Boring Boring Arsenal in 2011: More Ennui than Henry
20 comments May 17th, 2011
You don’t have to be a particularly avid reader of the blog to notice that my posts have been increasingly irregular as this season has worn on. In large part, this is due to other commitments: the blog remains a hobby for me, and the demands of my actual job often prevent me writing as much as I would like.
However, I can’t pretend that my absence has been entirely down to practicalities. For example, despite my schedule, rarely have I felt more inspired to write than by our victory over Barcelona back in February. Truly, that was one of my most cherished nights as an Arsenal fan.
Perhaps the few months that have followed have been one long, drawn-out stream of karmic equivocation, because that joyous evening now feels impossibly far away. Since the disaster of the Carling Cup Final, my enthusiasm has dwindled. When we overcame Barca in that momentous first leg, I thought Arsene the alchemist had brought a new team to life. Instead, that victory looks increasingly like the final spark of promise from an ultimately failed experiment.
In the past, failure has been dramatic. It provokes a flurry of activity and comment both on and offline, with fans clamouring to have their say about where it has gone wrong. Heroic failure or a near miss can be as exciting and emotionally involving as triumph. That’s part of being a football fan, and we all accept that.
This time, however, feels different. There is little debate to be had, largely because we’ve already had it several years consecutively. This is a collapse without colour; a disaster without a drama; a failure without any fun. Frankly, it is plain boring.
Football is the most exciting and unpredictable sport in the world. It can hinge on a moment of brilliance or inexplicable human error. The reason we come back, season after season, is because it constantly provides the opportunity for renewed hope. “You never know, this year it could be differentâ€.
Not at Arsenal. In the last five or six years, we have seen essentially the same narrative play out. There is a sensible genome within us all that cannot fail to recognise the value of stability. But somewhere along the line we’ve misplaced a ‘B’, gone beyond stable, and become stale.
The Villa game at the weekend marked an undoubted low-point. The relationships between the holy trinity of fans, players and manager appear to be at their nadir. The board, now under the direction of a faceless Stan Kroenke, appear to be in serious danger of alienating the fans. The glamour and glitz of the stadium move has worn off, and the fans have been left with little but chronic underachievement.
It is increasingly hard to care. The true sign of fans’ dissatisfaction is in the weakness of the ‘protests’. Barely a couple of hundred people turned out on the ill-advised pre-Villa March. The disaffected thousands left the stadium before the ‘Lap of honour’, not even mustering the passion to let the players and the manager know how they feel.
Think of those supporters who are known for being ferociously loyal and noticeably vociferous: my mind immediately jumps to the likes of Man City and Portsmouth, clubs who have experienced significant turbulence in recent years. Alternatively, you have a team like Stoke, where passion in the stands is matched by that on the pitch.
Neither is true of Arsenal, which is in all respects a sedate environment. Polite players, politely finishing in the top four year on year, but too polite to knock anyone off their perch and actually win something.
At some point we seemed to believe we were in transition. We’re not. We’re in treacle, wading through the same muddy mediocrity we slipped in to when we let most of the Invincibles go in the mid-noughties.
Now it’s more ennui than Henry. And why? Because I don’t think any of us really believe the necessary changes will happen.
The squad appear incapable of ‘learning’ to be winners. Some hoped, perhaps naively (and I include myself here), that victory in the Carling Cup would suddenly enable them to go on and win every other available trophy. As it is, we’ll never know, as they tripped over even that relatively low hurdle. Increasingly, I’m of the belief that winners aren’t made, they’re born. And these guys ain’t them.
However, Arsene is clearly deeply attached to many of these players, and will be loathe to ship out those who have let us down on so many occasions. Futhermore, he’s demonstrated an unwillingness to spend the money required to bring in top level talent. At 62, is he going to drastically alter his managerial policies? It seems unlikely.
And finally, I find it difficult to believe the board will even consider replacing the manager. And so, we’re almost resigned to watching the same old story unfold next season. Only at 6% more expense.
Boring boring Arsenal indeed.
