Arsenal have had some tough times under Arsene Wenger in recent years. An 8-2 humiliation to Manchester United. A 6-0 destruction at the hands of Chelsea. Somehow this felt worse.
Against Manchester City tonight – their first match after a 3-0 battering in the League Cup final on Sunday – Arsenal played with the same lack of heart and cohesion that has become their MO in recent years, but it was the apathy in the air that was worst of all.
Not just apathy in the stands, where it appeared more than half of the seats were empty despite an official attendance figure of more than 58,000, but apathy on the pitch and, crucially, on the bench.
Anyone who has watched the Gunners play over the last five years (and I’m being generous) will have grown accustomed to this sort of display. Occasionally bright moments after kick-off before an immediate and simultaneous dropping of heads as soon as one thing goes wrong.
Against a team like Pep Guardiola’s City you are going to concede a goal, it has become one of the nearly universal truths of this Premier League season. There is no shame in doing so, but there is a unique shame with the manner in which Arsenal responded – or failed to respond – to conceding.
Rather than lift their heads and increase intensity in the face of an event you knew was at the very least likely, they folded in upon themselves, unable to muster a move of note or the confidence to actually pass with any form of precision and purpose.
Above all, like the fans, the players appeared to simply not care. They know that they are Arsenal and this is what Arsenal do. Even Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a new recruit, appears to have learned this sad fact in record time. They know that they are Arsenal and that now, unfortunately, this is what Arsenal do.
There were no ideas from the bench throughout either, as the manager himself is more aware than anyone of what his club has become, of the culture he himself has allowed to foster, of the culture some might accuse him of inadvertently creating himself.
This insipid performance was like watching that culture condensed into 90 minutes. 90 minutes of Wenger slapping his knees in frustration, of Steve Bould looking annoyed and of the players urging each other on without anyone willing to take responsibility. 90 minutes in which the fans literally didn’t turn up, and the manager and players may as well not have.
If the board don’t want to watch this same sorry story repeat itself for years to come, they should probably sack Arsene Wenger immediately.
