Arsenal 3-3 Anderlecht: 2016. Just repeat 2016.

Match Report | Match highlights | Wenger's thoughts

Honestly, it was hard to feel overly upset at this result. Not because it has little consequence on our chances to qualify for the Round of 16, or that we had a couple of excuses to fall back on - pertaining to an injured Arteta and an offside goal. For me, though, the collapse was too repetitive and predictable to feel any sort of aggrieve or frustration.

There's always a barrier to how much one can tolerate. After a point, upon seeing old habits hit the reset button with little signs of progress, collapses and breakdowns become almost inevitable. Even for me, a person as emotionally and financially invested into Arsenal as many, the exercise of sadomasochism comes to a halt.

It's pointless repeating the same issues over and over again. Lack of leadership, lack of rotation, tactical naivety, witless substitutions at the wrong time, quotes contradicting facts, yadda yadda, we've all heard it before. I know it'll be exasperating for my regular readers to hear the same issues trotted out like a broken recorder again and again. To be frank, it's tiring for me as well.

We all know that the malaise of complacency must be really deep if the team falls like a pack of cards at the slightest hint of trouble. We all know that experienced players at Arsenal mean little if they do nothing to prevent a mental and tactical disintegration. We all know that the manager played a decisive hand in another fiasco - by not keeping his team focused at half-time or by throwing caution to the winds by allowing Chambers and Gibbs bomb forward.

89': Five players at the other end of the pitch when they should have been
guarding a 3-2 lead. If that's not tactical immaturity I don't know what is.

However, we all know that little will change unless the manager leaves. We know that every time tension builds around the Emirates, the manager knee-jerks his way out of trouble. That's how Ozil came to Arsenal and that's how we panic-purchased 5 players in 2011. That's also part of the reason why we switched to 4-2-3-1 for a couple of games.

Unless large-scale action is taken or a majority of the fanbase is convinced that Wenger is the root of all malaise (which, at this moment, is not the case), the manager stays. I foresee that the supporters will realize Wenger's ineptitude by 2016, which is why there's no virtue trying to convince anyone of Wenger's true nature right now. If there's one thing I know about the AKBs (apologies for the labeling), it's that the more you try to explain the situation to them, the more they dig their heels further into the ground and resist change.

Change has to happen of its own accord. If Paul Merson had called Arsenal "tactically clueless", a year ago, he would have gotten a lot of stick. Yesterday though, not one AKB (again, my apologies) came to Wenger's defence. That's change. It will take a lot of time for even Arsene's staunchest supporter to question the direction we're heading under him, but it will happen. I'm afraid the WOBs instigating quarrels and abusing Wenger's backers will serve to change the subject and delay the process.

For now, I'm ready to play the waiting game. If there was anything I could do to speed up the process I'd be game, but there unfortunately isn't. As far as possible, I try to rationally argue with any Arsenal supporter and try to show them the light, but I'm of the opinion that they need to see it themselves. Without us trying, yesterday convinced more supporters. It was another nail in Wenger's coffin.

However, I can only hope the likes of Sanchez, Welbeck, Ramsey, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs, Walcott, Wilshere, Szczesny and Joel Campbell are patient enough to not leave before Wenger does. At least then the next manager can pick up the pieces.

Till Swansea.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Anderlecht Preview + Schar the solution?

Preview | Pre-match conference | Team news

Champions League action tonight with Anderlecht coming to the Emirates in what should be the most straightforward match in our group fixtures. This isn't a game wherein we have to struggle or dig deep to get 3 points out of. Of course, you can legislate for our team's recent performances as a sign that we're as untrustworthy as they come, but it will still be a huge ask to drop points tonight.

You can be certain that despite their relegation form, Dortmund are getting maximum points out of Galatasaray, and we need to keep pace with them if we want to make amends for our 2-0 defeat at the Westfalenstadion. Our fate in the CL is ultimately in our own hands. If we defeat Anderlecht tonight and Dortmund 2 weeks later we'd be in pole position to finish top of the group regardless of their results, which is obviously preferable to depending on other teams to slip up and make your day.

It goes without saying how important it is to top the group, for we do not want to face any more Bayerns or Barcas to halt our Champions League campaigns. True, despite finishing first in 2012 we had the ill-fate of AC Milan on our way, but that was a problem not of our doing and, lest we forget, a beatable opponent. The fact that we lost 4-3 was down to us, not the draw.

Arsenal in particular badly need a good run in the Champions League. Our hopes always seem to end in March because we tend to mess up in the first leg and leave it too little too late in the second. Our record in entering the knockout stages may be perfect, but we don't really do anything once we're in the room of the crème de la crème.

Bearing in mind that this would be our easiest group fixture, we should be looking into resting our main men. I hope we look to rest at least one of Sanchez, Welbeck or Cazorla, because we won't be as utterly reliant on them in a match like this. Ideally, I would go with a starting XI of Szczesny - Chambers - Mertesacker - Monreal - Gibbs - Arteta - Ramsey - Rosicky - Chamberlain - Podolski - Alexis; but I know the manager too well to know that he'd persist with Welbeck and (probably) Cazorla. The man has no idea of the concept of rotation.

I wouldn't even have many issues with resting Mertesacker for Bellerin and changing the back four to Bellerin - Chambers - Monreal - Gibbs; assuming Bould and Wenger practiced with such a unit these previous days; but we all know that's not going to happen either way.

Tonight may be another time we can give Theo Walcott another good cameo from the bench because despite our recent levels of performance, this game should be more or less over by the 65th minute. Walcott is a great option that could lift the burden off Alexis, and god knows Sanchez needs a breather. If things go well tonight and it's not too rushy-rushy, we could have Walcott starting against Swansea and Alexis gasping for breath on the bench.

It isn't a lot to ask this Arsenal team to get maximum points from this fixture, and it isn't a lot for them to deliver it. So let's do this!

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There had come a time when we would have been pleased with anyone with a body and a pulse in defence. Schar, a centre back from Basel, offers much more. And judging from his recent quotes, he's available:

"Basel are open to negotiations. My dream remains to have an experience abroad. I'd like the Bundesliga, Premier League or top Italian clubs like Inter, Milan and Juventus. I couldn't say no."

He's young, affordable, available, a short-term and long-term answer. With his contract expiring next summer, surely we can take out £10m out of our pockets and get him in January? In all honesty I've never seen him play, but he sounds a good enough option on paper. A Switzerland Gooner mooted that he's is the best center back in the Swiss league and the first choice in the national team, with good attacking rates, big body presence and a superb header. Sounds like a no-brainer for me.

In other cases I'd scoff and make a Kim Kallstrom-esque joke pertaining to our winter transfer businesses, but something makes me not rule this transfer out categorically. Maybe it's because Wenger openly said that he would be on the lookout for a defender in the AGM. Now, I know that trusting Wenger isn't the most wisest thing one can do, but those quotes were too direct to be passed off as false promises.

But then again, remember this from Gazidis?

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Right, that's an argument for the long-term. For now, let's just focus on Sanchez scoring four tonight. Till tomorrow.


P.S. This is awesome.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Anderlecht 1-2 Arsenal: We're wasting our time looking for the perfect goal

Match Report | Match highlights | Wenger's thoughts

Wow, so much for closing the game early and resting key players. We barely do things the normal way, do we?

I don't feel I have to justify my happiness to everyone. For obvious reasons, being on the sunny side of late drama is always a fantastic feeling. I'm not going to waste much time trying to accentuate the positives in hope that people have the patience to read my negative thoughts aplenty. I trust we've gone past that phase.

So let's get on with it, right?

Firstly, the formation. I said in the preview that 4-1-4-1 away from home doesn't help us click much offensively and increases defensive frailty. It's not even a particularly earth-shattering fact to reveal. Almost every Arsenal supporter - whatever their views on Arsene Wenger - would be foolish to argue that 4-1-4-1 has been anything other than a failure. Yet it seems the maestro has stubbornly persisted with it.

I must confess I don't see why Santi Cazorla is always played on the left in this structure. I understand that Wenger's style of football involves having a more creative midfielder on the left flank, as we saw with Robert Pires and Samir Nasri. It may also have been a major factor in him chasing Draxler. But please, it's been way too obvious for way too long that Santi Cazorla is not that kind of player. He may produce the odd magic in that position, but is far too inconsistent to be considered a viable option there. Santi Cazorla will always play best in the middle.

The partnership of Ramsey and Wilshere as attacking midfielders is getting increasingly tiring to criticise. Sure, I believe Wilshere can do a good job as a lone attacking midfielder (the role Ozil tends to thrive in), and I'll also confess that for a moment I thought that even Aaron Ramsey's more natural position was in "the hole". However, it was apparent that the 4-1-4-1 with Ramsey and Wilshere was a system that didn't click way back in even August. Why does Wenger always take so long to see the light?

It's unbelievable how much we're trying to emulate Barcelona. We're not even doing it correctly. Barcelona aren't as tippy-tappy as we are around the box. As soon as the likes of Wilshere or Ramsey reach the edge of the box, they either hopefully try to dribble through or pass it sideways to Welbeck. Barcelona have always been more clinical. Either Messi successfully dribbles past the players and slots it past the keeper, or they quickly get the ball wide and get a low cross in.

The players we have are almost perfect for a more counter-attacking wing-play Real Madrid-esque kind of football. Wenger is curbing this team's attacking potency by sticking with possession football.

Even if we want to play like Barcelona, we need to defend like them. Only ex-Catalan Alexis Sanchez tracks back and harries the opposition when we lose possession. Yesterday was the ideal time to lend a helping hand to a shaky defence supervised by a rookie goalkeeper and defend like a unit. We didn't do that. How many times would the same mistake have to be observed before the manager does something about it?

Even successfully emulating Barcelona's style of play is not enough. Real Madrid defeating Bayern 4-0 at the Allianz was a fine example of how keep-ball isn't as effective as made out to be. Here's Guardiola on that subject (via @MessiMinutes):

"I got it totally wrong. A total mess. The biggest f*ck up of my life as a coach."

In addition, he also says that he "detests" the tiki-taka style he pioneered at Barcelona, saying it "has no purpose."

Again, how long would it take for Wenger to realize that?

Even so, wing play proves to be the style that provides the 1% difference in beating big teams. Employing possession football against Anderlecht isn't particularly harmful. But again, why does Wenger not change the system when it's not working? He waited until the team was 1-0 down and there were little over than 15 minutes to play to make his substitutions.

Yes, in the end it was the substitute Podolski who sealed an emotional win, but let's not call it a tactical masterstroke of any sort. Joel Campbell and Podolski are always Wenger's default last-ditch panicky rolls of the dice. They aren't going to start any games to follow. At best, they'd come on from the bench if we're trailing with 10-20 minutes to go. Yes, they're terrific bench options, but don't you think that these bench options should be starting once in a while, so that players like Alexis and Welbeck aren't too tired?

For obvious reasons the euphoria of the victory hid the frustrations of 88 minutes past, but there's still no hiding our dire performance yesterday, or indeed, this season so far. The manager has tinkered with the personnel and the formation for way too long, resulting in much confusion and dysfunctional-ism.

Sanchez is the only player who seems to want to punch above his weight. How long before even he slumps into the doom and gloom of the dressing room and the fans? Three months since he's arrived and we're already contemplating when he'd leave the club for one that would fulfill his ambitions. You can't blame us, we've seen it happen before. Unless the manager finds the most ideal structure to get his team flowing (which, let's face it, seems unlikely), his successor would have trouble keeping ambitious players like Alexis around.


Man, that was hugely depressing. Time to negate the negativity by a joke.

"If he takes you out for a romantic date on Tuesday and Wednesday nights instead of watching UEFA Champions League, then it's not LOVE.

... He is a Manchester United fan."

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Right, that's that. Happy Diwali to my Indian readers - stay away from firecrackers and deluded Liverpool supporters who told you that the 3-0 mauling was a close game. Later.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]

Anderlecht vs Arsenal: Match Preview

Preview | Pre-match conference | Team news

The Champions League witnessed some extraordinary results yesterday. Sure, one could legislate for the winners of the clashes being expected, but their margins of victories were FIFA-esque. In today's pragmatic and practical footballing world, I strongly doubt we'd see another such night. But of course, in isolation to Arsenal, you really can't predict anything.

The way we've been playing it's like a bull in a china shop - totally random. Wenger has somehow managed to negate a very potent attack with an equally nervy defence. 2-2 draws are starting to become something of a common occurrence, as well as the appearances of Bellerin on the bench. Now, I've always been one of the biggest advocates for him, not least because of his silky wavy hair, but let's not kid ourselves that his inclusion was anything other than the result of a lack of pre-planning and indecision in the market.

Even so, it's likely he won't be playing much of a part tonight. The best back four we can muster would include Chambers - Mertesacker - Monreal - Gibbs. Hardly the best case scenario, but it was apparent that entering into a Premier League season with merely six first team defenders was crying out for such a situation. It was a bold, but pointless gamble, which has backfired two months into the season.

Regardless of instability in defence through injuries and whatnot, I hope we keep a clean sheet tonight, more than anything. Sure, our rocky backline could be used as a reason more than an excuse if we concede one or two, but I really hope that today's mindset lies along the lines of, "Right, we need the whole team to be switched on and defend as a unit, tracking back like Alexis." If we're ever-so eager to play like Barcelona, why can't we defend like them?

I'm getting a bit wary of Alexis and Welbeck as well. Both have played lots of games since they've arrived, and while Sanchez was rested somewhere along the week when we played Villa and Spurs (a much welcome sight, by the way) his constant running about the pitch kind of negated those absences. It's always appreciated to see a player giving his all in the dying embers of the game, but at this rate it'd only be so long until either one of them get crocked owing to a fatigue-related injury. I know that benching them for tonight is a tad too chancy, but I hope there's some plan in order to close the game early so that we can rest them around the 50th minute.

Hope. That's all I can do. Heh.

In short, I'd like a pacey front four of Santi - Ox - Sanchez - Welbeck, with Ramsey and Arteta at double pivots of that 4-2-3-1. Above all else, I hope we don't persist with 4-1-4-1 and move Ramsey further upfield. That formation has proven to be inconsistent (at the very least), and away from home it's an invitation for Anderlecht to pick on our mishmash defence and rookie goalkeeper. Ramsey provides support for Arteta. It's not enough defensive support, but tons better than a 4-1-4-1, which seldom helps us click offensively anyways. Yet you wouldn't put it past Wenger to employ that structure tonight.

Speaking of Wenger - my blog has, for me at least, being a succinct representation of how my views deteriorated towards him. This time last year, I said: "A very happy birthday to Arsene Wenger. I still have my doubts on you, but I sure as hell have a lot of respect for you too."

It's amazing how time changes you. Today I want him out and I want him to lose the pretend image he has created for himself in the footballing world. Exactly a year of false promises, dithering and refusal to accept accountability has blown my respect for him with a shotgun.

That was a weird figure of speech, in hindsight.

Him turning 65 will not change my perception of him. I'm willing to plaster a sad smile the day he leaves for the sake of people who do respect him, but the fact remains that he has done little to merit the royalty he receives over the past half a decade. Of course I'll stick it out as a supporter because I love almost every other aspect of this club, but my preference would still remain him seeing removed from the club on our terms, not his.

More on that here. For now, a win would be swell, thanks.

-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]