What a frustrating team Arsenal are to support. A ten game unbeaten run in the Premier League came to a shuddering halt yesterday evening as Swansea City inflicted defeat on the Gunners courtesy of a 1-0 smash and grab job at Emirates Stadium.
Our resident Gooners are sick of the sight of Swans striker Bafetimbi Gomis with a third of the Frenchman’s Premier League haul of six strikes coming against Arsene Wenger’s men.
Arsenal were hoping to maintain positive momentum in the lead up to the FA Cup Final against Aston Villa on May 30th but all too familiar deficiencies came to the surface once again yesterday evening; deficiencies which, in all credit to the Gunners, we haven’t seen for a while.
The problem with Arsenal is that they often go on successful runs for periods of time within a league season, lulling their supporters into the mindset that they can indeed achieve success the next time round.
The habit has become so bad that each Arsenal defeat unearths a seemingly bottomless pit of anger and frustration amidst Gunners fans, unfortunately manifested in the now all too familiar #WengerOut vs #WengerIn infightings amongst the club’s fanbase.
Remember; Arsenal are a team used to some of the Premier League’s greatest achievements, notably the ‘Invincibles’ side of 2003/04 so to sum their current predicament up, to retain the FA Cup would be a great achievement but simply making up the top four can no longer be considered good enough for a club of their riches.
In keeping with this theme, we have identified what we believe to be the worst 5 moments of the Gunners’ season so far.
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Click on Arsene Wenger to reveal what we think are the worst 5 moments of Arsenal’s season.
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09/11/2014 & 11/05/2015 – An unwanted double against the Swans
Swansea’s City’s breakaway 1-0 win at Emirates Stadium yesterday evening completed an unwanted double against the Gunners and the first success of its kind since the early 1980s for the Swans.
Despite the hugely frustrating defeat, Arsenal have gone on to record Champions League qualification for an incredible 18th consecutive season and a few of our resident Gooners have been able to conclude yesterday’s fixture as a ‘one off’.
For fellow Gooners, yesterday’s game represented everything that is wrong about Arsenal – a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, slow side to side build-up play in the first half and defensive fragility and lack of focus for Gomis’ strike.
In truth, the Gunners’ level of performance at the Liberty Stadium back in November was far worse and after Alexis Sanchez had put them in front in a tricky away encounter, Arsene Wenger’s men collapsed.
Jefferson Montero caused Calum Chambers an absolute nightmare that rainy day in South Wales and heading into 2015/16, Garry Monk and his men have started to become used to snatching points away from the Gunners.
22/11/2014 – How on earth did United come away with all three points?
Arsenal fans are used to seeing their side win at Emirates Stadium; after all, yesterday’s defeat to Swansea City was only their second league loss at home all season.
The other defeat came against old foes Manchester United on Saturday Night Football back in November, a night in which Louis van Gaal claimed his first away win as Red Devils boss.
This performance was your classic lots of possession, no penetration type of game by the Gunners who ultimately shot themselves in the foot when Kieran Gibbs turned an Antonio Valencia cross into his own net past the hapless Wojciech Szczesny.
Despite waves of Gunners attacks, they couldn’t beat David De Gea, much like Fabianski last night and ultimately fell to a Wayne Rooney (he always does it, doesn’t he!) sucker punch on 85 minutes – United’s first shot on target in all of that time displaying the sheer dominance in possession by Arsene Wenger’s men.
The defeat left everybody – not just Arsenal fans – thinking how on earth did they manage to lose that game?
04/11/2014 & 25/02/2015 – The same lapses remain in the Champions League
Arguably the worst day in Arsenal’s 2014/15 campaign to date, Arsene Wenger’s men basically threw away all their Champions League dreams in an incredibly disappointing second half display against Ligue 1 giants Monaco back in February.
The problem with this Champions League last sixteen tie was the fact that the Gunners were billed by pretty much everyone as huge favourites to progress to the quarter final stage for the first time since 2010 prior to the fixture taking place.
This ultimately manifested in a hugely complacent performance whereby Dimitar Berbatov and Yannick Ferreira Carassco added to Geoffrey Kondogbia’s first half strike to seal an incredibly unlikely 3-1 success at Emirates Stadium.
With the Gunners going on to record a 2-0 victory over at Stade Louis II in the second leg, the all too familiar tale of coming so close but yet so far left many rival fans poking fun that season in, season out, the Gunners simply make up the numbers in Europe’s elite club competition.
That said, perhaps the warning signs were there earlier on in the competition when the term ‘complacency’ could be used all over again.
Back in the group stage in November, Anderlecht – a European minnow by all accounts – managed to peg the Gunners’ 3-0 advantage back to draw 3-3 in a game which had shades of Newcastle United 4 Arsenal 4 written all over it!
06/12/2014 & 01/01/2015 – Challenging away venues remain challenging
I’m sure there are many an Arsenal fan who wish Stoke City would return back to the Championship, such is the inevitably of the Potters inflicting defeat on the Gunners at the Britannia Stadium on a seemingly annual basis.
Most teams will claim they have a ‘bogey side’ and the Staffordshire outfit are by far and away the Gunners’ nemesis.
What’s all the more frustrating for Gunners fans is the fact that they always manage to overcome City at home at Emirates Stadium but in the intimidating surrounds of the Potteries, all of their deficiencies and bad habits come out for all to see.
In recent years, the fixture has become a kind of unofficial derby game following that tackle on Aaron Ramsey back in 2010 which stoked the fire between Potters and Gunners fans with the former band of followers demonising Arsene Wenger as public enemy number one for his immediate reaction to Ryan Shawcross.
Ever since that day, Stoke seem to have an added fire in their belly when playing against the Gunners, utilising their strength and direct style, and back in December, Peter Crouch, Bojan and Jonathan Walters left Arsene Wenger’s men trailing by a mighty 3-0 scoreline at half-time.
Pegging the game back to 3-2, an unfortunate sending off for Calum Chambers disrupted the Gunners’ fightback but the overriding conclusion was that Arsenal simply weren’t good enough at the Britannia – yet again!
All of that said, the worst thing about that day at Stoke was the fact that Arsene Wenger – a club legend in every sense – was subjected to some foul abuse by his own supporters when travelling home from the Midlands. The infamous video clip of the abuse was lamented in all quarters as a step too far in Gunners’ fans frustrations.
This forgettable away day could only possibly be rivalled by the New Year’s Day defeat at Southampton, a day in which Wojciech Szczesny ultimately lost his status as Arsenal number one. The Pole is still paying the price for that performance – and some smoking antics – to this day.
07/02/2015 – White hot Kane
Arsenal may have just celebrated St. Totteringham’s Day – the day in which their North London foes cannot finish above the Gunners – but in a season whereby Arsene Wenger’s men have yet again proved their superiority over Tottenham, they didn’t actually manage to beat Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs in two attempts.
By Arsenal fans’ lofty standards, the dour 1-1 draw with Tottenham back in September at Emirates Stadium was bad but the away fixture at White Hart Lane in February was a day to forget.
After taking the lead through Mesut Ozil on 11 minutes, Tottenham displayed some real fight, pegging back their opposition and limiting them to few opportunities.
Now PFA Young Player of the Year, Harry Kane could probably claim this was his best day experienced in his career thus far with the former Arsenal schoolboy downing the old enemy with two strikes in the 56th and 86th minutes.
A rare season in which Tottenham remained undefeated against their North London neighbours.
