In bad times you find out who your friends are. This is something us Gooners will be find out as we sift through the wreckage of our team’s 4-0 trouncing at the hands of A.C. Milan on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Usually I’m pretty optimistic, a definite cup is half full type of guy when it comes to the Arsenal. But after this performance it’s difficult to pull even one positive from the cadaver that is this team right now.
In fact, forget about positives. Is there anything but negatives to take away from yesterday’s game? Seriously, in three short years we’ve gone from a team on the cusp of greatness, beating the then-holders 2-0, to being completely outplayed in Wednesday’s clash. The two scores demonstrate the current gulf in class between the traditional continental superpowers (what we’d like to be) and our beloved, sustainable football club.
From the outset, with RVP sharing a hug and pleasantries with his Dutch counterpart, Clarence Seedorf, at the coin toss to the end and Zlatan pretending he and Thierry were long lost chums, we carried a too-friendly aura. The only problem was the fact there was a game to be played in-between and when the whistle blew we just weren’t up to the task – misplaying balls and repeatedly getting caught out.
I suppose, if there is one positive to take, is the fact that our higher ups (Kroenke, Gazidis, et al.) can’t help but take notice now. For the second time in a short period of time Arsenal held centre court in an international broadcast and for the second time came out embarrassed. The first was the 2-1 loss to Man U, which saw our manager roundly booed in front of 1.5 million viewers in the U.S. alone, and then last night’s “glamour” matchup, all alone on a Wednesday afternoon/evening, and we’re all aware of how that ended.
Kroenke and Gazidis are businessmen, first and foremost, who don’t want to see an investment decrease in value. Unfortunately it seems this is the case with a languid product on the field and, by all accounts, an increasingly empty stadium. This has to be very worrying for any businessman especially with the spectre of the sponsorship contracts coming to their end and you certainly want to be in as strong bargaining position when this time comes. I don’t think this is the case at the moment.
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