Q: What do you get when you cross a kamikaze team selection with abject mediocrity?

A: Yet another defeat away to Stoke City

When will the testicular descent of the Arsenal board occur? When will they finally have the cojones to draw to a close a ten year embarrassment of zero tactics, zero motivation, zero touchline passion.

Wenger, for many years, was able to hide behind the leadership of Adams, Keown, Campbell, Wright, Vieira, Bergkamp, Henry et al. The last of our legends has long since retired and with it any pretence Wenger had to being a world class manager. The reality is he has been found to be shockingly deficient. A world class manager would have won the PL on at least three occasions with the teams he had over the last 10 years.

He has systematically over the years refused to strengthen areas of the team that every man, dog, wife, sister and neighbours cat knew needed attention.

His pig-headedness has been to the detriment of the club. We all know Wenger loves the club. Unfortunately, he does not love the club enough to hold up his hands and say ‘my best is no longer enough’. He will not walk away and pass the baton to a younger manager who will inject fresh impetus, desire and energy. There are 8 million reasons a year why he will not.

Today’s performance was just unacceptable from a team harbouring ambitions of finishing in the top 4.

Was Stoke away really the place to make defensive changes?

Surely if Koscielny is fit for the bench then he should be starting?

Is it co-incidence the Stoke goals came from that side of the pitch?

Was Stoke away the place to bench Welbeck and start with, a clearly, not match fit Giroud?

I cannot fathom it out. I cannot find a single justification for today’s team selection. I cannot believe for one moment Welbeck was benched on the pretext that he will lead the line in a completely meaningless CL game against Galatasaray (does anyone really expect Dortmund not to qualify ahead of us?).

Alexis Sanchez aside, we were as rubbish as we have been against Stoke in the last few years. Wenger does not possess the tactical nous to take on teams like Stoke away from the comforts of the Emirates. We are a one dimensional team that has become increasingly easy to defend against and catch on the counter.

As hard as it is for me to day, I think we need to write off the season from now. Sack Wenger, pay him his handsome ransom and begin the process of bringing in a manager who can at least have the rest of the season to work with the current squad and then bring in the players that we all know that we need during the summer (let’s face it, Wenger is not going to bring in three players during the January window).

The time is right.

It’s time for a change.