Where were the Gunners who were supposedly fighting for a top four finish?

When the match started on Monday, my first reaction was, “have the teams swapped kits?” Right from the opening kick-off it appeared to my eyes that Newcastle United was playing for a spot in the Champions League, not Arsenal. Where were the Gunners who were supposedly fighting for a top four finish?

We have seen some horrible performances from Arsenal this season, but Monday’s was the worst by far. From the get go they lacked composure, leadership, purpose and guts. To a man, they were playing like it was a Sunday afternoon game in the park. No one seemed to have the ambition or the drive to take control of the match. They were flat, clueless, and totally outplayed by a club that were 23 points behind them on the league’s table. Where was our club that handled Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham United in consecutive games. Monday’s team came onto the pitch with their tails between their legs, still pouting about the defeat to Spurs. How can any group of professional athletes collectively play so poorly in such a huge game? It baffles the imagination.

I was really happy to see thew Gunners survive the first half with a 0-0 score line. I thought a kick in the ass at halftime would reignite something in this club to produce a better second half performance. Boy was I wrong.

Yet, here we are, hoping for two miracles to happen on Sunday. 1) Norwich City beats Spurs, and 2) Arsenal can somehow top Everton. If theses two things don’t happen, Arsenal will be in the Europa League again next season.

Mikel Arteta has finally refused to defend his players, “Right from the beginning they were on top of everything and we didn’t manage to get out of our own half, we put ourselves in trouble, we lost every duel, every second ball. We didn’t compete in the game in the way that game required to do so, and we never earned the right to get anything out of the game. We discussed before the match the game that we had to avoid and exactly the game that we were playing. We tried to change it and we started slightly better, but then obviously the first goal and the way we conceded the first goal hit us and we tried to change, we put our attacking players on and we changed formation, but we were so sloppy in everything that we did today. It’s a really difficult night. We fought a lot, we went through a lot and we have generated an expectation that probably no one would talk about at the start of the season with the squad that we have, but we have managed to get through here basically with respecting certain principles and always competing in football matches, and tonight we haven’t done that.” [courtesy of Arsenal.com]

Obviously, our Champions League hopes are pretty much down the drain. Tottenham beat Norwich City 3-0 in December. The Canaries have already been relegated, so they have little to play for, other than some pride in front of their home fans, but one can only hope.

The Gunners were so close, yet so far away. These last two performances sum up a season of peaks and valleys for the Gunners. Unfortunately, we hit a valley at exactly the wrong time.

No cheers today, and probably not or awhile.

Gunner1953