Arrogance.
That was the word Gary Neville used to describe Arsene Wenger in the build-up to Arsenal’s game with Liverpool.
To think that Arsenal’s team is ready to challenge for the title off the back of one summer signing.
Arrogance. Or naivety.
“I just cannot get my head around why you would not sign players of power to assist these talented players that you’ve got,” Sky Sports’ finest pundit said.
And he’s bang on.
Because, for over 11 seasons, Arsene Wenger has either foolishly failed to spot the lack of steel lining the Arsenal core. Or, more alarmingly, he has ignored it.
Pre-match, we were shown clips of the old Arsenal teams. You know, the teams that actually had ambitions of winning the league. Realistic ambitions.
Everything they did, they did with pace and they did with purpose.
Balls were zipped forward, bodies were flung forward, and every single passage of play was designed with the sole purpose of getting in behind the opposition defence and scoring. It was designed to win.
And they had backbone.
Arsenal haven’t had a spine for a decade. Not one worthy of winning the league anyway. Not even one that could match Liverpool’s.
Let’s get one thing straight, the Gunners could have won on Monday night. Liverpool were hanging on near the end and they were happiest, overall, to get out with a point.
When it was necessary though, Liverpool could keep them at bay – even for a full 45 minutes as it proved.
And they did it with discipline and a degree of comfort that was a fine example for the home team’s shambles of a first half. Arsenal hung on by luck.
Wenger has a lovely team, of course he has. They absolutely pelted Liverpool in the second period but, by the same token, Brendan Rodgers’ men exposed the same, boring weaknesses that Gunners fans seemingly refuse to live up to.
The obvious ones. Because, for all their talent and guile, Arsenal are still missing a centre back. They’re still missing a central midfielder. And they’re still missing a striker. It’s that black and white.
And they won’t get anywhere near a title until they start addressing those issues. Which they look to be in no hurry to do.
Look at their team tonight against Liverpool.
A couple of injuries and their defence is in tatters. Gabriel and Chambers fill in at centre back and, for the first half at least, they’re an absolute mess. Benteke has the pair on toast, he misses a sitter, Coutinho’s worldie is denied by the save of the season so far and the team is wide open as Liverpool nick in time and again to steal possession and drag the Londoners by their collars all over the pitch.
Ramsey’s offside goal should’ve stood but, as Neville put it at half time, that was not the story of the first half. Not by a long shot.
Where was Cazorla – the other central midfielder – when Francis Coquelin was running around getting away with murder? Cazorla is a delight of a footballer but not a central midfielder. And not a holding midfielder by any stretch.
If Coquelin gets injured or, more realistically, suspended, who on earth is playing central midfield then?
Where was Giroud when they were under the cosh? Where were their leaders at the back?
When Arsenal were asked questions, all Wenger could hope for was the safety of the dressing room because the players weren’t about to come up with the answers themselves.
On the other hand, throughout the game, Liverpool had steel.
Benteke led the line like a bully. Skrtel held the backline like a hero and Milner and Can were everywhere. They had backbone. Seriously strong backbone. And, even when they were penned in during the second half, they had the knowledge that Skrtel was controlling proceedings, that Milner and Can would get them out and that Benteke was a relief further afield.
And then they had Coutinho.
Jesus, what a player.
Two games into their Emirates season though and Arsenal have failed to even score at home. They’ve dropped five points to last season’s sixth and 12th placed teams. And they have still shown no signs that, when they are put to the test, that they have learned anything at all.
But, still, the same optimism rings true around north London every single summer.
Why? Because they finish the season well, they win some pre-season tournament, and they sign a ‘keeper. To think that Petr Cech was the only missing piece to that puzzle is crazy.
Liverpool, though, haven’t been afraid to meet their problems head on and they should’ve had Monday’s game put away in the first half.
Brendan Rodgers hasn’t been afraid to move away from this so-called system and style that he came riding into Anfield swearing by. Adapt or die.
And, after a goalless draw at the Emirates, it is Liverpool who look like they have learned the most and it is Liverpool who look like they have enough flexibility in their thinking. And enough steel lining that body.
It is Arsenal who look like they’re in for another long season if they let the transfer window shut on them. Because their team is not ready to compete for a 38-game league yet.
It isn’t.
Not as well as Liverpool’s is.
