Beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger could take little solace on Sunday in hearing a chant from the terraces at White Hart Lane imploring him to stay on as Gunners gaffer, a job he’s held since 1996.
The song, you see, was a mocking one and it wasn’t coming from his supporters: it was sung by Tottenham fans.
After Arsenal slumped to a 2-1 defeat to their North London rivals, Tottenham moved seven points up on the Gunners, good for third spot in the Premier League (Chelsea is fourth, five up on Arsenal), with Wenger’s men on the outside looking in on a Champions League place.
Already facing an uphill battle in this year’s Champions League, having to overturn a 3-1 deficit against Bayern Munich, Arsenal stares down the very real possibility of not appearing in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 1997. The Frenchman still has 10 games to rally his troops to overtake one of its London rivals, Tottenham or Chelsea, but performances like the one at White Hart Lane will do little to convince Arsenal supporters that Wenger can get this job done.
The problems that befell Arsenal on Sunday were not new ones. In fact, the Gunners’ performance was indicative of the issues that have afflicted this club all season long and why it finds itself scrambling in the final weeks of the campaign for a top-four place. The fact that it is now March and these concerns are still popping up is an indictment of the tactics Wenger and his staff have in place and an inability to address obvious deficiencies.
Like they have on many occasions this year, Arsenal used its pace to start strongly and take the game to Spurs and control possession. Olivier Giroud and Santi Carzola harried the Tottenham back four and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, but were unable to find a way through.
Where the Spurs’ central defence of Jan Vertonghen and England international Michael Dawson held their resolve, Arsenal’s counterparts couldn’t do the same. A breakdown in concentration and a lapse in defence led to goals by the prolific Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon with one almost a carbon copy of the other.
When a team pushes forward and chooses to employ a high-line like Arsenal did, its offside trap must be effective. When it fails, it fails miserably like it did for the Gunners on Sunday — too often Spurs were able to beat the trap and create chances with every member of the Arsenal back four being guilty of losing the plot. Skipper Thomas Vermaelen and Per Mertesacker regularly seemed out of sync at the centre of defence, while new signing Nacho Monreal showed flashes of what made Gunners supporters nearly chased Andre Santos out of the Emirates with pitchforks. Frankly, the Gunners were fortunate to not have conceded more.
Spurs did score twice, though, in quick succession with miscommunication and a lack of awareness from the Arsenal defence playing a huge hand in both goals.
First, it was Gareth Bale with his 16th goal of the season in the 37th. From the left, Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson caught the central defence napping and fed the Welshman, who slotted home behind Wojtek Szczesny.
Not three minutes later, Arsenal was down two goasl on almost an identical play. This time it was Scott Parker with the precision pass, finding Aaron Lennon. While Spurs’ service on both goals was pinpoint, the complacency by the Arsenal defence greatly aided it and certainly didn’t befit a team desperate for points.
Mistakes of this nature might be forgivable in pre-season friendlies or the nascent days of a new campaign, but not this late into a campaign and especially not when they’ve happened so often to this side.
With just 10 league matches remaining, including games against Manchester United and Everton, Arsenal is no longer in control of its fate. With no head-to-head matches remaining against either Tottenham or Chelsea, Wenger’s men must hope for slip-ups from their London rivals and amass points on their own end.
While the revenue brought in by playing in Europe is significant, finally missing out on the Champions League this year could bring about the change that so many Arsenal supporters have been calling for. Whether that entails the end of the Wenger regime, personnel changes on the pitch or simply a new philosophical direction, the impact of the final 10 games of the 2012-2013 season for Arsenal will likely be felt for some time to come.