Arsenal’s DNA has drastically changed from Invincible era compared to Saturday’s fickle defeat to dominant Chelsea
This current crop of Arsenal players are completely different to the XI I lost the FA Cup final against in 1998
I WISH I had faced an Arsenal team with this mentality when we met in the 1998 FA Cup final.
I would be sat here with a medal to show for my time at Newcastle rather than just memories.
Sadly we didn’t. We faced one of the toughest sides I have ever come up against.
Every time I played them I knew I was in for a bruising battle as well as being up against one of the best teams technically that the Premier League has seen.
We were beaten that day at Wembley by the better side.
This Arsenal team would have been a very different matter.
If you compared the side that had Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Tony Adams to the Arsenal that caved against Watford and Chelsea you could be forgiven for thinking it was a different club with a different manager leading them.
Yes, all fans can point to better teams from the past, not least right now the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.
The difference is the managers have changed at both those clubs.
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Arsene Wenger remains, yet the Arsenal DNA he had between 1997 and 2005 has been totally lost over the last decade.
That is what frustrates the fans, that a manager who gave them so much and put out such great teams can now be in charge of one of the softest sides in the club’s history.
One that rolls over when the going gets tough.
One that raises hopes one week and shatters them the next. A side that can’t compete over a season. Players who simply don’t work hard enough to match Watford and more starkly Chelsea, who simply bullied them off the park.
The question that’s being raised over and over by fans is: Should Wenger go?
All I’d say is if I was a businessman and owner and had Wenger in charge of my operations, I would be quite happy to sit tight.
The ground is full every week, so say the figures.
He has overseen a move from the old Highbury to the new Emirates which has set the club up for life.
He makes sure the money keeps rolling in by finishing top-four and getting in the Champions League, even if they keep going out early in the knockout stages.
He doesn’t spend wildly. His net outlay over the last four transfer windows is just £10million more than United spent on Paul Pogba.
They’re regularly on TV because they can be pleasing on the eye.
And hey, they finished second last season as well, lest we forget.
So for those in the boardroom, what is there not to like?
What say they shake the status quo and suddenly big money is spent and no progress is made.
After all, look at what has happened at United since Sir Alex Ferguson left. A £300m net spend and they have finished seventh, fourth, fifth and currently sit sixth.
Business-wise Arsenal know that under Wenger things will tick over very nicely, thank you.
More and more football is ruled by men with calculators rather than those with the tactics board.
But fans couldn’t care less about a balance sheet if it does not relate to success on the pitch and for a club of Arsenal’s size, two FA Cups since 2005 is not enough.
And, while the books are nicely balanced in the boardroom there is no arguing this is Wenger’s Arsenal as much as the team who won their last title in 2004.
The question is how he has been able to surround himself with so many flaky players?
Saturday’s 3-1 defeat was a classic example as they were outfought and outplayed in all areas.
Wenger was clutching at straws when he called for a foul on Hector Bellerin by Marcos Alonso for the first goal. Not at all.
Theo Walcott’s inactivity in tracking back was highlighted on TV. As was the way Francis Coquelin was out-muscled by Eden Hazard in his great solo goal.
But what was most stark for me in that Arsenal display was Alexis Sanchez’s lack of activity. Not one touch in Chelsea’s box.
Without the ball he kept dropping deeper and deeper so that when the full-backs did bomb forward and cross, he wasn’t there.
Next up they have Hull, a team I have been impressed with since Marco Silva took charge.
Which Arsenal will turn up? Who knows. They might turn on one of their shows and everyone will ask why Wenger is questioned.
But over a whole season they simply cannot do it.
At the start of every season I am asked on Match of the Day if I think Arsenal can win the title and I say no — and get slaughtered by their fans.
And yet here we are again. Same time, same place, same issues.