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Ten years ago, a statement of this nature, such as the title, would have been met with incredulity and laughter. After all, the 2003-04 season was perhaps one of the best in the history of Arsenal Football Club.In fact, so synonymous are the words “invincibles” and “Arsenal” that a quick google search of the word “invincibles” produces results related to Arsenal and other teams that have gone unbeaten an entire season. It seems then, that the best thing to happen to Arsenal FC in the last few decades is that their 2003-04 team went through the season unbeaten, and in style.That then is a damning indictment of Arsenal’s status as a genuinely big club. They are now classified as “has beens” and do not incite near enough the fear that the club did ten years.While it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly has led to Arsenal’s status being relegated, we try to narrow it down to the 5 most important things.
#1 The definition of success has changed
Success has many definitions. Targets and measures of success differ from one club to another, and no two are the same. Except in the case of true behemoths.
Think of Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus and you imagine a champion team, a massive force of nature not to be taken lightly. Even on their bad days, and they have all had bad days in the last 10 years, the yardstick of success has remained the same – winning silverware, attracting the best players and thrilling the fans.
For Arsenal, the case is not so. Or at least it certainly appears that way, judging from the efforts of the board and the noises coming out of the club. Defeats are met with a shrug of the shoulder, mid-season collapses are treated with a “tough-luck-boys” approach and the whole environment around the club is one of doing just about enough, but not quite going the distance.
Sure, 17 consective years in the Champions League is a fantastic achievement – not many clubs have been able to do that. But what should be used as a springboard for further success has been treated as a laurel to rest on.
Arsenal are simply meeting expectations, not exceeding them. It’s all well and good when your expectation is to be the best, or at least aspire to. But when the bar is set to a standard lower than the best, it’s a recipe for comfortable mediocrity.
Ten years ago, Arsenal were a genuine big club, not just because of the quality of players, but because of what the institution stood for – excellence. The same cannot be said for any Arsenal team since.
#2 A transfer policy that bleeds the team
Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy – all very good players in their time at Arsenal. Some were simply outstanding and irreplaceable. Even if they all left for various reasons, ranging from remuneration to chasing silverware, it is easy to see that Arsenal have lost an entire team of quality players over the last decade.
Their replacements? Young, inexperienced but talented players with bumper contracts after a good season. Rewarding a year’s good work by a newcomer is an incredibly short-sighted manouever, a move sure to lead to complacency and inflated egos.
The biggest clubs keep their star players, either by offering them more responsibility or sweeter pay packages. Or by simply instilling loyalty for the club. Whatever the tactics used by managers of these aforementioned top clubs, the eventual aim is the keep the core together as far as possible. Why? Because Henry’s and Cole’s don’t come around often. In fact, you would have to be incredibly lucky to land quality players like Fabregas and Nasri once every 15 years, let alone each year.
All players are equal, but some are more equal than others.
The constant flux of player transfers has led to new teams taking to the pitch every year, with a loss of identity each time a big player leaves.
Who is Arsenal’s Wayne Rooney? or John Terry? or Iniesta? or Sergio Ramos? or Bastian Schweinsteiger?
Probably sold to another club in the last ten years.
#3 Not enough winners in the team
Big clubs stack their teams with winners, players who have been there and done that. Barring the recent signings of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Arsenal have not signed enough proven performers. While an argument can be made for clubs that simply stockpile the best players and let the youngsters rot, the most successful clubs find a way to marry the both – young, talented players surrounded by proven, successful players.
How many players from Arsenal would make it to a Chelsea or a Real Madrid? Would a big club even consider buying the likes of Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott or Giroud? They are good enough for sides wanting to compete for the title, but certainly not good enough for a side that has no other option but to win the title.
Is it a surprise that most of the players that left Arsenal went on to win titles and medals? Even the best players need to be surrounded by players of their ilk and calibre. There is a reason Cristiano Ronaldo has had more success with Real Madrid and Manchester United than with Portugal, despite playing to his best for all of those teams.
#4 A vicious cycle of events that needs to be broken
You can make a lot of money if you are into betting on Arsenal. A decent start, a couple of players having better than average seasons, a mid-season slump, fans calling for the manager’s head, a recovery and a strong finish – as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, Arsenal keep on playing the same season over and over again.
It is infuriating even for a neutral. Why is nothing being changed? How can a club, an organisation, keep on making the same mistakes over and over again? Are there any contingency plans in place to avoid the same scenario? How is progress possible if you are stuck in a loop, with no exit?
Something has to give way if Arsenal are to move. This could be moving backwars or forwards, but after so many seasons of just going through the motions and knowing what is going to happen next, the fans will probably be okay with a step back if it means the winds of change will finally blow over the Emirates.
Otherwise, it’s the same record playing over and over again. Just that no one is bothered to change it.
#5 Arsene Wenger and his legacy
Everything that is good at Arsenal can be traced back to Arsene Wenger. And everything that is wrong with Arsenal can also be traced back to Arsene Wenger.
Players are a reflection of their manager’s take on the game. You look at Manchester United’s gritty mentality and never-say-die attitude and you see shades of Sir Alex Ferguson’s approach to football. You see Chelsea’s efficient and sometimes dull ways of eking out wins, and you understand what Jose Mourinho wants in football.
So what does that say about Arsene Wenger when you watch Arsenal? Fragile, unambitious, delusional and averse to learning.
In any organisation, whether it’s a small scale coffee shop or a multi-national corporation, top level executives have targets, goals, learnings and feedback. If a VP keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, he will be fired and the position will be filled by someone else, not applauded for his consistency in delivering the same results.
Principles are a good thing. Ideals are wonderful and safe, but reality is violent and constantly in motion.
Wenger’s idea of football, however modern and appeasing it maybe, has clear and evident frailties. Big moments in matches are usually lost, big matches have become one-sided affairs, elementary mistakes are commonplace, the fighting spirit is nowhere to be found, squad restrengthening is a laughable exercise in futlity and there is a sense of inevitability around the Emirates that the season will unravel in the same manner as last season, and the one before that.
At an LMA conference a few years back, Wenger was asked what responsiblity the manager of a football club holds. His response was both stunningly accurate and profound at the same time.
“If the manager is not the most important person at the club, why is he the first one to be sacked when things go wrong?”
Things have been going wrong for years at Arsenal. And the solution has already been braodcasted by their manager.
