Asenal FC: The February fiasco!

Article by e-Arsenal Correspondent Devraj Höm Roy

I had absolutely zero urge to write a review and again go through the horrors of a shambolic performance. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch the match. I was out on the road, coming back home when I got increasingly outrageous messages from a mate:

“The match has started.”
“ohh.. Don’t be sad. Its 2-0 to Liverpool”

“3-0”
“4-0”
 
“I am sure we’ll play better in the second half.”

I come back home and tune in only to see the scores as 5-0! That was it. ‘nuff said and watched! I had to somehow endure the highlights later.

I am not going to give a review of such a gutless performance. Just a couple of points. Our fullbacks looked like a pair of headless chickens, who have been given jumbo-size shots of Epinephrine! They were all over the place on the pitch. Arteta, I feel, is playing in his last full season. He was absolutely off the pace and continuously chasing shadows. Ozil was again very very indifferent. Wilshere looked short of match fitness. Santi was nowhere to be seen. Giroud? Did he play?! Now, I could hear wenger out chants after the game from a section of the crowd along with “#WengerOut” trending in twitter. The clamour is partly due to the fact that he missed a trick in the transfer window and should’ve brought someone in. I would say that this a rather deluded section of the crowd. Two questions:

1. If we had gone on and bought a Costa/Draxler, would we have won this game? The problem isn’t a single player or a creative force. With a midfield of Wilshere, Cazorla and Ozil we have arguably one the best creative midfield's in Europe. Giroud didn’t squander an opportunity presented to him on a plate yesterday. Buying a player in January was never the answer and never will be.

2. Do you really want to tell me that buying a player would have inspired the team and given them a kick up their backsides? If you do, then you are naive my friend. We can’t go and get an Ozil/Draxler every window to inspire the team. If earning multi-millions and putting on that red and white jersey doesn’t inspire you and you need the injection of new players in the squad to give you that impetus, you should stop playing football.

I could join the clamour and start a  cry of “Ohh.. Ozil is a disaster. We need a new playmaker". Wenger is one of the legendary figures in the pantheon of elite managers. So stop being so delusional. Yes, we lost a game in a shambolic manner and we sacrifice money, emotions and relationships to support the club we love to watch the game. And when we see a pitiful performance such as the one we saw yesterday, we are bound to lose our sanity and say all the awful things in this world. But let us now give a rational perspective on it. We are not the Michael Owens of the world of biased punditry who salivate over “Dan Storage”. We are Gooners and we will support our team no matter what and not slate them. The best we can hope is that instead of sulking over this debacle, the players buckle up, accept their mistakes, take responsibility and strut their stuff against Manchester United on Wednesday.

Right then! We had a difficult week and we all let our frustrations out. Now let us get behind this team and stay united (pun not intended). Move over, Get on with the game and Win!! COYG!

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