After losing 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, there’s an obvious, sinister pattern emerging that Arsenal fans will already be aware of.
Last season, the north Londoners claimed just six points against top five Premier League opposition and lost all of their four away fixtures with an aggregate score of 20-4, whilst Liverpool were the only side beaten at the Emirates. Likewise, from the Gunners’ last ten away visits in the Champions League, they’ve lost six times, conceded 19 goals and kept a solitary clean sheet.
So what’s the underlying theme? There must be one – the north London side’s perpetually poor performances against top sides on the road is too consistent to be considered coincidentally unfortunate.
Are the players to blame? Are they simply not good enough compared to their counterparts at Chelsea, Liverpool, City and in the Champions League? Is this an inevitable side-effect of Arsenal’s definitive brand of aesthetic football? Does Arsene Wenger have the wrong kind of players at his disposal to grind out away wins?
One could argue strong cases for all of the above, but in my opinion, the buck has to stop with the manager. Whether playing Bradford or Barcelona, Chelsea or Chartlon Athletic, Wenger insists upon setting up his sides in the exact same way. Paul Scholes touched in the issue prior to the Manchester City clash last weekend; Arsenal never change it up when facing big teams, something Scholes’ Manchester United were famous for.
There’s a popular opinion that Wenger is too stubborn in his approach. He’s determined to win by playing his way, the Wenger way, the characteristics of which I’m sure we’re all familiar with by now.
Yet, I view Wenger’s mentality as something more dangerous – arrogance; it’s foundations laying in the narcissistic principle that Arsenal, and never their opposition, ultimately decide the result of any given fixture.
Throw any expletive or criticism you want towards Jose Mourinho, but at least, through his dogmatic, conservative tactics, the Chelsea boss always respects and recognises the quality of his opponents. Wenger on the other hand, only considers that of his own team.
The 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund is a classic example. One only need view the highlights of their exploits in the Champions League over the last three years to know Jurgen Klopp sets up his teams to play industrious, organised, explosive, counter-attacking football. In other words, they’re a natural nemesis to Arsenal’s more expansive, flowing style.
One can understand the reluctance to venture away from the cores of Arsenal’s identity and it would be naive to expect the Gunners’ band of diminutive players to match their German opponents in terms of tenacity or athleticism.
Yet, adjustments to Arsenal’s system should have still been made. Full-backs Kieran Gibbs and Hector Bellerin spent the majority of the match pushed up rather than tucking in, Mikel Arteta got the nod in the holding role over the more defensively-assured Mathieu Flamini, still fatigued from his dogged display against Manchester City, and none of the midfield four in front of the Spaniard made any attempt to suffocate Dortmund or stop the supply to their forward line. The result was two goals with a shared theme – Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker both caught for pace on their outsides by agile strikers receiving direct passes.
There are similarities with the goals conceded in the City clash too, most particularly, left-back Nacho Monreal being caught too high up the pitch on two occasions. Arsenal fans will see the 2-2 draw as an impressive result against the reigning champions but City unquestionably left the Emirates as the happier party – they’ve claimed a point away to a divisional rival, something Arsenal failed to do for the entirety of last season. In combination with their visit to Goodison in August, Arsenal haven’t found victory in the three most important fixtures of their season thus far.
The fatal defect of Wenger’s arrogance is that the Gunners have become incredibly predictable. One could even claim one-dimensional. Whether you’re facing Arsenal now or ten years ago, your game-plan to beat them will essentially be the same; frustrate them in possession, lure them into committing men forward, and then hit them on the counter.
Jose Mourinho worked out how to beat the greatest Arsenal side of all time – the Invincibles – way back in 2004, and opposition throughout the Premier League and Europe have been copying that template ever since.
Pragmatism and compromise are the key words in a tactical context – two words that aren’t part of Arsene Wenger’s vocabulary.
His method of recruitment doesn’t particularly help; Arsenal’s squad is blessed with a plethora of top-quality midfielders, but with Aaron Ramsey the only one measuring at over 6 foot, the variation between them is shockingly low. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gives athleticism and power, Mathieu Flamini offers a higher work-rate, and that is where the diversity ends.
Likewise, after just six games, injuries have already pushed the Gunners to the limits of their defensive depth, whilst a strike-force of Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck is amongst the least inspiring in the Premier League’s top half. Under those circumstances, Arsenal’s inflexibility is the antithesis of a bombshell.
Arsene Wenger and his ideals have made Arsenal what they are today – a permanent fixture in the Champions League, one of the best clubs in England and irregular winners of silverware. But like a dictator with too much power, like an ideology that proves destructive in practice, the arrogance in believing perfect execution of his own vision, whilst never considering the consequences of others doing the same, will assure Arsenal results, victories and titles, is suffocating the club and preventing it from reaching its full potential.
Until Wenger shows a more pragmatic approach, defeats against high-quality sides will always be the glass ceiling between Arsenal and trophies. But after 17 years of the same mistakes, a change of this kind has become unimaginable.
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