More than just something

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
14 May	3:00 PM	P	Aston Villa (H)	1	2	Lost

Arsène Wenger admitted that "something has gone" following last weekend's disastrous defeat at Stoke, as if unable to pinpoint what it is that seems to be lacking. Thrashed at Stoke like naïve little kids with no professional playing experience. You know, "the rugby team" who cannot play football, who we play off the park, or claim that we can.

A few pointers to the manager and players as to just why this current Arsenal side are so un-Arsenal like, and from there they will know exactly what has gone. I say the players, while of course exempting Robin van Persie and Jack Wilshere from the blacklist; individuals who have played their hearts out like Arsenal means something to them, week in, week out this season.

1. Arsenal is a Club of winners, for winners. The current squad, although in patches have shown some hugely impressive performances this season, enough to fool many (including myself, admittedly), have large amounts of dross festering about. Dross that, quite frankly, has been counterweighted by the few genuine top class performers available, including the aforementioned RVP and JW19 to propel us into our position of 3rd. Why complain about 3rd then, I hear you ask? Well, I don't think finishing 3rd is the name of the game, especially when it is Arsenal, and especially when this is what we have been geared up for, for years and years.

2. Where does pride lie in this group's priorities when it comes to mentality? Wenger had very clearly finally realised that we had blown the title whilst insisting that the players would fight for the shirt, fight for their pride, to the last second. At Stoke, there was no pride, no passion. Again, some pretty passes that have quite frankly become as unsightly as they are ineffective more often than not, and we were picked off by the opposition almost at will!

3. This is a group that fails to comprehend or grasp the idea of momentum. Take our biggest results of the season. Yes, we have finally beaten Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester United at home, outplaying our "title rivals" in the process. But what happened next? Lacklustre draws against poor Wigan and Leyton Orient sides and a frankly shambolic non-display at the Britannia respectively. Not so the sort of momentum our aforementioned foes would generate following a big result.

4. This is a group with a chronic attitude problem. Turning up at home and getting so meekly turned over or shut out by sides you should beat and beat well to fight for the championship reeks of a lack of respect. A lack of respect to the opposition, to yourselves, and to the paying public and millions of diehard supporters whose weekends may well depend on how you show up. Sure, shock results are part and parcel, and are what makes a game of football so intriguingly what it is. But I expect a fight, a struggle, a battle to the last. Not much to ask in return for the millions and millions those pampered players make a week.

5. Arsenal sides in years bygone had true grit, true mental strength, true fight in adversity, including, no less old Wenger teams. Not that of today, sadly (and predictably), the horror show up at Newcastle a case-in-point. 4 up with half an hour to go, and a sending off and dodgy penalty decision result in an almighty collapse, culminating in a 4-4 draw. Unthinkable in the old days. Unthinkable in Wenger's old days. Remember the heroic 2-1 win up at Anfield having been harshly reduced to ten men following Gio van Bronckhorst's absurd dismissal with barely half-an-hour played? Point proven.

I could go on and on, but this should suffice for now. On Sunday, when those very pampered, privileged human beings who are the players of Arsenal Football Club step out onto the Emirates turf one last time this season (for some, last time ever), I would love us to see more passion, more grit, more pride. That's all really, show us some of that, and you will see the results, be it now or later, here or elsewhere.

And as Wenger and his players then take to the field for the end-of-season lap of honour, it will be, again, as it was last season, and the season before, and the one before that, a hollow one, one of regret and what ifs and what could haves.

As he trudges indignantly around the pitch, and as his under performing protégées plod along shyly alongside him, and as his Captain Cesc drags his feet almost disconsolately for what is probably one final goodbye, I would like the boss to take a moment and reflect on his admission that "something has gone", if he is to bring himself and bring us all back to where we deserve to be.

It will be easy to realise, as I have relayed here in ten minutes' worth of scribbling, that it is more than just something.

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