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I never thought I’d say this, but Adrian Chiles and Andy Townsend made some very interesting points about Arsenal on the Champions League highlights show on ITV last night.

Chelsea, Townsend remarked, often go through a state of major crisis. Managers are sacked, fans protest, players are sold, new managers are hired, fans protest, trophies are won. This cycle repeats itself every year or so, and trophies keep coming.

Conversely, Arsenal do not endure the perennial crisis. The pundits stated that Arsenal go through mini-crises. They lose a few games, players get injured, fans protest, Arsene’s position is questioned by every living journalist, they go on a strong run, they qualify for the Champions League.

Crisis, of course, is relative. Chelsea expect to win the league every season, Roman Abramovich wants immediate success. Arsenal on the other hand, whether the fans like it or not, do not expect this. They expect fourth place as a minimum, with any potential trophy a bonus.

Thus Chelsea’s crises are on a grander scale; finishing sixth when your target is first is far worse than struggling, but ultimately reaching, your target.

Should Arsenal change their conception of crisis?

Arsenal’s model is undoubtedly morally and financially superior. As is common knowledge, the club spends little and receives a lot. What’s more, players and managers are not discarded after a run of bad games.

This of course is preferable. I do not want to see Wenger sacked, but if the club could realise that it is in crisis, that would prove positive in the long run.

The club is stuck in a different era. It is stagnant. Football is no longer an ethical business.

Whoever pays more gets the best players, and sometimes dirty deals are necessary. The way Chelsea acquired Willian.

Arsenal is in crisis because it is unwilling to evolve. Man City, Man United and Chelsea have two things in common: they were better than us last season, and they have strengthened significantly. Even our own players are addressing this. Spurs and Liverpool have also strengthened. Thus the supposed lack of major crises at Arsenal leads Wenger to believe that his squad is able to swim with the sharks.

Painfully familiar situation

A year and a half ago, I wrote an article that is frustratingly relevant today. Arsenal had just beaten Tottenham 5-2 for the first time, after losing in the FA Cup and away to Milan in the Champions League. The article alludes to then recent failures, and suggests that the (at the time unknown) improvements would simply ‘paper over the cracks’.

Overhauling the ten point gap, as with the seven point gap last season, ensured Arsenal achieved its goals, and once more finished above its greatest rival. Speak to most football fans however and they would say that Tottenham were the better side. Tottenham are a team on the up, and despite losing Gareth Bale, will be better this season, as they have strengthened in key areas.

Other elements of the article remain significant today. Firstly, the mention of Arsenal’s financial improvements. At the time, it had just been announced that Arsenal’s profits for the six months leading up to November 2011 stood at £49.5 million. The recent self-confessed rise in monetary power has thus been clear for years.

Secondly, the need to strengthen on the pitch. At the time, the acquisition of Lukas Podolski was being completed, but further attacking improvements were necessary. Marco Reus, Mario Gotze and Lewis Holtby were all mentioned.

All three have since moved to bigger clubs and impressed. Whilst Santi Cazorla joined the following summer, the club is still in need of attacking reinforcements today.

Has the club evolved at all?

Arsenal fans have been calling for the same things since the move to the Emirates: signing world-class players and winning trophies, indeed the two usually go hand in hand. Whilst all the clubs around us have improved in the last two years, Arsenal remain in a rut.

We may finish fourth, even third with some luck, but no higher. We may even snatch a cup, possibly even the Champions League if the draw suits us.

Essentially however, Arsenal have come nowhere in the last two years. We are rich, but we don’t spend. We have some outstanding talent, but so do all the teams around us, in most cases in bigger numbers.

I do not want to see Wenger leave the club, he is a brilliant manager, neither do I ever want to see Arsenal lose, but perhaps a real crisis is necessary for the club to rejuvenate and evolve, and reclaim its position at the top of English football.

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