Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 3
It was bad at the Emirates on Saturday, but not as bad as it could have been, because of Anthony Taylor‘s somewhat biased refereeing and jobs-worth approach which disrupted Arsenal’s fluency. In many ways, that saved Wenger from more of a backlash.
But many Arsenal fans won’t have heard such a concerted reaction against the manager like that. Burning protest bonfires in the sixties with far less people on the Highbury terraces, even though the manager left soon after, would not have had the same impact as many more people shouting: “spend some F’ing money,” and “you don’t know what you’re doing” like sharp jabs and reality checks into the face of the Ivory Tower Frenchman.
The Romans knew how to manage expectations. They would give away some snippets of bad news ahead, only to release some good news a few days later instead. Gazidis has effectively done the opposite, put the club in a difficult position and raised prices to boot. And a lot of revolutions occur when rising expectations aren’t fulfilled.
Is it a revolution at the Emirates? It has the sense of a beginning of the end feel.
Missing Arteta was a key in this match. Positional sense and defensive cover was threadbare – witness how Agbonlahor waltzed right through the centre of the defence before being clattered by Szczesny for the first goal. And this soft middle continued throughout the match.
But Arsenal contributed big-time to their own downfall with a sloppy performance, which smacked of let\’s turn up and beat lowly Villa. That comes from the top and pervades down.
The failings were familiar. Walcott‘s passing was poor, with one contributing to Oxlade Chamberlain‘s injury. Ramsey‘s passes went too many times to the opposition. Giroud failed to hold up long balls.
At the back Gibbs got injured. Mertesaker was too slow; Koscileny with his lightweight frame was in danger of being out-muscled. And even though Bacary Sagna was playing on the right, defensive organisation left a lot to be desired. What do the three Bs – Bould, Banfield and Burton actually do? Or more to the point – what are they allowed to do?
As many astute fans and observers point out, Arsenal\’s problems are far more at the back that the front and need urgently addressing.