As many fans around the Premier League have said this season, there is no great shame in losing to Manchester City. The most expensively assembled squad in the history of English football, coached by the magisterial Pep Guardiola, have turned this Premier League season into a procession. Two defeats in as many games against them would be, in ordinary circumstances, deflating without being disastrous. However, it is the manner of those defeats that Arsenal fans have found so difficult to stomach. While they can accept being second-best to City, they can't accept their team putting in such spiritless performances.
Arsenal supporters have a reputation for seeming spoiled. They have a fantastic stadium, a team full of stars and a regular supply of European football and FA Cups: what's to complain about? Well, to label them "ungrateful" is to misinterpret the current lie of the land in the Premier League. Arsenal may well sit in sixth place but the top six sides have distanced themselves so greatly from the rest of the pack over the years that the Gunners are essentially bottom of their own mini-league. In fact, they're at risk of being cast adrift into a category of their own.
Arsenal are currently 10 points off the Champions League places, while just eight separate them from Burnley and the rest of the teams whose primary aim every season is simply to remain in the division. In a polarised Premier League, Arsenal are the mid-table.
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Most Arsenal fans accept that going toe-to-toe with a financial superpower like Man City might well be impossible. Expectations have been sufficiently lowered over recent years that most consider the title a pipe dream rather than a plausible target. However, what's not acceptable is Arsenal being cast adrift from the rest of their supposed competitors. There is no reason that they can't match the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham, clubs who may not quite what it takes to keep pace with City but who can play an active part in the battle for Champions League places, and indeed progress to the knockout stages of that competition. That level is well within Arsenal's powers.
Of course, it's telling that Liverpool and Spurs are both led by upwardly mobile coaches who seem able to get the best out of their players. Wenger has lost that priceless capacity to galvanise his troops: the slightest setback sees heads drop and concentration evaporate. A change of manager is essential to give the club the impetus need to reverse their fortunes.
Make no mistake, Arsenal are in a steadily managed (or should that be mismanaged?) decline. They have slipped from title contender to perennial fourth-place finisher and now, to mid-table malaise. Their dwindling league performance must be addressed but there is no excuse not to perform better in the interim.
Arsenal ought to be one of the teams pursuing City rather than trailing 30 points behind. They also ought to have the tactical wherewithal to at least make a contest of fixtures against them. Wenger lost 3-0 to City at the weekend then promptly added an extra attacker to his team and was surprised when they found themselves down by the same scoreline by half-time on Thursday night.
It's not good enough for a club of Arsenal's size and there's no shame in saying that. The supporters are often criticised for the way they express their dissatisfaction, but they're right to fight to keep the club ambitious. Arsenal's ownership seems content for the team to continue to slide but the fans are not. It's time for this to come to a head and for Arsenal to begin the climb back up into the Premier League's elite. At the moment, they are slipping dangerously towards mediocrity.
Source: espn.co.uk