There’s a line in a Tom Waits song which Arsenal fans must hope is true: ‘If you get far enough away, you’ll be on your way back home’. In a characteristically limp display against Watford on Sunday, during which they conceded 31 shots, 23 in the second half alone, they had their statistically worst defensive performance since 2003, when Opta records began. Considering the team’s success in the previous seven years under Arsène Wenger and the defensive solidity of George Graham’s sides for the decade or so before that, it is likely that this was the worst defensive display in at least thirty years.
Unai Emery must count himself exceptionally lucky that this collapse occurred against a Watford team in flux rather than Manchester City of Liverpool or he could have been on the end of one of the cricket scores that plagued Wenger’s latter years: 6-0 against Chelsea in 2014, the two 5-1s against Bayern in 2017 or the famous 8-2 against Manchester United back in 2011.
Arsenal have been sliding towards this nadir for a while. Their defensive record over the past few years has been woeful. They have conceded more league goals than any of their top six rivals in each of the past three seasons and during that time their record has been bettered by the likes of Newcastle, Wolves and Burnley. A brief look at some of the players who have been trusted to play centre-half in the period gives the impression that Wenger, and now Emery, have little interest in, or knowledge of, the art of defending. They can be grouped thusly; big, error-prone lumps (Sokratis, Mertesacker); too young or inexperienced to play the role (Djourou, Miquel); not central defenders at all (Monreal, Sagna, Xhaka) and players simply not capable of playing near the top of the Premier League (Squillaci, Luiz, Mustafi).
That the position has become such a glaring weakness is ironic. That we still use the term ‘centre-half’ in this country is a throwback to the revolutionary re-positioning of a midfielder, then known as a ‘half’, to the centre of defence, by Arsenal’s legendary 1930’s manager Herbert Chapman. The identity of most of the successful, subsequent pre-Wenger teams was defined by wily, cynical, tough central defenders: McLintock in the double winning team of 1971, the brutish Willie Young in the 1979 FA Cup team and then the plethora of good and great during the Graham years; O’Leary, Bould, Linighan, Keown and, of course, Tony Adams. Experiments with flashier, more attack minded players were often failures; Peter Marinello, Charlie Nicholas, Glenn Helder. Despite being a team from a very cosmopolitan part of North London – the team’s support has consistently been among the most ethnically diverse – the team’s identity and approach to getting results was parochial, tough and old school pragmatic.
Then came the Wenger years, modern football and some great years – eight, maybe ten – followed by decline and the slow and steady march towards Sunday’s horror show. The switch to a modern passing game; quick, incisive and exciting completely changed Arsenal’s image. The refrains ‘One nil to the Arsenal!’ and ‘Boring, boring Arsenal!’ were now sung only ironically, great goals were scored and perhaps more than any other club the idea of football as primarily a form of entertainment was championed. It was this idea that helped to build their new stadium and undoubtedly helped to bring in commercial sponsors and grow the club’s ‘brand’.
But football is not just entertainment and it’s certainly more meaningful than a brand. It is about so many other things; childhood, identity, fathers and sons, failure, victory, despair and hope. It encapsulates a particular fusion of personal history and specific geography. Ultimately it is about representation, eleven human beings representing a place and a people. Yes, it can be exciting but it is a distillation of life, a kind of essential oil. No mature adult expects life to be exciting all the time, it is difficult, hard work, boring and only occasionally great. It is only very young children – or super rich oil princes – who expect football to be non-stop fun and goals and winning.
The idea that football should be exciting entertainment has helped to build the Premier League and make Sky Sports rich and powerful. It has greatly raised the standard and professionalism of the game in this country. But it is also a fundamental and deliberate misunderstanding of the spirit of the game. Supporters want a team that represents them, that tries its hardest, is resolute, tough to beat and, frankly, doesn’t embarrass them. A true fan hates to lose much more than he enjoys being entertained: forget the spectacle, fuck the neutral.
There will be a lot of hard questions asked this week at Arsenal, maybe the best answer is to ignore the last twenty or so years and return to the club’s hard to beat identity – a good start might be dropping David Luiz.
Fioruisce 