the manager in a manner that ought to be reserved for those in N17, for not racist at all, oh no, England captains, for duplicitous former players who shack up with Ruble spunking enemies, helium voiced ‘pundits’, Tony Pubis, Lennie and his Legbreakers, the sunburnt, withered, jaundiced testicle at Villa, Joey Barton’s thesaurus powered online acumen and the countless others in the world of football and beyond who really deserve it.

There’s plenty to criticise him for: player sales, player purchases, the teams defensive weaknesses, his stubborn intransigence which seems to be fueled by his desire to do the opposite of what people want him to do, his substitutions, his patience with certain players, his unwillingness to give others a chance, his tactical inflexibility, and more than anything else, the results we’ve seen this season and in recent seasons.

Pick and choose any one of them, pick all of them if you want, and go to town, because they are decisions and actions that deserve analysis, criticism and for which Arsene should be accountable. And yes, all of these things add to the sense that a lot of people have that all is not right at the club at the moment. From top to bottom it feels like something’s missing. As the man in charge of the football, Arsene is on the front line.

Yet once you let anger and frustration spill over into abuse you lose something from your argument. “Arsene’s recent purchases have been poor” would surely spark reasonable debate between fans, even if they were coming at it from different sides. “Arsene’s recent purchases have been poor, the fucking cunt” will ensure that the debate isn’t about the recent purchases, it’s about whether or not the manager is a cunt, and ultimately it gets us nowhere. There’s nothing constructive about it and it only ends up causing more anger and argument.

I’ve long said that I can’t stand the polarisation of our fan base. There is no ‘You’re either with us or against us’. We are the us. The vast majority of people are quite aware this is a team with problems, it’s how they choose to express their concern that pushes people to one end or the other. Criticism and disapproval are necessary if we want to make things better. It can be helpful and productive. Abuse, on the other hand, rarely provokes a positive reaction and if people really want things to get better for this football club then I hope they bear that in mind.

Rant over. Now, onto this week’s Arsecast in which I’m joined by Goonerholic and Hayley Wright to discuss the week that was. On the agenda the transfer window, Villa, Bolton and more. Also in there the t-shirt competition, an old friend returns and we have a confused PI.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (24mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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And that’s about that. We’ll have news throughout the day, and from Arsene’s press conference, over on Arseblog News.

Back with a full preview of the Blackburn game tomorrow.

It’s difficult to know where to start this week’s column. On the face of it, a compelling comeback from two goals down to keep our FA Cup hopes alive, followed by a point and a clean sheet away from home should constitute a reasonably good week. Yet it doesn’t feel like that at all. For a start, we’ve put ourselves in a position now where, effectively, any draw represents two points dropped.

But something really struck me at the Reebok on Wednesday night. With about 25 minutes remaining, with the score 0-0 and Arsenal needing to win, ordinarily I would be hunched with nerves. My fingernails (though heavily gloved in the Lancashire cold) would have been drawn pensively to my teeth, shuffling from foot to foot, excitedly imploring into the ether for a winner. But I wasn’t.

Like most others, I think I’m settled on the impression in nearly every game that, unless van Persie produces something, we will toil. I guess my lack of gusto in the second half was evidence of resignation with regards our chances of a top four finish. I had subconsciously accepted that we won’t and therefore, it just didn’t feel much like the result was in aid of anything. Even as Bolton went close in the dying minutes, neither my heart nor stomach convulsed as it usually would in such circumstances.

And that’s why I have struggled to forge any kind of snappy introduction to this article. The whole club just permeates a massive lack of urgency. Goonerholic’s latest piece really struck a chord with me with regard our January business – or lack thereof. I realise the winter market is difficult, but we handled the thriving summer one so badly, that another goalscorer was a necessity.

The manager is not totally blind to his lack of attacking options either. 34 year old Thierry Henry – who is only with us a further fortnight – is persistently seen as a superior option from the bench over Benayoun, Arshavin and Park. It’s an admission clear as day that the manager is not taken with the more permanent resources at his disposal. Why then was it impossible to rectify this in January?

I get the line about it being difficult to find “super, super quality”. Really I do. But when you’ve got the best part of four offensive players in your squad kicking their heels behind an ageing temp; you’ve constructed your squad badly. I think the majority of people realise that we can’t compete with Chelsea or Manchester City in the market, but we appear to be wilfully handicapping ourselves by not utilising the resources we do have.

That’s the crux of the issue. We built the stadium and pursued the quite correct self sustaining policy in order to organically grow our resources. We have done that now and our resources are growing year on year. Whilst not as flush as other steroid injected clubs, we do have money. Yet having been so well run to put ourselves in a position of material wealth, we have struggled to escape the frugal mentality that we were trying to outgrow in the first place.

That lack of urgency seeps from every corner of the club. We are still in a period of transition from Kroenke’s takeover. So the gentlemen behind me at The Reebok that sang “back the players, sack the board” are wide of the mark I think. The board are locked down until April – after which Kroenke will surely get his own men in. In essence, we have something of a lame duck board anyway, so sacking it won’t make one iota of difference. In fact, that possibly informs the air of ‘drifting along’ behind the scenes. There’s just no way I think that the Directors are handcuffing the manager with regards to resources, but I don’t get the impression there’s much constructive discussion either.

Not being privy to what goes on behind the scenes, it’s pure conjecture of course, but it’s just a feeling I get. I don’t hold that we’re going to hell in a handcart as some clearly do, more the sense that we’re trying to drift along. To make do and mend and cross our fingers and hope it works out. Hope that our injured players come back and have faith that no others will be crocked. Of course, due to his gift for self promotion, many champion David Dein as the gaping hole in the jigsaw.

Yet the current set up is chided for over rewarding players too early with big contracts. This is because under Dein’s stewardship, expensive contracts belonging to the likes of Wiltord, Edu and Kanu were allowed to run down. Flamini played that game too, Hleb was able to threaten to invoke the Webster clause to force his move. The mishandling of Cashley’s contract was rather camouflaged by the player’s endless bellendery. Our current contract policy is borne rather out of caution given mistakes made under Dein’s stewardship (Lest we forget that those prohibitive commercial deals everyone complains about were made when he was vice-Chairman too).

It’s fair to say we’re still searching for a middle ground. But ultimately, you have to reward players early or lose them. That’s where the manager comes in. It’s down to him to assess whether the benefits realised of giving a young player a good deal is going to reap rewards. It’s a tight rope. On one hand we’re criticised for losing Flamini on a free, just as he was blossoming at the age of 24. On the other, handing Diaby an expensive, long term deal at 22 is derided. This might also go some way to explaining Wenger’s loyalty to players, much is invested in them financially as well as emotionally.

The same principle applies with young players. With Jack Wilshere suffering another setback on his road to recovery, fingers are pointed at the manager for overplaying him last season. Presumably by the same people that continually boo his decision to substitute 18 year old Oxlade Chamberlain. His substitution was again jeered on Wednesday, despite clear evidence that he was fading. They’re fine lines that exist at the top level and no manager gets them all correct. But you just get the feeling Arsenal don’t have the urgency to make contingency plans to offset any fallout from borderline calls.

To close, I wanted to address the rumours around Arshavin departing for Russia. Understandably, the pocket sized Russian has attracted criticism for more than a year of indifferent form. I’ve read many theories as to why this undeniably talented individual has sunk into such a slump. Chief amongst them appears to be that he has been too often utilised out of position on the flank. It’s an argument I don’t buy. Arshavin has nearly always played in the same position for Arsenal.

When he arrived and he was considered the darling of Goonerdom, he was starting games from the left. He had and still has license to roam inside and affect the game. Pires and Ljungberg played in a system with only two central midfielders, yet neither left the field with much chalk on their boots come full time. He hasn’t suddenly become lazy and disinterested either.

He was always mercurial even when playing well. Sadly, I think he just came and tested himself in a competitive league too late in life to adapt. Back in September, he and Chamberlain were rather similar in their lack of attention to defensive detail. But The Ox has improved in that respect because it’s easier to teach an 18 year old than it is a 29 year old who has had the liberty of being a talented stroller his whole career.

I think that’s as much maudlin discourse as I can manage for this week. Till next time. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Match Report – Video – By the numbers

I know for many people the word they might use to sum up this Arsenal season would be stronger, much stronger, than ‘frustrating’, but that’s what seems to fit for me this morning.

On Tuesday night Chelsea, our main rivals for 4th spot, dropped two points against Swansea. Just as they did last weekend against Norwich. Twice Arsenal have had a chance to make up some of the deficit, twice we’ve failed. We all know what happened against Man United and that’s ground I’m unwilling to cover again but last night the frustration of not clawing back some ground is compounded entirely by our failings in the very area of the pitch I would have liked to see the manager strengthen in January.

A clean sheet, only our sixth in the league, came about from a reasonably ok defence but one which got lucky a couple of times. Late on when Mark Divies was clean through with a gigantic German hanging out of him, and once in the first half when David Ngog skewed a shot wide from about 6 yards out. My first thought when he did that wasn’t ‘Phew’, it was ‘He could play for us’.

In the second half Robin van Persie hit the post and the bar and on those occasions the Dutchman was unlucky. For the former his near post flick from Sagna’s cross had the keeper beaten, while a Bergkampesque manoeuvre on the edge of the Bolton area saw his sumptuous right footed chip drop onto the top of the bar. Twice he’s done that this season, and twice he’s been denied by the woodwork.

It was the first half that cost us though. We had three great chances to score and missed them all. Firstly, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played a fantastic ball behind the Bolton defence, Aaron Ramsey beat the offside trap and from just inside the box tried to finish first time on the stretch, which made it easy for Bogdan to save. He had time to take a touch and compose himself.

Later, The Ox was set up by van Persie in the Bolton area, but from around the penalty spot his shot went high and wide. His body shape was wrong but then we can’t be too critical of him because he was, in general, one of the positives on the night. The best chance fell to Theo Walcott, again it was Oxlade-Chamberlain whose cute pass dissected the Bolton defence, Theo was one on one with Bogdan and bottled it. The keeper saved but you cannot miss chances like that at this level.

As the half wore on Arsenal tired, Bolton ended the game with more pressure and could have had a penalty for Mertesacker’s fondling of Divies, but perhaps some justice was done after the Bolton player’s terrible dive in the first half which got an incredulous Vermaelen booked. An off-target Ramsey shot and Walcott blasting hopelessly wide, after van Persie’s chip which hit the bar came back to him, was the best we could muster.

Afterwards Arsene spoke about finishing the game with four strikers, which surprised me, because this is something we used to do quite regularly. We’d throw on striker after striker to try and get the goal to win the game. Yet this Arsenal squad does not have the personnel to do that. Henry for the Ox seemed a safe move when Henry for Walcott was the most obvious. A team is sitting deep with men behind the ball renders Walcott nigh on useless because his greatest asset is pace and exploiting space. If there’s no space then he doesn’t have the technical ability or awareness to make things happen in the final third.

Thierry, much as I love him, had little or no impact when he came on, I don’t consider Walcott a striker per se, and Rosicky for Ramsey was a midfield change. When it comes right down to it we finished the game not with four strikers, but one and a half. We left Arshavin on the bench (I know, but when you need a goal why not try?), the Villa away matchwinner Benayoun stayed on the bench, while Park is obviously just in the squad to make up numbers. We have to remember that Arsene was the manager who would throw on a Chris Wreh or a Kaba Diawara when we had strikers of real quality at the club.

That he will not use the South Korean, even when we’re desperate for a goal, says so much about the dearth of options we have available to us. We didn’t finish the game with four strikers because we simply don’t have four strikers.

And that is why people wanted us to buy in January. Walcott has one goal (that he scored himself) in 16 games, Gervinho’s gone, the Ox is great but raw, Arshavin, Park, Chamakh, where are the goals going to come from if Robin doesn’t get them? Not from midfield, Ramsey is overplayed and while I can’t criticise a player for trying too hard just needs to simplify his game. Arteta is just back from injury, Song struggled last night and looks jaded, his game littered with errors. Yet it’s too easy to blame the players, they don’t pick themselves.

Despite the frustration of dropping points last night I didn’t think we played that badly. We’ve certainly seen worse this season but the inability to take the chances we’ve created is what cost us most. We can take a clean sheet and the return of Sagna as positives, and despite missing his own chance The Ox set up two gilt-edged opportunities for others, but those things aside it’s hard not to be disheartened.

You know, people go on about how long it’s been since we’ve won a trophy but I can live without trophies if I feel like the club is doing everything it can to achieve them. If we give it everything and fall short then I don’t think too many people would complain. Seriously. But it doesn’t feel like that at the moment. Perhaps the transfer funds available to Arsene Wenger aren’t as high as some would suggest, but as Goonerholic rightly points out and as I said the other day, in a depressed market surely we’ve got a strong hand with which to exploit the financial difficulties of others.

Arsene decided that he wouldn’t buy in January, for whatever reason, and quite firmly put his faith in what he’d got to get him results. What we needed last night was for those players to prove that his faith was well placed and that they were capable of going out and taking three points. The missed chances will be soon forgotten, the only thing that matter is the scoreline and that tells us that Arsenal blew another chance of closing the gap on the top four.

Our league form this season is: W11, D4, L8. That’s mid-table form and Arsenal sit this morning in 7th position. Behind Liverpool. Behind Newcastle. In all competitions this season we have lost 11 times. Each one of those defeats came before the January window closed, and if that’s not evidence that this was a squad that needed something adding to it beyond the emotional but mostly ineffective return of a former legend, I don’t know what is.

We can listen to Ivan Gazidis talk all day about our business model and how successful it is. Which is great. Except for the fact that our footballing model is failing, nobody seems to be doing anything about it and nobody seems to be accountable for it. And I think what frustrates me most is that for most of these trophy-less years there’s been a sense that if we could just add a couple of quality players to the mix we’d have a side capable of competing for the league each season.

Now it looks as if it’d take a lot more than one or two and that’s a measure of how difficult our task is going to be for the reason of the season. We’ve taken just 8 points from our last 8 league games. We have yet to win a league game in 2012. We’ve been overtaken in the league by Newcastle and Liverpool, teams who I think we can objectively look at as average, at best. Which, if we remain objective, tell us a lot about ourselves.

I said yesterday that not strengthening in January and results being affected by that would provide people with a stick with which to beat Arsene, Ivan and our silent owner with.

I suspect for many, whacking day is upon us.

—

In other news, those of you who use the iPhone app will be delighted to hear there’s been an update. The app now includes the blog, Arseblog News, the Arseblog Twitter feed, the Arsecasts and the liveblog. It’s also iPad native now too, so go to the App Store on your phone to update or simply click here to download it.

The app was put together by Milk Bar Studios, and you can get more info about our mobile apps, including the fantastic Android app by line ten, on the apps page.

Finally, you might notice things look a little different. There’ll be tinkering going on under the hood all day but if you see anything odd, just leave a message in the arses and I’ll take a look.

Right, have a good one. Till tomorrow.

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