Arsenal: The Epitome Of Predictability.

While following the Arsenal v Hull game on Saturday, I read something very interesting; “It’s not ‘Boring Boring Arsenal’ any more, but it’s ‘Predictable Predictable Arsenal’ playing the same way home and away whatever the opposition.” The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It was something, as a devout Arsenal fan, I have failed to notice since the beginning of last season.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I love the way Arsenal play football. It is my humble opinion that they play the very best football in the world when they are on form. However, there is a time and place for that kind of football and when your playing badly against a determined side, working incredibly hard  for each other and in desperate need of 3 points, you should put the fancy football to the side for the time being and dig out the result by any means possible.

Manchester United, Chelsea and on occasion Liverpool are able to grind out results no matter how badly they are playing and it’s this quality that has been the base for United’s and Chelsea’s title challenges over the past few seasons. Winning ugly, despite it’s title, is one of the most beaufiful and satisfying things in football. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the dying moments of a game is something every football fan can appreciate and unforunately, the ability to ‘win ugly’ is something that Arsenal do not posses.

As an Arsenal fan, you would expect me to be feeling very confident ahead of a home game against a newly promoted side, who were one of the favourites to finish bottom of the table. I wasn’t, however. Perhaps it was just a once off thing or maybe it was something more. Over the past couple of seasons I’ve seen Arsenal slip up time and time again against sides that were deemed to be inferior and that certainly has shaken the confidence I have in my team and the manager.

Teams who have beaten Arsenal in the past have used the very tactic that Arsene Wenger and his young charges hate: physicality. Sam Allardyce used this tactic continuously at Bolton because he knew it would work. He knew Arsenal would continue to play the same way no matter what and as long as his side didn’t concede, they would not only be able to bully Arsenal out of the game but also thwart Wengers tactics. Good managers are able to copy Allardyces’ tactic succesfully because Arsenal still continue to play the same way no matter what may happen.

This predictability and alarming lack of leadership is what is holding Arsenal back from winning any silverware. When the chips are down in the game and the going gets tough, Chelsea have Terry, Cech, Drogba, Ballack among others to call upon, United have Ferdinand, Scholes, Giggs and Rooney, Liverpool have Gerrard, Carragher and Torres and whom do Arsenal have? William Gallas? A man whos ego is the size France and whos personality is that of a 5 year olds.

Piss Poor Punditry & Journalism

If it isn’t one it’s the other.

There is only one thing I hate more than anti-Arsenal punditry and that’s frustratingly bad and terribly researched articles written by so called journalists. Being an Arsenal fan myself I have to, more often that not, put up with a blend of negative punditry and infuriating articles.

Equally annoying are gullible and fickle football fans who believe everything they read and base all their opinions of other teams on 2 minutes of highlights from Match of the Day and Alan Hansens ‘analysis’. I’m tired of people coming up to me and telling me Manuel Almunia is rubbish after they saw his mistake on Saturday but what they fail to take into consideration when making their comment, however, are all the good things he has done not only over the past couple of weeks but over the past season and a bit. And this is merely one example.

What people must also realize is that the club does pay good wages and that we can hold on to our ’star’ players. Contrary to popular belief, Arsenal pay considerably better wages than Liverpool, pay the same as Manchester United and pay considerably less than Chelsea. After reading that, you tell me now that Arsenal don’t pay substantial wages.

Another buzz phrase that has been thrown around by pundits for the past couple of seasons is how young Arsenals team is. There isn’t a more lazy thing you could say about Arsenal. A quick look over the starting XI tells you everything you need to know: Almunia: 31, Clichy: 23, Sagna: 25, Toure: 27, Gallas: 31, Nasri: 21, Walcott: 19, Fabregas: 21, Denilson: 19, van Persie: 25, Adebayor: 24, Average Age: 24. Perhaps it isn’t as old as it could be but the backbone of the team is still one of the most experienced in the Premier League, with Adebayor being the only one who hasn’t played in a Champions League final.

And lately, it has occured to me that journalists and pundits will slate Arsenal for absolutely any reason what so ever; they will even ignore the obvious facts just so they can do their best to have a go at the team. From our apparent lack of ability to play on rough surfaces to how the cold weather can effect our performances, people will say absolutely anything to put the players down.

We play the most beautiful football in the world and instead of applauding us, we find ourselves on the end of harsh criticsm from pundits and football ‘experts’. The world needs more clubs like Arsenal.