Arsenal Consistent as Not One of Top Six Win

Not one of the top six clubs managed a win this weekend, but the Gunners were the only ones to lose, losing back to back games, hence consistency. Five out of the six went without scoring, It is the first time in Premiership history that not one of the top four have scored, no doubt the meaningless midweek International friendlies helped contribute to that.

 So the Arsenal result should be seen in context. Nonetheless on the Arsenal Times prediction league I tipped 3-1 to Citeh, obviously I was far too optimistic.

However, more important is the reason for predicting defeat against a team that Arsenal have beat in Manchester nine times; more than any other club has achieved. That reason is not hard to find, you have to look no further than the missing Sagna, Toure, Eboue, Adebayor, Gallas, Fabregas, and Walcott(and long term sick Eduardo and Rosicky); there is no way this second eleven would beat even a poor City side.

 If these nine players had been available how many of the eleven, including Song and Bendtner, would have started? The Premiership is not the Carling Cup, and this was a Carling team.  City have now scored 19 goals at home, which is more than any other club.

Whenever a team is down on its luck it can expect a hand up from the Arsenal, but I wouldn't be too hard on this eleven, it's not a matter of excuses, they just are not up to it. The team is an indicator of how threadbare Wenger's squad has become.  Meanwhile Bendtner and RvP practiced hitting a barn door from 10 yards, taking it in turns to be the barn door.

It was also a mistake to put Hoyte at right back, Djourou would have done a better job, Song would have fitted next to Silvestre, and Ramsey would have made the midfield more mobile. Wenger did eventually did do just that, but only after it was far too late.

Adebayor on a bad day achieves more on his own than these two   combined. It's not a matter of how many goals he scores, but the fact he stretches teams. He gets round the back of the opposition defence, yes he gets offside a lot, but that goes with his style of play.

If you add to Wenger's problems that morale must be at an all time low, with Arsene refusing to admit if Gallas is Captain or not. I am not optimistic, the last player who refused to play was Diarra, and before that Campbell. Could he be going to Portsmouth? Ha ha only joking.

Fighting in the dressing room is a good old Arsenal tradition, but no one has ever blabbed to the press before. Gallas acted stupidly, and it is right to remove him as Captain. More importantly Wenger has to use the opportunity to rebuild morale in his squad, that will include appointing the right captain.

However more important is that the team will now need rebuilding, this conceit of not needing experienced players needs to end. The next Premiership game is away at Chelsea, to get a result there will need to be more than one leader. It will also depend on which players are available, it's time for the treatment room to earn its money.