COMMENT: This result. This conceding of FOUR goals. At home. On the opening day of the season. This can't be blamed on one man.
It's ground hog day. We've said it before in this column - and we'll say it again: Albert Einstein's famous quote regarding insanity, 'doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result'. Gooners must be going mental this morning.
Arsenal have lost three times in the past four seasons on the opening day. But for Arsene Wenger, this time, this Sunday, it was the worst. It was all laid bare. The excuses. The dithering. The passiveness. It all culminated in Sunday's horror show against Liverpool. For Wenger. For his ideals. His principles. This day was perhaps the worst of his career.
Where do you start?
What about the hesitating on a defensive signing? It left Wenger with a lad from League One making his debut. Rob Holding didn't deserve this. Wenger's supposed to be all about youth development. How does throwing Holding in, with only Calum Chambers to look to for leadership, help the lad?
Laurent Koscielny was fit. But Wenger's ideals dictated his selection. The Frenchman deserved more time with his feet up. The result? Four goals at home. And against a direct rival.
This was an opportunity for Arsenal. In the most competitive league in the world, it was the chance to lay down a marker and rattle a direct rival. Instead, it's Arsenal that are on their knees - again - after the first game of a new season.
Oh, and that hesitancy doesn't begin and end with a new centre-half. On the day his Arsenal were being humiliated, Alexandre Lacazette was hammering in a hat-trick for Lyon. You remember Alex? Lyon went public with Arsenal's "€35m offer" for him last month. They could've gone higher at the time and convinced OL to sell. But now? Today? After the lad's treble? How many zeros have just been added to his asking price?
And the pick of the seven goals at the Emirates? Well, that has to be Sadio Mane's. A stunner. Pace. Skill. Power. He scythed through Wenger's make-shift back four before firing past Petr Cech. A player, of course, who was available this summer from Southampton. A player... a striker who was looking for a bigger stage. And a club with bigger ambition.
Also on the very same day, Wenger's great nemesis was getting his new career off to a winning start at Bournemouth. And among the Manchester United goalscorers was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A player who'd rejected Wenger as a kid. Who was available this summer. But, again, passed over by Wenger, with the Frenchman happily questioning the Swede's value at this stage in his career. That was barely 48 hours before Sunday's two results. Who's fooling who now?
But wait a minute, Gooners, there's more...
Because sitting in the studio, taking all this in, was one Thierry Henry. The same Thierry Henry who Wenger demanded he choose between TV and his coaching career. It was the right call by Wenger. No doubt. But the Liverpool result left only one man with egg on his face. And it wasn't the bloke on the sofa.
All this, and still there's no news on the contracts of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. They'll sign them, assured the manager last week. But when? Wenger's been trotting out the same line since before Christmas. And when they cast their eye around the Premier League, does the enthusiasm to tie the best years of their career to Arsenal still exist? Ozil spoke last week in Germany about how impressed he was with the buying of Manchester United and Manchester City - and proudly boasted of convincing Leroy Sane about his move to City. Worried Gooners?
But this can't be all laid at the feet of one man: Even if Wenger has managed to build a little fiefdom for himself at London Colney.
Can you imagine Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain - even Khaldoon al-Mubarak - allowing such a situation to develop at Manchester City? For all the criticism of Roman Abramovich, you can't level at the Chelsea owner a failure to act if things aren't running as expected. Juventus? Barcelona? Atletico Madrid? They all possess good football men - not just on the pitch - but beyond it.
It's becoming clear now that Ivan Gazidis doesn't have the expertise, nor the stones, to challenge Wenger when it comes to football matters. The board? Stan Kroenke? Give us a break. It's all about the bottom line. The anger outside the Emirates on Sunday won't have reached them.
And that's the problem. Wenger needs a yang to his ying. He needs someone who can tell him a home truth when needed. To point out that his philosophising is killing the fans. But has Gazidis the bottle to impose someone on the manager? We all know the answer to that one...
INJURY TIME
He's no world-beater, Shkodran Mustafi. Not yet. But at 24, the Valencia man does offer Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal staff something to work with.
Gooners expecting an instant impact from the former Everton junior may be left disappointed. He's a good, solid centre-half. But Mustafi isn't in the class of Laurent Koscielny.
He's not better than what Arsenal already has. But Mustafi also isn't the finished article. He's player, at this stage of his career, who can add depth to Wenger's squad, with the potential to develop. Similar to Mo Elneny and where he sits in Wenger's midfield options.
The manager's reluctance is understandable. But needs must. And with a shattered Rob Holding reeling from facing Coutinho and co, an SOS to Mustafi is a good option.
